TY CAUGHT HIMSELF driving twenty miles an hour over the speed limit on the way to the police station. He could feel the pressure mounting in his head as every raucous beat of his heart echoed in his ears.
Once at the station, he hustled over to the first cop he encountered. “Where do I file a police report?”
The young patrol officer steered him to a long counter with only one window open. Fortunately, crimes had ebbed for the day. The obese, aged sergeant sitting there looked as though he were biding his time on light duty until retirement.
“Help you?” the officer asked.
“Like to file a police report.”
The cop slid a form his way. “Nature of the crime?”
“Murder.”
The officer stopped chewing his gum. “Murder, you say? When did this take place?”
“Early this morning.”
“You witness the death?”
“No.”
“Location of body?”
“I’m not exactly sure.”
“So, you want to report a murder with no witnesses, suspects, or body? Gonna be kind of hard to build a case around that.”
“There is a witness—sort of.”
“Sort of?”
“I mean, he thinks he saw the crime take place.”
“Thinks he saw?”
“Well, yeah. It was dark, so he didn’t exactly see anything specific.”
“Look mister, I can’t stop you from filing a report, but it would just be a waste of time. Why don’t you come back when you’ve got something a little more conclusive?”
Ty snatched the form and headed over to the courthouse.
The witness Joy was interviewing sported a huge swastika tattooed in the middle of his forehead. The inked tears flowing from the outside corner of his eye were enough to turn a sympathetic head.
He tapped on the glass to catch her attention.
She remained totally engaged with her subject and didn’t acknowledge him, so he tapped again.
Looking quite pissed, she jerked the door open and then slammed it shut behind her. “What the hell, Ty? Can’t you see I’m working here?”
“We’ve got to talk.”
“Unless this is a life-or-death situation involving our son, it can wait.”
“You’ve got part of that equation right. Now, if you’ll just listen to the rest.”
Joy checked her watch. “I can cut out a bit early today. Give me an hour or so and I’ll meet you at home.”
TY WAS PUTTING on the carpet using Calamity Jane, but all he could think about was that murderous bitch, Blanchard.
When he heard Joy pull into the garage, he rushed to the door before she could open it.
“Jeez, Ty! Knock me down, why don’t ya? This had better be something good.”
“We’ve got to hire a private dick.”
A wry smile cracked through her hardened features. “What’s the matter, honey? Don’t you think you measure up anymore?”
“Please bear with me. This is no joking matter. Blanchard, Dink’s nurse, murdered him.”
“And you know this how?”
“Just trust me on this one. I’ll explain in a bit, but I’m sure with a little probing enough circumstantial evidence can be obtained to nail her to the cross. Rico, his roommate, more or less saw it go down. He can testify as to probable cause for the crime. Saw her tie his arms down and dope him the night before and then witnessed the deadly act at a specific time in the early morning hours during an unscheduled visit.”
“So he can positively identify Blanchard as the killer?”
“Not exactly.”
“That’s hardly enough to convict her of murder.”
“Come off it, Joy. You’re a lawyer. Start connecting the dots. If Blanchard was on duty and she was in his room at an unscheduled time, doesn’t that say something? I’m sure the time of death will correlate with her visit. She obviously wanted to silence him before he went public with his complaints. A postmortem blood test needs to be conducted to determine which drugs—and how much—were in his body. I also have a sneaking suspicion that if they look into death rates at the hospital, Blanchard would have an unusually high rate of unexplained fatalities under her charge.”
“Angel of Death—is that what you’re getting at?”
“More like a devil’s servant. I’m sorry, honey, but if we have to spend every cent of the money we won in the lottery, then that’s what’ll have to happen. I’ll avenge Dink’s death if it’s the last thing I do. He was a good man.”
“Is it really worth spending down our life’s savings? You know as well as I, the old man was in poor health and, at 108 years of age, probably on his last leg. It was only a matter of months, days, maybe even hours before he would’ve passed naturally.”
“You don’t get it, do you? Have you become so jaded in your legal profession that justice is now a meaningless word? It’s a matter of principle.”
Infuriated, Joy got up in his grill and poked him in the chest as she spoke. “That’s totally unfair and you know it! I can’t believe you said that.”
Ty turned and walked to the window. “Sorry. As you can see, I’m pretty worked up. But Dink, no matter what his age, deserved better than this. The least I can do is give the man closure in his honor.”
“Tell you what I’m willing to do. A pool of my colleagues regularly utilize a competent private investigator in their cases and in return receive a reasonable, discounted rate. I’ll talk to him tomorrow and see what he has to say if that will make you feel any better.”
“It’s a start. I’ll thank my lucky stars once that killer’s behind bars.”
She kissed him on the cheek. “I’m thankful that I’m married to such a man of distinction.”
“Only doing what friends do for friends.”