by Joel Goldman
Sonia’s face reddened, her lips quivering. She turned her gun on Alex. “Well, I wasn’t going to put them on the fucking payroll. And you! You made it worse refusing to tell me what Robin said in her message. How could I risk not knowing if she said something about me?”
“She didn’t but if she had, the police would have already talked to you so you stabbed me for nothing.”
Sonia’s face slackened. “You don’t know that.”
“Of course I do but you’re like some other killers I’ve represented. You got so caught up in killing that you couldn’t think of anything else.”
“But don’t you see, that’s the point. Stabbing you wasn’t my fault! You could have told me there was nothing on that message about me. And if Tony had kept his dick in his pants, Robin would be alive! They’d all be alive! None of this is my fault! None of it!”
“I know the people you cared about didn’t just let you down; they betrayed you. But none of us had a hand in that. Charlotte didn’t ask to be born. Bonnie and Gladys never met you before. And I am so sorry I didn’t tell you about the message. But there’s no reason to make things any worse. We can find a way out of this.”
Sonia’s mouth turned down, her face sagging with resignation. “Don’t kid yourself. We both know there’s only one way this can end.”
She swung her gun in an arc, pointing at them one at a time like she was deciding whom to kill first, settling on Bonnie, who looked at Alex, stricken.
“I love you, Alex Stone.”
“Sonia! Please! You don’t have to do this.”
“But it will feel so good.”
Quincy sprang at Sonia as she pulled the trigger, barreling her to the floor and throwing her aim off so the bullet missed Bonnie. He clamped his jaws on her gun hand, shaking it like it was a rag doll.
“Get him off! Get him off!”
Sonia battered Quincy with her free hand until Gladys kicked her in the head, knocking her out. She straddled Sonia, brushing her hands together.
“Can’t stand a person what would hurt a dog.”
Chapter Fifty-Four
ALEX GOT TO WORK early Monday morning. She stood in the doorway of Robin’s office looking at the desk and the credenza behind it, at the chairs and at the bare walls. There was no trace of Robin, no way to know that she had lived within those walls for so many years.
She crossed to the windows looking down at the street below, at the people and cars passing by, small and distant, caught up in their own lives, as they should be. She raised her gaze to the eastern horizon, smiling at the rising sun, grateful for a new day, a new beginning.
Bonnie had encouraged her to take the interim director position, telling her it was a great career move and assuring her that she had the right skills for the job. What went unspoken was Bonnie’s relief that Alex would be one step further removed from the violence and death that had so haunted them. Alex shared her relief, knowing that she’d no longer have to wrestle with her duty to her clients and that she would put welcome space between her and Judge West. Though in her private moments over the last few days, she found it hard to imagine herself so far removed from the battle, she told herself that she’d get used to it and if sitting behind a desk all day allowed Bonnie to sleep better at night, she’d happily do it.
Any doubt that she could leave the past behind was erased the night before while they were enjoying a glass of wine, the television on in the background. The screen flashed with a bulletin about breaking news followed by a reporter standing outside a farmhouse that Alex recognized. She put her glass down and turned the sound on, listening to the reporter.
I’m standing outside the home of Jackson County Circuit Court Judge William West, where police tell me they found the bodies of both Judge West and his wife, Millie. According to police, Mrs. West shot her husband and then committed suicide. We’ll have more details as they become available.
Dumbstruck, they had remained glued to the television, absorbing the news. Millie West’s mental illness had claimed both her and her husband, her paranoia swamping reason. Their deaths hadn’t wiped away Alex’s sins, but they had buried them, and she promised herself that she wouldn’t look back.
Meg Adler rapped on the door. “You’re going to do great things.”
Alex smiled. “Thanks.”
“You know, when I first moved from the courtroom into management, I was sure I’d miss it, you know, the jousting, the killer closings and cross-examinations.”
“Didn’t you?”
“For a while, until I realized that I could accomplish more by making sure my lawyers did their jobs well than I could ever accomplish on my own.”
Alex nodded. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”
“You will, but there will be days when you’re overwhelmed with budgets, bureaucracy, and politics and you’ll go home at night cursing my name.”
They both laughed.
“I guess there’s no such thing as a perfect job.”
Meg gave her a final hug and left. Alex tried Robin’s desk chair but couldn’t get comfortable. She swapped it with the one from her old office, smiling and beginning to feel like she was in the right place. Grace Canfield helped her hang her pictures and diplomas, telling her to go get them both coffee while she organized Alex’s desk. When Alex returned, there were flowers from Bonnie and a stack of files and assorted paperwork to review.
The day passed quickly, work interrupted by a steady flow of well-wishing colleagues and congratulatory e-mails and phone calls. Late in the afternoon, the receptionist called her.
“Detective Rossi to see you.”
“Bring him back.”
By the time Rossi had arrived at her house last week, Sonia was conscious, Bonnie was bandaging her tattered hand, and Alex was holding a cold compress to her head while Gladys toyed with Sonia’s gun, telling Sonia to sit real still because there was no telling if the gun might accidentally go off and shoot right her between the eyes.
The next day, Alex went downtown to give a detailed statement to Rossi and to work out Jared Bell’s release with Kalena Greene. She hadn’t talked to Rossi since and wondered what was on his mind.
“Nice digs,” Rossi said when the receptionist delivered him.
“Yeah, but it still feels weird. Have a seat.”
He set a large envelope on her desk and pulled up a chair. There was no name on the envelope, but Alex was certain it was for her. Though curious, she’d let him get to it in his own time.
“So how are you feeling? Wounds healing okay?”
“Pretty good. I’ve graduated from sore to itchy.”
Rossi looked around the office. “I think this suits you.”
“You think?”
“Yeah. Someone like you will live a lot longer behind a desk.”
Alex chuckled. “Bonnie would agree, especially since she wants us to have a baby.”
“No kidding.”
Alex was surprised that she told Rossi, given their history, but she was getting a different vibe from him, like maybe he was ready for a cease-fire.
“Yeah. We’re going to do the whole turkey-baster thing as soon as we find a donor.”
“Speaking of kids, how’s Charlotte doing?”
“Child Protective Services was going to put her in foster care until Bonnie convinced them that the three of us could take care of her for now.”
“The three of you?”
“Bonnie, Gladys, and me.”
“That crazy old lady? You sure that’s a good idea?”
“No, but it’s working out so far. Gladys is the only person left that Charlotte has any kind of relationship with. The county sent a social worker to our house to observe them and said they’ve got a bond that she doesn’t want to screw up. So they’re both staying with us. Plus, Charlotte loves Quincy and it turns out that having a pet can help an autistic child develop some social skills.”
“What about Judge Steele? You going to find out if he’s Charlotte’s
father?”
“He says he’ll agree to DNA testing, but we’ll see. He’s got his hands full right now. You heard he resigned from the bench so he could help with his wife’s defense?”
Rossi nodded. “Which is interesting since she set him up as her second option to take the fall for Robin’s murder.”
“Second option?”
“Robin’s ex, Ted Norris, was her first choice. She knew Ted kept a spare key hidden in the wheel well of his car. That’s how she stole it and used it to run Robin off the road. She left the car at the airport, and when she got out of the car, she was carrying her husband’s duffel bag, the one you saw in his chambers. She made sure it would be picked up on the airport security cameras. If we gave up on Ted, the duffel was going to be the first bread crumb leading us to the judge.”
“So why would he want to help with her defense?”
“Because he says he loves her and doesn’t believe she’d do that to him or that she’s guilty of anything except justifiable jealousy.” Rossi reached for the envelope. “Listen, there’s something I need to show you.”
He opened the envelope, removing a photograph encased in a plastic sleeve showing her kneeling over Dwayne Reed’s body. Alex gasped, her stomach grinding. She stared at the photograph, unable to speak or look at Rossi, her hands clenched in her lap.
“It came in the mail last Friday, addressed to me, no note, no explanation, just the photograph.”
Alex forced herself to look at him. “I . . . I . . . I can explain.”
“You don’t have to. It’s a fake.”
Alex blinked, slumping against the back of her chair. “How do you know that?”
“I gotta admit, when I first saw it, I thought I was gonna bust the buttons on my jeans. But you know what they say about things that are too good to be true. I had one of our forensic photographers check it out, and he said it had been Photoshopped. He pulled the photographs from Dwayne Reed’s file and showed me how it was done.”
“Wow.”
“Wow is right. So naturally I was curious about who sent the photograph to me and why, so I had it and the envelope it came in checked for prints.”
Alex swallowed. “And I take it you found some.”
“Big fat ones, one on the envelope and one on the picture. They were so clear and distinct, it was like somebody went out of their way to make sure we’d find them.”
“Could you identify them?”
Rossi nodded. “Yep. Ran them through the system and got a match.”
Alex was afraid to ask but knew Rossi wanted her to. “Whose are they?”
Rossi leaned back in his chair. “Millie West. Turns out she was arrested for disorderly conduct a few years ago and that’s how her prints got in the system.”
Alex’s chin dropped, her mouth hanging open. “What?”
“Nuts, right? So Friday night, I go see her. She and the judge are out at their horse farm, and man, that horseshit is nasty stuff. But I guess you know that from helping that friend of yours clean out their stables.”
Alex straightened, her relief ebbing away. “Go on.”
“So, like I was saying, I go out there to talk to Millie, and right away the judge is on my case, what’s this all about, and I tell him I need to talk to his wife and he says what for and I say that’s between her and me and he says if I think he’s going to let her talk to me alone, I’m out of my mind, so the three of us sit down at the dining room table and I put the photograph on the table. Don’t say a word. Just put it out there.”
Rossi’s eyes were dancing, a grin creeping out of the corners of his mouth. Alex didn’t know how to read him.
“What happened?”
“He about shit a brick and she started laughing, I mean cackling like a witch with a new broomstick on Halloween, and wouldn’t stop. He finally had to take her into another a room and give her a pill to calm her down. Then he comes back and tells me that she made the picture and sent it to me. I asked him why she’d do something like that and he said she’s bipolar and doesn’t always take her meds and when she doesn’t she goes kind of crazy.”
“Maybe that explains the disorderly conduct thing.”
“It does. But it doesn’t explain why she’d jack around with this photograph or how she even got ahold of the file photographs in the first place.”
“How did Judge West explain that?”
“He said there were copies of the pictures in the court file. He had the file at the ranch during the trial and that’s when she must have done it. I told him that explains the how but not the why, and you won’t believe what he said.”
“Try me.”
“He said that being bipolar and not taking her meds makes his wife paranoid and she became convinced that you and the judge were having an affair and that this was her way of getting even with both of you. She made sure her prints would be found so that he’d know what she’d done.”
Alex shook her head. “I’m stunned.”
“I know. It’s crazy. But here’s the really crazy part. How’d Millie know to put you in that picture in just the right way to prove that you murdered Dwayne Reed? I mean, if she wanted to embarrass you and the judge, why not doctor up some naked pictures of the two of you?”
Alex took a deep breath, letting it out. “I don’t know. I guess you’d have to ask her.”
“Kind of hard now that she blew her brains out. Besides, I don’t think she could tell me how your fingerprints also ended up on the photograph.”
There it was. Rossi wasn’t going to leave her alone. No matter that she’d helped him solve three murders. No matter that she and Bonnie had nearly been killed. No matter anything. Weariness swept over her. She couldn’t do this anymore. She couldn’t keep running from Dwayne Reed while she slept and from Rossi while she was awake.
“Go ahead. Ask me.”
“Did you shoot Dwayne Reed in self-defense?”
Alex flattened her hands on her desk and looked him in the eye. “No. I shot him and put his gun in his hand and pulled the trigger to make it look like he fired first.”
“What was going on between you and Judge West?”
Alex took another deep breath. “West had been shading cases in favor of the prosecution for years but doing it in ways that would stand up on appeal. He saw how upset I was after I got Dwayne acquitted and he murdered that family and he recruited me to throw my really awful clients under the bus without doing a bad enough job to give them grounds to appeal based on ineffective assistance of counsel. That night I ran into you at the Zoo, I’d been at his horse farm. I told him I was out, that I wasn’t going to do it anymore. He handed me that photograph in an envelope just like you did. That’s how my prints got on it. He told me he’d ruin me if I backed out. Then he told me Jared Bell would be my next case and that he’d use the photograph if I didn’t make sure Jared was convicted. I still don’t know how he knew about Jared.”
“Interesting thing about that. Kalena told me about Robin getting Jared’s file ahead of schedule. She said no one in her office was responsible. West could have done it but we couldn’t figure out why he would, so I asked him. He admitted giving the file to Robin but said she asked him for it.”
“And you believed that?”
“Until Judge Steele told me different. When he heard on the news that a prostitute’s body had been found in Liberty Park, he was afraid it was Joanie even though her identity hadn’t been released. The only good news was that we’d arrested Jared. Steele was scared that Sonia might have killed Joanie and he called Judge West and asked him about the case.”
“He must have known what West was doing.”
“He did. They were hunting buddies, and West got drunk one night on a hunting trip and told Steele enough that he figured it out.”
“Did Steele tell him about Sonia?”
“Not directly. He just made it clear that this was one case that needed to go away in a hurry, and West said he’d take care of it. I don’t know if or how he
made sure you were assigned to the case. West might have been telling the truth about that or he might have had something on Robin. We may never know for certain. What we do know is that you didn’t go along with West.”
“No. I didn’t.”
“Why not?”
Alex pursed her lips. “I hated what I’d become and I didn’t want to be that person anymore, and I was willing to let whatever was going to happen, happen.”
Rossi nodded and then stared out the window, lost in thought for a minute. “I guess you know what Bonnie pulled on me, that thing with the lawsuit?”
“Don’t blame her. She was just trying to help me. You don’t have anything to worry about. It was total bullshit. There isn’t going to be a lawsuit.”
“I know that. I checked up on the family members of those men. I don’t know who she had at your house, but they definitely weren’t who she said they were.”
“Now what?”
He picked up the photograph. “Nothing. This thing between you and me, it’s over.”
Alex was wide-eyed. “Why?”
“Bonnie was right. I probably didn’t have to kill those men, but I did. And the cops who investigated the shootings, well, let’s just say they take care of their own. After I left your house that day, I went home and got drunk, and when I sobered up, I realized something.”
“What’s that?”
“All this time I was chasing after you, I was really chasing the dead, and I’m done doing that.”
**
Alex went home. Bonnie was waiting for her with a bottle of their favorite wine, ready to toast Alex’s first day in her new job, until Alex’s cell phone chirped with a text. It was from Claire Mason, her law school mentor and the lawyer who had defended her when she was charged with murdering Dwayne Reed. Alex opened her phone and read the text.
“Who texted you?”
“Claire.”
“What did she want?”
“You know she’s part of that national group of defense lawyers who’ve volunteered to defend the detainees at Guantanamo?”
