he wanted, and I got the leftovers. We never got along because he saw me as a threat. He fired a deputy, and when I hired the guy Pfitzner got pissed. All the politicians were afraid of him and he pulled some strings, got me sacked. I couldn’t leave town fast enough. You been to Seabrook?”
“Not yet.”
“You won’t find much. Pfitzner’s been gone for a long time and I’m sure all his tracks are covered.”
It is a loaded statement, as if he wants me to jump in, but I let it slide. This is the first meeting, and I don’t want to seem too eager. I have to build trust and that takes time. Enough of Sheriff Pfitzner. I’ll circle back in due course.
“Did you know Keith Russo?” I ask.
“Sure. I knew all the lawyers. It’s a small town.”
“What was your opinion of him?”
“Smart, cocky, not one of my favorites. He roughed up a couple of my men once in a trial and I didn’t like it. Guess he was just doing his job. He wanted to be a big-shot lawyer and I guess he was on his way. One day we looked up and he was driving a sleek new black Jaguar, probably the only one in town. Rumor was he settled a big case down in Sarasota and made a killing. He was flashy like that.”
“And his wife, Diana?”
He shakes his head as if in pain. “Poor lady. I guess I’ll always have a soft spot for her. Can you imagine what she went through finding his body like that? She was a mess.”
“I cannot. Was she a good lawyer?”
“Well regarded, I guess. I never had dealings with her. A knockout, though, a real beauty.”
“Did you watch the trial?”
“No. They moved it next door to Butler County, and I couldn’t justify taking time off to sit through a trial.”
“At the time, did you think Quincy Miller committed the murder?”
He shrugs, says, “Sure. I never had any reason to doubt it. As I recall, there was a pretty strong motive for the killing, some bad blood. Wasn’t there a witness who saw him running away from the scene?”
“Yes, but she didn’t make a positive ID.”
“Didn’t they find the murder weapon in Miller’s car?”
“Not exactly. They found a flashlight with some blood on it.”
“And the DNA matched, right?”
“No, there was no DNA testing in 1988. And the flashlight disappeared.”
He thinks about this for a moment and it’s obvious he doesn’t remember the important details. He left Seabrook two years after the murder and has tried to forget the place. He says, “I always thought it was an open-and-shut case. I suppose you think otherwise, right?”
“I do, or else I wouldn’t be here.”
“So what makes you think Miller’s innocent after all these years?”
I’m not about to share my theories, not at this point anyway. Maybe later. I reply, “The State’s case doesn’t hold up,” I say vaguely, then move on with “Did you maintain any contacts in Seabrook after you left?”
He shakes his head. “Not really. I wasn’t there very long and, as I said, sort of left in a hurry. It was not the highlight of my career.”
“Did you know a deputy named Kenny Taft?”
“Sure, knew ’em all, some better than others. When he got killed I read about it in the newspapers. I was in Gainesville doing narcotics. I remember his photo. Good guy. Why are you curious about him?”
“Right now, Mr. McKnatt, I’m curious about everything. Kenny Taft was the only black deputy working for Pfitzner.”
“Drug thugs don’t care if you’re black or white, especially in a gun battle.”
“You’re right about that. Just curious if you knew him.”
An elderly gent in shorts, black socks, and red sneakers approaches and sets two paper cups of lemonade on our table. McKnatt says, “Well, thank you, Herbie. It’s about time.”
Herbie snaps, “I’ll send you the bill,” and moves on. We sip our drinks and watch the slow-motion shuffleboard.
McKnatt asks, “So, if your boy Miller didn’t kill Russo, who did?”
“I have no idea, and we’ll probably never know. My job is to prove Miller didn’t do it.”
He shakes his head and smiles. “Good luck. If somebody else did it, then he’s had twenty-plus years to run away and hide. Talk about a cold case.”
“Ice cold,” I agree with a smile. “But then all of my cases are like this.”
“And this is all you do? Solve old cases and get people out of prison?”