“But what about the blood spatter and lack of marks on Brandon’s knuckles?” Frank asked.
“If Brandon planned the murder, he would bring gloves. Let’s say he lets himself in with his key. Maybe he catches his father by surprise. Maybe they argue and Dale turns his back on Brandon. Brandon strikes and Dale goes down. Brandon uses a blunt object—a paperweight, a rock. Then he beats Dale to death with his gloved hands. There’s some blood spatter, so Brandon covers it with more of his father’s blood to make it look like it was smeared on and not the result of spatter. Then he kneels in the blood, knowing a forensic expert will conclude that the blood on his pants was inconsistent with spatter from a wound.”
“That’s an awful lot of maybes. And why would he confess?”
“The den looks out at the front of the house. What if he saw Veronica driving up and knew she’d see him. So he confesses, but does his crazy act and hopes he’ll get a lawyer smart enough to have a forensic expert examine the blood if the state’s expert doesn’t draw the conclusion that the blood on his clothes wasn’t the result of blood that spattered while his father was being beaten to death.
“His plan was perfect. As soon as anyone heard that Dale had been beaten to death, they looked at Brandon with his string-bean arms and sunken chest and thought, ‘No way could he have defeated an ex-wrestler and football player in a fight.’”
“I don’t know, Amanda. Brandon’s plan hinged on Tom’s being set free.”
“Which became a real possibility when he heard the judge’s reaction to my motion to suppress.”
Frank thought over what Amanda had said. Then he looked at his daughter.
“What are you going to do with this? He’s your client. You can’t tell the cops.”
“I know. And it is just guesswork. But no one else confessed to killing Dale. Veronica Masterson and Mark Hamilton deny they had anything to do with it. Hamilton told Larry Frederick that he thought Reginald Kiner was behind the murder, but he also said that Kiner never told him he was involved. Tom was polygraphed, and we know he’s innocent.”
“Let’s assume you’re right,” Frank said. “Dale Masterson arranged to have Christine killed and he and Mark Hamilton used Kiner to commit other crimes. Dale was a very bad person.”
“So you’re saying I should forget this?”
Frank shrugged. “You really don’t have a choice. But you can look at it this way: Is letting Brandon walk any different from winning an acquittal for a client you know is guilty?”
Amanda was quiet. Then she sighed. “You’re right. I have to let this go. It’s just . . .”
“You think you want to know if you’re right, but you really don’t. Let it drop. Enjoy your victories. Tom is innocent and he’s free and Brandon . . .” Frank shrugged. “If he’s guilty, justice was served when Masterson died. If he’s innocent, you saved him. You’re never going to know unless you confront Brandon, and you have no reason—other than curiosity—to do that. Let sleeping dogs lie. There’s no reason to wake them up.”
Frank and Amanda dropped the subject and turned the conversation to more pleasant topics. Amanda put up a good front, but she brooded all the way home. In the end, she decided that her father was right. Dale Masterson was evil and Brandon might very well be innocent. And he was her client, so the only purpose that would be served by pursuing this question would be the satisfaction of her curiosity.
After a fitful night, Amanda drove to the office and worked on a brief that she was filing in an assault case. Then she read the investigative reports in a rape case. Later that day a new client hired her and provided her with another distraction. By the time she went home, she had forgotten about Brandon Masterson—almost.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I could not have written Violent Crimes without help from experts in several fields. Attorney Ryan Scott told me about the Shadow Challenge; Kip Nordstrom solved my plant problem by explaining about pokeweed; my son-in-law, Andy Rome, taught me how to commit financial fraud; and once again Dr. Karen Gunson told me how to kill someone. Thanks also to Dr. Thomas Dodson, Brianna Borders and Jay W. Pscheidt, and my excellent assistant, Robin Haggard.
I can’t say enough about my fabulous agents, Jean Naggar and Jennifer Weltz, or the crew at HarperCollins: Claire Wachtel and Caroline Upcher, my excellent editors, and the intrepid Heather Drucker and Hannah Wood.
I appreciate the support of my daughter, Ami Margolin Rome; my son, Daniel, and his new bride, Amanda; and my special friend Melanie Nelson.
And, finally, I thank my muse, Doreen, who is always in my heart.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PHILLIP MARGOLIN has written nineteen novels, many of them New York Times bestsellers, including his latest novels Woman with a Gun, Worthy Brown’s Daughter, Sleight of Hand, and the Washington trilogy. Each displays a unique, compelling insider’s view of criminal behavior, which comes from his long background as a criminal defense attorney who has handled thirty murder cases. Winner of the Distinguished Northwest Writer Award, he lives in Portland, Oregon.
www.phillipmargolin.com
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ALSO BY PHILLIP MARGOLIN
Lost Lake
Sleeping Beauty
The Associate
The Undertaker’s Widow
The Burning Man
After Dark
Gone, but Not Forgotten
The Last Innocent Man
Heartstone
Worthy Brown’s Daughter
Amanda Jaffe Novels
Wild Justice
Ties That Bind
Proof Positive
Fugitive
Dana Cutler Novels
Executive Privilege
Supreme Justice
Capitol Murder
Sleight of Hand
Vanishing Acts (with Ami Margolin Rome)
CREDITS
Title page illustration copyright © zizar/Shutterstock, Inc.
COPYRIGHT
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
VIOLENT CRIMES. Copyright © 2016 by Phillip Margolin. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Margolin, Phillip
Violent crimes : an Amanda Jaffe novel / Phillip Margolin.—First edition.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-06-226655-2
I. Title.
PS3563.A649V56 2016
813'.54—dc23 2015014362
EPub Edition February 2016 ISBN 9780062266576
16 17 18 19 20 OV/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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