J.D. Carson stood at the office’s open doorway, holding a cutaway cardboard box with bags stamped Cheforie’s Burgers. His dark eyes watched her.
Refusing to show shock, she studied him right back. He had those eyelids some people called sleepy. A scar slashed a diagonal across his chin, starting half an inch from the corner of his mouth and disappearing under his jaw. A single deep dent of concentration marked the spot between his brows. He stood military erect.
Unlike court, where he’d worn a suit and tie, he had on a well-worn polo shirt tucked into jeans. But there was more different about him. What was it?
“Better weather for you this time,” he said.
The voice hadn’t changed. Unhurried. Calm. Steel beneath each word.
“Quit discussin’ the weather and get that food in here, J.D. We took the liberty of orderin’ for you, Maggie,” Monroe said as Carson put the box on an open patch of the conference table.
Both of them, acting as if this were a social call.
She’d known he was still in the county, known Monroe provided his alibi, but what the hell was this? Had Carson left the Army to become a gofer?
“Come sit and have your lunch,” Monroe continued. “We can start workin’ as soon as we’ve reacquainted body and soul. J.D. put together a preliminary report on this tragic murder and—”
“Carson did?” she interrupted.
Apparently unfazed by her lack of greeting or anything else, the man in question sat at the conference table with his back to her and bit into a burger.
Monroe paused in peeling the final corner of shiny paper from his burger. “Of course. J.D. is my new associate, so—”
“Associate?”
“Yes, indeed, passed the bar last fall. First try. Then—”
“He went to law school?” Maybe a law school couldn’t legally keep out a man found not guilty, but even if it hadn’t come up on any of her periodic database checks of Carson’s name, she surely would have heard about a former murder defendant applying to law school. And would have done her damnedest to stop him.
“J.D. followed our fine Virginia custom and read for law. Other states have abandoned their heritage, but Virginia maintains the tradition. So, like Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison and Mr. Monroe — Did I tell you I’m a descendant of that esteemed gentleman’s cousin? Although—”
“You let him read law with you.” Maggie didn’t bother making it a question.
Among the government and criminal databases she checked regularly, she’d never considered members of the bar association.
“No, no. He needed wider experience than I could give, having remained in Bedhurst County nearly my entire career. Why, I’m not at all sure the Virginia Board of Bar Examiners would have approved me. Rules and regulations measure each step of a lawyer overseeing the reader’s legal education.”
“I read with Chester Bondelle of Roanoke.” Carson didn’t turn. “His number’s 434-555-4305.”
And she’d damn well check out Chester Bondelle the first chance she had.
Had Carson commuted to Roanoke? Because according to the official record, he’d maintained residence in the shack near Bedhurst Falls he’d inherited.
Damn, damn, damn. She should have dug deeper.
“Since he’s my associate,” Monroe was saying, “of course J.D.’s workin’ with us in assistin’ Sheriff Gardner with his investigation.”
She stared at the back of Carson’s head. That’s what was different — his hair. It had grown out from the military cut. Because he’d never gone back to the Army. Because he’d stayed here to study law and pass the bar.
Why?
Carson stood. “I’ll finish my lunch at my desk, leave you two to talk.”
Without looking at her, he walked out.
“You mustn’t—” Monroe started.
At a distance a male voice rose. Irritation, though not the words, clear.
Monroe’s gaze slid to the back wall of his office, as if he could see what was happening in the depths of the building.
Monroe focused on her again, the break in his manner smoothly mended as he murmured solicitously. “You mustn’t let this bother you, and you should eat before it gets cold.”
“Not let it bother me? The man I tried, the man charged with a similar murder—”
“Found not guilty.”
“—the only man ever charged, because nobody else has been charged with Pan Wade’s murder, not in four and a half years.” He muttered something. She overrode it. “The only man charged and brought to trial for one murder involved in the investigation of a similar murder? And I’m not supposed to let it bother me?”
He swept a hand through the air. “When you’ve grown accustomed to the changes, you’ll—”
“You can’t do this, Monroe.”
“It’s done.”
“Even with you giving him an alibi for now, he’s a suspect.”
He didn’t allow himself to be drawn. “This is the way it is, so — Where are you going?”
“To talk to the sheriff.”
“The sheriff knows.”
“He doesn’t know what I’m going to say about it.”
Commonwealth v. J.D. Carson
Witness J.D. Carson (defendant)
Cross-Examination by Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Margaret Frye
Q. Isn’t it true that you and Pandora Addington Wade were together at the restaurant and bar called Shenny’s on four consecutive nights before she was murdered?
A. Yes.
Q. You’ve heard witnesses testify that you sat close together — no space between them at all was the testimony — is that your testimony?
A. Yes, we sat close.
Q. You also hugged her on at least one occasion?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you talk about your relationship on those occasions?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you also talk about her marriage to Richard Wade at that time?
A. Pan did.
Q. Pan did? You were silent on the subject?
A. Yes.
Q. On the last occasion you were there together — the evening before Mrs. Wade’s murder — you wrote the name and address of a housing complex near the base where you were stationed and gave the paper to Mrs. Wade, isn’t that true?
A. Yes, I wrote down the information for a housing complex near where I am stationed.
Q. Had you talked about her moving there?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you argue about it that evening?
A. No.
Q. You were heard to argue—
Mr. Monroe: Objection, Your Honor. Assumes facts not in evidence.
Ms. Frye: Your Honor, Theodore Barrett testified that he heard the defendant and Mrs. Wade—
Mr. Monroe: And admitted on cross-examination that he couldn’t hear anything clearly from where he was, Judge.
Ms. Frye: Only after defense badgered and—
THE COURT: Enough. Objection is overruled. Witness will answer the question.
A. No, we didn’t argue.
Q. You argued because she wouldn’t run away with you and—
A. No.
Q. And you shot her—
A. No. I did not.