CHAPTER XVII

“Damn him!” Gail shook her fist in the air. “I should have known Turner would have a hand in this!”

“What do you mean?” Connie leaned over to see what part of the autopsy report she was referring to.

“This!” Her finger shook, as she pointed at the page in front of her. “It’s blackmail! Pure and simple—and if he thinks I’ll go down without a fight, he’s got another think coming!”

“I know,” said Hugo. “It took me a bit at first to figure out what all that meant. But I think you might be right about that. Looks to me as if they are intending to show it to us at the arraignment then hope we’ll fold without a fight.

“The bastards,” he added. “That’s hitting below the belt, in my book. Dunno what we can do about it, but there’s no way we can let Damon take the fall for this. Trouble is, I don’t see any way around the other part of it, without collateral damage….”

His voice trailed off as Connie read swiftly through the section in question then shook his head in disbelief.

“You really do think Turner’s behind this?”

“Sure do. I’m certain he intended to prosecute this as soon as he got wind of it. He’s probably on Charlie’s speed dial for such things.” Gail narrowed her eyes. “He’s been riding pretty high as D.A. for the past two terms. And, of course, I don’t think he’s ever forgiven me for besting him at Damon’s earlier trial.”

Gail was referring to Turner Redland, Cathcart’s current District Attorney. He and Gail had attended law school together and, for a brief time, had had a romantic fling. That relationship had gone down in flames, and there was nothing romantic about their relationship these days.

Gail was already dreading facing him down in court again over this new atrocity. But the forensic evidence she and her team had just discovered was alarming, and could be extremely damaging to her if it came out during the trial, as it most certainly would.

“Do we tell Damon about this?” Connie wondered. “And what about Charles, since he’s now on board with the defense.”

“What?” Hugo looked at Connie quizzically. “What’s this about Charles becoming part of the defense team?”

“He’s apparently had a change of heart,” Gail said. “He’s decided that his loyalties lie with us, and you, too, Hugo. He wants to be a full-fledged member of the team, starting now. He had a talk with the Seymours about it this afternoon, and has now moved into the hotel for the time being.

“Even more important, he thinks he recalls something that came out during the first trial that might be a clue. He and Damon are down in the vault right now, going through the old files from the Seymour case.”

“Well, I’ll be….” Hugo scratched the stubble on his chin. He hadn’t had a chance to shave for the past twenty-four hours, as he scrambled about town checking his sources and keeping his operatives busy.

Gail had been mulling over the dilemma uncovered in the as-yet-unreleased autopsy records.

“Hugo, do you think you or one of your operatives might be able to get a look at some of those hospital records?”

“Sorry, Gail. The people over there know us all by sight. They run the other way when they see us coming. All we ever get from them is “patient confidentiality.”

“But in this case…mightn’t we able to…?”

“I’ve got an idea,” said Connie. “And I think it just might get us what we need. Let me make a phone call and see if the person I have in mind would be willing to do a little “under-cover” work for us.” He left the conference table and moved over to Gail’s desk where he buzzed for an outside line.

Just then the door swung open. Charles entered followed closely by Damon carrying a large filing box which he placed on the table.

“Hello, Hugo,” Charles said. “Good to see you. Have they told you what’s up?”

“Sure have, Mr. C.” Hugo reached out and offered his hand. “Glad to have you on board. We could use your brand of common sense…since so much of this case doesn’t make any sense at all.”

“Well, hold on to your hats. Damon and I have come across some interesting tidbits, buried in all that paperwork left over from the first trial. This item, in particular, Gail, I think will capture your interest.”

Gail took the memo pad Charles held out and began to peruse it carefully. “Hugo, bring them up to date on the new piece of ‘evidence’ you’ve uncovered in the preliminary autopsy report. We might not need anything else, if this is true. Of course, that would open up a whole other can of worms.”

Hugo, after warning Damon about the nature of what he was about to reveal, passed over the page in question. The office fell silent, as the two read and digested the new material. Then Gail passed her sheet on to Hugo without comment.

“Well, just as I thought,” Connie said, returning from his phone call at the desk. “The lady is willing, and extremely able, I might add. I think we can get those medical records without any difficulty, if my little scheme works.”

He nodded at Charles and Damon then looked curiously at the paper Hugo had just reviewed. “What’s this? Something else?”

Gail nodded. “Charles and Damon have found the odd bits of information he remembered from our first investigation. Leave it to him to hone in on the one critical fact we’ve all been missing up to now.”

Connie grabbed the note and pored over it. “I think you’re right, Gail,” he said finally, handing it back to Hugo who added it to their growing file of evidence. “Don’t they live near Hal Watson and his daughter?”

“Yes,” Charles said. “I’ve already asked the Seymour’s handyman to put together all the surveillance videos from their CRTs taken on that night. Problem is, with the size of those estates out there in Long Hills, sometimes there’s not a clear sightline from one house to the next. Still, it might show something on the main road. Hal Watson’s car leaving the area, for instance. But the thing is, the people in question are close enough, they might actually have gotten something on video…if they have surveillance cams in service that is.”

“Hugo, could you send a couple of your best people out there to see if they’d allow us to review any video they might have from that night? It would be best to go about it in a casual way…not raise any suspicion as to our real motive. And, of course, we shouldn’t mention anything at all about….”

“Yeah, I’ve got just the pair,” Hugo said. “An older couple, been with me a long time. They’re very good at this sort of thing. I’ll explain it to them thoroughly, about what to say and what not to say. At the very least, we might be able to determine when Hal left…or was forced to leave…and what direction he took. Might be a major factor in finding his whereabouts. I’ll get right on it.”

So saying, he shoved back his chair, retrieved his jacket and headed out the door.

“All right,” said Gail. “I think we have a plan now. Damon,” she looked over at him and her eyes misted over. “I think we might just have a way out of this mess. It’s not going to be easy…for any of us. But I do believe we’re on the right track. At last.”

Damon Powell gulped and looked at each one of them in turn.

“I really thought I was lost. If you can save me, as you seem to think you can—I’ll never be able to repay you. I will owe you my life. I want you all to know I understand that.”

“We’re all in this together, Damon,” said Gail. “More than you know. If we can pull this off, you don’t need to repay us, Damon. Just pay it forward.”