4 Arch Enemy of Murder

by Vanessa Gray Bartal

  In the morning, anxiety woke her early. She had plenty of time to run, shower, and eat breakfast with her grandmother.

  “You didn’t go out after you came in last night, did you?” Lucinda asked as she added another slice of coffee cake to Lacy’s plate.

  “No, why?”

  “I heard the door open and close. When I looked at the clock, it was three.” With a worried frown, she took a bite of her own cake.

  “Grandma, you should have woken me if you were worried. Did you get up and check the house?”

  Lucinda nodded and waited to speak until she swallowed and patted her mouth with a napkin. “Nothing was amiss. The door was locked, the lights off.” She leaned closer and dropped her voice to a whisper. “I think it was Riley.”

  “Do you think she was coming or going?” Lacy asked.

  “I don’t know,” Lucinda said. She twisted her napkin fretfully between her fingers. “Do you think she’s in trouble?”

  “I think it’s more likely that she had a late date,” Lacy said. Riley was famous for sneaking in or out to see boyfriends, or at least she had been during high school.

  “With Travis?” Lucinda asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Lacy said.

  “Then who?”

  “I don’t know,” Lacy admitted. She couldn’t imagine who Riley might be meeting. Jealousy flared as she pictured Jason, but she immediately shoved the image away. He wouldn’t do that to her. Travis was out of the question since Riley didn’t deem him wealthy enough to trifle with. None of her friends were in the area. She had to be meeting someone, but whom? “I’ll keep an ear out for her and see if I can catch her some night,” Lacy promised. Catching her off guard was the only chance she had at finding out what she was up to.

  Lucinda sighed. “I wish you two girls got along better.”

  “So do I,” Lacy said. She gave her own sigh. She was envious of those girls who called their sister their best friend. Lacy and Riley had never been close. Her earliest memories of her sister were of Riley stealing her toys and breaking them on purpose. “I should go.” She kissed her grandmother’s cheek and set off for downtown. Her feet still hurt, so she had chosen to wear sensible pumps instead of the more empowering heels.

  When she arrived at the courthouse, she had no idea where to go. A helpful security guard showed her the way. She was the first one there and stood at the back of the room trying to remember which side was for the defendant and which was for the prosecution. Did real lawyers have this trouble? Which side had been Sam Waterston’s on Law & Order? The right side had been Sam’s; Lacy sat on the left.

  Slowly people began to filter in, first a bailiff, then the prosecutor, and then a guard and Pearl.

  “How are you holding up, Pearl?”

  “Jail is very gray,” Pearl said. After seeing the fluorescent rainbow that was her kitchen, Lacy supposed that the lack of color at the jail was a dire punishment in and of itself.

  She leaned in close to whisper her next question so the prosecutor wouldn’t hear. “Did you kill all those animals in your living room?”

  “Most. I love to hunt. It soothes me. I tried to join a hunting club, but they said it was for men only. Maybe I should start a hunting club for women,” she mused as her face took on a dreamy expression.

  “Good idea,” Lacy said because it was the best, most encouraging thing she could come up with. Better for Pearl to go to her happy place and pretend she would ever see the light of day again, let alone have the freedom to own firearms and use them.

  “All rise,” the bailiff announced. The occupants of the room complied as the judge entered and took the bench. He sat. “Be seated,” he announced as he picked up some papers and began to shuffle. “Prosecution, proceed.”

  The prosecutor began listing the reason for Pearl’s arrest. The judge nodded as he continued to scan the papers in his hand. Lacy felt a moment of panic that he might next turn to her and ask her to speak, but he didn’t.

  “Ms. Merleputter,” he said when the prosecutor finished his part. “The sixth amendment provides you with the right to counsel. I see you have chosen your own counsel. I strongly advise you to rethink the matter and hire a skilled attorney.” He pinned Lacy with a glare that made her squirm for her incompetence. “You are being charged with murder in the second degree. Do you understand these charges?”

  “Yes,” Pearl whispered.

  “How do you plead?”

  She paused. Lacy caught and held her breath. Was she going to plead guilty after all? But, no, after gathering her courage once more, she said, “Not guilty,” louder and stronger than the last time she spoke.

  “Very well. Trial will be set and scheduled by the court, all parties will be advised in advance of the date. The state’s remand is granted, and since the defense didn’t ask for bond,” he paused to glare at Lacy again, “bail is denied.” He banged the gavel, and that was when Lacy noted the ring on his right hand. She had seen similar rings on the hands of Detective Brenner, the mayor, and Detective Arroyo.

  She raised her hand. The judge looked up from his bench and frowned. “Yes?”

  “May I approach the bench?” she asked.

  “Why?”

  “To ask you a question,” she said. She had no idea what she was doing. She hadn’t meant to speak.

  “All right,” he said with a sigh.

  She stepped forward and felt very small and young as she stood in front of the towering wooden bench. “Um, I couldn’t help but notice your ring,” she said. He covered it with his left hand and gave it a twist.

  “What does this have to do with your client?” he asked.

  “Nothing. This is a personal question. My grandfather’s birthday is coming up. Where could I get a ring like that?”

  “You can’t,” he said. His tone didn’t invite further questions. Lacy felt like a fool. Of all the people whose rings she had noted, why did she choose to question a judge in the middle of court?

  “Okay. It’s pretty,” she added. His frown remained as she slowly backed away.

  “Did you get bail for me?” Pearl asked. Her hopeful tone made Lacy feel even guiltier.

  “No. I don’t know how to do that. I’m sorry, Pearl, but this is why you need to hire a real lawyer.”

  Pearl nodded and hung her head, looking defeated. Lacy suppressed a sigh. She hadn’t wanted to get dragged into this mess. Now not only was she in it up to her ears, but she felt horrible. She had failed Pearl and by extension Tosh.

  He was waiting for her when she left the courtroom. “How did it go?”

  “Not well,” she said. “Apparently I was supposed to ask for bail. I didn’t know, so she didn’t get it.”

  “Maybe it’s for the best,” Tosh surprised her by saying. “After seeing her house, I think it’s better that she’s somewhere safe until this is over with.”

  It wasn’t going to be over with, but Lacy didn’t have the heart to tell him. She also didn’t tell him about the ring debacle. Neither Jason nor Tosh had much patience for what they deemed her conspiracy theories about the town’s most powerful leaders. Jason was especially touchy since Detective Arroyo was a member of the mysterious club. Lacy wouldn’t have given the issue much thought except for the cryptic statements made by Detective Brenner before his incarceration. He had alluded to the fact that the group was responsible for some nefarious power plays. But maybe he was trying to make himself seem scarier or more important. It had worked, because Lacy had found him terrifying at the end.

  “I skipped breakfast this morning. Do you want to grab something?” Tosh asked.

  “To go, if you don’t mind. I’m already late for work.”

  “You know you own the building and can go anytime you want, right?” Tosh asked.

  “It goes better for me if I stick to a regular schedule. I’m an all-or-nothing type woman. Either I’m disciplined or I’m holed up in my room like Riley.”

  “Still no idea what’s going on with her?”r />
  “None whatsoever,” Lacy said as Tosh turned the car into the coffee shop. “Do you mind grabbing something for me? I see Gladys’ car, and I’m not up for the inquisition today.”

  “No problem,” Tosh said. He left and a minute later a dark SUV pulled up behind his car and parked. Jason emerged and appeared at the side of her door.

  “He’s parked in a tow zone,” he said as he crouched and rested his hands on the window she had just rolled down.

  “So are you,” she said.

  “When you’re smart and pretty, it’s not fair to the other girls,” he said. “Why are you dressed like Katharine Hepburn’s little sister?”

  “I was trying to look conservative for court,” she explained. His lips tightened into the beginning of a frown. “The arraignment is the last thing; I’m passing her off after this.”

  “How did the arraignment go?”

  “About as well as you imagine for someone who has no idea what she’s doing,” she said.

  “Did you have Judge Kronk?”

  She nodded.

  “He’s a hard case. Even I’m a little afraid of him. Don’t worry about it.”

  “He wears a ring,” Lacy said.

  “He’s married.”

  “No, I mean a ring, a ring to rule all others.”

  “Oh, one of those,” Jason said. His flat tone told her he couldn’t care less.

  “I asked him about it in court.”

  That caught his attention. “You asked Judge Kronk a personal question in the middle of court?” She nodded. He groaned. “You know you’re not supposed to do that, right?”

  “I do now,” she said.

  The corner of his mouth tugged up into a grin and he shook his head. “Lacy, Lacy, Lacy.”

  She rested her hands on his over the window. “Riley’s throwing a grand opening party on Friday.”

  “I know,” he said.

  “How do you know?”

  “I saw the fliers.”

  “There are fliers?” she asked.

  He nodded. “Looks like quite a shindig.”

  “Are you going to be there?” she asked. Her eyes dropped to their hands.

  “It’s important to you; of course I’m there. I’ll even cough up the entry fee, but I’m not wearing a costume.”

  Her eyes flew to his face again. “Entry fee? Costume?”

  “You didn’t know any of that?” She shook her head. “I didn’t think it seemed like you. Let me guess: Riley’s gone rogue.”

  “She’s getting back at me.”

  “For what?” he asked.

  “Breathing.”

  He chuckled and eased his fingers back to lace with hers. “You want to know something?”

  “What?” she asked, barely daring to breathe.

  “I like starting my morning with a daily dose of Lacy; it’s better than coffee.” He leaned in and kissed her softly.

  “You’re wooing me,” she declared when the kiss was over.

  “Is it working?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  He drew his head back through the window just as the bell over the coffee shop door jingled, alerting her to Tosh’s presence. “Good. Next move is yours,” he whispered.

  Tosh stopped short, coffee in hand. “Is there a problem, Officer?”

  “You’re parked in a no-parking zone, Reverend,” Jason said.

  “So are you,” Tosh said.

  “Good point,” Jason said. Lacy watched as he hopped in his SUV and drove away.

  “That was a cryptic little encounter,” Tosh said. He opened the door and handed Lacy her coffee.

  “They all are lately,” she said. She couldn’t quite figure Jason out. He had given her an ultimatum she chose to ignore; he was supposed to be avoiding her. So why did he keep showing up in unusual places at his most charming?

  Joe was waiting for her on the steps when Tosh dropped her in front of the Stakely building. Even though her grandfather had opened the building at its usual time, Joe had apparently opted to wait for her. “Hey, Joe,” Lacy said. “I bought coffee today, but I’ll still make some for you.”

  “No, thanks,” he said as he pressed a hand to his stomach. “My gut could probably use a day of rest from your coffee. No offense.”

  “None taken,” Lacy said. They walked up the steps together like usual, but as soon as they were in her office, Joe dug a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to her.

  “I saw this hanging in a window and thought you might want to take a look,” he said.

  Lacy took the piece of paper, unfolded it, and stared in horror. It was a flier for the grand opening party. She was glad Jason had prepared her in advance for the fliers. She knew of their existence, but she had no idea how bad they would be until she saw for herself. “I’m going to kill her,” she said as she read through the flier. She pulled out her phone, sat behind her desk, and stood again when she was too agitated to be still. Then she had to wait while her grandmother woke Riley and brought her to the phone.

  “Hello,” Riley said. She sounded more than half asleep.

  “Elizabethan?”

  There was a pause. “Who is this?”

  “This is the person who told you to keep the budget under eight thousand dollars and is now staring at a flier which states that my Elizabethan-themed grand opening will have a champagne fountain!” Lacy yelled.

  “Lacy?”

  “You know who this is!!” she shouted.

  Riley yawned. Lacy pictured her stretching, and had to resist the urge to dash the phone against the desk a few times. “What’s the big deal?” she managed at last.

  “What’s the big deal? What’s the big deal?”

  “I already said that. Why are you repeating it?”

  Lacy knew Riley was taking great delight in her anger. She tried to get it under control. Looking at Joe helped. He always wore the same placid expression no matter what was happening. She focused on his scruffy face and took a breath. “The big deal is that there’s no way you can stay within budget with that kind of party.”

  “That’s why there’s a cover charge.”

  “There wasn’t supposed to be a cover charge.”

  “How else was I supposed to pay for everything when my boss is so cheap?”

  “You were supposed to create a party within the budget I gave you, and it was supposed to be for the whole community, not for those who can afford twenty dollars a person to get in.”

  “Who can’t afford twenty dollars to get in?” Riley asked.

  “Lots of people,” Lacy said as she stared at Joe. He barely had two nickels to rub together, and neither did his sister. Where were people like them supposed to get forty dollars for a party?

  “It’s Darwinian; I’m pre-sorting the riff-raff,” Riley said.

  “This is our community, Riley. There is no riff-raff.”

  “Are you running for office, Mother Theresa? Because you know there are no cameras rolling right now. You don’t have to be politically correct, and we both know there are a lot of unsavory characters you don’t want drinking all the champagne at your party.”

  “I don’t want champagne at my party!” Lacy yelled.

  “You should have told me before I put it on the flier,” Riley said. “Now everyone is expecting it.”

  Lacy ground her teeth together. She was going to have to start wearing her dental guard at night if Riley stayed much longer; otherwise her teeth would be nothing more than smooth nubs. “Why is the theme Elizabethan?” she managed to say between her teeth.

  “That was my little joke—the whole red-haired ruler of the universe thing. Funny, no?”

  “No,” Lacy said, knowing full well that Riley had added the costume aspect just to torture her.

  “You know, this all could have been avoided if you simply gave in to my first request and told me what the big secret is. But I’ll knock five dollars off my fee if you say ‘We are not amused,’ with an English accent.”

  La
cy hung up on her. “Do you ever fight with your sister, Joe?”

  “Not since I got out of prison and she’s all I’ve got,” Joe said. “Maybe you should get yourself arrested.”

  “That’ll be plan B. For now, I’ll try being nice.” She glanced at the flier still clutched in her hand. “In my Elizabethan gown while standing next to my champagne fountain.” She glanced back at Joe. “How bad was prison, really?”