“How did you know?” I asked.
“Guessed is a better word, I suppose. Things he said. Comments he made about maximizing value.” Archie shook his head. “Always with the maximizing value whether it was crop yield for the farm or betting strategies at blackjack or a trade by the Detroit Tigers, he’s always talking about maximizing value. That's how we got onto the discussion of organic farming in the first place, maximizing our return for our effort. He was always harping about it to Mom and Dad and me. But I didn’t realize he was willing to go around us altogether until I…” Archie stopped short.
“Until you saw him at the concert with Wellington,” I said.
Archie didn't say anything. Then he nodded his head.
“What happened?”
Archie shook his head. “Bonnie and Abby and the girls had tickets up near the front. Like I told you before, I’d decided to go late so I had a standing-room single in the back. Then, as the concert was letting out, I saw Hamish leaving the amphitheater from a few aisles over. I didn’t realize he was going to be there. I didn’t think he was that big a fan, or I would have asked him to go with me since the girls had gone together. I worked my way over to see him but he was too far ahead of me in the crowd, so I figured I'd catch him at the gate on the way out…but then I saw him walk back the other direction.”
“What happened then?”
“Hamish stopped at one of the concession areas and I figured he was getting water or some coffee for the road when I saw Will Wellington walk up to him. My brother got out of the concession line and the two began talking and it was clear that he had been waiting for Will. They talked for a while and, when they were done, they shook hands in a way that seemed excited and formal. Then Wellington went one way and my brother went the other, toward the back of the Quarry.”
It was like a dam had broken.
Archie continued. “I went after Wellington.”
“Why?”
“He was closer. I was angry and I, I stopped him and asked him what he was doing with my brother.”
“What did he say?”
“Nothing. He wouldn’t tell me anything. He kept saying I needed to talk to Hamish, that it wasn’t his place to get in the middle…”
“How long did you talk to him, Archie?”
Archie looked at the sun and shrugged. “I have no idea, Nate. A little while.”
“Then what did you do?”
“I went after Hamish.”
“Toward the back?”
He nodded. “I went back around the Quarry, along the back path, but I didn’t see him.”
“That’s when you called him.”
Archie nodded.
“From the back of the Quarry?”
“Yes.”
“You told me you were arguing about the farm.”
“We were.”
“Archie, you were arguing about oil.”
“On the farm, yes.”
He was finally talking to me so I decided not to argue. “What did you say?”
“I reamed him out for meeting with Wellington behind our backs.”
“You were mad?”
“Very.”
“How did that go?”
“About as you’d expect.”
“Tell me anyway.”
“I said he couldn’t go behind our backs, he said he could do whatever he wanted, I told him Mom and Dad get to make that call, he said they didn’t and that he didn’t need me or Abby yelling at him about it.”
I raised a hand. “He said Abby was yelling at him about it?”
“Not exactly.”
“What exactly?”
“He said he didn’t need either of us crawling up his ass about it.”
“Did he mean that night? That she yelled at him that night?”
“Maybe. I couldn’t say.”
Some things came together. “You made the call from the stairs didn’t you?”
He nodded. “I realized that after we hung up.”
“How?”
“Because I’d squeezed the railing so hard that I’d opened the cut on my hand.”
“How’d you get the cut?”
“Fixing a drainage tile with Hamish earlier that day.” He shook his head. “I spent all day with him. He never said a word about going to the concert.”
I stepped forward. “Listen to me, Archie. If you don’t want to spend the rest of your life in a cell in Jackson, answer me honestly. Did you see Abby back there?”
He shook his head. “I wish I had.”
“Not once?”
“No.”
“That's all that happened?”
“That's it. After the call, I walked back out to the front lot and left.”
“Why wouldn’t you tell us about the oil?”
Archie looked right at me. “That’s family business. And I didn’t think it was part of this.”
“It’s part of this.”
He looked unconvinced. “My parents are going through enough, Nate. Hamish being a…This’ll just add one more thing.”
“If you’re in Jackson State Penitentiary, who’s going to look out for your parents? And Bonnie? And even Abby? Are you going to trust Hamish to do all that?”
Archie thought, then said, “I suppose not.”
“We need more information. Tonight.”
I nodded to Danny and he listed off a bunch of background materials—the Farm Agreement, crop histories, things related to operations—nothing that would show who hurt Abby but stuff that might be important for trial depending on how things went.
When Danny was done, Archie said, “I’ll get it to you.”
“Archie,” I said. “We can’t have any more surprises.”
“Good. I’m out of them.”
That, of course, never reassures anyone. Still, I said, “I’ll look for the materials tonight.”
Archie nodded and shook my hand. “I have a crop to get in.”
Danny and I hopped back over the ditch. The call and the fight with Hamish was bad but what he’d told us opened up the possibility of putting someone else at the scene. Wellington.
Hopefully, that would be enough.
Archie sent the documents to us that night. I stayed up late reading them. So did Danny and when he arrived at the office the next morning, the words came tumbling out.
“Did you see it?”
“See what?”
“The pattern.”
I certainly hadn’t seen anything to get that excited about, so I said, “What do you mean?”
“Here, you can see it: Right before they tried to switch to organic, Mr. and Mrs. Mack were struggling on their part of the farm, right?”
“Right. They weren’t covering their loan payment.”
“And even though his parents were struggling, it looks like Hamish pretty much worked his own land.”
I nodded. “His yields were a little better at that time. But not much.”
“Right. Hamish was either preoccupied with his own survival or didn’t care if his parents went under. Either way, Hamish wasn’t helping them out.”
“Okay?”
“Until after the crop sabotage. By all accounts, he’s been working like a dog to help them ever since the crop sabotage.”
I saw it then. “He started helping right before the Hillside Oil offer came in.”
“Do you think he knew?” Danny said. “About the oil?”
“He’s friends with Wellington. He could have learned ahead of time from Wellington.”
We stared at the crop reports. I thought then shook my head. “It still doesn’t explain the crop sabotage.”
Danny frowned. “Wellington trying to create pressure for his deal?”
“Pressure that didn’t work.”
“But he didn’t know that it wouldn’t work.”
Now I was frowning. “And it doesn’t make sense that Hamish would know about the oil from Wellington but not about the sabotage.”
“Or that he would know
about the sabotage and then work to fix the sabotage.”
Danny and I stared at the crop reports for a while, trying to make sense of something that made no sense, before I said, “You see the other problem, don't you?”
“What's that?”
“None of this tells us who attacked Abby.”
Danny’s excitement dimmed a bit. “What’s next then?”
“I think we have one more person to talk to. And then a prosecutor.”
30
Danny and I met Ronnie Hawkins and Abby Ackerman at Ronnie’s office in Dellville the next afternoon. We were in Ronnie’s conference room, Ronnie and Abby on one side, Danny and I on the other. A cane was leaning against the table next to Abby. The blood was gone from her eye but there was still a noticeable indentation in the bone of her eye socket.
As we sat, Abby said, “How far back did your people keep animals, Shepherd?”
I stopped. “My people?”
“Your family.”
I had honestly never thought about it. “I don’t know.”
“Hmphf. Too bad. Pigs make more sense to me than sheep. Too much labor in wool.”
“Sure.” I marked that in the conversations I didn’t think I was going to have today column. “Off the crutches then?”
She tapped the cane. “Still need this pogo stick but it’s getting better. I started driving this week.”
“That is good news.”
“Nate,” said Ronnie. “This is unusual, so I’d like to keep it to the point.”
“Of course. Thanks for meeting with me.”
“Abby insisted,” Ronnie said.
“That’s because Archie didn’t do it.”
“You don’t know who did it,” said Ronnie with the tired air of someone who’d said it more than once.
“But I know who didn’t.”
Ronnie smiled, but it was forced. “So why did you want to meet?”
“Let me ask first,” I said. “Have you remembered anything else from that night?”
“Not a bit.”
“So you still can’t identify who attacked you?”
Abby speculated on certain proclivities of her attacker but was unable to say who he was.
“You told me last time that you saw Hamish and caught up with him at the back of the Quarry.”
“That’s right.”
“You left me with the impression that the two of you argued about going to the concert separately.”
“Did I? Huh.”
“I don’t think that’s what you were arguing about. I think you were arguing about Will Wellington. Or oil.”
Abby blinked. Ronnie put her hand out. “Don’t say anything else, Abby.” To me, she said, “I didn’t invite you over to cross-examine my client. Explain what you’re talking about or we’re done.”
So Danny and I laid out what happened that night—Hamish’s meeting with Will, Archie going after Will while Abby appeared to follow Hamish back toward the stairs, Archie arriving at the stairs to find neither of them, and talking to Hamish later on the phone. Then we told her about Wellington’s apparent deal with someone at Mack Farms.
To their credit, Abby and Ronnie just listened as I finished. “Mrs. Mack and Archie both say it’s not them. Can I ask one more question?”
Ronnie’s hand went up again. “Maybe.”
“Were you for or against the oil well, Abby?”
Ronnie dropped her hand. She seemed interested in the answer too.
“I don’t have a vote, Shepherd.”
“I understand. But what was your opinion?”
She flipped her hair back. “I was against it.”
“Why?”
“I’m a farm girl too. I believe organic is the best way to go for the future, for all of us.”
“Is that what you were arguing about that night?”
Ronnie’s hand shot up. “She’s not going to answer that.”
I shrugged. “If she testifies, she will.”
Ronnie thought about it and lowered her hand.
“Yes,” Abby said.
The room was quiet as Abby raised her head and she gritted her teeth and a tear streamed from the outside corner of her wounded eye. Her voice cracked as she said, “Are you saying Hamish attacked me, Shepherd? Because I’m having enough trouble keeping my shit together as it is.”
“No, Abby. All I’m saying is that Archie didn’t do it.”
Ronnie slid a box of tissues over. Abby ignored it and stared at me, jaw still clenched. “I don’t think Hamish would hurt me anymore than Archie would.”
Under her breath, I thought I heard her say, “I can’t.”
“I understand.”
“So who did?”
“I’m not sure.”
Abby grabbed her cane and smashed it against the table. “Someone did this to me! Goddammit, who did this to me!!”
Ronnie reached out. “I understand, Abby—”
“Oh? I don’t see your face dented in! Just how do you understand?”
I didn’t mean to hurt her. I gestured to Ronnie and got up to leave when Abby said, “No, no, no. Stay.”
It was hard to explain how she looked. She didn’t break down as she cried—instead it seemed as if ferocious tears of rage poured from her eyes. “Wait,” she said, so I did.
It took her a moment, and then she said, “I know Archie didn’t do this. I want to help him. But I need the person who did this to pay.”
I nodded. I had a sense of how she’d testify now. I didn’t want to, but I had one more question to ask.
“Would you be willing to tell that to the prosecutor one more time?”
“About Archie?”
“Yes.”
“She’s not saying anything about all this Hamish business,” said Ronnie.
“No, no, I wouldn’t ask her to. I’m asking if she’d be willing to tell Stritch, directly, that she doesn’t think that Archie did it.”
“I’ve already told him that,” said Ronnie.
“I think it might be more powerful coming from Abby.”
“Of course, I will,” said Abby
Ronnie didn’t look happy, but she said, “We’ll see when he’s in and—”
“He’s in now.”
“You checked ahead of time?”
I smiled. “Maybe.”
Ronnie turned to Abby. “Are you sure?”
Abby gave a quick swipe to her cheeks and nodded. “I’m already here. Need to get my three-legged steps in any way.” She stood and grabbed her cane.
Danny and I stood with them. Ronnie looked at us and said, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
I blinked. “Going with you.”
“No, you’re not.”
“If Stritch needs any other information about—”
“You can share it with him whenever and however you want.” Ronnie straightened. “Abby, could you wait outside for a moment, please? I’ll be right with you.”
Abby looked at Ronnie, looked at me, then smiled at Ronnie. “Kick his ass, Counselor,” she said. Then she concentrated on where she was putting her cane as Ronnie shut the door behind her.
Ronnie turned on me. “Listen, Nate, I know she doesn’t think your client did it and you don’t think your client did it, but the fact is, Abby was attacked and left for dead. Despite what she thinks, it’s not her responsibility to get your client acquitted, it’s yours. Now I’m going to take her over there and she’s going to tell Stritch, in person, that she doesn’t think Archie did it, but that’s it. All of that other… stuff you said today is interesting, but it’s not her concern. She needs her attacker brought to justice.”
When I started to speak, Ronnie raised her hand. “I know you don’t think that’s Archie. So prove it. And find the cowardly shadow of a man who did it to her and make sure he’s locked away so he can never do it again. But that woman,” she pointed at the door, “is just now able to walk. She’s carrying a visible reminder that someone tried to cave her head
in with a rock. She has rights and those aren’t going to be protected by talking to the state’s attorney with her accused assailant’s lawyer lurking over her shoulder.”
We stared at each other. Then I smiled and said, “When you put it that way. Mind if we wait?”
She flashed a smile. “Not at all. I’m guessing it won’t be long.”
Ronnie opened the door and closed it again so that we didn’t see Abby. As we sat, I looked at Danny. “Well.”
Danny grinned. “Well.”
“She did have a point.”
“She did.”
“I guess we’ll see.”
“I guess we will.”
“We have a little time.”
“We do.”
“Want to do some lunges while we wait?”
“You really need to stop taking advantage of my religious beliefs.”
“Religious beliefs?”
“About swearing.”
I chuckled. “I suppose I should. Box jumps then?”
“Jack bag.”
I thought. “Good adaptation.”
“Thanks.”
Ronnie opened the door to the conference room about forty-five minutes later. “I sent Abby home,” she said.
“Good,” I said. “Well?”
Ronnie sat, put her hands squarely on the table, and in a serious voice said, “While I appreciate your opinion on this matter, Ms. Ackerman, the state’s evidence is overwhelming and we intend to proceed.”
I nodded. It had been worth a try. “I appreciate the effort.”
“It wasn’t for you. A victim’s opinion deserves to be heard, whatever it is.”
“Is she going to testify?”
“Like I said before, Abby will comply with any subpoena that’s issued and give her honest recollection, and opinions, of any who ask it.”
I stood. “Thanks, Ronnie. And you were right, by the way.”
She smiled. “I know. Thanks for noticing.”
We shook hands all the way around and Danny and I left.
As we climbed into my Jeep, Danny said, “Now what?”
“Now we go home.”
“Aren’t we going to go see Stritch?”
“No.”
“But everything we’ve uncovered!”
“He doesn’t care.”
“Why?”
I thought. “He knows his evidence is enough to win.” I thought of his saying about pointing spokes making wheels. “So he’s going to roll with it.”
Blind Conviction (Nate Shepherd Legal Thriller Series Book 3) Page 16
