They ascended the stairs to Faith’s roof deck with Faith following behind out of curiosity. For the first time, Faith witnessed the David and Goliath sized pair. Beth wrapped her delicate arm around Finn’s godlike physique, and they were gone.
******
It was late in the evening when Ted came home from work. He found an exhausted wife sitting on the floor preparing her teaching lessons for the next week.
“How’s it going?” he asked bending down to kiss her.
“Beat up a demon today.”
“Did you now?”
She looked up at him, and asked, “Should I have ever told you about all this? Will it get to be too much?”
“You should have told me sooner, and you are my heart and my soul. It will never be too much.”
“There may be more trouble. All I care is that you don’t get hurt. I love you so much,” Beth said as she stood up and kissed him passionately.
Padraig had observed the scene from the hallway, and he was pleased. He loved Beth like his own child and was more than content to see that she was cared for. That said, he was about to interrupt the couple’s private moment.
“Sorry, kids couldn’t help but overhear. You defeated a demon today? And you were going to tell me, when?”
She’d spent every summer of her life with him, and so his paternal behavior was all too familiar.
Beth picked her materials up off the floor, and the three sat down in the living room. She relayed the day’s events, slightly sanitizing the scene. Even though her husband had witnessed her fight in the Battle of Unst. She didn’t really want him to picture her slicing the demon’s chest.
“He said that he was a minion of Phthonus.”
“God of Greed and Avarice, interesting,” Padraig said. “Can you take a leave from work?”
“No. I don’t want to leave my kids.”
“Do you want them to get hurt?”
“No.”
“I just wish this was happening on Unst. We’d all be under one roof. But we’re not. At least I’m here with you,” Padraig said.
“Do you think Ted’s in danger?” Beth asked.
“No. If Phthonus finds out who killed his demon, he’ll focus on you.”
“Oh,” Beth said. “Well, he’s not dead. We let him go.”
Padraig gave her a quizzical look.
“It was a judgment call. He was a drone. He answered our questions and seemed to just want out, so Finn sent him to another dimension.”
Ted shook his head.
Padraig looked at him and said, “I couldn’t ask for a better man than you for our Beth, but you’ve got to adjust to magic and magical beings. They are real, and you are married to one.”
“I’m married to Beth.”
“Who is a magical being as well as a great girl.”
“Woman,” Beth corrected
“You’ll always be my girl. So, please, take a short leave. We’ll get this sorted out, and then you can go back to teaching.”
“All right. I certainly don’t want a demon god showing up at Newton Academy.”
“I’m going to put a protective spell on this house and cloak us all.”
“I’m not sure about the cloaking,” Beth said. “If we’re facing a god, we need all the power we can muster.”
“Good point. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”
As he ascended the stairs to his bedroom, Padraig was distressed. He had hoped that the troubles of the previous summer were over; that An Dubh would just disperse and, as in the past, the Ruling Council would only be dealing with sporadic cases of Buidseach misusing their power.
Chapter Fifteen
Somewhat discouraged by the events of the previous day, the detectives decided to take a fresh look at their case and see if they had actually gone off track in charging Blackett.
“What don’t we have?” Paul asked.
“We have no physical evidence for Claire, for one thing,” Ed said.
“Right,” Paul said, “but we do have a motive. Maggie knew that Blackett killed Creighton, and Maggie wasn’t going to give up her stuff without a fight.”
“We don’t know for certain that Blackett killed Creighton. Just that he was seen carrying a body. The girl could have been unconscious.”
“A bit of a coincidence on the same night Creighton died.”
“I know, but something could be wrong with our assumptions, and if there is, we have to figure out what.”
“Well, Blackett hates Gould. Makes him a good patsy,” Paul said.
“But how do we prove it. Even if Maggie would confess, which I doubt. But even if she would …” Ed said.
“She’s insane.”
“Exactly,” Ed said.
“We still need to talk to her, though.”
“You know, I was thinking about what Marcella Blackett said. Ethan used to spend all of his time at his law office, and now it’s just a few hours a week. We haven’t searched it, and my bet is that he doesn’t think we will.”
“And he was so confident that we wouldn’t find anything at his house. Warrant?”
“Now,” Ed said.
******
Arriving at Wilson, Blackett, and Monroe, the detectives and their forensic team were brought to Ethan’s office. They’d been told that as a founding partner, he’d kept his office and still used it on occasion but never saw clients which was evident from what they found.
“What’s all this?” Paul asked as they went in.
The furnishings were decent enough, but they were covered by all manner of theatrical accouterments. There were costumes, makeup, and, of more importance to the detectives, what looked to be a lab table.
Ed smiled looking at the array of cups, tape, bullets. “I think we hit the motherload.”
One of the crime lab techs began to examine the clutter of objects on the table, she said, “Looks like he was transferring fingerprints.”
With his gloved hand, Ed picked up a piece of tape, turned on a lamp and held it under the light. “My God, there’s a print on it.”
“I bet we’ll find tape residue on those cups,” the tech said.
“Go to it,” Ed said.
Zoe Monroe came to the door and said, “Can I ask what’s going on?”
Ed walked over, went outside the door with her and said, “We’ve arrested your partner for murder.”
“He’s not my partner, anymore. He just won’t give up this office. Look at it, it’s a horror show. He won’t even let anyone clean in there.”
“You can’t get rid of him?”
“No. It’s a contract thing.” With a twinkle in her eye, Zoe whispered, “Try and make it stick.”
“Now, I think we just might,” Ed said.
Back in Blackett’s office, Paul lifted a newspaper page at the very end of the long table and found both a knife and a gun, and said, “Edward, look what I found.”
A broad smile came over Ed’s face, as he said, “And that would be that. Turning to the tech next to him, he said, “These are our murder weapons, so see what else you can find.”
Ed was pleased. This had not been their most challenging case, by far, but it had been complicated, and, tempted as he may have been, they’d solved it without his powers. After giving the room another once over, Ed said, “Let’s go get Ethan.”
That, however, turned out to be unnecessary as Ethan Blackett had just stepped off the elevator.
Seeing him, true to her nature, Zoe Monroe took the situation in hand. She told Ethan that she needed to speak with him in her office. After she had him settled in, Zoe excused herself and walked down the long hallway toward Ethan’s office, meeting the detectives along the way.
“Ethan’s here. I told him that I wanted to speak with him, and he’s waiting in my office if you want him.”
“We do. Thank you. Stay here,” Paul said.
They appeared at the door, and Ethan’s face fell.
“That’s right,” Ed said, “we found your lab. Come along.”
Without a word, Ethan stood, was handcuffed and, silently, walked out the door.
******
An hour later, Ethan was at District Four waiting to be interviewed. The detectives met Ethan’s lawyer on their way to interrogation and, not having been appraised of the latest developments, he was more than annoyed at being dragged back to District Four.
“Why is my client here, again? I’m surprised that you haven’t dropped all the charges against him, by now.”
“Why would we do that?” Paul asked.
“I understand that there’s all sorts of evidence against a man named Ron Gould.”
“Who told you that?”
“My client.”
“Well he would know,” Paul said holding up a folder.
“What’s that?” Attorney Ruel asked.
“In addition to the murder charges, Mr. Blackett is being charged with obstruction of justice for trying to frame Ron Gould,” Paul said as, one by one, he placed several pictures of Ethan’s office on the table.
“What’s all that?” Al Ruel asked.
“Your client’s office, and his handy little frameup kit.
“Frame up kit? I just see junk,” Al said.
“We have your client’s prints on tape that was used to lift Ron Gould’s fingerprints and place them on the bullet that we found in Ron’s car, and see that,” Paul said pointing a black jar. That’s non-magnetic fingerprint powder. Ethan’s prints are on that, too. And, of course, we have a partial print that matches his, on the round that killed Nancy Creighton. And, oh yes, we have your client’s prints on the knife that killed Claire Spencer. Thanks for not getting rid of that, by the way,” Paul said to Ethan.
Ethan was about to speak when Al Ruel shook his finger at him and said, “Not a word.”
“He’s facing two charges of murder one, attempted murder, and now obstruction. I don’t think they’ll be giving him much of a deal if that’s what you’re thinking,” Paul said.
“And confessing is good for the soul,” Ed said.
Al Ruel cautioned him, once again, not to speak.
“Creighton got what she deserved. She was going to the police and tell them that I raped her. That was a lie. We had sex, sure, but it was consensual. I wasn’t losing my reputation and going to jail for something I didn’t do.”
“Well, now you’ll go to jail for stuff that we can prove you did,” Ed said.
“This is all Bella Moore’s fault. I wish I hadn’t missed, and if I had the chance ...”
“And, now I think you can kiss any chance of getting bail again, goodbye,” Paul said pointing at the tape.
“I told you to keep your mouth shut,” Al Ruel said.
“I’m a lawyer. When it’s over, it’s over.”
“So, why kill Claire?” Ed asked.
Ethan just shook his head and said, “I was being blackmailed by Margaret Dunham.”
“She had my gun. I didn’t know that until about a month ago when she sent a woman to tell me that if I didn’t go see her, she’d give it to the police.”
“Turned out that Claire was stealing from her, and Dunham wanted her dead.”
“I have to tell you that you’ve got some other potential charges,” Ed said.
“Like what?” Ethan asked.
“The rapes of Patricia Kenny and Elle La Rue. They heard that you’d been charged with murder and came forward,” Ed said as he walked out of the room smiling.
“You’re a fool,” Al Ruel said, after the detectives were gone. “All this because you couldn’t control yourself. Maybe, I mean, maybe we could have pulled together a defense if you kept your mouth shut, but no, once again, you couldn’t control yourself.”
Al Ruel walked out of the room in disgust, leaving his client alone to ponder his future.
“That one,” Ed said to his partner as they returned to their office, “felt really good.”
“It was truly righteous.”
“Now, what do we do about our girl, Maggie?” Ed asked.
“What do you mean?”
“We have to charge her, but do we bring her in? She’s already in a mental hospital,” Ed said.
“Let’s check with Carlos, but I think we just interview her there, and there she’ll stay.”
******
Faith arrived at her new job feeling a mild amount of trepidation. While she had, of course, studied all facets of abnormal psychology. Her internship had been with Karen at the women’s shelter, and she hadn’t really spent too much time counseling the deeply disturbed. She wasn’t scared of them. After all, she could disable almost any threat with a mere thought, but she was concerned that she wasn’t up to the task of helping them.
“Good afternoon, Dr. Ferguson. Thanks for coming in on a Friday. It’s the only day I could get you an appointment with HR.”
“It’s fine. I just work with Karen in the mornings, so this was no problem.”
Dan sensed that she was ill at ease, but ever the consummate teacher, he was prepared to both challenge and support her.
“All right newbie, we’ll fill out your paperwork and then I’ll give you the tour.”
“I still think that I need to be an MD.”
“Well, I don’t plan to have you do any heavy lifting for quite a while. And by the time that I do, I suspect you will be pursuing that credential.”
“You think I should be an MD.”
“I do, and I think you will. With what you’ve already got, it’ll be a piece of cake, but, for now, you’ll observe.”
As they were talking, Faith heard a familiar voice down the hall. She got up and went to the door.
“You leaving already?”
“No. I just hear my boyfriend’s voice. He’s a cop, and I think that he might be here to see Maggie.”
“Let’s go see,” Dan said. “So, you think she’s actually up to something?”
“I do, but I have no idea what. Maybe Ed does.”
Ed was genuinely surprised to see her walking toward him.
“Don’t look so surprised, I told you that I was going to be working with Dan.”
“Oh, right,” Ed said, “I just didn’t expect to see you here today.
Faith made all the introductions and asked, “So what’s she up to?”
Before Ed responded, Dan said, “Let’s go back to my office.”
Once Dan closed the door, Paul said. “She blackmailed a man into killing her niece.”
“Claire Spencer,” Dan said as he pulled up her visitor log on the screen before him
“The problem you have is that there is no way that you can conduct a rational interview with her. Can I ask what you know?”
“Claire was trying to get power of attorney of Maggie’s estate, and seemed to be helping herself to Maggie’s money in the meantime.”
“Who’s the man?”
“Ethan Blackett.”
“He has been here a few times, and never looked too happy about it. But,” Dan said with a small grin, “few do.”
“How should we handle this?” Paul asked.
“Privately. This is not our first police interview, and we have what is basically an interrogation room. Let me get her down there, and I’ll talk to her. You and Faith can observe. Then, if she’s still in any shape to talk …”
“What do you mean?” Paul asked.
“Well, what you probably haven’t seen, is Maggie in a rage, and this could really get set her off. If she goes ballistic, we’ll have to medicate her, and she’ll be out for the day.” Then he asked, “What about if I talk to her. I’m not a cop, so I don’t have your skills but, odds are she’ll talk to me,” Dan said.
“The problem is we can’t have her incriminate herself, without her Miranda rights,” Ed said.
“Since you and Maggie have a history,” Paul said to Ed, “why don’t I go in by myself.”
“I think that’s smart,” Dan said. “Come on let’s give this a shot.”
Dan arranged for Maggie to
be brought into the interview room. And in preparation for the worst, he also had two attendants waiting outside. One of which was a strapping young man named, Ned Thompson. Ned was rarely more than ten feet from his boss. Hoping to lessen the shock of dealing with the police, Dan went in to speak with her alone. As he did, Faith, Ed, and Paul watched on a monitor in a small room nearby.
“Morning Maggie,” Dan said.
Sensing that she was in trouble, Maggie was pretending to be catatonic.
“That’s not going to fly, Maggie. I know that you can understand me and respond. Now, as you may know, your niece, Claire, has been murdered.”
Maggie usually had total control of her performance, but Dan’s announcement made her look up at him. She knew that Claire was dead, but she didn’t know that anyone knew that they were related.
“I’m sorry about that, and we’ll talk about it later, but, right now, there’s a detective here to conduct an interview.”
Maggie was not pleased, but she couldn’t imagine that they suspected her. After all, she had an ironclad alibi. She never left the hospital. So, she nodded, and Dan left the room.
“Good luck,” Dan whispered as Paul passed him at the door.
“Dr. Dunham,” Paul said, in a pleasant voice, as he sat down. “You might remember me. I’m Detective Paul Malloy.”
She nodded.
Maggie was feeling in control, and she would speak to him.
“I’m arresting you for conspiracy to commit murder and I’m going to read you your Miranda rights.”
As he read, Maggie looked genuinely shocked. She never expected the police to connect Claire to her.
“I’m not feeling well,” Maggie said, wanting time to consider her options. “And I want an attorney.”
“That’s fine,” Paul said. “I’m glad you clearly understand your rights.”
That comment gave her pause. She needed to prove that she wasn’t well, at all, and so the act began. On a dime, Maggie started to scream at him; first, a stream of obscenities, followed by gibberish.
Dan jumped up, hailed the attendants, and they went in to take control of the situation.
He asked Paul to leave and said, “All right, Maggie, you don’t have to talk now, calm down. You don’t want to be sedated, do you?”
The Power of Faith: Science Fiction Faith Ferguson Series Book 3 Page 23
