“I don’t know. But my gut is howling that this whole thing stinks.”
“Well, when you can get a jury to listen to your gut, let me know.” Roy turned back to the Captain and pulled out a legal pad and pen from his briefcase. “Captain, I need you to focus for me. We need to go through some timelines. Can you do that?”
The man looked worried. “I don’t know. They took my watch, Roy. I ain’t no good with time without my watch.”
“It’s okay, you can use mine.” He slipped it off and handed it to his client.
Mace said, “While you go over the case with him I’m going to have a chat with my sister.”
CHAPTER 79
WHEN MACE ARRIVED at Beth’s office her sister was hastily shoving files in a briefcase. “Got two minutes, Mace. Late for a bunch of meetings.”
“I’ll walk with you. Thanks for your help with Alisha and Tyler, by the way.”
“I’m assuming you’re here for some more help.” When Mace didn’t say anything, Beth added, “They called me when you two showed up to see Dockery. So is Kingman going to rep him?”
“Looks to be the case. Dockery said you found his cart?”
“That’s right. And would Kingman like to know what we found in it?”
“You have to tell him that anyway, Beth.”
“He’ll get all the proper evidentiary disclosures from the prosecutor’s office. Well, at least I assume he will.”
“What do you mean you assume he will?”
Beth gave her a knowing look. “Take a guess on who’s trying the case?”
“Oh hell, not Mona? She’s got an office full of homicide hounds to do that kind of work.”
“Did you really think she was going to pass up a case like this? Fine upstanding female law partner in G-town struck down by a homeless nutcase and then stuck in a fridge? She’ll get tons of ink on this. She’s probably getting her hair and nails done as we speak. She won’t do the heavy lifting, but rest assured she will be the voice of the U.S. Attorney’s Office at all press conferences and other media opportunities. She’ll probably do the closing argument too. If the case gets that far.”
“Why wouldn’t it?”
“Ever heard of a plea bargain? Although Mona won’t plead this out unless your guy takes the max. She’s not going to pass up her chance to get on Larry King for anything less than that.”
“So what did they find in the cart?”
“Tolliver’s missing panties and her purse. Credit cards and cell phone and office key card were inside but there was no cash.”
Mace’s mind flashed to what the Captain had said.
I got two hundred dollars.
“Two hundred dollars found on Dockery,” said Beth, seemingly reading her sister’s mind. “It does not look good, Mace.”
“I still don’t think the guy did it. I mean, look at all the other stuff going on here. The key Diane sent Roy. This Andre Watkins character. The guy rolling his apartment. The people after me. How do they all tie into Tolliver being murdered?”
“Did you ever stop to think that they don’t? I agree that there is something strange going on with Tolliver and the stuff with you. But her being killed by Dockery might have been a simple crime of opportunity that has no connection to the other things.”
“I just knew you were going to say that.”
“Why?”
‘Because it’s so… freaking logical!”
“My apologies for being so freaking logical.”
“But look, Dockery said the police found his cart, so it was missing. Anybody could’ve planted that stuff in there. And the other trace found at the crime scene too.”
“Let’s not forget the sperm in the woman’s vagina. Does Kingman want to make the argument that was planted too?”
“Believe me, I get the point.”
“How is his firm going to feel about Kingman defending the guy accused of murdering one of its partners?”
“Probably not too good.”
“So why is Kingman doing it?”
Mace gave her an exasperated look. “Why don’t you ever just call him Roy?”
“I only call my friends by their first names, with the exception of Mona. And I only do that because I found out she hates her name.”
“He’s doing it because he believes Dockery is innocent. Same as me.”
As they walked down the hall, Beth said, “Did you ever wonder how a guy like Dockery is able to sneak into the building like that and no one ever sees him? Sounds to me like he had some inside help.”
“What are you saying?”
“Maybe your lawyer friend is repping Dockery because he has a guilty