Will of Justice: A Legal Thriller (Bill Harvey Book 1)

by Peter O'Mahoney

  “Well, someone is a determined murderer. Someone out there walked into the apartment and strangled Jessica.” Jack shrugs his shoulders. “So, if Anna didn’t have anything to do with it, what do you think happened?”

  “I think that after Anna and Jessica had engaged in a heated argument, someone entered the apartment and strangled her. Now, there are only two possibilities about how the person avoided the detection of the security cameras in the building – either they were already in the apartment building, or they knew the building well enough to know that there were no cameras at the back entrance.”

  “So, who are your suspects then?”

  Just as Bill goes to answer the question, the crowd around the television erupts. The men hug and scream like they have personally affected the outcome. Bill appreciates the passion that sport brings out; however, he has never understood the dedication to an event where he has no control over the outcome.

  “Looks like a win for the team,” Bill quips.

  Jack laughs. “You wouldn’t even know the names of the teams.”

  Jack peers across at the television, checking the score. While Bill has never understood the need to support sports teams, Jack has known nothing else. Sport is the one constant that he has had in his life. When everything else was falling apart, he could count on his loved L.A. Lakers to get him through the hard times.

  It was a distraction from the pain of his lonely childhood, and the team’s successes filled him with hope. That hope kept him going, season after season.

  For Jack, sport was invaluable.

  “There are a few people that could have benefited from Jessica Lempare’s death.” Bill steals Jack’s attention back away from the game. “I have spoken to three people over the last two days who had the means and the motive to murder Jessica.”

  “Namely?” Jack performs a small fist pump as his team’s score is displayed on the screen.

  “Bud Morgan comes to mind.”

  “The head of the Recovering Veterans charity?”

  “Bud was likely to lose a lot of money if the will was changed. His entire income was paid for by the donations from the will. He has a nice office, a nice secretary, and a nice amount of respect from his fellow veterans. He wouldn’t have been very happy if he was going to lose that. He has had a very easy life as the CEO of that charity. He hasn’t had to worry about raising funds – he just took the money.”

  “But it was in Bud’s best interests for Jessica to stay alive? If she had stayed alive until Anna turned twenty-five, in only a few months’ time, then the charity would have inherited the full twenty million dollars, not just half the amount. Unless you think that Anna was going to complete the training?”

  “No.” Bill shakes his head. “She would never have completed the Army Basic Training, but Jessica might have considered changing the terms of the will.”

  “Even after she argued with Anna, you still think that Jessica was going to agree to change the will?”

  “I do. I think that she was going to make an adjustment. Although she was rude, she was quite a reasonable person. While any changes to the will needed the conditional support of the charity, she had the power to change it without their support. She could have taken the will to court to have it adjusted. I can’t imagine that she would have given the full amount to Jessica, but I think that she would have negotiated a deal.”

  “And if she died, then the deal was 50/50. Ten million each, right? You’re saying that Bud killed her so that the charity could have kept ten million? That means he would have had to have known that Jessica was going to change the will.”

  “Jessica may have tried to convince Bud to change the will after she talked with Anna. We know that he was in the area, and he may have become angry at the thought of that,” Bill comments. “Jack, I get a bad feeling about that charity. There is something not right with the place. I think that if we had a close look at their books, then we would see that Bud was very well paid, perhaps more than he should have been for his position. The photos hanging on the walls of his office showed that he takes holidays all around the world, in some very expensive places. He wouldn’t have been able to afford that off a veteran’s pension.”

  “Interesting.”

  “Very. But I need more information about Bud Morgan before I can make a considered decision. I want you to find out everything you can about him, his life, and his relationship with Jessica. I think he’s our lead.”

  Jack gets out his phone, typing the notes into his latest app.

  Bill shakes his head at the use of modern technology. “I can’t believe that is where you keep your notes. What if the phone turns off? You’ll lose all your notes.”

  “If the phone turns off, I’ll turn it back on.” Jack laughs loudly. “You should embrace technology, Bill. You have to stop fighting against the tide and stop using stone tablets to take notes.”

  “Stone tablets have lasted for thousands of years. I can’t see the notes that you have made on that little piece of glass and plastic lasting past the next year.”

  “I sure hope that they don’t last that long. I don’t know what future archaeologists will make of my notes.” Jack laughs again. “Maybe future archaeologists will be data miners? Maybe they won’t be looking for bones in the ground – rather they will be looking for data in the cloud.”

  “I hope that isn’t the future of the Earth.” With a smile, Bill takes another sip of his beer. “Otherwise all they will find is how obsessed with porn this generation is.”

  “Ha!” Jack laughs heartily. “So, is there anyone else that you need me to investigate?”

  “There are two more suspects that we need to look at. Both of them are hiding something, but I’m not sure what. I want you to find out as much as you can about these men. Firstly, the next-door neighbor, Thomas Feeble, and then secondly, the other employee of the charity, Frank Matthews.”

  “Frank Matthews? Her former lover?” Jack questions. “But what would Frank gain if Jessica passed away?”

  “He’s the sole benefactor of Jessica’s personal will. Not only does he get the apartment, but she had a small sum of money stored away, and maybe it was enough for Frank. Secondly, he works for the Recovering Veterans charity, who will benefit greatly by her death. As the deputy CEO, he had the legal authority to conditionally approve a change in the will, and Jessica may have talked to him about the change. That may have forced him into a corner. And as her former lover, he certainly had the means, and the motive, to murder Jessica.”

  “Jessica didn’t leave anything in her will to Anna?”

  “Nothing. Anna wasn’t even mentioned in the will. The will was last updated five years ago, and the full amount of the funds were awarded to her then-boyfriend, Frank Matthews.”

  “Ouch. I feel for Anna – that must have hurt her.”

  “Deeply. Even though they didn’t get along, they were still family. And Jessica was the last piece of family that Anna had left. Anna was there when the will was read out, and I could see the tears in her eyes. It was one last slap in the face for the young lady.”

  “What did the police find about Frank?”

  “Nothing, but they didn’t look. And rightfully so. To them, this is an open and shut case. Everything points towards Anna, which made it an easy arrest. Really, I would have arrested Anna if I was a police officer, Jack.”

  Jack types more notes on his phone. “And the other one that you want me to investigate?”

  “The next-door neighbor, Thomas Feeble.”

  “What’s the angle on this guy?”

  “He’s the one that found the body, and when I went to talk with him, he was clearly hiding something. He was very evasive about the moments when he found the body.”

  “Motive?”

  “He hated her. He’s in charge of the body corporate for the building’s residents and I can imagine that having to deal with someone like Jessica would have gotten on his nerves. He could have just snapped. He’s a man
with a lot of pent-up resentment and that could have exploded when he went to talk with Jessica.”

  “What does he say happened?”

  “He says that he heard Anna and Jessica arguing, and he was about to go and check on Jessica to make sure she was okay. He states that the argument sounded very threatening. When he walked out into the hallway, Anna stormed out of the apartment and yelled at him. Anna then punched a wall, and she left via the elevator. He went back into his apartment and waited for an hour, but he says that out of worry for Jessica’s safety, he went to her apartment, and that is when he found the deceased.”

  “How did he get into the apartment?”

  “He had a key, which I find very unusual. There is something more to Thomas Feeble, but I’m not sure what that is. I want you to find out everything you can about him.”

  Quickly, Jack conducts a search on his phone. “A quick check of Thomas Feeble’s Instagram account shows that he was very passionate about his apartment building. Every second photo is of the apartment building. And every other photo is of his cats.”

  “You found that out just then?” Bill enquires.

  “Technology is amazing. A lot of the groundwork for investigating is done on this trusty little piece of glass and plastic.” Jack waves his phone in the air. “All I have to do is a quick search and I can find out more in five minutes than I could in five days on the ground. An investigator’s legwork has turned into his finger-work.”

  “That’s why I don’t have any social media accounts.” Bill shakes his head again. “I don’t need to show the world that I’m living my life the way I want.”

  “You’re so stuck in the past.” Jack chuckles. “I can imagine that if Thomas is so passionate about his building, then he wouldn’t be very happy if Jessica didn’t want to cooperate with the corporate body requests. Perhaps he was passionate enough about his building to kill for it.”

  “Perhaps.” Bill shrugs. “We also have the problem of a missing camera. Both Anna and Frank knew that Jessica had placed a hidden camera in her living room to spy on the cleaner, Carlos.”

  “There is no mention of a hidden camera in the police report.”

  “No, there isn’t. And Anna couldn’t find it when she went back to the apartment, which means that the killer would have had to remove it. And for them to remove it, they had to know it was there in the first place. There are four people who could have known it was there – we know that Anna and Frank knew it was there, but Carlos could have found the camera, and Thomas would have known about it. Also, I imagine that Frank told Bud where the camera was. Bud didn’t look surprised when Frank mentioned it, which means that he already knew about it. If we find that camera, we find the killer.”

  “And if we can’t?”

  “Then we need another option. I want you to compile a file on each of those three suspect men. They are our best chance of getting Anna off this charge of murder. Even if they aren’t guilty, we should be able to find something that will throw reasonable doubt over Anna’s guilt, and that is all we need in the courtroom.”

  “So, our big play is finding the real killer?”

  “It is. But we have to focus on finding enough doubt around Anna’s guilt.”

  “Remember the David Connelly case?” Jack asks.

  “I do.”

  “That was much the same,” Jack reminisces. “All the evidence pointed to the defendant. There was a weapon, a motive, even a witness, but you got him off because you were able to smoke out the real killer on the stand. Is that the play you’re going for here?”

  “It’s the only play we have got, Jack. Everything else points towards Anna. The only thing we can do is force someone on the stand to break. I’m confident that we can do that.”

  “So, you want all three of these men on the stand?”

  “I do.”

  “And then what are you going to do?”

  “I guess that will depend on what you find. If you can find something, anything, that can give me a whiff of guilt, I can make things happen in the courtroom. I can force anyone to crack under enough pressure. We just need to be able to build enough of a case against one of the men.”

  “What makes you so sure that she didn’t do it?” Jack asks once he finishes taking notes.

  “The look in her eyes.”

  Jack almost spits out his drink. “Are you serious? The look in her eyes? I know that you love to read body language and that’s your specialty, but you think a girl is innocent because of a ‘look in her eyes?’”

  Bill nods. “I have stared at enough killers to know when they are guilty. Killers have a different look in their eyes. They have a look of guilt, anger, and uncontrolled desire all rolled into one. I know that look. The innocent ones look scared beyond belief because they think the system has failed them.”

  “Would you like my opinion?” Jack finishes the last of his beer.

  “Of course.”

  “I think you’re blinded by breasts,” Jack comments while staring at the ample breasted girl standing next to the bar. “It’s happened before. You always think the pretty ones are innocent. You always get sucked in by their breasts. And Anna is a mighty fine looking girl. Are you sure that you’re not being blinded by beauty?”

  He laughs. “Maybe. Maybe, Jack.”

  “And that’s not all either – you’re also blinded by tight hips and long legs.”

  “Now, come on, Jack.” Bill smiles. “Aren’t all men?”

  CHAPTER 11

  The police files are holeproof.

  For hours, Bill slugs through the police documents, looking for one small mistake in the report to exploit. All he needs is a missed piece of paperwork, or the wrong date recorded somewhere. That is all he needs; one crack in the paperwork to manipulate.

  But there is nothing.

  This was an easy case for the police as evidenced by the clean paperwork. Even a man on the street would consider Anna their prime suspect. They have evidence, a motive, and witnesses that place Anna at the scene of the crime at the right time.

  Bill Harvey has an uncomfortable relationship with the men and women in blue. He has enormous respect for the work that they do, and he knows that they risk their lives every time they step out onto the streets of L.A.

  While he has personality clashes with individual members of the force, he has the highest regard for their professional choice. It takes a specific type of person to risk their lives for the good of the community.

  But Bill Harvey knows that the police hate him. He has even seen a dartboard with his face on it in the office of one particular detective.

  For any criminal defense attorney to do their job properly, they must look for holes in the professional work of the LAPD. A defense attorney must do the best for his client, and sometimes that means pushing hard against what the police have risked their lives to achieve.

  To do what is right, he must play the game.

  Carefully, Bill reads line after line of the murder report with trained focus.

  Unfortunately, he finds nothing unusual. His eyes have scanned over a lot of police reports, but this one is the cleanest he has ever come across. There is nothing for him in there.

  “Perhaps Jack was right. Maybe I am blinded by breasts,” he mumbles to himself. “Maybe Anna is guilty.”

  He places the police files back on his desk before gazing out the window. He really doesn’t like losing. He has never enjoyed it. When he lost his first court case, he spent weeks at his local bar, almost becoming part of the furniture. His entire ego was based on winning, and he couldn’t handle the fact that his opponent was better than him. It didn’t matter that Bill was defending a petty thief who was clearly guilty, he felt he should have won.

  His mother was a very competitive woman, and she never let him win any games when he was younger. His desire to win was born out of a need to show her how capable he was. That competitive spirit never ceased in his mother, and the card games they had in her nursing home
were legendary.

  “Kate,” Bill calls out to his secretary.

  With blonde hair flowing gently over her shoulders, Kate eases into the room. “Yes?”

  He appreciates Kate’s slender figure in his doorway for a few moments before questioning her. “What is it about Anna that you dislike so much?”

  Thinking carefully about her response, Kate closes the door behind her, resting on the chair opposite Bill. “Some girls are trouble. You can tell right away. Anna… she seems like a girl that knows what she wants, and all power to her, but I think that she seems quite single-minded about getting everything that she desires. And if she doesn’t get what she wants… then look out. She’ll create trouble.”

  “You think she’s fiery?”

  “Absolutely. You can’t travel the world alone as a young girl without being able to defend yourself. I would say that she can mix it with the best of them and I’m sure that she has had many fiery exchanges over the years.”

  He gives a long sigh. “Maybe you’re right.”

  “Can I say something honest?” Kate chooses her words cautiously.

  “Of course.”

  “Sometimes… you’re drawn in by a girl’s looks.”

  He laughs out loud. “That seems to be the theme of today.”

  She smiles. “Just be careful with how you approach this. She might not be innocent. I would hate to see you put it all on the line for one lost, little woman.”

  “Thanks, Kate.”

  “I mean it. You once told me how important it was not to become emotionally attached to a case. You have to be able to keep your distance from this. If you step back and look at the whole picture, all of the evidence points to her guilt. She had every reason to kill her aunt, and she has the temper to match. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that she was there that afternoon.”