Old Loves Die Hard (A Mac Faraday Mystery)

by Lauren Carr

  “David has no problem with our relationship,” Mac said. “We’re friends.”

  The judge’s laughter was sarcastic. “Oh, I believe that. You two must be more than friends. I mean, why else would he so quickly eliminate you as a suspect when your ex-wife and her lover got killed here in your private suite?”

  “There’s no physical evidence to indicate that I was at the crime scene during the murders.”

  Judge Sutherland said, “You know how the media works, Mac. The implication is so much more exciting than the truth.”

  “So I’ve been told.” Mac sat forward. “Your honor, up until this moment, I had immense respect for you. I’ve considered you to be one of the few fair and honorable lawyers on the face of this earth. What’s happened to you?”

  “You can’t possibly understand the importance of this whole issue,” Natasha said.

  “I was a homicide detective for over twenty years. I know precisely the importance of all this.” Mac asked, “What do you want that’s so important to you that you would stoop to extortion, which, I might add, I’m not giving into? David and I aren’t broadcasting the identity of my father. True. But we aren’t keeping it a state secret either. Like you just said. It isn’t hard to figure out. Before I forget about you being a judge and beat you about the head and shoulders, I want the truth about what you two want so badly from Maguire.” Mac cocked an eyebrow at Natasha. “As a matter of fact, I just remembered that you know Spanish. I heard you use it when representing some Spanish clients. Our killer knew Spanish.”

  “Spanish?” Natasha repeated.

  “She got onto the floor pretending to be a housekeeping woman by the name of Nita.”

  Natasha glanced at the judge and blurted out the name, “Nita.”

  Archie asked, “Did you know a Spanish speaking woman named Nita who wanted to kill Stephen Maguire?”

  Natasha said, “I had a cleaning woman named Nita working for me a while back. She had some issues.”

  “With Stephen Maguire?” Archie asked.

  Natasha replied, “Definitely with him, but then, everyone had issues with Stephen.”

  Mac told them, “There was a cleaning woman named Nita that worked for Christine’s sisters who claimed Maguire raped her. Do you think that’s possible?”

  Immediately, Natasha nodded her head. “Certainly. He was a snake.”

  “When she told someone about it, she was fired.”

  Archie asked Natasha, “Does she still clean for you?”

  “No,” Natasha said. “She disappeared. She quit or maybe Stephen got her fired from her job. I lost contact with her. I mean I suddenly wasn’t able to get in contact with her. She had no phone. She’d been kicked out of her apartment. One day she was there. The next day she was gone.” She looked over at Mac. “Do you think she killed Stephen?”

  “Or maybe you killed them and pretended to be Nita to throw us off your trail.”

  The judge raised his voice to pull Mac’s attention from his companion. “Get any thought of Natasha killing Maguire out of your mind. She was with me at the Carmel Cove Inn during the murders.” His affection for the defense attorney was obvious.

  Seeing that he would have to tread gently in order to keep his cooperation, Mac softened his tone. “Like you pointed out, I’m not without influence with the police chief. If I knew what you wanted so badly, I could help.”

  The judge sucked in a deep breath that puffed out his barrel chest. He smoothed his hair and folded his hands in his lap. He looked hard at Mac for a long moment.

  He had given Mac that same look before in the court-room when he was under cross examination by defense attorneys trying to twist the evidence in their clients’ favor. Mac would hesitate too long and the judge would give that glare before ordering him to dignify the attorney’s inane question with an answer.

  “We told you what we want,” the judge finally said. “I admit Natasha was foolish the way she went charging into the police station and demanding that O’Callaghan turn everything over to her. I told her that. Then we thought that if we talked to you about it that you could have some influence with him. Instead, we’ve only made you suspicious, especially since you know now that we were in the area while Maguire was getting killed.”

  Mac replied, “All I want is to clear my name and the Inn’s reputation. In order to do that, I need to know what’s really going on. First, Maguire is poisoned at a party with both you and Natasha in attendance.”

  “Half the lawyers in D.C. were there,” the judge said, “most of whom would have loved to see Maguire dead.”

  “But none of them were in Spencer the night Maguire was killed,” Mac countered.

  The judge blinked. He shifted from one side of the chair to the other like a horse pawing the ground anxious to bolt.

  Gesturing at the two of them, Mac asked, “Does this have anything to do with your relationship, your honor?”

  The judge pointed out, “We’ve been together for a very long time.”

  “Did your relationship begin during or after your marriage to Maguire?” Archie asked Natasha.

  “It began shortly after I married Maguire,” the defense attorney confessed. “I knew almost immediately that I’d made a mistake marrying him.”

  With a smirk on his face, the judge peered into his drink. “Natasha and I became involved after I made bench during a case that she had before me. Vance was the prosecutor. We knew it was inappropriate and we kept it a secret because if it ever came out…” He sighed. “You can’t tell anyone. And if you do, I’ll deny it—unless you find the recording.”

  “Recording? What recording?” Mac asked.

  “We became involved during the Sid Baxter case,” said Natasha.

  “It was my first major trial after being appointed judge.

  A child disappearance case.” Judge Sutherland waited for Mac to recall.

  “Andy Sweeney. Nine years old. Disappeared on the same street where he lived while bike riding,” Mac said. “Sid Baxter confessed. You threw it out.”

  The lawyer’s and judge’s anger about the circumstances behind the suppressed confession was visible on their faces.

  Immediately, Natasha raged, “Because Baxter asked repeatedly for his lawyer, and that idiot Lieutenant Fitzwater ignored it. I had to move to have his confession tossed. I had no choice.”

  “And neither did I,” Judge Sutherland joined in. “It broke my heart to let Baxter go and it broke Natasha’s to have any part in making it happen.”

  Mac could see that it was their common misery that had brought them together.

  “Maguire began suspecting that we were involved during the Baxter case,” the judge explained. “George Vance moved up to deputy not long after that, and Hunter started looking for his replacement. Maguire didn’t have a lot of experience at that point and his record wasn’t much to write home about, but his family connections were appealing to Hunter. Maguire started recording Natasha’s conversations with me in order to get something to hold over my head so that I’d put in a good word for him.”

  “It certainly wasn’t out of romantic jealousy,” Natasha jumped in.

  The judge confessed, “Maguire recorded us discussing Sid Baxter. Out of context, which is how he edited the recording, it sounds like I let Baxter off in exchange for sex, which isn’t how it happened. We didn’t become intimate until long after that case was over.” Pleadingly, he reached over to grasp Mac’s wrist. “Do you see what I mean?”

  “Your honor, you do realize that Maguire holding some-thing like that over you and Holmstead gives you motive for wanting him dead.”

  “Killing him wouldn’t do us any good as long as we don’t know where the recording is.” Judge Sutherland waved his hand in dismissal. “Maguire has been holding that recording over our heads for years. Since Vance has been appointed judge, it’s been between Maguire and Roxanne Burton to take the deputy slot.”

  Mac noted, “So you told me this morning.”

&
nbsp; Natasha said, “Roxanne has seniority and a much better conviction record. Rightfully, the slot should go to her.”

  Mac said, “But Maguire was a blue blood and his family connections could help Hunter get the attorney general appointment, something Roxanne’s family connections can’t.”

  “Exactly.” The judge said, “Maguire wanted me to have a little talk with Hunter to help push him in the right direction. Hunter was torn, especially when Maguire blew the Garland case.”

  Mac said, “I heard he was in the dog house over that.”

  The judge said, “But then Burton got slapped with an ethics charge in the Parker case. Did you hear about that?”

  Mac reminded the judge that he had been out of the loop for several months.

  “A bunch of juveniles stole computer equipment from their school and sold it to a fence that the older brother of one of the juvies used for his own B&E business. Burton’s key witness, the fence, accused her of paying him ten thousand dollars for his testimony against the juvies. Now, not only is she out of the running for the deputy slot—”

  Natasha pointed out, “But now that Maguire’s dead, I guess she’s back in the running.”

  “Not if she’s disbarred,” the judge countered, “which could happen.”

  Mac said, “I guess that made the two of them even.”

  Garrison nodded his head. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Maguire made it that way.”

  “He got the fence to lie,” Mac said with certainty. It sounded so much like Stephen Maguire.

  “I’d believe that before I believe that Burton paid him to testify,” the judge said. “The fence came in with an envelope full of money. Someone paid him for something. I doubt that it’s just a coincidence that this accusation came up right after the Garland incident,” he scoffed. “Word around the courthouse was that Roxanne set Maguire up hoping that it would blow his chance for the promotion, and he made things even. The problem is that the ethics committee, which happens to be made up of a lot of Maguire’s friends, isn’t letting this accusation drop. They’re doing a full investigation into the charge and Burton may end up being disbarred.”

  Mac wondered, “Do you think she set him up?”

  “Garland’s attorney belongs to some of the same commit-tees as Sabrina, Roxanne’s sister,” the judge said.

  Mac said, “Knowing that family, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Sabrina who set him up, and Roxanne knew nothing about it.”

  “Rightfully,” Natasha said, “the deputy slot should have gone to Roxanne. If Hunter was torn, it wasn’t very much.

  The backing of Maguire’s family for the attorney general slot was too tempting.”

  The judge groaned. “I hated myself for going to bat for Maguire.”

  “And him for making you do it,” Mac pointed out.

  Natasha said, “We never entertained the thought of killing him.”

  “Someone did poison him at that party,” Mac said.

  Natasha held up her hands with the fingers spread. “I can count on both hands other people at that party who wanted him dead—including Christine who was staying at your Inn when he was killed. Wasn’t her death an accident? I heard she was drunk and fell and hit her head.”

  “Someone else was there,” Mac said. “What kind of scandal was Maguire looking to uncover?”

  “That I don’t know,” the judge said, “Of course if that tape was found and made public, both Natasha’s and my careers would be over for letting a pedophile back out on the streets. So you see why it’s so important that we get it.”

  Seeing the weight they were under, Mac sighed. “I see.”

  The judge asked, “Did O’Callaghan find it?”

  Mac shook his head. “He did find a folder labeled Themis. Do you know what that is?”

  While Judge Sutherland’s face was blank, Mac did notice him sit up taller. Natasha gazed over at her companion. She put on her best poker face. He had seen that expression in court hundreds of times. It gave nothing away.

  “I’m sorry,” the judge replied after a moment. “What was that name again?”

  “Themis. No first name or initial. It could have some connection with Dylan Booth.”

  “Who?”

  “Dylan Booth. Homicide victim. I was the lead detective on the case. It went cold.”

  “What makes you think this particular victim is connected to this Themis?” Before Mac could answer, the judge glanced at his wrist watch. “I’m sorry, Mac, but we have to get going. We forgot that we have an appointment.” After walking hand in hand casually out of the lounge, they both broke into a trot once they reached the lobby.

  Watching them hurry away, Mac asked, “Do they look guilty to you?”

  Archie replied, “They look guiltier than we do.”

  Chapter Ten

  “Now you have me so excited that I’m speeding,” Mac told Archie when he saw the Spencer police cruiser come up behind his sports car and turn on its lights. A glance at the speedometer showed that he had been going forty-two miles an hour on the twisting mountain road in a thirty-five-miles-per-hour zone in his hurry to take Archie back to Spencer Manor to enjoy their strawberries dipped in chocolate. He pulled over to the side of the road.

  She laughed when she saw him reaching for his registration in the glove box. “That’s David. He’s not going to give you a ticket.”

  Before Mac could reply, the police chief knocked on his driver’s side window. “Hey, don’t you ever answer your cell?”

  “Was I speeding?”

  “A little,” David replied. “You should watch that. I’d hate to give you a ticket. We got a call from the Morgantown police. They’ve picked up Cameron Jones for possession, and she’s singing like a canary about Stephen Maguire’s murder. Plus, one of my officers IDd the woman from the security video who Maguire was having dinner with on Saturday. Her name is Bonnie Propst. She’s the president of Propst Security. The Inn has bought some security equipment from her company.”

  “Did the dinner Maguire was having with Propst look like a date?” Mac wondered if she was the one whose vaginal fluid had been found on Maguire’s bed sheets.

  “I don’t think so. The tapes aren’t the best, but I didn’t see any lovey-dovey eyes.” David added, “Not only that, but I noticed something else in the security video. Remember that couple I told you about that came into my office demanding Maguire’s personal belongings? His wife and the judge?”

  His last discussion with Judge Sutherland fresh on his mind, Mac replied, “I certainly remember them.”

  “Guess who was having dinner within camera range of Maguire,” David said. “According to Ingle, they even had reservations for that evening. They were sitting three tables away from him while he was eating his last meal.”

  “They failed to mention that.” Mac turned to Archie. “Do you recall them saying anything about that to you, dear?”

  “Never said anything like that to me, darling.”

  David continued, “Anyway, I’m going out to Morgantown to question Cameron Jones and wanted to know if you wanted to tag along as my consultant. I’ve been calling you on your cell—” Noticing her dress and his suit, David stopped. “I’m sorry. Were you on your way to get your back scratched?”

  Mac glanced over at Archie. He was torn. He so wanted to be with her, but he was also anxious to get answers about what Stephen Maguire was doing in Spencer. If he declined David’s invitation, he’d have to wait until at least the next day to drag it out of him.

  She grasped his wrist. “For that, you have to let me come along, too.”

  * * * *

  “I wasn’t planning for this to turn into a field trip,” David said while holding the back door to his cruiser open for Gnarly to jump up into what had become his seat directly behind the driver.

  While Mac and Archie were changing into more comfortable jeans and sweaters, Gnarly had spied David’s cruiser and saw that his family was going on an outing. According to Archie, he
insisted on being included.

  The next stop on the way to the Morgantown station was a diner across the state line in West Virginia, off Route 68, where David, who hadn’t eaten dinner yet, knew the food was good and the service fast. Archie and Mac drank coffee while David ordered two cheeseburgers and fries. One of the bur-gers was plain and to go for the German shepherd cooling his jets in the cruiser in the parking lot.

  It was a far cry from the elegant dinner Mac and Archie had at the Inn, but a good opportunity to go over what they had so far in their investigation and come up with a plan on which direction to go from there.

  While waiting for David’s dinner, Mac recalled, “Did you say that the woman that Maguire was having dinner with on Saturday was Bonnie Propst and she owned a security company in Morgantown?” After David confirmed that it was, he pointed out that there was a Douglas Propst on the list found in the Themis folder.

  “Archie, can you look it up on your phone and find out if there’s any connection between Bonnie and Douglas Propst?” Mac was glad to see that she had already pulled out her smart phone and was searching the Internet.

  “There was no file labeled Propst in the Themis folder.” David eyed a plate of delicious-smelling food passing their booth, but not coming his way. “What do you know about Douglas Propst?”

  “I had been in homicide only a couple of years when it happened,” Mac recalled. “Douglas Propst was a uniformed officer and a bully. He was the type of cop that gave us a bad name. Charged with brutality a couple of times. Really nasty bastard. One day, his wife disappeared. His story was that she’d left him a note saying she was going out for milk while he was out for a run. After her body turned up with a broken neck and his skin under her fingernails, family and friends started making statements about spousal abuse. His name was moved up to the top of the suspect list real fast.”

  When the server arrived with his tray of food, Mac could see that it took all of David’s restraint to not grab the plate and devour his burger like a barbarian. It made him wonder if David had eaten since the donut he had earlier that day.