Old Loves Die Hard (A Mac Faraday Mystery)

by Lauren Carr

  “That’s where he got the list of our cases,” Garrison told her before turning back to them. “Maguire had given the list of cases to Hamilton to get him copies of all the case files. That journalist had started nosing around again. We thought Maguire got the list of names from her.”

  “Emma Wilkes,” Mac said.

  “Yes,” Garrison said. “We thought she’d gotten the list from Dylan Booth before he was killed. Couldn’t figure out why she waited so long before she started investigating the case again.”

  Mac said, “We think it was Maguire who called her when he got the list of names from your email. Hogan’s name was on the list. Since his death was what had first prompted her investigation, he may have contacted her to compare notes with what Dylan Booth may have told her, or to see if she had uncovered anything new that might be connected to Themis.”

  “Not so much to give information,” Archie said, “but to get it.”

  “Sounds like Stephen,” Natasha said. “I can’t believe he broke into our emails.”

  “They were the ones where you told Judge Sutherland that you were going to kill Maguire and not to worry because you’d rather go to jail than testify against Themis,” Mac argued. “Then later he emailed you to ask if you’d poisoned Maguire and you said not to worry.”

  She told Mac and the others, “I knew nothing about that. Stephen said nothing to us about knowing about Themis.”

  Judge Sutherland said, “He must have wanted to figure out exactly what he had before blackmailing us.”

  “Your alibi for the night of Maguire’s murder didn’t check out,” David told them. “According to the Inn’s security video, you were sitting three tables away while he was inter-viewing Bonnie Propst.”

  “We had nothing to do with his murder,” the judge said. “We went back to Carmel Cove Inn as soon as we’d finished dinner.”

  Natasha added, “And we certainly didn’t want to hurt Christine Faraday. She was no threat to us. What do you think we are? A bunch of heathens?”

  “Sort of. You sent that crazy cop to kill Emma Wilkes and Bonnie Propst for talking to Stephen Maguire,” Archie said. “Then you sent her after us. All we wanted was to figure out the truth about who killed Maguire and Mac’s ex-wife.”

  “That was Hamilton,” Natasha said. “He had a tendency to get nervous.”

  “You’re telling us that Hamilton was part of this?” Mac scoffed. “How convenient for you to pin the blame on someone who’s dead and unable to defend himself.”

  Natasha said, “I guess next you’re going to blame us for Ham’s murder, too.”

  “We didn’t kill Maguire. We didn’t know what information he had,” the judge said. “All we knew for certain that he had on us was an audio recording of a phone conversation between Natasha and me about killing Sid Baxter.” He added, “A recording that he never, in all these years, used against us.”

  Natasha told them, “It was worth more to Maguire to use for extortion purposes than turning into the police.”

  “But you did know that Maguire knew something about Themis,” David said. “If, after all this time, he hadn’t turned in that recording then you had to have felt fairly safe. So, the next question has to be, what motivated you to follow him out here to Deep Creek Lake?”

  Natasha explained, “When Maguire gave Hamilton that list of case files he wanted, Ham stalled in getting them. Not long after that, he saw that Maguire had gotten the files himself and put them in a folder with the name Themis on it. That was the first time any of us suspected that he actually knew about Themis.”

  “Until Hamilton saw that folder,” the judge said, “for all we knew, Maguire could have been looking into another common element between those particular cases.”

  “Maguire never said anything to any of us about Themis,” Natasha stated again with a firm tone. “But when Hamilton saw that Maguire was collecting information on our cases and putting them into a folder labeled Themis, then we started getting nervous. Hamilton was trying to find out exactly what he knew when Maguire was killed.”

  “Hamilton’s name isn’t mentioned in any of those emails that we found on Maguire’s flash drive,” Archie pointed out to everyone. “Since Maguire probably had no idea that he was involved with Themis, Hamilton must have been able to nose around to see what he had without him being any the wiser.”

  “You’d think,” Natasha said. “But Maguire wasn’t very forthcoming with Hamilton. We never fully knew what he had put together.”

  “We knew that if anyone was able to figure it out, it had to be you, Mac,” the judge said. “Since you’d worked on most of those cases and were familiar with the outcomes, we were afraid that you’d be able to put it together. When you started asking about Themis, then we knew that it was only a matter of time before the jig would be up. But Maguire said nothing to us. We certainly didn’t intend to kill him until we knew that he was a threat. We’re not a bunch of animals.”

  “How long has all this been going on?” Ben asked.

  Judge Sutherland sighed deeply before answering. “About a dozen years. It started with the Doug Propst case. The victim was Judge Daniels’s goddaughter. It was a nightmare that we couldn’t put that bastard away.”

  Natasha nodded her head quickly while refilling her glass. “He killed her and there was nothing anyone could do about it.”

  Mac reminded her, “You were his defense attorney.”

  “How do you think I know he killed her?” She gazed up at him. “Do you remember during the Keating trial when you asked me how I could look at myself in the mirror in the morning doing what I do to let monsters that I know are monsters back out on the street?”

  “Yes, I do.” The less-than-proud moment flashed through Mac’s mind.

  She went on to answer his question almost a decade later. “It became easier when we started the Themis Society. Do you think I liked taking money covered in blood? Granted, it was a lot of money, but all the same—Do you know how I live?”

  Mac didn’t answer.

  “I drink a pitcher of martinis every day. I live on sleeping pills, valium, and anti-depressants.” She chuckled. “Believe it or not, it was worse before the Themis Society.”

  David asked, “If defending animals was making you miserable, why didn’t you quit?”

  The question from someone she regarded as a lowly police officer caused her to look David up and down with disdain before answering, “Because I liked the money. I’m sorry, but I’m not a woman of principle. I wish I was.”

  “If you didn’t have any principles you wouldn’t be so bothered by what you do,” Mac told her.

  She went back to her drink.

  Garrison resumed answering the question about how the Themis Society came together. “It was on the second anniversary after the end of Propst’s second trial that ended in a hung jury when we all ended up together at the club. Hamilton and I had gone out for drinks after losing an appeal hearing. The idiot judge overturned our conviction of a rapist and let him go. Natasha was at the bar. Judge Daniels came in. One thing led to another and we all ended up together rehashing the Douglas Propst case. By the time the club closed, we had held an impromptu trial. We had every-one we needed.” He gestured at Natasha who raised her glass to those in the room. “The defense attorney. The prosecutor.” The judge patted his chest. “And Judge Daniels.”

  Natasha said, “We went over all of the evidence that the jury never saw.”

  Garrison said, “And we found him guilty.”

  Mac said, “And shortly after that someone shot him to death.”

  “Yes,” Garrison sighed, “we did sentence him to death.

  But we had no intention of carrying out the sentence. It was only by coincidence that a couple days later Propst’s second wife called Judge Daniels. Not only did Propst beat her to a pulp, but he threatened if she ever tried to leave him, that he’d do the same to her that he had done to his first wife, only better. He said no one would ever be able
to find her body in the mountains.”

  “That’s a confession,” Mac said. “Why didn’t you take that to a grand jury?”

  “For a third trial?” The judge shook his head. “She was scared to death that she wouldn’t live long enough to testify.”

  Natasha agreed. “Douglas Propst was an animal.”

  “We discussed our options and decided that for the betterment of society, and to save the life of this poor woman, we’d have our sentence carried out.”

  “But we didn’t shoot him,” Natasha said.

  Mac said, “You got a renegade cop to do it for you.”

  Garrison told them, “With his connections, Hamilton was able to find cops on the brink who were more than happy to carry out our sentences.”

  Shushing him, Natasha said, “Hamilton did all that on his own. We didn’t have any idea about what he was going to do until later, after Propst was dead.”

  Garrison added, “But we couldn’t deny it. After we found out that Propst had been killed less than a week after we found him guilty, we all felt…” He sighed. “Even after I found out that it happened because of our verdict.”

  Natasha insisted, “It was purely coincidence. Everything Hamilton did was on his own without any direction from us.”

  “But this Themis Society,” Ben pointed out.

  “Judge Daniels came up with the name of Themis,” Judge Sutherland said. “He came up with our code of conduct and bylaws. He was our founder.”

  Mac asked Sutherland, “After Judge Daniels died, did you take over as the Themis Society’s leader?”

  Garrison nodded his head. “Hamilton took over as the prosecutor.”

  “Who killed Dylan Booth?” Mac asked. “Hamilton?”

  Natasha and Garrison exchanged glances before the judge answered, “Hamilton. Maguire told him that Booth had been trying to sell him what he’d uncovered about Themis's hearings. Booth kept dangling that he had something big, but wouldn’t give Maguire enough details for him to figure it out on his own. According to Ham, Booth never even told Maguire the name of Themis. He refused to turn over any-thing that he had until he got a plum position at the U.S. Attorney’s Office and a guarantee that he’d be on the fast track. Maguire wasn’t about to do that until he knew what he would be getting. Unfortunately for Booth, Maguire told Ham, who quickly figured out that he was on to us. Booth was smuggling our case files out of Daniels’s office when Ham intercepted him in the parking lot.”

  Ben had to ask, “Why did you even keep records? You must have known that they risked ending up being evidence against you.”

  Garrison said, “We aren’t a bunch of wild uncivilized vigilantes. We had a process. We used common sense, some-thing our current justice system has lost.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “They had to be stopped.” Archie slipped onto the sofa next to him. Brushing her fingers across his cheek, she forced Mac out of his stare into the flames in the fireplace to look at her.

  They were having a quiet moment in front of the fire in the living room at the Spencer Manor. The clean-up crew had finished their job of removing all signs of the violent death that had happened eight feet away in the same room. Gnarly was lying in wait at the deck doors for Otis or any other squirrel or critter that dared to enter his territory.

  With Christine’s funeral days away, Mac didn’t feel like going out. The weather seemed to sense his dark mood. It had been storming since sunrise. Between the torrential rain and high winds, any leaves not strong enough to hold on were ripped from their branches.

  He’d settled for a quiet dinner at home with her. She’d prepared veal marsala and linguini served with a rich bottle of pinot noir. Mac had learned not to ask how expensive the wine she served with her gourmet dinners was. The answer was guaranteed to ruin his appetite, even though he was able to afford it.

  The day after the arrest of the surviving members of the Themis Society, the news was buzzing about the vigilante court, even though details were minimal.

  In her defense, Natasha Holmstead was claiming to have believed the Themis Society was a social club that held mock trials. She claimed she had no idea about Hamilton Sanders hiring psycho ex-cops to execute their convicted defendants.

  Meanwhile, Judge Garrison Sutherland intended to put the justice system on trial. The Themis Society came about as a result of the deficiencies in the justice system.

  “It sounds like their rationale for starting their vigilante court was noble, but they had no right to take it upon them-selves to decide who’s guilty and innocent.” Archie continued her assessment while spooning away in delicate bites at a bowl of chocolate mousse. “Look at where it led. Their psycho ex-cop killed both Emma Wilkes and Bonnie Propst. Neither of them had done anything wrong. Then, their vigilante cop tried to kill us, and all we were trying to do was find out who killed Christine and Maguire and clear the Inn’s reputation. It got completely out of control, which is where vigilante justice goes.”

  Disgusted with the rain that had driven away the enemy, Gnarly came up from the dining room to join them. He jumped up onto his love seat and lay down with a groan of disgust.

  “You’re right.” Mac accepted her offer of a spoonful of the mousse. “They talked a good talk, but when you take all that away and look at the facts, it came about out of vengeance. Judge Daniels wanted revenge on the man who got away with killing his goddaughter. Plain and simple.”

  “He didn’t seek that revenge until he got a call from Propst’s second wife after he threatened to kill her,” she said. “And their motive for killing Stephen Maguire wasn’t noble.

  I don’t think so. They wanted to get rid of a blackmailing lawyer.”

  “I don’t think Maguire’s murder had anything to do with that.”

  “Because?”

  “Did you see Natasha Holmstead’s face when I mentioned Maguire breaking into her emails?” he recalled. “I caught her completely off guard. They said all that they thought Maguire had was a list of names and the name Themis. They were still trying to find out what else he had when he was killed.”

  Waving her spoon in the air, she laughed. “Natasha Holmstead got paid a lot of money for being a good liar.”

  Mac took the bowl of mousse from her. “I’ve seen her lie and, yes, Natasha is a very good liar. I’ve also seen her blindsided. When I mentioned those emails, she was blind-sided, and so was Judge Sutherland. They didn’t have a clue about Maguire breaking into her emails.” He took the spoon from her hand. “That got me to thinking. Knowing his wife, wouldn’t Maguire want to have everything all together before confronting her and Judge Sutherland? If he let them know about what he had in those emails before investigating Themis, he’d be showing his hand.” He finished the chocolate mousse in three spoonfuls.

  “Whether Maguire had shown them his hand or not,” Archie argued, “Natasha confessed her intention to kill him to get him off their backs and confirmed in her email to Sutherland that she’d tried to poison him.”

  “Sutherland’s claiming that if Maguire had stolen the emails that came after those we’d found, he would have read where Sutherland had talked Natasha out of finishing the job.” Mac shrugged. “Frankly, I believe him. They put up with Maguire without killing him for years. I believe that Sutherland and Holmstead had enough morals about them so that they wouldn’t cross the line to commit murder for selfish reasons, which includes the murder of Hamilton Sanders.”

  “They’re using him as their fall guy.” Taking the empty bowl, she went down into the dining room to return it to the kitchen.

  “Because his murder has provided a good opportunity,” Mac called out to her as she left the room. “I don’t think they created it. I think it’s second nature for Natasha to use

  Hamilton’s murder to pin her guilt on. I don’t think she killed him.”

  When she returned to the room, he lowered his voice. “I completely understand the emotions behind it. They weren’t right in what they did, but I can
understand completely.”

  She slipped onto the sofa and curled up against him. “If Judge Sutherland and Natasha Holmstead didn’t kill Christine and Stephen Maguire, then who did?”

  “I’m afraid of that answer,” Mac muttered.

  The doorbell chimed throughout the house.

  Delighted at the prospect of some action, Gnarly jumped over the back of the love seat to race Mac to the door. With his valise tucked under his arm, David greeted him with a serious expression on his face.

  Mac asked, “What’s wrong?”

  “Remember that crazy woman that took a screwdriver after Maguire?” David wiped his soaked shoes on the doormat before stepping in to get warm by the fire.

  Archie answered, “Wasn’t that Natasha?”

  David said, “She says it wasn’t her.”

  “Of course,” she replied with a raised eyebrow. “And since she says it wasn’t her, then we know she didn’t do it.”

  “There’s a security camera at the service station across the street from Sully’s.” David dug into the valise tucked under his arm to pull out two case files. “I checked their cameras for about the time of Hamilton Sanders’s murder, and we got a vehicle leaving Sully’s parking lot.” He pulled out his cell phone to show Mac a picture of a black Cadillac SUV. “Recognize this car?”

  Mac recognized the parking lot as well as the black SUV. It was Sabrina’s Cadillac leaving the parking lot outside Stephen Maguire’s lakeside business.

  “I also checked the station’s tapes for the night of Stephen Maguire’s murder. It’s the first service station you hit on the way out of Spencer to the city.” David worked the cell phone to bring up another picture. “The other day when I was here, Christine’s sisters were squabbling about a VW Bug that their father used to have.”

  Mac recalled, “Sabrina was upset because Roxanne had sold it.”

  David held up the cell phone for him to see a picture of an old white VW Beetle at the gas pump in the service station. The date stamp on the picture was close to one o’clock the night of Stephen Maguire’s and Christine’s murders.