"This time of day about half an hour."
"She said I could come by. Want to go with me?"
Gail let Jackie drive. They would go right up the coast, and Jackie knew the way. Besides that, she could probably get away with speeding. Neither of them had much time. Gail would talk to one of the jurors at two o'clock, and Jackie had to meet Irene and Karen at two-thirty.
They got into Jackie's Isuzu Trooper and headed north. Fort Pierce was in the next county, another little coastal town full of tourists and boats.
It occurred to Gail, as Mary Jo Hammond opened the door, that if Amber Dodson hadn't died, she might have ended up just like this. Divorced, thirty-six, living with an adolescent son in a modest house in a new development, working as a computer systems administrator. Still a good figure, keeping herself up. She had acrylic nails and highlights in her blond hair.
"Amber was crazy about Whit. She had these fantasies that he would leave his wife for her. I don't think so. She started going out with Gary Dodson to make Whit jealous. He was a lawyer and not bad looking. Her parents pushed her to marry him, so she did. Slid right into it, which let me tell you is how most of us do it, right?"
"What about after she got married? Was it over with Whit?"
"No." Mary Jo snorted a laugh. "If he needed a quickie, and she was there, he'd call her into his office and she'd get on her knees. I said, 'Amber, wake up? But I don't think she cared."
Jackie sat at the other end of the kitchen table with her chin in her hands, a perfectly blank expression on her face. Gail had told her to jump in if she had any questions, but so far she had said nothing.
Gail asked, "Could the baby have been Whit's?"
"Uh-uh. He had a vasectomy after his two kids. But after Amber got pregnant, which was totally unexpected, by the way, Gary made her quit work. Then Gary got fired. He started his own law practice, but he wasn't making much money, and Amber was going crazy at home. I was living in Miami Beach then, but she'd call me and talk for hours, how her life was so boring, and how Gary was such a dud. She wanted to leave him but she didn't have any money, and Gary couldn't afford alimony and child support, and there was no way she'd live with her parents again. I got sick of listening to it, so finally I told her not to call me anymore."
"She went back to River Pines," Gail said. "Do you know if she and Whit had become involved again before she was killed?"
"I have no idea. I hadn't spoken to her in a long time when I heard she was dead. It was on the news, they arrested the guy that did it. But you say he didn't. Holy shit. I bet it was Gary."
"The police checked him out," Gail said. "He was at work."
Jackie finally spoke. "Why do you think it was Gary? Was he violent?"
"She said he wasn't, but... I didn't like him. He was weird."
"Weird?"
"Yeah. Like this Seiko watch he gave her for Christmas. She thought it was cheap so she wouldn't wear it. He took it out in the carport and laid it on the concrete and smashed it with a hammer. He never screamed at her, but they argued a lot. Afterwards he'd go into the spare room and sit there in the dark and ... you know." Mary Jo looked around to make sure her boy was still in the kitchen making his sandwich.
Gail and Jackie exchanged a glance. Gail said, "Let's go back to what you said before, that Gary was fired from the law firm. What did Amber tell you about that?"
"She said they made him resign, which is the same thing. They found out he did something shady for Whit McGrath, and they told him to leave."
"Something shady? What does that mean?"
"Jesus, if I can remember." She tapped on a front tooth with one of her long red nails. "Amber made it sound shady. Some trick they pulled on a real estate deal. Gary did ... whatever he did, and the law firm found out and fired him."
On the way back to Stuart, Gail said, "Well, that was certainly interesting."
Jackie skillfully gunned her SUV around a slower car on the narrow road. The intracoastal was on their left, old frame houses on the sloping ground to their right. She said, "And you got what you were after. Amber Dodson was involved with Whit McGrath."
"Yes, but Mary Jo can't say they were involved around the time of the murder, which is what I need. Hector is looking for Vivian Baker. She was working at River Pines as the director of sales when Amber died. She isn't there anymore. Maybe she'll talk to me. I should also check into why Gary was fired, don't you think?"
Eyes on the road, Jackie said, "I would."
"It could explain why Gary Dodson started working for Whit McGrath, if he wasn't lying to me about it. Gary was fired because of something he did for Whit, and Whit was making it up to him. Maybe. I wonder what he did? You know, Jackie, if it was illegal, as opposed to just shady, that might be something else to look into." They passed a long line of palm trees, and shade and sunlight rapidly alternated. "I wonder who I know with connections at Hadley and Morgan in Palm Beach."
Jackie was holding the wheel with both hands, concentrating on the road. Gail had noticed that she was even quieter than usual. She didn't seem to be in a bad mood, just preoccupied. Gail wondered if it had to do with the chat with Irene after breakfast. Gail had no idea what Irene might have said, but as soon as she got back, she would ask her. It would be rude to start questioning her cousin.
They crossed the county line doing about sixty. A Martin County sheriff’s deputy going the other way lifted a hand in salutation. He must have recognized the white Trooper belonging to the sheriff’s daughter. Jackie glanced at her speedometer and slowed down. "Oops."
"I don't think he would have stopped you for speeding," Gail said.
"Yeah, but it sets a bad example."
Gail couldn't hold back a smile. "You're such a Girl Scout."
Jackie slowed to thirty going through a neat little trailer park with tiny plots of grass. The trailers were turquoise and pink single-wides that might have been there for forty years. A hurricane storm surge would have tossed them away like so many toys. The view went straight down the intracoastal, Hutchinson Island on the left, vanishing in the distance.
"Why don't you ask Whit McGrath why Gary got fired."
"How? Go knock on his door?"
"There's a big event going on tonight at the River Pines Club. He's unveiling Phase Two, a complete build-out of River Pines. It's supposedly invitation only, but I think you could walk in if you look like you belong."
"Great. 'Mr. McGrath, is it true that Gary Dodson is one of your lawyers? Why would you hire such a loser? What illegal or unethical act did Gary Dodson do for you when he was employed by Hadley and Morgan? Did Amber want money to keep quiet? Is that why you killed her? Or was it because she was tired of being on her knees, and she was going to tell your wife?' "
Jackie's smile broke into a laugh.
Gail said, "Maybe I'll just go there and watch."
"Tell Anthony to come too. It doesn't take that long to get here from Miami."
"He's trying very hard to stay out of this."
"All he has to do is show up. It's good to have a guy with you. That way you don't look as obvious. You'll have someone to talk to."
Gail thought about it. "That's true."
Jackie dropped her at the same shopping center parking lot where they had met two hours ago. "Call me later," she said. "And tell Whit that Jackie Bryce says hello."
Gail made some other stops before going back to the hotel. She sat in the kitchen of one of the jurors on State vs. Clark, explaining, persuading, finally begging him to sign an affidavit. To her surprise, he did. He would not have voted to convict Kenneth Ray Clark of murder, and recommend death, if Tina Hopwood had testified that Clark had left the trailer at 10:00 a.m. on February 6.
Driving away from the man's house, in a much better frame of mind, Gail knew she had added a few grains of sand to the scales. But it wasn't enough. Proof of innocence was required. She needed to name the killer.
The second juror spoke through the screen door and said she didn't
want to get involved. A third said he couldn't afford to take the time off to testify. Gail left a copy of the proposed affidavit and her business card.
Hector Mesa had located four others in the area, but Gail had not been able to reach them by telephone, and there was no time to send letters. Hector was still working on finding Lougie Jackson's friends, and if one of them could be located, Kenny's alibi could be buttressed by additional testimony.
Her last stop was Sunset Villas Retirement Home.
She knocked at the open door to Ruby Smith's room, then went inside. Ruby put away some letters she was writing and lifted her arms. She hugged Gail tightly around the neck, and Gail remembered being hugged like this twenty-five years ago. She pulled a chair close and sat down.
"When's Irene coming over to see me with that sweet little girl of yours?"
"Tomorrow," Gail told her. "Mom wants to take you to lunch after you come back from church. Would that be all right?"
"I'll cancel all my other dates," Ruby joked, then her expression grew serious. "How are you doing, honey? How's the appeal coming along?"
Gail took her time, telling Ruby everything, not wanting to give her false hopes. She thought that Ruby should be prepared for the worst, if it happened.
"Oh, don't be so downhearted." Ruby took Gail's hand. "I'll tell you something. Jesus spoke to me again. It was last Wednesday. I was just sitting here, about to go to bed, and the room got so bright, and I heard his voice. Tear not.' Just those two words. Fear not."
Gail nodded, unsure what to say. "Did anyone else hear this?"
Through the thick glasses, Ruby's faded eyes seemed to smile. "No, precious. I'm not going crazy. I have hope that Kenny Ray will be all right, I guess that's what I'm trying to tell you, and you shouldn't be afraid to hope for the best, either. We're not driving this bus, we're just along for the ride." She squeezed Gail's hand. "When are you going to the prison again?"
"Next week," Gail said. "After I write the motion to overturn his conviction, Kenny needs to sign it." Another flight to Jacksonville, another rental car. "Ruby, I need to get a check from you."
"Yes, you do." She took her old leather-covered Bible from the TV table next to her chair. A check protruded from between the gilded pages, and Ruby tugged it free. "Here. I already made it out."
Fifteen thousand dollars.
"I put in the extra five because I know it can't be cheap for you, all this work you're doing." She closed her Bible and folded her hands on top of it. Her nails were ridged with age, and heavy veins showed through the nearly transparent skin. With some hesitation, Ruby asked, "Will that be enough?"
Gail stared down at the check. The first ten thousand had vanished like dust blown from the palm of her hand, and fifteen more wouldn't last much longer. But it was impossible to ask for more. Anthony Quintana would have something to say about it—if Gail decided to tell him.
"Yes. It's fine." She bent down to kiss Ruby's cheek. "Thank you."
CHAPTER 16
Saturday night, March 17
Sunset at River Pines put a warm glow on the beige stucco houses and sent long shadows across immaculate lawns. The main road curved past the landscaped shopping center, past the Pines Riding Academy, and eventually around the golf course to the River Pines Club. With its columns and tile roof, it resembled a Mediterranean villa. Anthony and Gail sat on a tree-shaded bench by the tennis courts and watched the side entrance. There was a portico and under it, a woman taking names.
Gail had told Anthony the dress code: casual chic. He wore a cappuccino brown jacket and pleated pants with an open-collared black silk shirt. His narrow snakeskin belt with the gold buckle was a work of art. Gail had asked him to look in his closet for her short black sleeveless dress and matching high-heeled sandals. This would have been perfect for an evening affair in Miami. But they were not in Miami. The men and women walking through that door might have been going to a business meeting. Gail remembered now what Jackie had told her: McGrath was seducing the local politicians and chamber-of-commerce types before the commission voted whether to approve Phase Two.
Anthony spread his arms out lazily on the back of the bench, an ankle on his knee. "Are we going in or not?"
"In a minute. I'm waiting for that woman at the door to take a potty break."
"Gail, she's only there to write name tags. 'Hello, I'm... Billy Bob."
"Be nice." Gail crossed her legs and tugged her skirt down, hoping the bench didn't snag her hose. "What do you think of River Pines?"
"I've seen it all over South Florida."
"You think I'm on the wrong track with Whit McGrath, don't you?"
"Dodson killed his wife. When the pathologist finishes with the autopsy reports, and tells us that the time of death was off, I want to hear you say, 'Oh, Anthony, I was so wrong. We should have spent two hours in bed instead of enduring that party' "
The woman at the door got up from her table and went inside. Gail grabbed her purse. "Come on, let's go"
Hand in hand they hurried across the grass and under the portico. On the table was a list of names with check marks beside them. Gail quickly wrote her and Anthony's names on stick-on tags and patted one onto his jacket and the other onto her dress. They vanished among a crowd of a hundred other people.
A piano played light jazz, and servers passed through with trays of hors d'oeuvres. A line had formed at the bar. All activities were pushed to the perimeter because the middle was taken up with a table at least ten feet on each side, illuminated by spotlights. Holding on to Anthony's shoulder, Gail followed in his wake as he eased through the crowd to get closer.
It was a scale model of River Pines in its final incarnation, if McGrath got the permits he wanted. There were clusters of homes and condominiums in gated communities, three golf courses, a movie theater, riding trails, shopping areas, and schools. Everything radiated from a town center that featured a hotel and conference center curving around a man-made lake. More colonnades and stucco and barrel tile roofs—Boca Raton washing northward.
Barely moving her lips, Gail read aloud, " 'River Pines. Florida's New Home Town.' Oh, my God. It's a city."
Anthony leaned close to her. "You don't like it? You wouldn't want to live here?"
Gail stood on tiptoe. "I wonder where he is." All she had was Jackie's description: early forties, shaggy blond hair, and dimples. Her eyes swept over the crowd. A smaller group gathered in the back of the room near the piano. She saw the top of a man's head, the light picking up golden streaks in his hair. Someone moved out of the way. The man was sun-bronzed and lean, dressed in a navy blue jacket and tan slacks. White shirt, no tie. The clothes looked as though he'd had them for years, but they draped wonderfully well. He gripped a friend's shoulder and laughed in that booming, confident way of men who couldn't care less.
"That's got to be him," she said.
"Go find out," Anthony told her.
"Want to come with me?"
"It's your case." Standing behind her, Anthony put a kiss on her neck. His lips moved at her ear. "Come back and tell me that such a man could feel threatened by a girl like Amber."
"You're going to apologize when you find out I'm right," she said.
Anthony gave her a little shove. "Go on."
Gail maneuvered around the scale model and walked toward the piano. Even over the music she could hear Whit McGrath laughing. A server passed by, and Gail took a tiny pastry shell filled with caviar and sour cream. She nibbled it while McGrath talked about himself. How his parents, living on Jupiter Island, had sent him to prep school in Palm Beach. How he'd been suspended for hoisting an inflatable doll up the flagpole.
"My dad said one more stunt like that, you're going to Martin County High. That's just what I wanted! All my buddies were here. I passed out cartoons of the headmaster with his pants down, and bam! They expelled me. The next year at Martin County I played running back and we won the state championship. I said, 'Thanks, Dad.' "
Everyone laughed. Dimp
les appeared in his cheeks and lines fanned out from the corners of his sea-blue eyes. His lower lip was full and rosy. Gail had no doubt that Amber Dodson had wanted J. Whitney McGrath. Wanted him bad.
Standing with her weight on one hip, holding on to her narrow purse strap, Gail wondered how to break in. Then.McGrath noticed her. He waited until one of the other men had finished a joke, then gave him a clap on the back and said there were people he had to talk to.
He headed for Gail, coming closer, reading her name tag. "Gail Connor." He raised his eyes. Even his eyelashes were blond. "Hi. Whit McGrath. Now where have I heard your name?"
"I don't know, but I'm Jackie Bryce's cousin."
"Hello, Jackie's cousin." His hand was big and warm.
"She said to tell you hello."
"Did she? Tell her I said hello right back." McGrath had a slow, lazy smile. "Aren't you the lawyer who's working on the Clark case?"
"Where'd you hear that?" Gail wondered if Gary Dodson had told him.
"Gee, I don't remember."
"Could we talk for a minute? Maybe over there?"
Gail nodded toward a vacant area near some planters with bird-of-paradise.
He glanced at his guests. "Do you think they can find the bar without me?"
As they walked, Gail said, "I can't discuss the details, but I've uncovered evidence that Kenny Ray Clark is probably innocent. You knew the victim, and I was hoping you could help me out."
"Me? I barely knew Ms. Dodson. She worked for the sales office. All I remember is a cute little face at the reception desk. 'Morning, Mr. McGrath.' 'Hi, Amber.' " He lifted a hand as though she might still be there. "My God. What a tragedy. I was there at the trial for a couple of days, and I have to say, the case against your client was pretty compelling. What makes you think he's innocent?"
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