ON THE WAY back to the hotel, I gave Clovis the gist of what had happened at the jail—specifically, that Woody thought Beth and I would be in danger if we stayed. Then I told him we were staying, at least through Tuesday’s arraignment.
“No surprise there,” he drawled.
“I’ve got some extra work for your guys. I want someone watching Helen Cole night and day. If there are those who think I know something, they may think she does as well. Don’t worry about the cost. We’ve discovered a little money we can use for her protection. I want Micki protected too. She’ll balk, but I’m going to insist. I have no idea who or what’s around the corner, but as they say, better safe … “
“Oh, she’s going to balk. She’s a wildcat, probably won’t like the idea of anybody protecting her. Then again, you didn’t think you needed protection at first either.”
I was amused by his reference to Micki as a wildcat. “Beth’s where I’m vulnerable. I have no idea who they are, but I’ll lose it if they even get close to her, and I’m sure they know that.”
“I’m on it. We’ll do everything we can.”
“Good. Now there’s one more thing, but nobody, not even my team, is to know anything about it.”
He waited patiently.
“Clovis, somehow, I want you to get into the rotunda and see if you can locate a stray bullet in the wall or ceiling. I want you to check the crime scene for any evidence that there could have been a second shooter in the capitol that day.”
His mouth dropped open. “Holy shit. Is that even a possibility?”
“Probably not, but does it surprise you that no one has checked?”
“What would it mean if you’re right?”
“There’s probably less than a one-percent chance, but if any part of what I hope you’ll find proves true, things will start to make sense where they don’t right now. Can you manage it before anybody knows what you’re doing? No special teams on this one. If you get caught, I’ll take full responsibility.”
“It’s a tall order, but I’m bettin’ they’ve relaxed security over there by now. I’ll give it a shot.”
CLOVIS AND I made it back to the hotel without incident and slipped in a side door. Paul joined us, which concerned me. I thought he was supposed to be outside the door to the suite. When we got off the elevator on our floor, I saw another security guy where Paul usually sat. I didn’t recognize him, but Clovis and Paul seemed to know him.
“Who is this guy? I know he’s security, but whose? Yours? Walter’s? The hotel’s?”
“Good catch, Jack. We’ll make a security pro out of you yet.” When we walked up to the new guard, he stood and Paul introduced us. His name was Davis, and he was part of hotel security.
When we opened the door to the suite, I was swarmed by women. Beth and Maggie were concerned about my leg, and Micki wanted to know how things had gone with Woody. I told Micki we would all sit down and talk about it and assured Beth and Maggie that I was fine. That didn’t keep them from bringing pillows from Beth’s bedroom so I could sit sideways on the sofa and prop my leg up. A guy could get used to this.
Since I was taking up the whole sofa, Clovis and Paul brought over the chairs from the table, so we could sit in a circle of sorts. By the time everyone had found a seat, I had my thoughts organized.
“First things first. Micki, your sitting third chair is impossible. It won’t work—sorry.” Micki looked confused. “If you’re in agreement, we’ll be partners or whatever you want to call it. I’ve never considered Maggie a second chair, and I won’t think of you as second or third chair either. I need you to set up shop right here, right now—not tomorrow. For the next thirty-six hours, we are under the gun—for reasons I’ll explain in a minute.”
Micki jumped in: “Okay. Can do. I’ll have my office handled by the time you return from Mrs. Cole’s house.”
“Not so fast—I’ve got something for you all to think about, and I don’t want any of you to make a snap judgment. He wouldn’t tell me what it is, but Woody says he discovered something that could put us all in danger.” I turned the floor over to Clovis.
“Yesterday afternoon, I believe someone tried to run Jack over. He has also received credible threats. The fact he’s still here doesn’t take away from the gravity of what could happen; it just proves he doesn’t scare easily.” He let the silence linger. “I’ve told him that I’ll do my best, but we don’t know what or who we’re up against. You’re all at risk. Jack says he’s staying at least until Tuesday afternoon, but he wants you to decide for yourselves whether to stay or not. Maggie, I’ll brief Mr. Matthews’s security team about my concerns. Beth, you might want to talk to your father and Jeff. Micki, Jack insists that if you join the team, you get the same protection.”
“I don’t need security,” she said, trying (and failing) to look nonchalant. “I’ve been dealing with drug pushers and thugs all my legal life. I can take care of myself.”
I quickly responded, “Micki, security isn’t negotiable—it’s the price of admission. If I’m worried about my safety, I’m no good to Woody. The same goes for if I’m worried about Beth, Maggie, or now, you. You probably can take care of yourself, but Clovis provides us all a certain level of protection, so we are comfortable enough to do our jobs. It’s not up for discussion.”
Our eyes locked, and she was first to blink. “You know, you’re pretty quick to pull rank, partner. But okay, I can live with it.”
Maggie said to me, “I’ve already spoken to Walter. If you’re staying, so am I. Besides, I’m starting to enjoy the company of all these handsome men.”
No surprises from Beth. “You know I’m not going anywhere.”
Then it was Paul’s turn. He told us that, from now on, each member of the various security teams would wear an identification pin and would be given a new password each day, as would we. If we saw a security person we didn’t recognize, we were to ask him for the password. If he didn’t have the one that matched ours, or if we had any suspicions at all, we were to hit the little panic button he was handing out. It made a loud, piercing noise and sent a GPS signal to everyone on the security team. Today’s password was Delilah.
We’d dealt with all the housekeeping—Micki was on board, Paul had given us all the security info, and Micki would bunk with Beth. It was time to give them the really bad news.
“The long and the short of it is that Woody wants to die. He wants to plead guilty and be executed. He doesn’t want to put up a defense, says he’s as sane as you and me, and refuses to tell me why he pointed the gun at Russell’s head.”
“Well, that’s a problem,” I heard Micki mutter.
“No kidding. I’m sure he’s depressed. Who wouldn’t be? But I don’t think he’s depressed enough to be insane or delusional. He says he had a plan to scare the shit out of Russell, and then kill himself. The fact that he had a plan doesn’t help with the issue of premeditation, nor does the fact that he had his lawyer put all his assets in trust the day before the shooting.
“I have no idea what his plan was, other than to confront Russell about whatever had sent him over the edge. I went after him from every angle I could think of, trying to persuade him to explain what happened. Regardless, he takes full responsibility for Russell’s death and wants to die for the crime. I couldn’t convince him otherwise, so I bought time. He agreed to give me until Tuesday to convince him to change his mind.” I paused so all this could sink in.
“Micki, he agreed for you to be co-counsel. You’re officially hired. I’ll have your brood-mare check tonight. I’ll give you more details, but this should be enough to keep your motor running. Now comes the hard part. I have to tell Helen that her only son wants to die.”