Tuesday's Child

by Fern Michaels

  Coffee cup midway to her lips, Kala froze. Of all the things she was expecting to hear, this was not it. She let her eyes express her questions.

  “Look, Kala, I’m not ... I’m not what you think I am. The media ... early on, they made me out to be this ... shark or barracuda, some kind of legal killer. At first, I was kind of flattered. Then it was just too much trouble to back it all up. What I am trying to say here is that I did not railroad Sophie Lee. I did not falsify anything. I prosecuted the case the way I would have prosecuted any other case. I gave it a hundred and ten percent. That extra ten percent was jammed down my throat by the powers that be because Audrey Star was such a high-profile figure.

  “I never personally believed Sophie Lee murdered her patient. As we both know, the law doesn’t care what I think. The law is made up of facts. Personally, I always believed it was Adam Star who killed his wife, but I did not have a shred of evidence to prove it. The only person that left was Sophie Lee. I cut you all the slack I could, Kala, hoping as a defense attorney you could do things I couldn’t do inside the law, but you didn’t come up with anything either.”

  Kala sipped at her coffee, knowing that what Spenser had said was the truth.

  “The mayor, the police chief, and the governor—yeah, my uncle—were on my ass, up my ass, in my face twenty-four /seven to convict somebody. Audrey Star had the right for justice to be served. The board of directors for ‘Everything Star’ brought some heavy artillery to the table. In the end, it was all dumped on me.

  “I know this is all old hat to you, Kala, but I went with the facts. In the end, a jury of Sophie Lee’s peers found her guilty. No, I did not sleep for weeks after the verdict and for months after the sentencing. If it’s any consolation to you, I was as convinced in my own mind as you were of Sophie Lee’s innocence. I kept sending you, anonymously, points of law when you were drafting your appeals. I thought they would work, and I was devastated when you lost both appeals.”

  “You! You’re the one who sent me those ... points of law? I never—Oh, dear God! I used all of them. I thought it was some judge that Ben knew. Thank you, Ryan.”

  Ryan shrugged.

  “One other thing. Not that it’s important, but my secretary said it was presumptuous of me to give you that picture of the two of us at your retirement party. The day they took that picture of the two of us was one of my proudest moments. I was there with the great Kala Aulani. I just want you to know I went to six different stores, looking for just the right frame.” Ryan grinned ruefully.

  Kala felt sick to her stomach. She had to find that picture. Even if she had to go to the city dump site and dig through all the trash. “I appreciated it, Ryan,” she fibbed. “Six stores, huh?”

  Spenser laughed. “It might have been seven, and I’ll have you know I wrapped it myself. Anyway, back to the moment at hand. I had this epiphany last night, and I couldn’t wait to get here this morning. Listen, Kala, let’s work together on this. My career is over no matter what happens, and that’s okay. When I leave here, I want my record to stand for itself. And right now, I want to assure you that all of my old cases are solid; those lawyers are doing nothing but wasting time, manpower, and money. Say what you will about me as a person, but as a lawyer, you won’t find a better one—except maybe you. I would never, ever, shortchange justice.”

  Kala believed him. Damn. Now she really did have to find that picture. “So what was the epiphany?”

  “More coffee?”

  “Yeah,” Kala said, holding up her cup. Spenser’s hand was now rock steady.

  “I don’t think Adam Star, or Adam Clements, or whatever name he went by, killed his wife. I think Audrey Star killed herself. I can’t prove it. Can you? Between the two of us, maybe we can prove it, and I can ride off into the sunset knowing I helped Sophie Lee. Legally.”

  It wasn’t often that Kala was at a loss for words, but she was at that moment. She flapped her arms like a fish out of water as she stared at Spenser. Again, her expression was full of questions.

  “I know exactly how you feel, and that’s how I felt last night. I went through every goddamn word of the trial transcript. Word by word. I was looking for my own failure, your failure, and it wasn’t there. It simply was not there. That just left testimony. Adam’s, to be precise. He said from the git-go that he did not believe that Sophie Lee killed his wife. He was her staunchest supporter. Sophie, even though you didn’t put her on the stand, backed him up, too. She said there was never a time when he could have killed his wife. You said it yourself, Kala, in open court. I don’t think you believed it then, and you didn’t believe it all these years until the day Adam showed up in your office. Right or wrong?”

  “You’re right. So if your theory is right, how do we go about proving Audrey Star killed herself?” Kala demanded. Now that was something she had never even considered. Some attorney she was.

  “I don’t know. I was hoping you would have some ideas. Was there anything in the evidence locker?”

  “No. And let’s set the record straight on that. I did sign the stuff out, but I left before it was turned over to Patty Molnar. I had a motion to file in court and didn’t want to be late that day. We picked it up yesterday from Nick Mancuso’s garage, where Patty had it stored. She never looked inside the boxes, and it’s our theory that the rookie assigned to the evidence locker that day is the one who made the mistake. It would have stayed a mistake if you hadn’t gotten all uppity and threatened to sue me.”

  “I was just busting your chops. It was a threat, nothing more. I wouldn’t have gone through with it. I’m sorry about that, I really am.”

  “Well, thanks to Ben, it worked out okay. We went through it thoroughly. The box is in my office, and you can take it with you when you leave.”

  “Kala, how is Sophie Lee? I’m not asking out of idle curiosity. I actually care how she is. I am personally willing to do anything I can to help her. All you have to do is tell me what that would be. I don’t know if you’ll understand this, but even though I did nothing wrong, I still feel guilty for robbing her of her best years, her youth.”

  “You know what, Ryan? I think Sophie knows that. I’ll pass it on. Just don’t prick my bubble and tell me that check you left on the coffee table is no good.”

  “I wouldn’t do that, Kala. It’s solid gold.”

  “Well, in that case,” Kala said, texting Jay, “I’m going to have Jay deposit it.”

  “The quicker the better,” Spenser said, getting up off his chair and walking over to the bush that held the hibiscus and handing it to her. Then he sat down and reached for a sugary pastry. He laughed when Kala stuck the flower behind her ear.

  “So, partner, what’s our next move?” Kala said, before she jammed one of the sticky buns in her mouth.

  Patty Molnar stood by the window, her back to Rob Pope and Bonnie Garrison as they reported in on Audrey Star and her husband, Adam. She only heard half of what they were saying because she was so intent on watching Kala and Ryan Spenser down in the little garden where they were sitting. What was going on? They looked to her like they were suddenly new best friends. Her reporter’s instinct kicked in. Something was up. Even from where she was standing, inside the building, she could smell it, feel it in every bone in her body. What? Did it have something to do with the evidence box? Had she missed something? Well, if she missed it, then so did the others.

  Patty blinked when she saw Spenser get up and pick a white flower from the bushes and hand it to Kala, who then stuck it in her hair. What the hell did that mean?

  Now she was cranky. She turned back to her two investigators, and said, “Okay, this is all really good. Thanks for getting on this so fast. Just leave me your reports and check with the others to see if they can use any extra help. I’ll call you later this evening.”

  Patty wandered back to the window, the thick file in hand. She needed to go somewhere quiet and read through it before she handed it over to Kala. What were they talking about down there
?

  Out in the hall, Patty ran into Jay, who had a jubilant look on his face. He waved a white envelope under her nose. “I am on my way to the bank with ten million dollars. I have never seen ten million bucks in my life. Do you want to see it?”

  “Sure, why not? Show it to me,” Patty said. Jay showed her. She was not impressed.

  “Big deal. It’s just a bunch of zeros. What’s going on with Kala and Spenser? I could see them out the window. They suddenly look like best buds.”

  “I have no idea. Some kind of plan, I guess. How’s the investigating going? You getting any dirt, any smoking guns or secrets?”

  “It’s all right here,” Patty said, waving the papers in her hand. She wondered if it was wishful thinking on her part.

  Chapter 22

  PATTY WALKED BACK TO THE LITTLE OFFICE THAT HAD BEEN ASSIGNED to her at the rear corner of the building. Before she settled down to sift through the reports in her hands, she went over to the window. Kala and Spenser still looked like they were having a very intense discussion. She figured it all must be good for Camp Aulani since Kala had stuck the white hibiscus in her hair. To Patty, that had to mean Ryan Spenser was no longer Public Enemy Number One. But how and why was it happening? She hoped Kala would call a meeting once Spenser left and fill the staff in on what was going on.

  Back at her desk, Patty separated the interviews, two for Audrey Star and two for Adam Star. The female version and the male version of an investigation. She marveled at the tidy reports and the thoroughness. Well, the two law students turned investigators were just a hair away from becoming full-fledged lawyers, so they knew a thing or two about thoroughness when a client’s well-being was hanging in the balance.

  Patty started with Rob Pope’s report first. A male’s perspective always intrigued her because, unlike women, the males left out the little things that sometimes had a way of making an entire case; then there was that aha moment when the lightbulb went on. Patty rifled through the pages and had her aha moment herself when she saw that Bonnie Garrison’s report was eight pages longer than that of her partner Rob.

  Before she settled down to read, Patty headed to the kitchen for a fresh cup of coffee. Back in her little nest, she got comfortable. Who first, Audrey or Adam? She flipped the pages and went with Audrey. After all, Audrey Star was what this was all about.

  Patty read steadily, marking sentences, sometimes whole paragraphs, with a yellow highlighter. When she was finished, she read the summary and was pleased with the information Rob had submitted. What intrigued her most of all was the final sentence, which was a question: “Where are Audrey Star’s journals?”

  Audrey Star had been born to Edith and Henry Star on August 7, 1965, in Marietta, Georgia. She weighed in at seven pounds, nine ounces. She was an only child. Her parents died in a boating accident when she was nineteen. The Star fortune was held in trust for her until she turned twenty-five. At that point, she had one aunt on her mother’s side and two uncles on her father’s side. All were deceased now. No cousins to be found anywhere. Nannies and various caretakers over the years were all deceased. Audrey was a pleasant child and went to private schools, young ladies’ finishing academies, “whatever they were,” Rob had written. Her early academic reports indicated that Audrey Star was slow. She showed no interest in the three R’s or anything else, such as spelling, science, or geography. She “failed” every psychological test she was ever given. One brave soul, a psychiatrist named Arnold Rosenberg, had brazenly stepped up to the plate and written that Audrey Star’s mind had never progressed past the age of sixteen. That same brave soul went on to say that Audrey Star was functionally illiterate though one could understand what she wrote despite the misspellings and total lack of grammatical structure, and that she worked very hard to cover up her deficiency. Because she was so bad with numbers as well as monies, she had credit lines out the wazoo, and all she had to do was sign her name, which she was able to do with no problem.

  Patty closed her eyes for a moment as she tried to recall if any of this had come out at the trial. She had no recollection of it at all, so obviously it had not come out. Was that because Spenser didn’t root around in Audrey’s past because she was the victim or because he didn’t know where to look? Or maybe the Star people put a lid on the information they were willing to divulge. Patty wondered if Adam had known all these details. If he had, he’d never shared them with anyone, at least not to her knowledge. Then how was it two third-year law students, a.k.a. investigators, were able to find all this information?

  Patty scribbled some notes to herself. Ten years was a long time, and maybe the people who did finally talk were aware of Sophie Lee and wanted to right some wrongs? People? So far the only live person who had talked was this Dr. Rosenberg. Where that kind of thinking would take her, Patty had no idea.

  Rosenberg, she read, was the doctor who had informed the board of directors of Star Enterprises that Audrey was not mentally capable of handling her fortune and that a trust lawyer was needed to oversee Audrey’s fortune. Things went smoothly when that was done, with Audrey flitting all over the globe partying and enjoying herself until the day she met Adam Clements. A note in the margin, handwritten, forced Patty to turn the paper sideways to read it. Audrey stayed under the care of Dr. Rosenberg until the day she died. Rosenberg was the only person Audrey let it all hang out with. She understood when the good doctor told her she wasn’t on par with other people her age. He encouraged her to keep a journal, and only he and she would be privy to it. If she felt she didn’t want to voice something, she’d write it and let the doctor read it. He had to explain to her dozens of times about patient-doctor privilege. Audrey saw him on the average of twice a month and stayed in touch if she was traveling the world. Along the way, there were many one-night stands, short relationships, and several broken engagements. Men used her. However, she was never brokenhearted when a relationship ended. She simply moved on to the next man waiting in the wings.

  Patty turned the page and saw a short report from someone named Derek Saxton. Rob Pope penciled in a note saying, “This guy’s summary is pretty much what all the guys said in regard to Audrey Star. She was coy, kittenish, often resorting to baby talk to get her way. She was easy on the eyes and didn’t mind spending money—not that I was a gigolo, mind you,” Saxton said. “But I did appreciate the pricey gifts. Who wouldn’t like a Maserati?” Audrey was incapable of carrying on any kind of meaningful conversation even if it was about the weather. She liked to be complimented on her clothing, her hair. She was just okay in bed but really didn’t like sexual intercourse. She did like to cuddle and talk about someday. She was a terrible driver, had had numerous accidents, smacked up or totaled more than a dozen cars, until finally the DMV revoked her license, and she had to resort to a chauffeur. From time to time it was known that she did take a car on the road and drive with no license. Even the threat of being arrested didn’t deter her. She knew the Star powerhouse of lawyers would get her off anything that caused her even a moment of trouble.

  When Audrey met Adam Clements, she fell in love with him. Adam Clements, Audrey told Rosenberg, was the answer to all her prayers. He could take over her fortune because he was an investment banker. She asked him to marry her, and he accepted. He did put up some resistance when Audrey asked him to give up his job and stay home with her or travel the world, just the two of them. Adam had many sessions with Rosenberg. He knew what he was getting into when he married Audrey. Sometimes they were more like two kids, brother and sister; other times they actually acted like a married couple. Rosenberg said it was a very strange relationship but that it worked for the two of them. He said Adam was a decent human being, and he tried to help Audrey. He’d take her on nature outings since he liked the outdoors. He taught her how to swim. He’d read to her by the hour. She particularly liked political thrillers for some odd reason. With Adam around twenty-four/seven, Audrey gave up for the most part her facials, her hair and nail salon appointments, and her dai
ly massages because Adam said she was beautiful enough without all those “trappings.” They did extensive traveling, with Adam showing her other ways of life and what other countries and their people were like. Even though she’d already traveled to those other countries, she had only experienced the party aspects of the cultures. She particularly liked Africa and its people for some reason and made many trips there.

  Patty stopped reading, rubbed her temples as she tried to picture the life Audrey Star had led. She got up and walked over to the window. Kala and Spenser were still talking. About what?

  Patty skimmed through a stack of photocopied articles that Rob had included in the file. She went back to Rob’s typed report. Dr. Rosenberg had retired a year ago and was dividing his time between Georgia and Vermont, where he went every summer to escape the heat. “He said he had just returned to Georgia a week ago to testify in a court case and was headed back to Vermont the very day we spoke to him,” Rob wrote. He would be there until after the leaves turned, then come back to the South for the winter months. He said his wife, who had passed away three years ago, was from Vermont.

  He said he was shocked, actually the word he used was stunned, when he heard that Adam Star had confessed to killing Audrey. He said in all his counseling sessions with Adam, he never saw one scintilla of violent potential in the man. He said that, in his opinion, “Adam was simply not capable of murder.”

  Rosenberg said his services were terminated at Audrey’s death. He said he was given a magnificent bonus for his years of service to Audrey. He followed the trial, testified, and was represented by the Star legal team. At that time, his wife became ill, and he cut back on his practice to spend more time with her. When asked if he had an opinion on Sophie Lee’s guilt or innocence, he said that he did not.

  More articles were stapled to the file, articles of Rosenberg’s testimony and the ongoing daily trial reports. And then Patty reached the end of Rob’s report. Her eyes were glued to the last sentence: “Where are the journals?”