Secrets and Lies

by Rachel Sinclair

  He cocked his head. “If you think that I did it, that I killed my own wife, then why would you take my case?”

  That question confused me, to say the very least. Did he not remember that he pressured me to take his case? That he came into my office, and begged me to take his case, saying he only wanted me to be his attorney, and nobody else? Did he not remember that? I looked into his eyes, and I knew that of course he remembered that. It was obvious that he did.

  “Because that’s what I do. I defend people whether or not they’re guilty of what they did. I just need to know the truth. I need to know the truth, because then I need to know if I’m going to try to plead you out or go ahead and try the case. But since you’re pretty adamant that you’re not going to plead this case out, then maybe I don’t want to know the truth after all. Because, as you probably know, if I know that you’re guilty, I can’t put you on the stand. Not if I know that you’re going to lie. But yes, I do think that you are more than capable of killing your own wife.”

  He steepled his hands, still staring at me. He stared at me for what seemed like an eternity, but probably was only a few minutes. “And why, pray tell, would I have killed her? You know, that’s been the one thing that nobody has ever been able to tell me. The prosecutors are convinced that I have done this. However, nobody has told me why I would have wanted to have killed her. I’m sure that you have not thought that through. I certainly didn’t kill her for the money. After all, I have more than enough money myself. I don’t need her millions. Is there any reason why I would’ve killed her?”

  “I don’t know.” I knew I was going to have to find that out. In fact, the next place I was going to go to do my investigation was going to be Ava’s parents. I had a feeling that what they could tell me would be very enlightening, and I had a feeling that after I talked to them, I would know exactly why it was that he would’ve killed his own wife. Because, Silas was correct about one thing – as of now I didn’t know what the motive would have been for him to have murdered her. But when I spoke with Ava’s parents, they were going to give me a fuller picture of what his relationship with Ava was like. Only when I found this out could I make a decision as to whether or not I thought that Silas killed her, and the reason why.

  The only question in my mind at that point would be how he did it. Did he kill her by poisoning her or did he kill her with the fire? He was capable of killing somebody with a fire. Granted, he might’ve only been five years old when he possibly killed his own mother with a fire, but it showed what he was capable of.

  “Okay,” Silas said. “You do some more investigation. I know that my case will be going to the Grand Jury sometime soon. I also know that nobody’s ever certain when the Grand Jury convenes. It’s a secret process, I know that. However, I also know that they’re going to find enough evidence to charge me. So hopefully we’ll soon know who’s going to be our trial judge, and we can go from there. In the meantime, I need for you to keep me in the loop. Don’t shut me out. And, when you do your investigation, I want to know who you speak with. It’s very important to me that I’m able to rebut any untruths that people might say about me. Do you understand that?”

  I nodded my head but said nothing. I knew that I probably should’ve told him about all the people I’ve spoken with about him, but, at the same time, I knew that if it was true that he was suffering from narcissistic personality disorder that he was a good liar, and that he would tell any lie possible to cover up his tracks. If I would’ve told him that I had spoken with his adoptive mother and his birth father and that I had gotten the records on his mental hospital stay, then he would have a story to counter all of them. I didn’t want to hear his lies. I wanted to come up with my own version of the truth. I didn’t want to be swayed. So I decided to keep quiet about what I was finding out about him.

  Maybe that was not the best course of action. After all, he was going to have to find out sooner or later what evidence I had about him. But I wanted to fill in the missing puzzle pieces before I presented everything to him. That way I would be on more solid ground, and if he wanted to lie to me, I would at least have a better picture of the truth.

  That was the only way that I was going to be able to handle his case. I certainly wasn’t going to present his case based upon his statement of the facts, because that would mean that I would never know the truth.

  Chapter 13

  On Monday, I filed a motion with the court to have Ava’s body exhumed, and I knew that I would have to ask the medical examiner to specifically look for some kind of poison. I didn’t even know the state that the body was in, and if there was even enough left of Ava to even test for poison. However, I knew that I had to try.

  The prosecutor did not object to the motion, so the judge signed the order, and I was able to go ahead and have Ava’s body exhumed from her grave. I wanted also to be present for the new autopsy.

  So, two days later, I went to the medical examiner’s Office. I was alerted that the autopsy was going to take place that afternoon. A prosecutor was also going to be there.

  The prosecutor who came was not necessarily the person who was going to be the one trying the case. I knew that, but I was happy to see Ally Hughes anyways. I hoped that she would be the one who would be on the other side, because we got along well. And, so far, we were hitting it off in the romance department. It complicated things slightly, but I knew that both of us were professional enough to get past our personal relationship and give this case our all.

  “So what do you hope to find out about this?” Ally asked me. “When I got your motion I was confused as to what you’re looking for.”

  “I just wanted to find out if maybe something happened that was overlooked in the original autopsy.”

  “Well, from what I understand, the body was so badly burned I don’t know if you’re going to find out anything new about her.”

  We walked into the room where the medical examiner was prepared to do a second autopsy on the body. When I saw the condition of the body, however, I knew that there was going to be very little that the medical examiner was going to find out about how Ava died. The poor woman was little more than a pile of charred bones. The only thing that was relatively intact were her fingers. “Are you going to be able to tell me if there is a possibility that poison was found in Ava’s system at the time that she died?” I asked the medical examiner, whose name was Dr. Prorock.

  “I’m afraid that might not be possible. As you can see, there is very little that is left to test in this body. All of her internal organs were burned in the fire, as was her skin, her blood, everything. I’ll do what I can, however, if this was a poison that was hard to trace in an intact body, it might be impossible to trace in a body that is this badly burned.”

  I watched as the medical examiner looked around for something that would indicate that Ava had been poisoned, however, after an hour, she shook her head. “I can send what’s left of the tissue to pathology, however, I just don’t know what pathology is going to be able to tell me, or you for that matter. I’m afraid that if Mrs. Porter was poisoned before she died, there is probably going to be no way of telling it.”

  “What about her fingers?” I looked at the fingertips that were the only really intact part of her body. “Can you tell a thing from them?”

  “Yes, that is useable tissue, so that is what I’ll be sending to pathology. Also-”

  “Also what?” I asked her.

  She shook her head. “I suppose, in an abundance of caution, I should go ahead and make an impression of the fingertips. I should get her fingerprints on file, to go along with her dental records. I understand that the body has been positively identified by Mr. Porter, because he has stated that this was his wife. At the same time, in situations like this, we can never be too careful.” At that, she made an impression of Ava’s fingerprints. “This will go with the dental records, just in case there’s any question that this is Mrs. Ava Porter.”

  I thought that was probably
overkill, considering the fact that Silas had been in the room when his wife died, therefore he was able to positively identify her. But I also knew that as a medical examiner, she needed to make a good record. And, apparently, the first time she did the autopsy, she didn’t make that record with her fingerprints. She did make a record with Ava’s dental records, however. I knew that the dental records were a close match for Ava, so that was another way of identifying her.

  “Well, I found this little bit of tissue that I could send to the pathologist, but, as I said, my guess is that the results are going to be inconclusive as to whether or not Mrs. Porter was poisoned or not,” Dr. Prorock said.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  Ally and I left the medical examiner’s Office together. She smiled at me. “I guess I’ll be seeing you later.” She winked at me and shyly touched my leg with her shoe. I got her drift. She and I had a date on the weekend, and we both were looking forward to it. I planned on taking her to see a play at the Uptown Theater, followed by dinner at the Plaza III.

  “We’ll have fun on our date,” I said.

  “We will.”

  Chapter 14

  The very next day I went to see Ava’s parents. I just knew that they had information for me that could be more helpful than what anybody else had been able to tell me. After all, they were the ones who knew the most about Ava’s relationship with Silas. It sounded to me like Ava was close with them. I had a feeling that Ava probably told her parents about their relationship, things that made them hate him. After all, I was finding out more and more reasons that Ava’s parents would have him on their shit list. Not just because of his background, but because of the person he was.

  I had called them and they told me that the best time to come over would be at 6 o’clock that evening. So, I called Gretchen, my sitter, and told her that I would be late coming home, and to go ahead and heat up leftovers for the kids’ dinners. I didn’t like to do that very often, but I knew that this was a rare occasion, one that I could not pass up. I had to find out for myself what kind of person I was dealing with.

  I got to the house of the Jacksons. Opal and Matthew Jackson lived in the Mission Hills area, which was the most exclusive area in the city. Unlike Hallbrook, however, this was an area that mainly housed people who came from old money. I knew that that’s what the Jackson’s were – old money. Matthew Jackson was an heir to a shipping fortune. He was semiretired, and he was a billionaire in his own right. I also knew that Ava herself had been given millions of stock in her father’s company when she turned 18.

  The house was a Tudor structure that was situated behind a circle drive with a large fountain in the middle of it. As I approached the door, I looked up at the three stories. A small Asian maid opened the door, and she bowed her head. “Mr. and Mrs. Jackson are expecting you,” she said as she swept her hand towards the foyer. “Come, follow me. They are in the study.”

  I followed the maid through mazes of hallway until I finally got to the door which apparently led to the study. The maid lightly rapped on the door, which was answered by a woman who was probably in her 60s. She was dressed in a matching jacket and skirt, hose, pumps, and pearls. Her hair was preferably coiffed, and her nails were perfectly manicured. She was slender, probably only weighing about 110 pounds, and she seemed to be fit. I could see that her face was probably heavily worked on, however, so I didn’t really know how old she was.

  She smiled at me. “Come on in. We’ve been expecting you,” she said pleasantly.

  A very tall man with a full head of hair came over to me and extended his hand. He was wearing a sweater over his slacks and, like his wife, his hair was perfectly cut. “My name is Matthew Jackson, and I understand that you are investigating the murder of our daughter, Ava.”

  “Yes. I am investigating what happened to her. And it’s very important that I speak with you, because I wanted to know what it is that you know about Ava, and her relationship with my client.”

  “Please, have a seat.” Opal gestured to a large wingback chair. “What is it that you would like to know about our daughter?”

  “Well, I am most interested in what it is you know about her relationship with my client, Silas Porter.”

  She shook her head. “I know that this is not going to surprise you, because I’m quite sure that our son-in-law has told you how we feel about him. We never wanted our daughter to be with him. I know that he says the reason why we never wanted her to be with him was because we didn’t think that he was good enough, because he was poor at one time. I can tell you that nothing is further from the truth. If I thought for a second that he had treated her the way that she deserved to be treated, then we would never object to their union. However, that was not the case. I can also tell you that at the time that our daughter was murdered that she was going to leave him. In fact, she had fallen in love with somebody else. His name is David Taylor. He’s a golf pro who lives down the street. In fact, my husband take lessons from him. That’s how Ava met him.”

  I suddenly knew that my client did have a motive for killing his wife. If it was true that his wife had met somebody else, and that she was about to leave my client for this other person, then that would be his motive. Apparently, however, the prosecutors didn’t yet know about this turn of events. At least, they hadn’t been able to ascribe this motive to him. In fact, that was always the nagging fact that was in my head when I thought about this case. Because up until now, I didn’t know why Silas would’ve killed Ava. Now I did. I knew, from representing abused women in custody cases, that the most dangerous time in an abusive situation was when the abused spouse is about to leave her abuser. Silas must’ve known that Ava had met somebody else, and that she was ready to leave. If he did deliberately kill her, that would be why.

  “David Taylor. Can I have his phone number? I need to speak with him. Something tells me that he has information that I’m going to need. In the meantime, what can you tell me about Ava’s relationship with Silas?”

  “Just a second. Let me go into the kitchen, and write down David’s information for you,” Opal said. “In the meantime, Matthew can fill you in on what it is that you need to know about Ava’s relationship with Silas.” At that, she got up from her chair and left.

  I looked at Matthew, who was sitting quietly in his chair. “I despised that man. I still despise him. I’m not afraid to tell you that I have always been tempted to quietly find somebody who could take care of him. Not kill him, but to pay him to go away. Because there’s one thing about him, and that is that he’ll do anything for money. I know that he has a lot of money, he has more money than even we have, but he always wants more. I have never met a man with a more bottomless pit of greed than him.”

  I wondered if Matthew simply wanted to pay him to go away, or if there was something else to it. I knew that sometimes parents, when they know that their child was being abused, especially if they knew that the child was endangered, would do anything to protect that child. Anything. Then again, I wasn’t going to question him on this. It really wasn’t my business. However, if something happened and my client was acquitted, then it was entirely possible that Matthew would take matters into his own hands. People have killed for less.

  “Why do you hate him so much?”

  “Because Ava was always coming over here and telling us what kind of person he was. We saw the bruises. She tried to play like they came from some other source, but we knew the truth. I found out his background. I know what kind of person he is. He’s not the kind of person who should have been with my daughter. So I was very relieved when she met David, and she told me that she was in love with him. She told me she was going to seek a divorce from Silas, and I couldn’t have been happier. At the same time, I was extremely worried that something was going to happen to her. I knew that Silas was not the kind of guy who was going to go quietly. And I was right. I never wanted to be right, but I was.”

  I thought about what I would do if I was in his situation. What
would I do if Amelia grew up and married somebody who I suspected was abusing her, and I was afraid for her life? I couldn’t imagine being in such a situation.

  And as I looked at Matthew, I saw that his eyes were haunted. Yet, I could also see that there was another emotion behind them. I couldn’t quite understand why it was that I also saw that he was happy. I could read his expression and I could see that there was joy mixed in with the sadness.

  I wondered what that was all about.

  Maybe he was happy because his son-in-law was going to finally get his? I shook my head. I didn’t think that was it. After all, there was a good chance that I was going to be able to get him off. That was my hope, anyhow. So why wasn’t he treating me with contempt? After all, if Silas was acquitted, it would be because of my work. And then there would be no justice for Ava.

  “Mr. Jackson,” I began. “Is there anything else you need to tell me?”

  He shook his head. “No. Why do you ask that question?”

  “I just have a feeling. I have a feeling that there’s something that you’re holding back from me.”

  “No. There’s nothing that I’m holding back from you. I can tell you that Ava’s identical twin Emma is still alive, and she’s hurting. She’s hurting very much. As a family, of course we’ve been devastated. But we’re carrying on. We are carrying on for Emma. It’s the people who are living who give me joy. There’s a hole in my heart for Ava, of course, but I can see her every day in Emma’s eyes and that’s what makes me happy.”

  This was another piece of information that I didn’t know until now. I had no idea that Ava had an identical twin. I wondered why Silas never told me about that? At the same time, I also had to wonder if that piece of information was significant somehow. I didn’t really know how it would’ve been. “Where is Emma?” I asked Matthew.

  “Now, I don’t want you to jump to conclusions, but she’s living with David Taylor.”