Murdered at the Courthouse

by Dianne Harman

  Kat reached across the table and put her hand on top of Hannah’s. “I can’t tell you how happy I am for you, and I know Blaine will be just as happy when I tell him. That’s absolutely wonderful, and no one deserves to have a little happiness in their life more than you do.”

  Hannah hesitated. “It’s not really a big deal, Kat. I mean we had one dinner, and we’re going to see each other next week. That doesn’t quite lead to a fairy tale happy ever after ending.”

  “I was always suspicious of those fairy tales when I read them to Lacie when she was little, and I can’t say I ever grew to believe them.” Looking at Hannah, Kat saw a woman in her thirties with an inner strength Kat had never known at that age. “I think having a man interested in you who knows your situation and still wants to see you is huge, Hannah, just huge. Please, let me know what happens, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you.”

  “Thanks, Kat. You’re the first person I’ve told. I haven’t had anyone interested in me for a long time. I’m so rusty I don’t have a clue how to play this present-day dating game.” Hannah put her fork down. There were only a couple of berries remaining on the plate.

  “Don’t try and play anything, just be yourself. It looks like he already recognizes the fantastic person you are, and never forget it for a minute.”

  “Maybe you could come with us to dinner and be my cheering squad,” Hannah said laughing, as she stood up, inadvertently spilling several things out of her purse.

  Kat helped her pick them up and happened to see the return address on an envelope that was addressed to the judge. “Hannah, this is probably none of my business, but I can’t help but notice that this is from something called Mothers Against Pornography Addiction. What’s that all about?”

  “I don’t know.” Hannah’s face was blank. “The judge has gotten several letters from that organization over the past few months. I picked up the mail on my way out of the courthouse when I left work a couple of days ago and stuck it in my purse. It was the only piece of mail that day. He always threw letters from that group in his wastebasket, although I do think, given his penchant for watching pornography on his computer, it’s odd they found out about him.”

  “I agree. What are you planning to do with that letter?”

  “Throw it out. I figure if that’s what he did with them, I might as well do the same. I just forgot about it. Why?”

  “You know that Nick, Blaine’s brother, has a private investigation firm. I’ve talked to him, and he’s doing what he can to help in case Blaine becomes a suspect. Unfortunately, he’s leaving with his family for a vacation to Machu Picchu this afternoon, so I’ll be dealing with one of his employees, a man named Dave Bradley. I’d like to run this organization’s name by him and see what he can find out about it. Since you were going to throw it out anyway, would you mind if I take it?”

  “No, go ahead and keep it,” Hannah said, closing her purse. “If he finds out anything, would you let me know? I’ve always been kind of curious about that organization.”

  Kat nodded. “Will do, and now you better get to work. Do you think the judge’s replacement will be here sometime today?”

  They walked toward the door, Kat stopping to settle the check at the counter on the way. The waitress gave her a grateful smile for the dollar bills she stuffed in the tip jar, which was otherwise empty apart from a few quarters.

  “I’d think he’d have to be if he’s going to hold court tomorrow,” Hannah said, when Kat was done. “I’d also think he’d want to talk to me about the status of cases and things of that nature. Since the next election’s a little over a year from now, I imagine the governor will appoint someone to fill the position until the election. I can’t imagine the governor would authorize a special election to fill the position. I’ll let you know what I find out. And thanks for breakfast. It’s not often I get to start the day with a treat like that. I really enjoyed it.”

  Kat held the door open for Hannah and they stepped outside. “Thanks again, Hannah, and I can’t wait to hear more after you see your new friend next week. You better get to work. The least I can do is pick up the tab for breakfast. Talk to you later.”

  CHAPTER 13

  As soon as Kat got in her car, she tore open the envelope she’d gotten from Hannah and read the enclosed letter. The handwriting on the letter appeared to have been written by a woman and it was addressed to the judge. It said if he didn’t quit emailing her daughter, she might have to resort to more drastic tactics to get him to stop, such as making it known the judge had an addiction to computer porn, or even making sure something was done so he could no longer watch porn. She couldn’t make out the signature on the letter.

  Placing the letter on the passenger seat, she called Nick and got an answerphone message. Kat told him about her meeting with Hannah and the judge’s computer porn watching. Then she asked him if he had time to do a little research on Mothers Against Pornography Addiction, and if not, could he give the information to Dave. She said she was on her way home and would be waiting for a call.

  As Kat was driving to her house, her mind was a jumble of what she should do first. What was crystal clear to her was that she needed to take a proactive approach and find out everything she could about the people who could possibly be considered suspects in the murder of Judge Dickerson. She ruled out Ryan Walsh because he’d been with Blaine at the time the murder took place.

  While she was thinking about possible suspects, she was also trying to come up with a plausible reason for visiting Judge Dickerson’s wife, Stephanie Dickerson. From what she’d heard from Hannah and Nick, the woman seemed to be a bit unhinged and who knew? Maybe she was unhinged enough to murder her husband.

  She also wanted to talk to Kim Rosen. Nick had indicated her husband seemed capable of committing murder, and had, in fact, gone to prison because of his wife’s infidelities in the past. She wondered if history was repeating itself. Nick had told her nothing about Kim that would lead Kat to suspect her.

  She was sure Judge Dickerson had made many enemies over the years from his treatment of attorneys who had appeared in his courtroom, but that would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. She remembered Blaine saying something once about when you were trying to solve a case you always started with the low hanging fruit. She decided when she got home she’d make a list and start there. She was a person who worked much better with a plan. Kat figured she could always ad lib something if she had to toss out her plan.

  As usual, Jazz and Rudy were standing in their wire mesh kennels when she opened the garage door. She let them out into the back yard and let her mind go blank as she tossed balls to them until her arm got tired. She was certain they would have continued retrieving the balls for as long as she’d throw them, but her arm had other ideas.

  When she went inside the house, she saw that she had a message from Dave asking her to call him, thus her short respite from thinking about the murder was over. She immediately dialed Nick’s office and told the woman who answered the phone that she was returning Dave’s call. A moment later, he came on the line.

  “Hi, Kat. That was fast.” Dave had a New York accent, and Kat briefly wondered how he’d been transplanted to Kansas, but this wasn’t the time to ask him. “Nick handed me your request, and I was able to get some information for you. As you probably know from dealing with Nick, we often use methods and have ways to get information that law enforcement personnel are prohibited from using. Anyway, I found out that Mothers Against Pornography Addiction is really a one-horse pony. It was founded by a woman named Nancy Malone. She’s the only member, and from what I found out, she started it because a neighbor told her that Nancy’s daughter, Rebecca, was featured on a porn web site.”

  “Wow, how did you ever find that out so fast? I’m impressed.”

  “Like I said, we have ways.”

  “Did you find anything else about this Malone woman and her daughter?”

  “I haven’t had time to go into much dep
th, but I did find out she and her daughter were estranged for a period of time,” Dave said. “I also was able to discover that she told her daughter if she ever found out Rebecca had posed for any more porn sites, she would disinherit her. Nancy Malone inherited her parents’ ranch outside of town and rents it to a tenant. It’s a pretty big ranch. The guy who she rents it to runs cattle and raises wheat on it. I couldn’t get the exact figure for the rent, but from the little I did find out, it looks like she’s getting a substantial amount.”

  “Thank you so much, Dave. I have no idea what I’ll do with this information, but I really appreciate it.”

  “Kat, I’m still working on it. If I find out anything of interest, I’ll let you know.”

  She was quiet for a moment and then said, “Dave, something just occurred to me. If this woman’s daughter was on a porn site, why would she send the judge a letter regarding it? How would she even know that the judge had seen her daughter on a porn site?”

  “You probably don’t want to know the answer to that, Kat. I have a hacker who can find out any site anyone has ever visited as well as email trails. If he can do it, others can do it, and this Nancy Malone may have done just that once she heard her daughter was posing on porn sites. That’s just a stab in the dark, but I’d guess the judge got the young woman’s email address, probably from the site, and emailed her. Tell you what. Why don’t you call the judge’s clerk, your friend, and find out what his email address is? I’ll have our guy do a search. He should have something by early tomorrow if you can get the information to me fairly soon.”

  “I’ll call Hannah right now and get back to you,” Kat said. She called Hannah, got the judge’s email address and within minutes had Dave back on the phone. “Here’s his email address, and you’re right, being married to the district attorney there’s probably some things I shouldn’t know, and this would fall into that area.”

  “I’m on it, Kat. Talk to you soon,” Dave said with a smile in his voice.

  CHAPTER 14

  When she got home, Kat made a list of people she wanted to talk to and decided to call the judge’s widow, Stephanie Dickerson, and see if she would meet with Kat. She’d gotten her phone number from Hannah and thought she could use the excuse that she was an author, writing a book and had heard so much about the castle, she was thinking of using it in the book she was working on.

  A few moments later a woman answered the phone. “May I speak with Mrs. Dickerson?” Kat asked.

  “Just one moment. May I tell her who’s calling?”

  “Yes, my name is Kat Denham.” Even though Kat’s legal name, now that she was married to Blaine, was Kat Evans, she often used her former married name of Denham because so many people had known her by that name and she also used as the author of her cozy mystery book series. She felt there should be a separation between her career and Blaine’s.

  “I’ll see if she’s in. Please hold.”

  “This is Stephanie Dickerson,” a whispery voice said a few moments later. “How may I help you?”

  “First of all, Mrs. Dickerson, I’d like to express my condolences on the death of your husband. I know this is probably not a good time to call, but I’m leaving town, and I was wondering if you could spare a few minutes to talk to me. I’m available pretty much any time today.” There was silence at the other end of the line, and Kat felt the need to explain why she wanted to talk to Mrs. Dickerson.

  “I’m an author, and a number of people have told me what an interesting house you have. I guess it would more properly be called a castle. Anyway, I’d love to see it. I’m thinking I might be able to use it as a setting in the novel I’m writing.” She hoped that the compliment might mitigate the bad timing of the call.

  “Well, I’m meeting with the minister about Leo’s funeral this afternoon,” Stephanie whispered, “but if you could come this morning, I could talk to you for a few minutes.”

  Kat smiled to herself. “Thank you so much. That would be wonderful. I know where you live, and I’ll be there in about forty-five minutes.”

  “See you then.” The line clicked as Mrs. Dickerson ended the call.

  Kat had another issue to resolve. Other than having occasionally heard the terms “pornography” and “porn addiction,” Kat had no idea who looked at it on their computer and who posed for the photos. She was curious about the type of people who did either. She remembered several years ago when she’d been at a faculty party at the university, her former husband, the head of the English Literature Department, had introduced her to a woman he called “one of the world’s leading experts on pornography addiction.”

  She’d engaged in some small talk with the woman, whose name she couldn’t quite recall, but hadn’t thought of her since then. Kat wondered if she was still teaching at the university. She got online and after several searches and then calling people at the university, was connected to the office of Professor Deborah White, Dean of the Department of Sex Therapy.

  “May I speak with Professor White?” Kat asked the young voice on the other end of the line.

  “Yes, may I tell her who’s calling?”

  “My name is Kat Denham. Please tell her I’m the widow of Greg Denham. We met several years ago.”

  A moment later a woman’s voice said, “Kat, I’ve thought about you often since Greg’s death. That was such a tragedy. I considered him to be a friend, and because of his death, the world lost a brilliant mind at far too young of an age. How are you?”

  “Thank you, Professor White. I’m doing well. It’s been several years since Greg died, and I’ve learned to adjust. It was very hard at first, but I’ve remarried and I’ve become an author.”

  “I heard some rumors to that effect.” The amusement was evident in Professor White’s voice. “When I heard them, I thought we should have a talk. Who knows? Maybe I could use your books in some of my lectures,” she said, laughing.

  “I don’t think so, but in a roundabout way, that’s why I’m calling,” Kat said. “I’m doing some research on pornography, and if you have a few minutes, I’d love to pick your brain. Greg spoke so highly of you.”

  “Thank you. As a matter of fact, I just had a meeting for 3:00 this afternoon cancelled, and I could see you then. My office is in the same building where Greg’s office used to be, so that should make it easy for you.”

  “Perfect. See you then.”

  Kat also wanted to talk to Kim Rosen, but doubted she’d agree to meet with her if she called ahead. Instead, she thought she’d see if Kim would talk to her if she dropped by her house. Nick had told Kat she wasn’t employed. Kat decided to try that approach after her meeting with Professor White. She changed clothes, put the dogs in their kennels, and left for the castle.

  CHAPTER 15

  For her meeting with Stephanie Dickerson, Kat took the highway leading north out of Lindsay. She loved the openness of the road with the sunlight reflecting on the golden wheat fields that stretched as far as the eye could see, interspersed with cattle, colorful barns, and silos. She’d often read that many people who lived on the West Coast like to drive the highway that led along the Pacific Ocean whenever possible, as they considered it to be almost therapeutic for them. She felt the same way about the farm and ranch lands in Middle America.

  Ten miles out of town she spotted the castle built on a knoll about a mile off of the highway. She’d heard talk about it from time to time, but had never really thought much about it, and she hadn’t been out of town in this direction for a long time. The last time she’d seen the castle it was kind of a blip on the horizon. Now it loomed up ahead like some medieval fortress. Weathered, blackened stone had been used in its construction, making it look centuries old. She drove up the winding road to a gatehouse located next to a heavy metal gate. Kat wouldn’t have been surprised to see a knight wearing armor on a horse beside it. Instead, she stopped her car and pushed the call button. It was as if someone had wanted to replicate the gatehouses of ancient castles, but hadn’t w
anted an actual gatekeeper.

  “Yes?” a female voice said over the intercom.

  “It’s Kat Denham. I’m here to see Mrs. Dickerson.”

  “The door will open momentarily. Just follow the road across the drawbridge that spans the moat. You can park in front of the castle,” the voice said as the gate swung open. Kat went through the gate and drove up the winding road to the castle, parking in one of the striped stalls in front of it. She had the fleeting thought that someone had tried to accommodate modern conveniences within the elements of a castle. She walked up to the double arched castle doors and banged the heavy cast iron door knocker.

  The door was opened immediately by a woman a little older than Kat wearing a black maid’s uniform with a white pinafore over it and a white headband. She looked like a character out of an early 20th century play, but Kat figured that a medieval maid’s costume was probably not the thing to wear when cleaning a castle in today’s world.

  “I’m Kat Denham. I have an appointment with Mrs. Dickerson,” she said.

  “Wasn’t your husband the head of the English Department at the University?” the woman asked as she motioned for Kat to come in.

  “Why, yes, he was. Did you know Greg?” Kat asked.

  “No, but I recognized the name, Denham. He was my son’s adviser when he was getting his master’s degree in English Literature a few years ago.”

  “What’s his name?” Kat asked. “Greg often talked to me about his students.”

  “His name is Joshua Nicholson. I’m Marie Nicholson.”

  “Of course. Greg spoke of him often and always very highly. As a matter of fact, he said Joshua was one of the most talented students who had ever been through his master’s program. What is he doing now?”