The Very Worst Man

by Laura Stapleton

  “You assume right.” The woman grinned at Alexandra and pointed to the new drink next to the one she just sat down. “He bought this for you.”

  How had she gotten that out of him buying a round for the three of them? He didn’t want anyone thinking he’d meant more than a simple, friendly gesture. “I bought drinks for both of you ladies.”

  Alexandra’s friend grinned and took a large drink before saying, “He loves us.”

  Dear God! The woman was going to think he was hitting on her. Quelling the panic, Hayden forced a laugh. “I what? No, you seem like a nice person, and I already know Ms. Bromley.”

  “About that.” The woman winked at Hayden before addressing Alexandra. “How long have you been acquainted with a hunk like this without telling me?”

  “You haven’t got his phone number yet? You’re slacking, dearest.” Alexandra looked from one to the other, both shaking their heads. “I suppose it’s up to me to introduce you two against my better judgment. This is Hayden Wells, prosecuting attorney and destroyer of my brother’s life.” She put her hand on Maxine’s shoulder. “Destroyer, this is my best friend from grade school, Maxine Johnson.”

  Grinning at him, Maxine said, “I rather like Destroyer as a name. Besides, don’t you think Stan did that whole ruin his life thing without this guy’s help?”

  Alexandra arched her eyebrow at him as if daring him to argue. “No, I think he was framed.”

  “This is interesting.” Hayden took a drink. “I’d love to know the criminal mastermind behind this particular murder. Has Bromley vowed to find his wife’s killer yet? That’s usually what they want to do next.”

  “Of course he has.” Alexandra frowned at him. “We both want to know who really killed Sheila if he wasn’t the one.”

  Had she really used the word “if” instead of “since”? Maybe she wasn’t as blind to Stan’s guilt as Hayden had suspected. He had to ask her, “You have doubts about his innocence? That’s news to me.”

  She lifted her chin as if defying his observation. “No, I don’t. I’m just intent on clearing your doubts so he can come home.”

  The idea of Alexandra taking in her brother scared him, and he asked without thinking, “Not to live with you, I hope?”

  Giving him a withering stare, she said, “No, he’d live at the farm.”

  “Good. I don’t want him near you,” he blurted before censoring himself. Sheila’s murder proved how easily Stan could kill a woman. He paused while the bartender put down his food. “What do you think will happen when he gets angry with you? Let’s hope he loves you more than he did his wife.”

  She pointed to the dining room. “We’re done. Either you find a table somewhere else in here, or we will.”

  Maxine leaned forward, looking at Hayden but talking to her friend. “I don’t know, Ax, I think he has a good point. What if Stan did actually kill her?” At Alexandra’s glare, she held up her hands. “Hey, everyone has a moment of weakness when they do the unthinkable. Maybe she just pushed him too far and he was that mad.”

  “No. He wouldn’t hurt her.” Alexandra crossed her arms. “He loved Sheila, has been broken up over her death. I can’t believe he’d strangle her himself. You’ve both heard the 911 call; he was frantic for help.”

  Hayden had heard the melodramatic call for himself, and he choked down a laugh along with a stuffed mushroom. “Because he knew he’d stepped into deep shit.”

  Like a tennis match spectator, she turned to Hayden to glare at him again. “No, he was devastated at how the love of his life died.”

  “You sure about that?” he asked.

  “Of course I am. They loved each other. I never saw them fight or even argue. You and I have argued a lot more now than the both of them ever did.”

  “Do I need to tell you there’s a difference between how abused women act in public versus private? You’re much smarter than that.” As soon as the sentence left his mouth, Maxine’s expression told him he’d stepped over a line.

  Alexandra gave him a tightlipped smile as if reining in her temper. “They fought. Every couple does, but not so much he’d kill her.”

  The guy had a violent past his sister didn’t want to see, and now that she’d drawn Hayden into an argument, he couldn’t let it go. “Did you ever see him lose his temper, get really angry?”

  She stared him full in the eyes and said, “No.”

  “Oh my God, Ax, really?” her friend exclaimed. “Did you really just say that?”

  He smiled and waved a hand at the other woman to reassure her. “It’s ok, Maxine. I know she’s not telling the truth.” He dipped a carrot stick into the ranch dressing, needing something to cool down the spice from a buffalo wing.

  “So I’m a horrible liar.” She ate the candied cherry from her drink and her friend nodded behind her in agreement. “Sure Stan lost his temper once in a while and was scary when he did. Everyone gets angry like that, not just him.”

  Hayden seized on the one word causing him worry for her sake. “He was scary?”

  Maxine answered for her. “Very. He’s a strong guy and just went nuts when it happened.”

  Through gritted teeth she said, “Maxine, you’re not helping.”

  “No, but I’m telling him the truth. Besides, he’s already been convicted. Even if we gave Hayden photos and a signed confession from Stan, he can’t retry him. Double jeopardy.”

  Shrugging like it was no big deal, Alexandra drained the drink he’d bought her and pushed it away. “I know. I just want to prove him innocent, not add more to why he’s locked up.”

  Opening his hands as a sympathetic move, he said, “Look, for what it’s worth, I don’t think your brother is a mass murderer or serial killer. In fact, he didn’t plan the murder very well at all.”

  “I’m not surprised. Stan isn’t one for planning,” said Maxine.

  Hayden nodded his head. “Most do a better job of preparation to avoid getting caught, but I was lucky with Bromley. He left evidence all over the place.”

  “I heard at the trial.”

  The glare Alexandra gave him through squinted eyes angered him a little. It felt to him as if she blamed him not only for convicting Stan, but for her brother’s actions too. Giving way to his temper a little, he counted out on his fingers as he asked each question. “So what piece of evidence do I discount first then? How his fingerprints line up with the red marks around her neck? The knee sized dent just above her cracked sternum? Maybe the scratches down his arms and how it matched the skin DNA from under Sheila’s fingernails? You tell me who else could have killed her.”

  Alexandra hopped down from the barstool. “I’ve heard enough. You don’t even want another suspect in this. You’re fixated on Stan being the murderer and you can’t even try to find the truth.”

  He laughed at the idea of him wrongly fixating on Bromley as the only murderer. “Oh, I found all the truth I needed. Every bit of it.” He shrugged. “I can’t help if you’re delusional about the guy. He’s guilty as sin, and that’s all there is to it.”

  Pulling her purse from where it hung over her chair, she said, “Maxine, I want to go.”

  “I don’t know, Ax. I want to stay for a while.” She nodded at Hayden’s half empty plate. “We haven’t eaten yet.”

  She lifted her chin. “I see. Stay, then. I’ll be in the foyer until you’re ready to go.” Turning to Hayden, she gave him a death glare. “Unless you want him to be the one taking you home.”

  Maxine gave him a wink. “He’s cute, but no. I like my Jerry. Go ahead and I’ll take care of our tab. My turn this time, remember?”

  She nodded and walked away, still giving him the evil eye. He felt a little assaulted under the cold blue anger. Seemed Stan wasn’t the only one with a temper. He didn’t mind; it meant the woman had passion. Loyalty too, even if misplaced. “You two should have said something about not having dinner yet. I’d have been glad to share and even ordered more. With her leaving, I don’t have a chance to m
ake up for being rude and chowing down in front of you.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Maxine put her elbow on the bar and examined Hayden. “You get her riled up really fast, don’t you?”

  He made a motion for another beer and answered his new friend. “Seems so. I’ve dealt with mad wet hens successfully before now and still don’t know how to soothe her ruffled feathers. I suspect in her case reversing Stan’s life sentence would do it.”

  “Would you, if you could?”

  “God no.” He took a deep drink of the fresh beer. “He needs to stay locked up for what he did.” The barkeep walked by again and Hayden waved for his attention. “To go box, please.” Turning back to Maxine, he said, “She was there when I demonstrated how long strangling someone to death takes. She’s seen all the evidence, stuff I can’t make up or spin into something innocent or accidental. I’ve tried looking at this from her point of view and honestly don’t know how she can believe the guy didn’t do it.”

  Maxine took her receipt from the bartender, glancing at it before shoving it into her billfold. “She doesn’t want to believe anything bad about her older brother. Could you ever imagine an older sibling killing someone?”

  He didn’t want to admit she had a point about Alexandra’s denial. “Good question. My brother happens to be a model citizen. He takes that do no harm part of the Hippocratic oath seriously.”

  “He’s a doctor?” At Hayden’s nod, she continued, “Well, there you go. He’s a more productive member of society than Stan.” She dug into her purse for the buzzing phone.

  Hearing this description of Bromley for the first time, Hayden checked his memory. The man had always been employed. Some jobs were seasonal and all of them temporary. Still, the guy was known around town as a hard worker. “You don’t consider him productive?”

  “Oh, he was as much as he could be.” She glanced at her phone and frowned. While tapping out a return message, she said, “Life for a dropout isn’t as romantic as the movies make it seem.”

  He still had nightmares about not finishing college, never mind high school. “I can imagine.”

  “Really? I’m thinking you might not get it. I know Alex doesn’t.” She looked at her phone again before placing it back in her purse. “People who go to more than four years of college like you and her don’t understand what it’s like.”

  Afraid he might have misspoke and hurt her feelings, he asked, “Did you not go to college?”

  She smiled and patted his shoulder. “I did and finished. But as an adult education instructor, I work with a lot of people who didn’t or couldn’t. Now I try to help them with a do over in life when possible.”

  He had a fresh appreciation for Maxine. She was a knockout and had a good heart to go with her looks. “That’s great.”

  “It is, actually. I get to help someone who has no hope, or thinks they don’t, and cheer them on to a better life. It’s very rewarding.”

  “I’ll bet.” Hayden knew Alexandra waited for her friend and suspected the text to Maxine had been from her. Still, he couldn’t help but ask, “What made you get into something so altruistic for a career?”

  Crossing her arms, she gave him a defiant grin. “You know, let’s talk about something else. Like why you’re bothering Alex.”

  “I’m bothering her?” Damn. The last thing he needed was a complaint lodged against him with the District Attorney’s office. “I didn’t know. She seems so certain of Bromley’s innocence, and I’m trying to see it too.”

  Maxine’s eyes narrowed. “Why? His trial is over.”

  The woman’s stare had him pinned like a bug in an insect collection. “Her belief in him is so strong that I started to wonder. Even though his trial is a done deal, if there’s a shred of evidence that he didn’t do this, I want to know. I want to be able to say I’ve never convicted an innocent man.”

  “Wow. That’s really great.” Her expression softened, and she leaned in. “All right, this is between you and me. Got it?” At his nod, she continued, “Ax has a huge blind spot concerning Stan. You probably guessed that already.” When he bit his lip to keep from laughing, she tried but couldn’t help smiling. “I know I’m not the only one who sees the obvious. I don’t know how else to say it except he’s a jerk. Maybe I could call him an asshole, but that’s just rude.”

  Maxine didn’t seem to be the shy type about her opinions, his first clue being her last sentence. Alexandra had to know what her friend thought of Stan. “You’ve not told her this yourself?”

  “I’ve not said so to her, no. She knows I think he’s mean sometimes. As kids, we’d be hanging out and he’d pop off some smartass remark. I’d call him on it, but Alex wouldn’t. She’d apologize for me and go on. I really hated that too, her saying sorry to him.” Her phone buzzed and Maxine waved toward the door in an acknowledgement. “Over the years, it’s become a nervous tic of hers when he’s around.”

  He’d seen some of this attitude for himself in the courtroom. “Hmm.” When he turned to the front and saw Alexandra there, tapping her watch, he didn’t care if she read his lips. “She does seem to go from zero to defensive pretty quick. Some people might find that annoying after a while, being around someone who’s always imagining an insult.”

  “Excuse me? Sure she’s defensive but only because he’s that offensive.” Maxine peeled the label off of her empty beer bottle. “His wife, dead-because-he-killed-her…sorry, I’m still pissed about it. Anyway, Sheila started out a happy and confident woman. Five years with Stan and she turned into a shadow. Lurking in the background, ready to jump up at a moment’s notice and do whatever he said. She fetched his beers, ironed his clothes, did all the housework, and did a lot of the outside work.”

  Except for the nervous spouse part, she’d just described seventy percent of marriages he’d ever been around. “Ok, isn’t that what most wives do?”

  Her jaw dropped open before she recovered and said in an octave higher than her normal voice, “Really?” Maxine cleared her throat before continuing. “I’d thought better of you, Wells. Thought you were more modern and human than that.”

  “No, I mean, not that it has to be that way, but the male female division of labor still rules this part of the country.”

  “Fine. Let’s go with traditional gender roles and compare his work history with hers. Background checks had to tell you how she worked full time at the hospital cafeteria. And how he did odd jobs with a lot of days off in between. No public information could have told you how she did the cooking and cleaning while he did the beer drinking and TV watching.” She pointed a finger at him. “Don’t even begin to say it sounded like a good setup to you, not even if you mean it. It’s not right and I’d be just as mad about how unfair it was if Stan was the spouse working full time at one job and then coming home to work full time at another because of a lazy bum of a wife.”

  He held up his hands as if warding off any hits. “I wasn’t going to go there and you’re right, I did notice that.” Shaking his head at the bartender’s silent query, he said, “Seems he killed his golden goose.”

  “Yeah, and what little money she made is still waiting for him when or if he ever gets out.”

  “It is?” The guy had any sort of money and yet his sister was going into debt over his expenses? Something seemed fishy about all this. “So how are his bills, taxes, and legal fees being settled? Has he conned Alexandra into footing the bill?”

  “Alex is past giving me the evil eye, or I’d go into a rant about that whole money thing. Let’s just say that Stan has cried poor and isn’t out a penny on any of this. His bail, legal fees, Sheila’s funeral? It’s all been on Ax to pay for since he’s supposed to be broke. Considering what she’s had to do for him, maybe it’s a good thing he’s behind bars or I’d kick his butt myself.” Maxine stood. “Sorry, but I love Ax and she’s pissed enough at me for staying this long. I’ve gotta go.”

  He laughed, getting out one of his personal business cards. “Go and bl
ame me so you’re off the hook. After that, if you think of something that might help Bromley, you might as well call me.”

  “I will, don’t worry.” She tucked the card into her purse. “We both know there’s nothing to find, but thanks for trying.”

  “Who knows, I could be wrong.” After watching her walk away, he motioned to the barkeep for his check. While waiting, he tallied up an estimate of the cost of Sheila’s murder. The charges had included a funeral, lawyer fees, court costs, filing fees, and who knew what else? He’d never really thought about what a murderer paid for in the legal process and didn’t plan on having to learn. On the other hand, the vet practice, the Bromley home, and Alex’s place were their combined assets. He’d bet any amount of money that Alexandra was the one with a second mortgage, especially if Stan had spent all his money. No wonder she wanted him out of there and able to pay her back.

  Chapter 5

  Alexandra led the way to her car. “I’m not mad.”

  Keeping up with her fast walking friend, Maxine laughed. “Yes you are. I can feel it from here.”

  She clicked the automatic locks. Both women got into her car. In the small space and feeling cornered, Alexandra said, “All right, I’ll admit I’m irritated, but not mad. You have the right to speak to anyone anywhere at any time. Even if he’s a deplorable, skunk bellied, pig dog.”

  “Thank you.” Maxine waited until they were in the sparse traffic before continuing. “You know, for a pig dog, he’s really good looking. I think he likes me too. I had the distinct feeling he wanted to ask me out. After you’d left and it was just us, of course.”

  A crushing and angry hurt settled in her chest, oddly close to Alexandra’s heart. “Oh? Sorry to have cramped your style.”

  She waved away her friend’s apology. “No worries, there’s always later. He gave me his business card.”