“We’ll get him in the ramp. He has a reserved spot where he parks every day,” Anna said.
“That way we’ll have him all day, too,” Max said.
“What if he asks for a lawyer?” Anna asked.
“Tell him we’ll deal with that when you get to the department. Bring him there. That will scare him some more. Do not give him Miranda. Wait until we want to talk to him. I’ll be at the police department waiting. Don’t ask him anything. Tell him his questions will all be answered.”
“He may ask for a lawyer but I doubt it. I bet he doesn’t say a word. He’ll know why we picked him up and he’ll be scared shitless,” Anna said.
“Let’s hope so,” Heather answered her.
“Here he comes,” Anna said, “right on time.” Max and Anna were parked in the ramp three spaces away from Cooper’s reserved spot. They had arrived before 7:30 expecting the anally punctual lawyer to show up just before 8:00.
Cooper parked his Mercedes and as he walked away, he pressed the car’s key fob to lock the doors. As he did this, Max got out of Anna’s car while she started the engine. They were parked between Cooper’s spot and the elevators so Cooper had to walk right up to them. When Max was roughly fifteen feet from him, Cooper recognized the detective and stopped walking; the color draining from his face.
“Mr. Thomas,” Max said when he reached the spot where Cooper stood. Max opened his leather pouch and held up his shield. “We need you to come to the police department with us.”
By this time Anna had pulled the car next to them and got out. She walked around the front of it to stand next to the obviously distraught Cooper Thomas. Max Coolidge, being the veteran that he was, could intimidate just about anyone without trying. Anna half expected Cooper’s knees to buckle.
“Um, sorry, no,” he managed to say. “I’m busy today. It will have to wait.”
“Sorry,” Max deadpanned, “we’re doing this now.”
Finding a little more testosterone Cooper said, “Am I under arrest?”
“No, not yet,” Anna said emphasizing the word, yet. “But we will arrest you if necessary.”
“We’d like you to come along and answer a few questions, voluntarily,” Max said still staring directly into Cooper’s eyes.
“Um, ah, okay,” Cooper said looking back and forth at the two cops. “Can I, ah, call my office first?”
“We’ll take care of that on the way to the department,” Max said as he opened the backseat passenger door for him.
Cooper climbed in and Max followed him into the backseat. Anna got back behind the wheel. Fifteen minutes later they walked into the main department building northeast of downtown St. Paul.
“Have a seat, Mr. Thomas,” Anna said pointing to one of the cheap, gray, padded metal government issued chairs.
They had taken him into one of the interrogation rooms; a room Cooper Thomas had never been in and in his worst nightmare never believed he would see. It was a 12 x 18 rectangle with one window with bars over it. The walls were gray painted cinderblock, stark and cold. In the middle of the room was a 3 x 8 feet table with a half-dozen cheap, government chairs around it exactly like the one Cooper was sitting on. To Cooper’s left was a one-way mirror used to allow observers to see in and watch the proceedings. The piece of final stark décor was a cell in front of which Cooper had been intentionally seated so he had to look directly at it. It was a holding cell. It consisted of a totally empty space surrounded on three sides by steel bars with a small door. It was attached to the wall providing a graphic picture of what this place really is: a jail. Since sitting down, he had not taken his eyes off of it.
“You relax for a minute. We’ll be right back,” Max politely told him. “Can we get you anything? A cup of coffee, maybe?”
“No, um, thanks,” Cooper croaked. He was still staring at the holding cell, his arms wrapped around the briefcase he had with him holding it on his lap against his chest.
Without another word, Max and Anna walked out and went into the observation room. Heather Anderson was watching Cooper through the mirror.
“I hope he doesn’t wet himself,” she said. “This is almost cruel.”
“He’ll be fine,” Max assured her. “He needs a good look at what he might be facing,” Max continued referring to the cell.
“Besides,” Anna said, “I’m close to one hundred percent sure he did it. He’s covering for her.”
“Why do you think that?” Heather asked.
“He hasn’t asked us one word about why he’s here,” Max said.
“He knows,” Anna added.
The three of them stood silently watching Cooper for two more minutes; a long time when you’re sitting alone in an interrogation room at a police station. Cooper actually calmed a bit. His breathing looked to be normal. He put the briefcase on the floor and mopped his brow with a handkerchief.
The three of them entered the room and Heather introduced herself to him.
“Did you give him his Miranda warning?” Heather asked.
“Not yet. We haven’t asked him anything,” Max said.
“Do it now, please,” Heather pleasantly asked Max.
When Max finished reading from the laminated card he carried, Heather removed a single sheet of paper from the soft leather bag she had placed on the table. She had taken the chair opposite Cooper while Max and Anna leaned on the wall behind him.
“This is a document I need you to sign,” Heather said smiling as she slid the paper with a pen over to Cooper. “It merely acknowledges that you were read your rights before you were asked any questions.”
Cooper looked it over doing his best to act like a lawyer who knew all about these things. He picked up the pen, scrawled his signature where indicated then said, “I think I want a lawyer.”
“You think you do but you’re not sure?” Heather asked.
“I’m sure,” he said. “I want to call a lawyer.”
“Would you like to call someone from your firm?” Heather asked.
“Oh, god, no!” Cooper almost yelled.
Perfect answer, Heather thought. He doesn’t want them to know about this.
“Look,” Heather softly said putting the pen and signed acknowledgement into her briefcase. “Before you get a lawyer and turn this adversarial, let me explain some things. You can always get a lawyer at any time. Do you understand that? Hear me out then you can decide if you want to bring a lawyer into this. Okay?”
“All right,” Cooper said relaxing a bit.
“Good. First of all, it’s not you we’re after and I think you know that, unless you are a co-conspirator in the murder of William Sutherland.”
“Of course not!” Cooper yelled.
Heather ignored his outburst then said, “We are absolutely certain that Mackenzie Sutherland murdered her husband, William Sutherland.”
Cooper started to protest again then stopped when Heather held up a hand to him.
“Please just listen. We believe she murdered the old man and his son, Robert and her prior husband when she lived in Chicago, a man named Wendell Cartwright. Don’t bother to protest,” she said when Cooper started to again.
“We are going to convict her. I believe we have enough evidence already but we can always use more. The question for you is: are you so in love with her that you’re willing to go down with her?”
By this point, Max had quietly moved around and was leaning on the cell bars. He wanted to be in position to see Cooper’s reaction.
“I, ah, don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cooper stammered unconvincingly.
“Please,” Heather said with a sly smile. “Please don’t insult our intelligence. She murdered old man Sutherland and the husband in Chicago for their money. I’ll admit we can’t prove the murder of the husband from Chicago. We will get her for William Sutherland and she set up Bob Sutherland and murdered him, too. The woman is a serial killer and you could be found to be an accomplice. You committed perjury when you submitted an
affidavit in which you swore you changed William Sutherland’s Will leaving everything to Mackenzie and she didn’t know about it. According to the medical examiner, the timeline for it is perfect,” Heather lied. “You changed the Will and she started to poison him shortly after. We know it and we’ll prove it. Now is your one and only chance to get ahead of this and help yourself.”
“Did she promise you that you would be together once things settled down?” Max asked him.
After a full minute had passed, a completely defeated Cooper Thomas whispered, “Yes.”
A heavy silence filled the room as Heather and Max continued to stare at him, shocked by the admission. Anna took the chair at the head of the table to Cooper’s right, folded her hands on the tabletop and added her unblinking look.
“I’m not going to play games with you,” Heather said breaking the silence. “If you want to get a lawyer all bets are off and we come after you right along with her. You’ll be charged as a co-conspirator.”
“You’re asking me to…” he said then paused.
“…break a client’s confidence,” Heather finished for him. “Here’s the deal,” Heather continued. “You cooperate and come clean, we grant you immunity and don’t prosecute you for perjury and conspiracy. Maybe you get to keep your nice home on the lake, the country club, your partnership and your family. Don’t cooperate and I guarantee you’ll lose it all.”
“You can’t prove…” Cooper started to say.
“Really? Why didn’t William Sutherland go to his own lawyer, Simon Kane? Why you? Because you were Mackenzie’s lawyer, that’s why. You didn’t think we’d notice this? Don’t underestimate us. You are so far over your head you can’t see up.”
Heather placed her right elbow on the table, raised her right hand and with her thumb pointed over her shoulder at the holding cell. “How’s that looking to you right about now? Think about losing everything you have then spending the next thirty years in one. We’re going to step out now and let you think about what you want to do with the rest of your life.”
Heather and Anna stood up and Max went to the door. Before she walked away from the table, Heather placed both hands on it and leaned over to look directly at Cooper.
“In case you haven’t figured it out yet, Mackenzie Sutherland is playing you for a fool.”
THIRTY-THREE
Heather went through the door first followed by Anna then Max. By the time Max closed the door behind them Heather was bent over leaning against the opposite wall taking deep breaths.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Anna whispered.
Heather straightened up, looked at the two detectives and said, “We are on very thin ice here. If he goes for a lawyer, we’re screwed, trying to coerce a lawyer to break the attorney-client privilege. I’ll be lucky if I only get suspended.”
Max smiled and said, “Relax. It’ll be all right. He just admitted we’re right when he said we’re trying to get him to break a client’s confidence.” He then went into the observation room to watch Cooper.
“He’ll go,” Anna said. “You’ll see. I can smell the fear and it’s because we’re right; he did commit perjury when he signed that affidavit.”
“I hope you’re right,” Heather quietly said. “Well, we’re up to our ass in alligators now. Might as well finish draining the swamp.”
“Atta girl,” Anna said. “Let’s go watch. Oh and you were really good in there. You had me convinced we can prove he did it.”
The three of them stood silently behind the mirror watching the lawyer. He was obviously nervous. At one point he took out his phone and stared at it.
“Did he call his office to tell them he’d be delayed?” Heather asked.
“In the car on the way here,” Max said.
“If he makes a call, it will be to a lawyer,” Heather said.
Cooper held the phone in his hand trying to decide what to do. He turned his head to look at his side of the mirror probably realizing he was being watched. A minute or so after he took it from his coat pocket he put the phone back where it came from.
“He’s ready, let’s go,” Max said.
“I want some assurance that you will help me with the Office of Professional Responsibility,” was the first thing Cooper said to Heather even before she sat down.
“Absolutely,” Heather quickly said. “Whatever I can do, I will. In fact, I’m willing to tell them your conscience got the better of you and you came forward voluntarily.” Heather said this knowing it was probably a lie and would not help him anyway. The only promise she could keep would be not to prosecute him criminally. Whatever problems Cooper was going to have with the OPR, and they would be numerous and severe, were going to be his problems to deal with. Later, when she had taken the time to think about it, Heather would be mildly amused at how little she cared what would happen to Mackenzie’s fallen lawyer.
“Here’s the deal,” Heather began as she took a legal pad and pen from her briefcase.
“I should still have a lawyer,” Cooper said.
“It’s up to you. Look, you can trust me, Cooper. It’s not you we want. Mackenzie Sutherland is a cold, calculating, serial killer. She has to be stopped. You are being given complete immunity from prosecution for anything related to your representation of her and the crimes she has committed.”
Mackenzie pulled a sheet of paper from her briefcase and continued. “In fact, I’ll write it up now.” Which she did.
Cooper read over the grant of immunity and signed it. Heather assured him he would get a copy of it.
“The immunity is contingent on a couple of things. First, you will be one hundred percent cooperative. That includes testifying in front of the grand jury and at trial and anywhere else that becomes necessary. Second, and most importantly, you will be totally forthcoming, honest and truthful. Any lying or keeping things from us and the deal’s off. Okay?”
“Okay,” Cooper agreed. “I’ll wait with the lawyer for now. The fewer people who know about this, the better.”
“We’re going to hear you out and go over your story. Then we’ll do it a second time and videotape it.
“Tell us about William Sutherland’s Will. Were you the one that drafted his Will approximately four months before his death?”
“Yes,” Cooper began. “Mackenzie came to me about a month before this and told me she was thinking about a divorce. She said they barely spoke to each other and had no sexual relations for over a year. But she said he had violated the terms of their prenuptial agreement through numerous infidelities.”
“They had a prenup?” Heather asked. He looked back and forth at Anna and Max and asked, “Why am I just now hearing about this?”
“No one knew,” Cooper interjected. “They kept it secret.”
“How do you know that?” Heather asked.
“I was Mackenzie’s lawyer when it was written. They both wanted it. Mackenzie had a lot of money of her own before she married Bill. More than Bill had. In the event of a divorce, she had more to protect than he did.”
“I’m not sure that’s true,” Heather said. “I don’t know a lot about family law but I do know her money would be considered pre-marital.”
“True,” Cooper agreed. “But that alone doesn’t always protect it in a divorce. Especially if some of it gets commingled.”
“Okay, tell us about the prenup,” Heather said.
“Basically, it spelled out that in the event of a divorce, they shake hands and walk away. Whatever additional assets either of them acquired during the marriage would be considered the sole and exclusive property of the one who accumulated it. Unless…”
“One of them committed adultery,” Heather said.
“Right. Mackenzie insisted on that clause because…”
“Bill Sutherland was a notorious womanizer,” Max said finishing the thought.
“Exactly,” Cooper said. “And Mackenzie had plenty of proof he had not been faithful.”
“What happens if one
of them cheats and they divorce?” Anna asked.
“The cheater, Bill, pays Mackenzie five million dollars.”
“How much money did Mackenzie have before the marriage?” Heather asked.
“I don’t know, exactly. At least forty million. I never saw her complete financials,” Cooper shrugged.
“Don’t they have to disclose this in the prenup?” Heather asked.
“Yeah, but they each signed an amendment to it that stated they both had received complete financials from each other and were satisfied that everything had been fully disclosed.”
“Wait a minute, if Bill has to pay her five million in a divorce and she pays him nothing, isn’t that more of a motive for Bill to kill her?” Max asked.
“Except, when she came to me about writing a new Will, she claimed they had decided to go to marriage counseling to save the marriage. This was Bill’s idea. Bill even told me this. But Mackenzie used that as leverage to get him to change the Will. They also had me draft a postnuptial agreement voiding the prenup. In the event of a divorce, they walk away no matter if anyone cheats.”
“Why didn’t Bill get the divorce after that?” Heather asked.
“Bill was serious about saving the marriage,” Cooper shrugged again. “He wasn’t getting any younger. He had a young, beautiful wife and he realized he might not have another chance.”
“Little did he know,” Anna said.
“Did Mackenzie say anything to you about poisoning Bill?” Max asked.
“Of course not!” Cooper said. “I still don’t believe she did it.”
“Let me get this straight,” Heather said. “William Southland changed his Will and cut out his kids to save his marriage. Is that what happened?”
“Bill hated his kids. They were a huge disappointment to him. Bob was an okay grocery store manager, the other two were worthless.”
“Over the years,” Max said, “there has been talk of the family having to bail Adam out of some legal scrapes. I never knew what because I always steered clear of it because of my personal relationship with the family. I heard a couple may have been pretty serious, prison time serious.”
Marc Kadella Legal Mysteries Vol 1-6 (Marc Kadella Series) Page 204
