Blogging is Murder: A Jade Blackwell Mystery

by Gilian Baker

  Suddenly, she spoke. “Okay. What I’m willing to do is go and see her. I’ll claim to be the lawyer of record pro tem until we can get someone else up to speed. Will that be enough to make you feel better?”

  “Sure. Whatever. ” I stood up , ready to follow her to the sheriff’s station. When I saw she wasn’t moving, I added, “ But let’s get you over there pronto . ! ” It wasn’t what I’d been hoping for, but at least Liz wouldn’t be alone and wondering how they were going to manage a lawyer… and a good one at that. I had no idea how I was going to pay for it, but I had gotten Liz into this mess and I needed to make things right. I wondered if they had a payment plan here.

  Before we could say anything else I could admonish her further to get a move on , Lucy rang the intercom on her desk buzzed and Lucy announced that to say that Gabby’s next appointment was t here. She leaned over and clicked a button and then She asked Lucy to cancel reschedule her other appointment for the day . After glaring my way, she added that she should also and contact the sheriff’s office to let them know that she would be there in an hour or so to confer with her temporary client. Emphasis on “temporary” I thought, especially since Gabby have me a hard, glairing look as she said it.

  I took that as my cue to leave and stood up to leave the office . “Thanks, Gabby . ! I really appreciate it . ! And I know Liz and Ron will too . ! ”

  “All I’m doing is getting the ball rolling, Jade. After that I will consult with another lawyer to get Liz the best help possible. That’s all I can promise.”

  With that I left feeling a bit lighter. I sure hoped I could talk Gabby into defending Liz for as long as it too k . I concentrated on how I might pull that off persuade her as I headed back home.

  ***

  “You did what?” asked a tired Christian.

  Why was everyone saying that to me so much lately?

  “I had to do something, Christian . ! I’m the one who started this whole thing.”

  “You did not! Connie did. Ross would have figured it out on his own. And now that he’s moved Doug to a corner desk doing data entry, don’t you think Ross would’ve gone back and rechecked everything Doug had done? Ross isn’t stupid. And I bet you aren’t the only one Liz told she’d like to kill Connie. Who wouldn’t have murder in their heart in that situation? But that’s just something everyone people say s .”

  Christian must have seen me sulking because he I moaned and pulled my legs up closer to my chest. He came over to the couch and put his arm around me. In a gentler tone, he went on, “Look, I understand that you want to help your friend. And you were probably right to go to Gabby. But we can’t afford to pay Liz’s legal bills . ! ”

  “I know . ,” I said. “ I just got caught up in the moment, trying to get Gabby to take the case. I know how she feels about her time spent in criminal law. She’s too soft-hearted for it; it almost ate her alive.” I blew out a big breath. “In my bones I know she’s the only one who can get Liz out of this predicament. Liz won’t trust some big-shot lawyer.”

  As if to punctuate that sentiment, my phone rang. I grabbed it up, wondering what fresh hell could be awaiting me.

  “Jade, it’s Gabby. So, I saw Liz. She’s doing well under the circumstances. So you can rest assured she’s not falling apart. She signed a waiver giving me permission to talk to you about her case , too . She really appreciated you sending me coming over and understands why I can’t take her case.”

  I cringed with that last sentence, but didn’t want to push her too far, too fast. “Thanks, Gabby. I appreciate it so much.”

  “No problem.” She chuckled lightly under her breathe. “It was amazing how quickly it all came back to me.”

  That was a hopeful sign, I thought.

  “It’s late , and I don’t want to go into the details now, but I wanted to let you know Liz is okay. Can you come by my office tomorrow morning? By then I might have more details to discuss since you are bound and determined to play a part in this.” She sounded a bit amused, which I didn’t find the least bit funny.

  “What time?”

  “Any time after 11:00 is fine.”

  “Okay, I’ll be there around 11 then . And thanks again, Gabby . ! You’re a pal . ! ”

  “No biggy, Jade. Sleep tight.”

  Now I could go to bed knowing Liz wasn’t in a straight-jacket, totally freaked out. However, I did have some trouble falling asleep, imagining her in a damp dungeon of a cell in a lumpy bed with no pillow and only one a thin , dirty blanket to keep her warm. I wondered if there was such a thing as reading too many mysteries.

  ***

  I forced myself to dig in and get some work done in the morning. It took all of my concentration, but I managed to get some stuff off my MITs before it was time to leave to meet Gabby. I handed off several projects to Geena, including replacing my physical address with my new P.O. Box on all correspondence and business accounts. That would make it harder for crazy fans to locate me.

  I also instructed her to contact the list of writers I subcontracted work to and find out who would be interested in some quick turnaround work. I needed help meeting all the deadlines looming for ghostwriting clients. I’d really gotten behind in the last week with all this stuff with Liz.

  In a further attempt to lighten my load, I asked her to reach out to a few blogger friends who might be interested in doing some guest posts on my blog to keep content coming out regularly. That would really clear up my calendar.

  After that I finished the neglected bookkeeping chores that had gotten interrupted when Ron called to tell me about Liz’s incarceration. I’d just finished when it was time to head out.

  As I drove into town, I wondered what Gabby was going to tell me. I had to keep reeling my imagination back in as my mind wandered to variations of disastrous conclusions to the situation.

  Lucy stopped and started chewing on her bottom lip as soon as she spied me walk ing into the reception area. In a soothing voice I told her I had an appointment. Staring at me as if mesmerized , she slowly nodded and pointed towards Gabby’s office. The door was closed , so I tapped on it and then slowly opened it. Gabby was wrapping up a phone conversation, but motioned me to come on in.

  I took off my coat and draped it over the other client chair along with my purse. Seeing the look on Gabby’s face made my mouth go dry. I attempted to squelch my sudden thirst by indulging in a long drink of iced tea from my ever-present travel cup.

  Gabby began speaking as she set the receiver back in its cradle. “That was my former colleague in Cheyenne. There must be a rash of illegal activity right now because he claims they have no one available to take Liz’s case.” She shuffled some papers on her desk around and then looked up at me. “And the firm he recommended for the case is one I can’t and won’t recommend. I’ve had too many dealings with them. They’re shady in my opinion, and would be a bad match for Liz and Ron. I don’t know…” she trailed off and ran her long fingers through her hair.

  Taking a deep breath through her nose and squaring her shoulders, she went on , “But let’s table that for now. Let me tell you what I know.”

  I nodded quickly in agreement, reminding myself not to get too excited. It wasn’t in the bag yet. I forced myself to pay attention to the details that Gabby laid out.

  “The evidence is circumstantial. Ross insinuated that Liz is the only real suspect they have. She has motive and after searching her home and computer they now know she also has the means and opportunity.”

  “What are we going to do, Gabby?” I sounded desperate and pathetic, even to my own ears.

  “What we won't do is give up, Jade. All the defense has to do is provide other possible scenarios—other possible suspects who could have done the deed. We don’t have to prove Liz didn’t do it. The burden of proof is the prosecution’s burden.”

  “So, by ‘we’ do you mean you will take the case?” I crossed my fingers under the desk where she couldn’t see.

  She moved to the front of
her desk and sat back on the edge. I could feel myself holding my breath. I forced myself to pull my shoulders down and exhale.

  Gabby methodically arranged things on the front of her desk. “Only on one condition.”

  I felt my pause quicken as I sat up on the edge of my chair. “What is it? You know I’ll do whatever I can to get you on Liz’s side… but I may need to renegotiate what I said about paying Liz’s legal fees.”

  She had the grace to laugh a little. “No, it has nothing to do with my fee. I have other clients to attend to, so I will need help taking care of some of the details, interviews.”

  I grinned. “Oh, I’m sure we can find someone to help, Gabby. Let’s not let that stand in the way of Liz’s freedom.”

  “Oh, I think I’ve already found the perfect person… you.” She smiled at me like the Cheshire Cat.

  My grin sagged as my stomach tightened. “Oh no, no, no. What can I do? I don't know the first thing about the law or investigating. And don’t you have to get a private investigator to handle that kind of stuff? I’m just not qualified, even though I want to help. Surely there’s something else I could do that is more my bailiwick.”

  Frantically, I ran through possible ways I could think of to get out of it. I’d already done more damage than I thought imaginable when I was only trying to help. Wouldn’t my being so involved in the case put it all in jeopardy?

  “I thought of that, so I double checked before you got here. In this state, you don’t have to have a P.I. license to investigate.”

  Hoping to lead the conversation in a different direction, I exclaimed, “Well, that’s scary, don’t you think? Do we really want just anyone to be on the loose gathering sensitive information?”

  “That may be true, but the fact stands—that’s the way it is in Wyoming. Most states have strict laws and policies in place for those seeking a P.I. license.” She smoothed down the front of her shirt. “ There’re a lot of courses and procedures to go through, including logging in a bunch of hours with a seasoned P.I. We are one of the few states that have no such statu t es.” A self-satisfied smile shone on her face as she cocked up her eyebrows, d ar ing me to come up with a justified reason why I couldn’t do this.

  “B… b... but I have a business to run. I can’t just take off whenever I want to poke around. I wouldn’t even know where to start,” I whined.

  “It seems to me you’ve had no trouble so far. And I wouldn’t just turn you loose . I’d come with you when I could, and we’d have a strategy laid out, including interview questions.”

  I was running out of “buts.” She went on before I could object furthe r . “And need I remind you that I too have a business to run? My dad can’t handle all the cases himself. And I know one reason you started your own business was to have more control over your schedule. I know you have a team of people who help you. After all, I am your attorney. I know your business inside and out.”

  “But, I…”

  “Nope, Jade. That’s the deal. I can’t do it all on my own and there’s no one else I’d trust more. I can’t think of any better training for an investigator than someone who’s spent years in the trenches of academia. You understand the way people think, and you have a great B.S. meter. You can read people, you are analytical and you thrive on digging into the details and finding patterns. All the things that made you such an outstanding scholar and professor are the same ones that make you the ideal candidate to be my P.I.”

  She smiled satisfactorily at me, knowing I couldn’t turn her down after talking her into this job and claiming I would do anything to help Liz. Well, shoot!

  I looked at the ceiling wondering how this had happened. She’s railroaded me and I hadn’t seen it coming. I drew in a long breath of air and then blew it out skyward . “ Okay, you have me over a barrel. Which I guess serves me right since I did the same to you.”

  “You betcha !”

  “But you must promise that we will be a team. I was serious when I said I don’t know how any of this works, and that I’m worried I will screw something else up.”

  Gabby slapped her hands on her lap and stood up . “ We’ll be a full-fledged team: Langdon and Blackwell, defenders of the innocent!”

  “Sounds like a disaster,” I muttered. “Nope,” Gabby said with a light in her eyes I’d never seen before. “It sounds just about perfect.”

  I forced myself to dig in and get some work done in the morning. It took all of my concentration, but I managed to get some stuff off my MIT’s before it was time to leave to meet Gabby. I handed off several blog projects to Geena, including getting my physical address off of all my correspondence and replaced with my new P.O. Box. I also instructed her to contact the list of writers I subcontracted out to. I needed help meeting all the deadlines looming for ghostwriting clients. I’d really gotten behind in the last week with all this stuff with Liz going on.

  I also asked her to reach out to a few blogger friends who might be interested in doing some guest posts on my blog to keep content coming out regularly. That would really clear up my calendar.

  After that I finished my neglected bookkeeping chores that had gotten interrupted when Ron called to tell me about Liz’s incarceration. I’d just finished when it was time to head out.

  As I drove into town, I wondered what Gabby was going to tell me. And I wondered how I was going to tell her that paying her was going to be tricky…sigh. I could only do what I could do. The rest was going to have to be up to Liz and Ron.

  Lucy told me to go on in when I got to the office . I got the impression she didn’t really want to be out in the reception area alone with me after my odd behavior yesterday . No matter. I walked straight back to Gabby’s office. The door was closed so I tapped on it and then slowly opened it. She was just ending a phone conversation and she motioned me to come on in.

  I took off my coat and draped it over the other client chair along with my purse. I had had the foresight to bring a glass of tea with me. Seeing the look on Gabby’s face made my mouth go dry so I opened the lid and took a big gulp as she hung up the phone.

  “That was my former colleague in Cheyenne. There must be a rash of illegal activity right now because he claims they have no one available to take Liz’s case.” She shuffled some papers on her desk around and then looked up at me, “And the firm he recommended for the case is one I can’t and won’t recommend. I’ve had too many dealings with them. They’re shady in my opinion, and would be a bad match for Liz and Ron. I don’t know…” she trailed off and looked conflicted.

  She took a deep breath after coming to some silent conclusion and went on , “But let’s table that for now. Let me tell you what I know.”

  I agreed , feeling a little hope that she would cave in and take the case . I tried not to get my hopes up as I pulled out my pad and paper, ready to take notes. “First of all, what Ross has on Liz is circumstantial, but he definitely has enough to hold her on it .” She started counting off the evidence on her fingers. I could tell by the look on her face that she was going into serious lawyer mode.

  “Number one, counting off the evidence on her fingers . she was being stalked by the victim. She’s admitted to me that her business has been hurt by this situation. So her livelihood and reputation are at stake. Getting Connie out of the way would get her back in control quickly, reducing the amount of damage she could do. Number two , it seems that maybe the final straw was when the victim went to her kids’ school. She felt she had to protect them. Number three, even though she claims she didn’t know where the victim lived, it’s possible that she could have used the victim’s IP address and email to find her exact location—it’s easy enough to do.”

  Wow. That was a scary thought!

  Gabby went on, “And of course, Liz had the post about hemlock and the recipe for last fatal meal the victim ate all on her blog.”

  “But isn’t that too on the nose? I mean, would Liz have implicated herself like that? She’s not stupid. It just seems way too o
bvious to me. It’s like whoever did kill Connie was setting Liz up.”

  “Of course that is something we will have to look into, but the sheriff can’t overlook that fact. And then, last, but not least, they know Liz threatened Connie and Connie expected Liz to retaliate, even going so far as to write it out in her journal. “

  “Uh, don’t remind me!”

  “I’m sorry, but that’s part of the case against Liz.”

  “I know. That’s why I’m here. I want to do something to help Liz out of the mess I’ve gotten her into.”

  “ Well, you can see the evidence is circumstantial . And basically, unofficially, Ross told me that they simply have no other suspect. Liz has obvious motive and the means, since she knew where to find hemlock.”

  “What are we going to do, Gabby?” I sounded desperate and a bit pathetic, even to my own ears.

  “What we aren’t going to do is give up, Jade. All the defense has to do is provide other possible scenarios—other possible suspects who logically could have done the deed. We don’t have to prove Liz didn’t do it. That’s the prosecution’s job.”

  “So, by ‘we’ do you mean that you are going to take the case?” I asked as I crossed my fingers under the desk where she couldn’t see.

  There was an unfortunate long pause . Maybe I shouldn’t have asked so soon. It just kind of blurted out even though I hadn’t planned on saying it (I swear!)

  At last, Gabby took a deep breath and said, “Only on one condition .”

  I sat up on the edge of my chair, “What is it? You know I’ll do whatever I can to get you on Liz’s side…but I may need to renegotiate what I said about paying Liz’s legal fees.” I smiled weakly.