Crimson Lake Road (Desert Plains)

by Victor Methos

  “You can’t appeal a grand jury not indicting on some of the charges, Kyle. I warned you this would happen.”

  “We’ll just dismiss and reindict him, then.”

  “You can’t unless you have some new evidence. You’ve got some felonies on there and can ask for prison. Keep it for now.”

  “And what?” he growled. “Just let that bastard off for murder?”

  “Don’t raise your voice at me.”

  He shook his head and mumbled, “Such bullshit.”

  Yardley took a step closer to him, ensuring he was looking into her eyes. “It is not bullshit. That jury did their jobs. This is your and Roy’s fault, not theirs. And by the way, I’m still not convinced there’s federal jurisdiction. Aster will get even these charges kicked on those grounds the second he gets in front of a judge.”

  Aster turned the corner in the hallway, and Jax saw him.

  “That is some scummy shit you just pulled in there. Don’t think I’m going to forget it. And when this is over, maybe it’ll be time to report you to the Bar. And you better damn well believe I’m talking to everyone in our office about it. See if you get any good offers from us anymore.”

  Aster just grinned and said, “Take a Xanax, Billy the Kid. This much stress isn’t good for you.” He looked at Yardley. “I’ll walk you out.”

  Once they got to the elevators and away from Jax, Yardley said, “You know the county is just going to pick it up, right?”

  He shrugged. “I was planning on it. But county ain’t federal. I can work with them on something.”

  “What are you looking for?”

  “Depends how strong their case is, but if it’s as solid as the Sun made it seem, I’d tell him to take manslaughter.”

  “Not a chance they’ll give you manslaughter.”

  “Never know.”

  The thought of Zachary getting manslaughter made her tense. He could be out in as little as five years. What would happen to Angie when he was released? Would he try to finish what he started?

  Once outside, Aster put on his sunglasses and said, “Lunch?”

  “Can’t today. Rain check?”

  “Yup. And I was serious about that offer. You wanna jump to the other side, Lily and I would be happy to take you.”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  She watched as he crossed the street. A wave of irritation gnawed at her about how this had played out. She had told Lieu and Jax exactly what would happen, and they’d refused to listen. If he’d had a lesser defense attorney, Zachary would have been indicted, but Aster had outmaneuvered them. He would likely outmaneuver the county prosecutors as well. On a case this big, with this much media attention, winning for Aster meant his life would change. He would never have to hustle for clients again. So he would pour every ounce of energy he had into this case, and a randomly assigned prosecutor wouldn’t be anywhere near as passionate. Sometimes, cases were just about which side wanted the victory more.

  Yardley was sitting at home on the couch watching television when Baldwin called.

  “Is it true?” he said.

  “It is.”

  “So what are they gonna do?”

  “Either the state attorney general’s office or the county district attorney will prosecute him. This case is too big to ignore. It’s already a PR nightmare for the US Attorney’s Office, but if they can get convictions when the federal government couldn’t, they’d definitely see that as a nice perk.”

  He exhaled. “How the hell did this happen?”

  “They were sloppy and Zachary’s attorney wasn’t.”

  Her line beeped, indicating another call. She didn’t recognize the number.

  “Give me a minute.” She switched lines. “This is Jessica.”

  “Jessica, this is Brie Johnson.”

  It took a moment for Yardley to place the name. But then she remembered her as a prosecutor for Clark County she’d worked with on a couple of cases.

  “I hope it’s okay that I got your number from Roy Lieu. He said you wouldn’t mind.”

  “I don’t. What can I do for you?”

  “Well, I’m sure you’ve heard about what happened with the Crimson Lake Executioner case by now.”

  “I have.”

  “So Nathan is pissed. I guess the US AG called yelling at Roy, who called the state AG and yelled at him, who called the county and yelled at Nathan . . . I don’t know. There was yelling and finger-pointing all day. I guess the failure to indict was on all the cable news shows.”

  “I imagine it was.”

  “Well, apparently they’re going to dismiss the federal case in its entirety and have us file it down here, and yours truly got the short straw. Anyway, I was wondering if me and Nathan could swing by your house right now? It won’t take long.”

  “What for?”

  “Best we talk in person.”

  She could have asked Yardley to come down to the office, but instead she’d asked to come to her home. A comfortable place. Somewhere Yardley would be more likely to agree to a favor.

  Yardley gave her the address and said she would see her soon.

  When she hung up, she turned the television off and lay down on the couch, staring at the ceiling. The temperature, last time she checked, was 107. A light sheen of sweat tickled her neck.

  She dressed in yoga pants and a tank top and made a fruit smoothie, which she sipped slowly in the kitchen until she heard a knock at the door. When she answered, Brie Johnson and Nathan Salls, the DA for Clark County, stood there. Yardley let them in, and they sat on her couch while she took a spot on the love seat.

  Salls had won the district attorney seat only a couple of years ago, when the then DA running for reelection had been indicted on several campaign finance felonies.

  A registered independent who spoke plainly and allowed livestock to roam his backyard, Salls had always struck Yardley as someone who should have been working a farm rather than wearing suits and appearing on television talking about justice.

  “Love your house,” Brie said.

  “Thank you. We’re moving soon, though. Down to Santa Bonita.”

  “Roy mentioned that. I was honestly surprised you’re retiring. You always struck me as a lifer.”

  “Just need something new, I guess.”

  Brie nodded, glancing at the decorations in the home. Yardley refused to have any paintings up, but she had a few oriental prints and decorative incense burners. “So you can probably guess why we’re here.”

  “I have a hunch.”

  Salls said, “Jessica, I’m going to get to the point ’cause I don’t like wasting time. I think it best if you were to come over to our office as a special prosecutor for this case.”

  Yardley had anticipated the request. It was a win-win for them. If she won the case, the DA’s Office would take credit. If she lost, they would say it wasn’t their fault if a US attorney botched the trial.

  “Why would you think I’d want to do that, Nathan?”

  “Because I think you care about the case, and I think Roy didn’t let you prosecute it, did he?”

  “What makes you say that?”

  He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “I’ve known Roy a long time. I know how he thinks.”

  “Just because I may or may not care about it doesn’t mean I want to prosecute it. Brie will do a marvelous job.”

  “I know she would, but I think you would be even better for this particular case.”

  Yardley folded her hands in her lap. “What’s this really about? Every time we’ve talked, it’s been over the phone, and suddenly you’re willing to come to my house at a moment’s notice? Why are you pushing for this so hard?”

  He shrugged. “I just wanna make sure the good doctor is convicted, and I think you got the best shot at doing that.”

  “And of course if I lose, you’ll be in the news saying I was a federal prosecutor, not a state prosecutor, and I rushed the case and screwed it up, right?”

 
He exhaled loudly and leaned back into the couch, pressing his tie down against his belly and straightening it. “We talked with Roy and with the AG. He wants someone from the US Attorney’s Office on the case, at least tangentially, so it doesn’t look like they screwed the pooch quite so hard. If a federal prosecutor, even one who just retired, took part in the prosecution and there was a conviction, they could say they did their jobs and they always get their man or whatever bullshit they wanna spin.”

  “And what do you get out of it?”

  He cleared his throat. “This is a very public case, and a lot of people up on the hill are upset about how it’s played out. If there is a conviction, I’ve been made certain assurances of support when election time comes around.”

  She chuckled. “The AG said he would support you if you win the case, huh? I figured they would have to give you something better than that. He might support you anyway.”

  He shook his head. “Maybe, maybe not. The Nevada AG supporting me for DA would be a big win. He’s got a lotta pull. It’s nothing to take lightly.”

  “Prosecution isn’t about scoring wins for me, Nathan.”

  “Hey, I could’ve lied and said Brie is too swamped to take it or some bullshit. I didn’t. Besides, we all know you’re the best person for the job.”

  Yardley looked out of the balcony sliding glass doors and considered things. “I’ll have to think about it.”

  “Well, that’s better than a no. But don’t think too long. I’d like you to be at the press conference when we announce we’re filing on him. It’s tomorrow.”

  “I’ll let you know by then.”

  41

  When the receptionist at the US Attorney’s Office told Aster they didn’t have discovery ready for him, he spoke with a paralegal, who told him the same thing. Then he lied and said Kyle Jax said to get him everything as soon as possible. Though he’d have to wait for copies of all the photos, videos, sketches, analyses, and lab reports, he left with the detective and FBI reports, a stack of papers as thick as a novel.

  Back at the office, he made copies and put one set on Ricci’s desk. Then he sat in his office and read.

  On the first read, the case seemed strong. Baldwin and Garrett could write persuasively, and the case they had assembled against Zachary was built on a solid search warrant—it was extremely prudent of them to only search the garage rather than the home—and solid evidence. The ricin, syringes, and roll of bandages alone would be a nearly overwhelming obstacle for the defense to overcome. Not even to mention the replicas of the paintings. The only real error was the filing: the case should have been filed in state court for now, as federal jurisdiction wasn’t clear, and he couldn’t help but grin at how upset Kyle Jax must be right now.

  But on the second read, the major flaws began to appear. Aster took out a marker and highlighted anything even remotely relevant to Zachary’s defense. There were only two ways to win a jury trial in a murder case: paint the victim as a monster who deserved it, or point the finger at someone else.

  Ricci came in a little later with the stack of reports he’d left for her. She collapsed onto his couch and said, “Interesting reading.”

  “Baldwin writes good reports. Garrett’s not bad, but he skips over too many details. I think he’s lazy.”

  “He misspelled restaurant like four times, too. I don’t know why, but that bugged the crap out of me.”

  “It’s your English degree. So first impressions?”

  “Guilty.”

  “Seriously?”

  She was staring at the ceiling, her head resting on the back of the couch. “You don’t agree?”

  “I don’t know. First off, he’s intelligent. He had to have known if he killed his girlfriend and the woman he was cheating with, he’s the first person the police would look at.”

  “Lawyers, doctors, professors—they kill their wives and girlfriends like everyone else, Dylan.”

  “I know, but he didn’t seem impulsive to me. Did you see his sink in the jail cell? His toothbrush, soap, and toothpaste were all lined up straight, and his clothes were neatly folded. He seems OCD to me, and hitting her over the head while she’s walking out of a mall is sloppy as shit.”

  “The ricin isn’t sloppy. An injection in the eyes or tongue with a poison that’s barely detectible, after washing them and clipping their hair and nails? That screams organized doctor to me.”

  “Or someone wants to make it look like that.”

  She chuckled. “Dylan, come on. We’ve done this long enough to know people don’t get set up like this.”

  “Maybe some people do and we’ve just never had one of these cases before? Or maybe some people get set up so well not even their lawyers believe them when they say they’re innocent? I mean, think about it. The toxicologists from the CDC and Homeland said the Executioner got the dosages wrong and he gave Angela River too little ricin, yeah? Well, if anyone should know that weight makes a difference in administering a toxin like that, it’s a doctor. And her boyfriend of all people would know how much she weighed and that he’d have to give her more than he did to Kathy Pharr.”

  “You said yourself he seems like he has OCD. All the syringes were the same size and held the same volume of fluid. They were all filled to the brim. Maybe he didn’t want a bunch of different sizes around?”

  “Then use two of them.”

  “The more he used, the more likely detection would be. The longer investigators don’t know what he used, the better his chances of getting away with it.”

  “I’m just saying the simplest explanation is always best. And here I think the simplest explanation is that a doctor wouldn’t make a stupid mistake like this.”

  She lay down fully on the couch, putting one arm over her forehead. “Okay, let’s just pretend you’re right and Zachary was set up. This person would have to be close enough to him to know he was having sex with Kathy Pharr, number one. They’d have to know where Kathy Pharr worked and wait there until she had a smoke break to snatch her. Then they would have to know he was also living with Angela River and follow her around and wait for the right time to snatch her. And they’d also have to be able to access a locked room in a garage where only Zachary and Angela know where the key is, and they’d have to do all this sneaking around without Zachary or Angela noticing them. And if Harmony didn’t run away and this guy got her, he’d also have to stalk and snatch her. I don’t buy it. Especially the breaking in and leaving paintings and the rest in the locked room. Someone would’ve noticed this guy.”

  “Maybe Angela and Zachary hadn’t been in that room for a long time? Maybe there’s other ways someone could get in that wouldn’t be easily noticed?”

  “Okay, again, let’s assume you’re right. What’s the motive?”

  “What’s the doc’s motive for killing Kathy and his girlfriend? He doesn’t have life insurance on either of them. If he really wanted to be with Kathy, he would’ve killed the husband, not her. And he’s only been dating Angela a couple of months. Barely enough time to know her. Why kill them at all?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe he just likes killing.”

  “That’s bullshit.”

  “They’re rare, but psychopaths are actually out there, Dylan. Zachary may have just wanted to see what it was like to kill someone.”

  “If that’s all it was, he wouldn’t have picked his lover and his girlfriend. He would have picked a stranger. Someone who couldn’t be connected to him.”

  “So what’s your theory then?”

  “The husband.”

  “Tucker Pharr?”

  He nodded. “Did you see his conviction for kidnapping and his other prior that was expunged? And he realizes his daughter’s missing, and his reaction is basically like, Oh shit, that sucks. Garrett wrote in his report he didn’t seem overly disturbed in the interview. How many dads you know wouldn’t lose their shit if they found out their daughter is missing after their wife has already been murdered? So to buy t
he government’s case, we have to believe the doc killed Kathy, tried to kill his girlfriend, and then kidnapped Tucker’s daughter as like, what, revenge against everyone for some reason? It doesn’t make sense. They can’t give a good explanation to the jury as to why he would do all this.”

  She said, “But Tucker finds out about the affair, kills his wife, tries to kill Zachary’s girlfriend as payback . . . okay, I’m liking this a little more. Why the daughter?”

  He shook his head. “That I can’t figure out. But whatever the reason, I don’t think it’s going to end well for her.”

  42

  Tara watched the young engineer attempt to impress her by going through Lorett’s theorem on a whiteboard and explaining the application to cold fusion. She observed him rather than eyeing the board—read his face, noticed the way his hands moved, the positioning of his feet, and his posture. Most men in her program and at her internship felt they had to explain things they thought were too complex for her to understand, and she wondered how they thought she had gotten into the program in the first place.

  She politely let him finish, and he said, “So you can see the issue we have is with the Dirac equation.”

  Tara walked up to the board and took the marker from his hand. She wiped away several sections of equations with her fingers and then made the necessary corrections before handing the marker back and saying, “Dirac’s not the problem. You are.”

  She left and got her things out of her locker. She didn’t like to be rude, but she had found if she was brash the first time someone attempted to mansplain something basic to her, they wouldn’t do it a second time.

  She sat in her car a few minutes and watched the sunset. The clouds appeared burned a deep orange.

  She could run this lab, run the entire division, better than any man in there—but they wouldn’t even let her have the opportunity to prove that she could. She hadn’t realized until recently that it was on purpose. They didn’t want a woman to best them, even if it meant the company would jump ahead of its competitors by years, maybe decades.

  Only now did she appreciate the amount of patience and hard work it must’ve taken for her mother to reach the position she had in her profession.