by Tim Kizer
Leonard Barlow called Mark at half past one. Mark asked him why Phillips had refused to take the plea deal, and he replied, “Because he’s innocent.”
“Did you advise him to take it?”
“I told him that he should seriously consider it.”
“Did you tell Phillips the prosecution had a weak case?”
“No. Can you meet me at my house tonight? There’s something I want to tell you about the Phillips case.”
“Sure. What’s your address?”
Barlow gave Mark his address. “What time should I expect you?”
“Around eight. By the way, you should have mentioned that Phillips had passed a lie detector test.”
“I thought you knew.”
3
Mark pulled to the curb and checked the dashboard clock before killing the engine. It was 7:38 p.m.
He was hungry, and now he wished he had stopped by a fast-food restaurant.
What was Barlow going to tell him? For some reason, Mark thought it would be something unfavorable to Edward Phillips.
A blond woman in her early thirties opened Barlow’s front door.
“Hi,” Mark said. “I’m here to see Leonard.”
“He’s not home yet,” the woman said.
Mark held up his police badge. “I’m Detective Mark Hinton with the Dallas PD. Leonard asked me to meet him at his house.”
The woman stepped back and said, “Please come in. He should be home any minute now.”
Mark thanked her and went inside. In the living room, he asked the woman what her name was.
“Alice,” she replied. “I’m Leonard’s wife. Would you like something to drink?”
“Yes.”
“We have soda, water, and iced tea.”
“Iced tea.”
When Alice came back with a bottle of iced tea, Mark asked, “How long have you been married?”
“Six years.”
“Do you have children?”
“No, not yet.” Nodding at the TV, where Shark Tank investors were grilling a young female entrepreneur, she asked, “Do you watch this show?”
“Sometimes. My wife likes it.”
Mark was silent for a few minutes, and then said, “What time does Leonard usually come home?”
“Around six.” She glanced at the wall clock. “He’s probably with a client. I can call him, if you want.”
“Let’s wait ten minutes.”
Barlow didn’t answer the phone when Alice called him ten minutes later. Alice sent Barlow a message informing him that Mark was at his house, and then said, “It must be something urgent. I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right.”
Mark left Barlow’s place at twenty minutes past eight. He wasn’t mad at the lawyer for wasting his time as he believed that circumstances beyond Barlow’s control had prevented him from telling Mark he would be late. Alice promised to ask her husband to call him as soon as he came home.
Mark didn’t hear from Leonard Barlow that night.
Chapter 10
1
“See you tomorrow, Leonard,” Sharon said from the doorway.
Leonard looked at his secretary and replied, “See you tomorrow.” Then he continued reading the police incident report lying on the desk in front of him.
He called it a day at five-twenty. As he rode the elevator down, Leonard thought about Mark Hinton. He was going to meet Hinton in less than three hours. Was he doing the right thing by telling Edward Phillips’s secret to him?
But was it a secret? Edward had never asked him to keep quiet about this.
The doors slid open, Leonard stepped out of the elevator and went outside through the back entrance.
The parking lot was silent except for the clatter of Leonard’s shoes. A gust of cool wind blew the fallen leaves across his path and ruffled his hair. He parked in the corner farthest from the building to get additional exercise. He had lost six pounds in the last four months, and he suspected that he had burned at least one of them by walking to and from his car.
When Leonard was twenty feet from his Lexus, he took out his car keys and unlocked the doors.
How would Hinton react to Edward’s story?
He’d probably laugh. And he’d call Edward crazy.
Leonard opened the driver’s door, put his briefcase on the passenger seat, and got behind the wheel. There was a knock on his window, and a male voice said, “Excuse me, Leonard, can I talk to you?”
The voice belonged to a young long-haired man in sunglasses and a baseball cap. Leonard rolled his window down and asked, “Do I know you?”
The man put his right hand in his jacket pocket. “I need to show you something.”
“What—”
Before Leonard could finish, the man stabbed him in the heart with the knife he had taken from his pocket. Leonard let out a groan and started to reach for the knife, his blue eyes bulging. The man pulled out the blade and severed Leonard’s carotid artery. The lawyer exhaled his last breath, and then his hands fell into his lap and his head dropped. The man wiped the knife on Leonard’s suit jacket, put it in his pocket, and walked away.
Leonard’s body sat in the car for two hours before it was discovered.
2
At ten o’clock on Tuesday morning, Mark called Leonard Barlow’s office, but no one answered the phone. He tried the lawyer’s cellphone and got voice mail.
When Mark was about to leave work, he dialed Barlow’s home number. Alice picked up the phone.
“This is Mark Hinton,” Mark said. “We met last night. Can I talk to Leonard?”
“Leo…”
Mark heard Alice crying.
“Leo’s dead,” Alice wailed. “He was murdered last night.”
Shocked, Mark was silent for a moment. Then he said, “I’m very sorry.”
On Wednesday morning Mark read the initial police report in the Leonard Barlow murder case to find out what had happened to the lawyer. He learned that Barlow had been murdered in his car in the parking lot of the building where his office was. The killer had stabbed him in the chest and cut his neck open.
The killer hadn’t taken the lawyer’s wallet or briefcase, so it wasn’t a robbery.
Was Barlow’s murder spontaneous or planned?
Barlow might have been killed by a madman or by a hot-tempered stranger he had offended in the parking lot, but Mark was inclined to believe that this murder was premeditated.
The killer hadn’t bothered to make it look like a robbery. Perhaps he had wanted to flee the crime scene as soon as possible.
Had Leonard Barlow been killed because of what he knew about the Phillips case? It was not a baseless speculation: the lawyer had been murdered when he was about to share some information about the case. There was no such thing as coincidence, as the cops liked to say.
Maybe Barlow had found proof that Sam Curtis had killed Helen, and Curtis had wasted him to prevent him from talking to the police? Barlow had said that Phillips had never mentioned Sam Curtis to him, but that must have been a lie.
This theory was bolstered by the fact that Barlow had been killed with a knife, like Helen.
3
When Mark came home, Joan handed him a letter from Edward Phillips. It read: “Dear Mark, I hope this finds you well. I’m writing to ask if you have followed Sam yet. If you have, please tell me when and for how long.
Did you see anything strange?
Are you going to follow him again? You need to follow him every day. There’s no other way to catch him in the act.
Are you going to visit me again?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
Ed Phillips.”
“What does it say?” Joan asked.
Mark gave her the letter. She read it, and said, “Who’s Sam?”
“Phillips claims this Sam guy killed Helen.”
“I see.”
Mark wrote a letter back to Phillips, which read: “Hello, Edward. I followe
d Sam on October 14, from six p.m. to midnight. I saw nothing strange. I might follow him again. I’ll visit you this Saturday.”
Mark thought of asking Phillips about Helen’s blood on his clothes and his fingerprint on Helen’s belt buckle, then decided to talk about it in person, wanting to watch Phillips’s face and body language and try to determine if he was telling the truth.
Lying in bed that night, Mark thought about Phillips’s request to follow Sam Curtis every day. He would have gladly granted Phillips’s wish, but only if he was sure that Curtis was Helen’s killer.
Was there a less time-consuming way to get to the truth?
In Mark’s opinion, the most effective alternative was to capture and question Curtis, using torture if necessary. Seizing Curtis wouldn’t be a problem; Mark could do it alone if he had to.
Where was he going to interrogate Curtis?
If Curtis lived by himself, he could do it in Curtis’s house. If Curtis had a roommate, Mark could use his parents’ house at Lake Ray Hubbard.
There was one problem, however: Curtis might give a false confession just to make the torture stop.
Mark quickly found a solution. If Curtis confessed, he would ask him how he had killed Helen and where he had left the body.
Chapter 11
1
His conversation with Mark Hinton gave Detective Carlos Aguero a lot of food for thought. He saw two possibilities. Possibility number one: Edward Phillips had a partner, who had participated in killing Helen Hinton, and it was that partner who had murdered Laura Sumner. Possibility number two: there was no direct link between the two murders.
It was not uncommon for serial killers to work in teams. The Los Angeles Hillside Strangler, who had raped and killed ten women in the late 1970s, was actually two people, Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono. The infamous Henry Lee Lucas, who had been convicted of eleven murders, had had a partner by the name of Otis Toole. Between 1984 and 1999 nineteen people had been murdered by a serial killer duo nicknamed Speed Freak Killers, which consisted of Loren Herzog and Wesley Shermantine (they had gotten their moniker because they were methamphetamine junkies).
On October 13, Aguero went to Livingston to have a chat with Edward Phillips. He had no expectations for this meeting: that was the easiest way to avoid disappointment.
The way things stood, the likelihood of Laura Sumner’s murder being solved was low. They had no witnesses, no murder weapon, no fingerprints, no hairs, no skin under the victim’s fingernails, nothing. There had been no activity on the case for over a month, and it felt great to finally do some work on it.
Aguero’s plan was simple. He was going to offer Edward Phillips a deal: if Phillips helped them catch Laura Sumner’s killer, they would get the governor to commute his death sentence to life in prison. His only concern was that Phillips would make something up and send them on a wild-goose chase.
2
The room was as ascetic as the other prison interview rooms Aguero had been in: bare walls, a metal table bolted to the floor, and four chairs, also bolted to the floor.
“Good morning.” Aguero shook hands with the guard and sat across from Edward Phillips, whose eyes had been fixed on him from the moment he entered. The chair was cold, as was the table.
Aguero nodded to the guard, and he left the room.
“I’m Detective Carlos Aguero. I’m with the Austin Police Department.” Aguero opened his briefcase and took out a file folder and a digital voice recorder.
“What can I do for you?”
Phillips’s hands were cuffed and chained to his waist belt, and his legs were shackled to the table. He looked serene, but Aguero was willing to bet it was just a façade.
Aguero pressed the Record button on the recorder and said, “I’d like to inform you that this conversation is being recorded.”
“Okay.”
“Please state your name.”
“Edward Phillips.”
“Can you tell me why you’re in this prison?”
“I was convicted of murder.”
“You were sentenced to death, weren’t you?”
Phillips nodded. “Yes.”
“Would you like your death sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole?”
“That would be nice, I guess.”
“We could help you with that.”
“What do I have to do?”
Aguero opened the file folder, found a photo of Helen Hinton’s body, and put it on the table. “Do you recognize her?”
The picture, which had been taken at the crime scene, showed Helen lying on her back with her T-shirt pulled up to her neck, and you could see all the wounds inflicted by the killer. Phillips looked at the photo for a long moment and said, “Is it Helen Hinton?”
“Yes, that’s Helen Hinton. You stabbed her twice in the chest and cut open her stomach.”
Phillips shook his head. “I didn’t kill Helen Hinton. I’m innocent.”
“All right. I understand. I didn’t come here to get you to confess.” Aguero pulled a crime scene photo of Laura Sumner’s body from the folder and placed it beside Helen’s picture. “This is Laura Sumner. She was murdered in Austin last August. As you can see, there are two stab wounds in her chest, and her abdomen was cut open.”
“Yes, I can see that.”
“Her wounds are similar to those on Helen Hinton’s body.”
“Yes, they are.”
“Do you know why?”
“No.”
“Do you have any information about the murder of Laura Sumner?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Do you have any idea who might have killed her?”
“No.”
Aguero leaned forward and said, “Edward, if you help us catch Laura Sumner’s killer, we’ll get the governor to commute your death sentence.”
“Can you get him to pardon me?”
Phillips was bargaining. That was a good sign.
“I don’t know. I’ll have to discuss that with my boss. Do we have a deal?”
“I wish I could help you, but I have no idea who might have killed this woman.”
Phillips moved his legs, and the chain connecting his ankle shackles jingled softly.
“I think I know what your concern is,” Aguero said. “You’re afraid Laura’s killer will tell us something that you want to keep secret.”
“What are you talking about?”
“For example, he might say that you and he killed a bunch of people together.”
“I’ve never killed anyone.”
“If you help us catch this guy, nothing he says will be used against you. You’ll be granted immunity for all crimes exposed by him. It’s a great deal, Edward. This is the best chance you’ll ever have to save your life. You don’t seriously think your appeal will succeed, do you?”
“I’d be lying if I said I did. It’s a good deal, I agree. But the thing is, I don’t know who killed Laura Sumner. I’m sorry, Detective.” Phillips smiled apologetically.
“You know what? I think you are innocent. I believe the person who killed Helen Hinton also killed Laura Sumner. That’s why the wounds on their bodies match. And I think you know who that person is. You were with him when he murdered Helen. You did not participate, you just watched. Am I right?”
“I don’t know who killed these girls.”
“I’m trying to help you, Edward. You’ll never have an opportunity like this again. Do you understand that?”
“Yes, I do. If I knew who killed Helen Hinton, I would have told you.”
“How did Helen’s blood get on your clothes? How did your fingerprint end up on her belt buckle?”
“I was framed.”
“You were there when Helen was murdered.”
“No, I wasn’t.”
Aguero pressed the Stop button on the voice recorder, took out his business card, and said, “All right. If you change your mind, call me.” He got up from the table and put his card in Phill
ips’s hand.
Aguero’s intuition told him Edward Phillips was lying. He could think of only one plausible reason why Phillips would withhold information: Laura Sumner had been killed by someone Phillips cared about, someone whose life he valued more than his own. It could be a close relative or a lover.
Thinking that Edward Phillips might want to warn his partner, Aguero asked the assistant warden to keep him informed of every phone call made by Edward Phillips and every letter written by him.
On Monday, October 16, Aguero called Leonard Barlow and told him about the deal he had offered to Edward Phillips. The lawyer promised to talk to Phillips about the deal as soon as he could. Four hours after their conversation Barlow was murdered.
On October 18, Aguero sent all police and sheriff’s departments in Texas letters asking them to contact him if they had unsolved cases similar to Laura Sumner’s. Then he searched through all cases investigated by the Austin PD Homicide Unit in the last two years, and found none similar to Laura’s.
Chapter 12
1
On Thursday, October 19, Mark received the report on Edward Phillips’s polygraph exam. Phillips had taken the test on January 26. The following relevant questions had been asked:
“Do you know who killed Helen Hinton?” (Phillips answered, “No.” The examiner concluded it was a lie.)
“Did you kill Helen Hinton?” (Phillips answered, “No.” The examiner concluded it was a truthful response.)
“Were you present when Helen Hinton was murdered?” (Phillips answered, “No.” The examiner concluded it was a truthful response.)
The polygraph test results supported Phillips’s claim that he knew who had murdered Helen.
After reading the report, Mark called the Allan B. Polunsky Unit and scheduled a visit with Edward Phillips.
2
At half past five on Friday, as Mark drove to Dallas PD headquarters from Greenland Hills, where he had interviewed the victims of a home invasion that had taken place last night, his phone rang. It was Detective Aguero. Mark answered the phone and put it on speaker.
