The Slowest Death

by Rick Reed

“We just left and are going to Knight’s office,” Jack answered.

  “You didn’t happen to ask who their dentist was?” Walker asked.

  Jack gave him Knight’s home phone and told him to talk to Marcie. He told Walker, “We made the connection between Sonny and Judge Knight. Sully too. They all left Boston about the same time. Sonny resigned and moved here. Sully resigned and went to law school. He has a practice in Boston. Knight resigned to take a judge’s appointment here. Plus, Judge Knight had dealings with Sonny through work, and Knight’s wife said Sully called the judge at least twice in the last few weeks.”

  Jack discussed this with Walker for a minute before continuing to the Courts Building. Inside the Courts Building, Jack and Liddell went through the usual routine of giving up their weapons, belts, and the contents of their pockets before they walked through a metal detector. Judge Knight’s offices were on the first floor at the end of the hallway. As they entered, a young man came from behind a desk and asked, “Can I help you?”

  “Detectives Murphy and Blanchard,” Jack said.

  “Jason Atwood,” the young man said. “I’m the one you spoke to. Judge Knight’s law clerk.”

  “Thanks for your help, Jason. If you can answer just a few questions for us I’ll explain why we’re here,” Jack said.

  “Of course. I’ll answer what I can.”

  “Do you keep the judge’s calendar?” Jack asked.

  “At least for now,” Jason said and smiled. “I take the Indiana Bar exam next month.” His smile faltered. “Is the judge okay?”

  Jack explained only what he had to. There was a car fire. Jack described the car. Jason confirmed the judge owned that type of car. He told Jason there was a body in the car. They were in the process of identifying it. He thought Jason Atwood, the soon-to-be-card-carrying barrister, was going to cry.

  Jason said in a barely audible voice, “Do you think it’s Sam? He was here a couple of hours ago. I thought he was going by his house or to lunch.”

  Jack asked, “Can you tell us where the judge was going? Did he have a meeting?”

  “Well. He eats at Milano’s on the walkway. Or maybe DiLegge’s near Garvin Park. And he goes a few other places. I don’t know exactly. Most days he runs by his house for a few minutes. He didn’t say he was meeting anyone for lunch. If he had a meeting I would have known.”

  Jason asked, “Do you need someone to identify the body?” He put a hand on his forehead and said, “Oh Christ! Shellie. That’s his wife.”

  “Michelle? We’ve already talked to her,” Jack said. “Jason, I’m afraid the body can’t be identified that way.”

  “Oh…”

  Jack said, “Can we see his appointment calendar?”

  As if by reflex, Jason said, “I think you need a court order or a search warrant to do that, Detective.”

  Liddell took out his cell phone and stepped away.

  “Have you tried to call the judge’s phone?” Jack asked Jason.

  “Yes. Several times. He’s been absent from several court hearings this morning and he’s never missed a hearing. He’s supposed to be in trial tomorrow and he always prepares for trial the evening before. Was he…?”

  “Has anyone called for him? Besides for court business, that is? Anyone you don’t know?” Jack asked.

  “I can’t discuss the judge’s business with you. You understand. Confidentiality.”

  Liddell handed his cell phone to Jason. The young man said hello. Listened, said okay and handed the phone back to Liddell.

  “Follow me,” Atwood said. “You can view the calendar on his desk. But you still can’t go through any of his files without a court order. I don’t make the laws, gentlemen. He has numerous calls every day. This morning was no different. If the caller asks to leave a message, I stick a note on his desk.”

  Jason stood in the doorway of Judge Knight’s office keeping watch while Jack and Liddell flipped through the judge’s appointment calendar going back several months. Mrs. Knight said Sully had called Knight two weeks ago, but there was nothing in the appointment calendar that would correspond to a call.

  “When you say you leave notes, Jason, do you also put the telephone calls on the judge’s Outlook calendar?” Jack asked.

  “Sometimes,” Jason said. “But not every call unless they specifically ask for a callback. Otherwise I just make out a Post-it note and leave it on his desk.”

  “Have you heard the name Vincent Sullis?” Jack asked.

  Jason’s expression said volumes, but he was quiet. Jason needed to take Lying for Dummies 101 again.

  “I’m not asking you to betray a confidence, Jason. I just want to know if this guy called your boss in the last couple of weeks,” Jack said. “It’s very important.”

  Jason cringed like a dog shitting a pork-chop bone. “I may get in trouble for telling you this, but Sam—Judge Knight—was my mentor. Yes. A Mr. Sullis called for Judge Knight a couple of times two weeks ago. He just identified himself and asked if he could speak to Sam Knight. I assumed he knew the judge, but the procedure is that I screen the calls. He didn’t want to leave a message. I didn’t record it on the judge’s electronic calendar. I didn’t put anything on the calendar on his desk either. When Mr. Sullis called the second time, I told the judge the man was on the line. Judge Knight said he didn’t want to speak to him. I didn’t transfer the call. Mr. Sullis left a phone number and said it was important. He left a message of sorts, but I didn’t write it down. I just told Judge Knight what he said.”

  “What was the message?” Jack asked.

  “He said to remind the judge about Boston. I asked him what that meant and he said the judge would know.”

  “You don’t have the phone number he left, do you?” Jack asked.

  “I don’t. But it was a Boston prefix.” He blushed slightly. “The guy sounded like a jerk.”

  “That’s Sully,” Liddell said.

  Jack showed Jason the business card Sully had given him.

  “That might be the number,” Jason said. “I’m sorry I can’t remember more.”

  “You’ve been a great help, Jason,” Jack said.

  Jack flipped through the calendar on the judge’s desk. The judge was a busy man. He recognized some of the names of local attorneys, judges, and there was a notation to pick up dry cleaning and buy an anniversary card. Nothing saying, “Secret meeting today.” Nothing with Sully or Sonny’s name, just a lot of court docket numbers. There was one interesting notation on today’s date. Scribbled at the bottom of the date was MC.

  Liddell wrote the names on the file binders in his notebook. One name he recognized as a corporation that was embroiled in a class-action lawsuit. Another file concerned a drug case with numerous defendants. He made note of the docket number. He wrote down the names of the attorneys and others that Knight had penciled in over the last two weeks. All of these would need to be contacted.

  Jack pointed out the initials MC on the desk calendar. “Uncle Marty?”

  “This is just getting better and better, pod’na.”

  “Do you know who MC is?” Jack asked Jason.

  “I haven’t seen that before. It wasn’t there this morning.”

  “Any ideas?” Jack asked.

  “Maybe M is for Michelle, his wife,” Jason suggested. “Maybe it means Michelle and cleaners. He jots reminders on his calendar, or leaves sticky notes on the desk to pick stuff up at the cleaners, etcetera. She might have asked him to do that and he made a note.”

  “Can I take this calendar to study it?” Jack asked.

  “You only have a verbal order from the prosecutor who, by the way, can’t issue court orders. I’m giving you more leeway than I should. The prosecutor promised I’d have the signed court order in my hands shortly.”

  “Understood,” Jack said. “So that you can’t be blamed for
any of our actions, I’m lawfully ordering you not to touch anything in this office. As of now, this office is a secondary crime scene in a murder investigation. Don’t open the door for anyone except a detective or for EPD Crime Scene. They will have a court order in hand. Nothing in here is to be taken or moved by anyone for any reason before then. If you can’t comply, I will have a policeman stand at the door. Tampering with possible evidence is enough to get your possible new license to practice denied even if you pass the Bar exam.” Jack said the last part loud enough for anyone outside the office to hear.

  Jason caught on. He said, “I know the law, Detective. This office has to keep running. But I’ll do what I can to assist you in your homicide investigation.” He said this last a little louder than necessary.

  “I never said this was a homicide investigation. How did you know the judge was murdered?” Jack asked.

  “I didn’t know, until now.”

  Jack was tempted to say, “Bite me,” but the kid had bested him fairly.

  “You should come work for us,” Jack said.

  “I can make three times the money going into my own practice.”

  Jack lowered his voice. “You got me again, Jason. I’m counting on you to keep that door shut until the court order arrives. I promise we’ll make the search quick and try not to complicate your job.”

  Liddell was talking to the Prosecutor’s office again as they left Superior Court chambers. The deputy prosecutor who had talked to Jason on the phone was Moira Connelly, Jack’s sister-in-law. She was working on the court order and would include copying or seizing the calendar and anything in the office that might be relevant.

  In the hallway Jack said, “We need to go work the phones, Bigfoot.”

  “Okay pod’na. But first I’ve got to go Code Three to the little boys’ room,” Liddell said and rushed down the hallway.

  Chapter 24

  Jack sat at his desk with a cup of coffee. Liddell was in donut heaven.

  “Donut Bank sent six boxes of donuts to the detectives’ office when they heard about Sonny’s murder. These guys are the best.” Liddell said this like a kid who had just gotten a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas.

  “You took two of the boxes,” Jack said. “What about everyone else?”

  “These two had my name on them. See?” His name was written on the side of two of the boxes. “We donut aficionados take care of our own. And speaking of our own—let’s call our FBI friend. We’re getting out of our depth here, pod’na.”

  “Maybe Frank can help narrow down our suspect list from everyone, to maybe a hundred thousand people.”

  Jack called Tunney’s cell phone and it immediately went to voice mail. He was leaving a voice message when Tunney’s phone number showed up on his display.

  “I wondered if you were going to call,” Tunney said.

  “Let me put you on speakerphone, Frank.”

  “Hi Frank,” Liddell said around a mouthful of donut.

  “Didn’t your mother teach you not to speak with your mouth full?” Tunney asked.

  “It’s not completely full,” Liddell said, “or I couldn’t be talking.”

  “We’re hoping you can tell us who we should be looking for,” Jack said. He could hear a shower running in the background. “Listen, if this isn’t a good time I can call back.”

  “No. It’s okay. I was just at the Casino and I smell like cigarettes and cigars and liquor.”

  The shower stopped and Liddell said, “Speaking of smoke. The most recent victim is a Superior Court judge who was burned to death in the trunk of his own car.”

  “I can meet you at headquarters in say, an hour,” Tunney said.

  “Hey Frank,” Jack said. “If this is going to cause you a problem with your bosses I’ll have the chief make the request official.”

  “See you in an hour,” Tunney said and hung up.

  They got busy reading the reports that were steadily drizzling in from crime scene, motor patrol, dispatch, and the fire departments.

  Jack handed Liddell half of the reports and skimmed through his half. “Can you believe it? No one saw anything. There’s nothing here. Must be a dozen cameras around the place Sonny’s truck was found, but none of them recorded diddly and no one saw squat.”

  “Too cold,” Liddell suggested.

  “Yeah. I guess. You got anything?” Jack asked.

  “Maybe.” Liddell handed Jack a spreadsheet. “Jerry O’Toole sent Sonny’s cell phone records for his work phone and personal cell phone. Two calls came to Sonny’s phones between five o’clock and six on the evening he was killed. Jerry said he saw Sonny at the office around seven that evening. These calls came before Jerry saw him. There’s another call early this morning. Six-twelve a.m.”

  Jack went over the phone record. “Mindy said she tried to call him a couple of times but his phone was turned off.”

  “Jerry sent a note with this. He said all three calls were made from pay phones. Evansville is probably the last place in the country that has pay phones. Anyway, one call was made on the north side, one west, and one downtown. The north side call was to Sonny’s personal cell phone. The west side was to his work cell phone. The last call came from downtown to Sonny’s personal cell phone. If it was Mindy who called Sonny, she had to do it from a pay phone,” Liddell said, and added, “Jerry said Sonny had a burner phone. Maybe Angelina could check Mindy’s phone records to see if she called anyone for the last two or three days?”

  Liddell called Angelina and made the request. He told Jack, “She said she already cross-referenced the telephone numbers for all of these people. She couldn’t find any number that might have been Sonny’s burner. She confirmed Mindy had called Sonny’s office and personal cell phone. She’s taking another look at the calls made from the phone booths Jerry told us about.”

  Jack said, “There won’t be many phone booth calls in this weather. Are you thinking the person that called Sonny might have made other calls from the booths?”

  “No loose ends,” Liddell said.

  Jack made a sweeping motion with his arm over the piles of paper. “Whoever this guy is, he’s savvy. He avoided video cameras. He left the truck to be stolen. He left the money, but he took Sonny’s cell phone and gun. I wouldn’t imagine Knight carried a gun, but what do you want to bet Walker doesn’t find Knight’s cell phone?”

  “I understand taking the cell phones. Maybe the killer didn’t want anyone to get hurt with Sonny’s gun,” Liddell suggested. “Or he didn’t take the gun. Maybe that boy, Zack, hid it? You said he had some time alone there before Roscoe arrived at the scene.”

  Jack thought that was possible. He dialed the Motor Patrol sergeant’s office and talked to Sgt. Mattingly. He asked to widen the search around Sonny’s crime scene for the missing gun.

  While Jack was on the phone, Liddell called Angelina Garcia.

  “FCI. Angelina Garcia,” she answered.

  “Hello, Miss FCI. How’s Mark?”

  “With the wedding coming up and all, he’s a little crazy right now.”

  “Yeah. Guys get a little nutty with weddings,” Liddell agreed.

  Angelina laughed and said, “It’s not the wedding. You already know we’re staying at his cabin on the lake. We’re arguing because I want to move his furniture around. He has a disgusting deer head over the fireplace. It’s a small cabin and you can see the fireplace from the bed. I said, “No way, buddy. I’m not having some dead Bambi staring at me while we’re—”

  “Whoa there, girl,” Liddell said. “Too much information. We were just wondering if you have anything for us. We’re meeting with Frank Tunney in a few minutes.”

  “The famous serial killer hunter. That Frank Tunney?”

  “That’s the one. He’ll have his own graphic comic book someday,” Liddell said.

  “Like the Blade charact
er, but in a suit and tie,” Angelina quipped.

  Jack had just hung up, and Liddell said, “Let me put you on speakerphone.”

  “Tell me you have something,” Jack said.

  “Hello to you too. I’ve got some interesting information for you regarding Judge Knight.”

  “Samuel Knight?” Jack said, unable to hide his surprise. “How did you hear?”

  “Your partner called me from the fire scene,” she said. “Don’t you guys talk?”

  Liddell shrugged and said, “I told you, pod’na.”

  Angelina continued, “Judge Samuel Knight bought the house he and his wife and kids live in five and a half years ago. He paid two hundred seventy-five thousand in cash. Old fashioned paper money, Jack. I found the transfer of deed and talked to the previous owner.”

  “I take it that’s not all,” Jack said.

  “You are correct. He has two offshore accounts. How many judges do you know who have offshore accounts with two hundred thousand dollars in each? He also has a bank account here at Fifth Third Bank and one in Boston at Fidelity Credit Union. Together they are another three hundred thousand. And he has a safety deposit box at Fifth Third Bank.”

  “Is his wife on any of these accounts?” Jack asked.

  “She’s second signatory on the bank accounts. She doesn’t have access to the deposit box.”

  Jack said, “Give us the financials on the rest of them. I want any connections you find.”

  Jack and Liddell listened without questions while Angelina related what she’d found. Knight purchased the house in Evansville several months before he resigned and took the job in Evansville. Sonny retired from Boston PD at near the same time as Knight and Sully and built the house here. Sonny’a house was paid for in cash to the tune of three hundred fifty thousand plus.

  Sonny had an account at Fifth Third Bank in Evansville, direct deposit from his police pay. It wasn’t a big account. She found nothing else, no offshore holdings or accounts at other banks.

  Mindy Middleton’s name was on a Teachers Federal Credit Union bank account and an Old National Bank account totaling over $325K. She was sole signatory on these and had opened both a year before she moved to Evansville. Her tax records showed she earned $100K yearly from Garp Investments, which had a New York address. That $100K was split evenly into direct deposits to her bank accounts. There had been no large withdrawals from hers or Sonny’s accounts. It was interesting that Mindy was the sole name on the deed to the house.