A Vigil in the Mourning (Soulbound #4) - Hailey Turner Page 0,87
there documenting the dinner,” Patrick said.
Patrick sat down across the table from Westberg and his lawyer, Peter Stefan Mathys, a man whose tailored suit couldn’t completely hide the gut he was sporting. Mathys had used all three names whenever he introduced himself to anyone after arriving. The condescending way he looked down his nose at Patrick wasn’t unexpected, though it was irritating. Over the years, Patrick had dealt with lawyers who weren’t that great at their jobs and others who based their worth on their over a thousand dollars an hour rate. Mathys was definitely in the latter group, and possibly in the former.
Either way, Patrick hated dealing with lawyers.
“The SOA would like to know where you’ve been for the past two weeks?” Patrick asked.
“Don’t answer that. You’re under no obligation to answer any of their questions if they haven’t charged you with anything,” the lawyer said.
Patrick opened up the file folder he’d brought with him and thumbed through a couple of crime scene photographs that had been rush developed for this interview. He slid one of the burned body in the wine cellar across the table for them to look at.
“We found a body in your home today, Mr. Westberg. The press staked out your Lincoln Park address for the entire time it took the SOA to process your house. Now, I’m not saying you killed the guy, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t the kind of story you wanted in the news in the final stretch of your campaign.”
Westberg’s gaze stayed locked on the picture, even when his lawyer picked it up to review more closely.
“I had nothing to do with that. My Lincoln Park property isn’t big enough for the events I needed to put on for my donors. My wife and I have been staying at our Gold Coast mansion,” Westberg said.
“Hope your other property isn’t hiding any more dead bodies.”
“If you want to search my client’s homes, you’ll need to get a warrant,” Mathys snapped.
“Fine. We’ll look into that. I still need your whereabouts for the past two weeks.”
Mathys opened his mouth, but Westberg lifted his hand in a wordless shut up gesture the lawyer surprisingly obeyed.
“If you’re asking me to account for every single minute between now and whenever this person died, then I should simply forward you the itinerary Kristen gave me. I’ve been scheduled to be somewhere practically every hour of the day for the past two weeks.”
Patrick tried not to react to the assumed identity of a goddess he was pretty sure was Hel. Tracking her down was turning into a wild goose chase according to the SOA agents assigned that task. Kristen Lief was nowhere to be found at the moment.
“Except you missed a day, didn’t you? You made up for it at the senior brunch this past week that should’ve happened last week. What day was that again?” Patrick asked.
Westberg’s eyes narrowed. “Rescheduling events happens during a campaign.”
“Sure, but I have a dead body and you have a period of time you’re unaccounted for.”
“You have no proof my client has done anything wrong. If you did, you would have arrested him, or the Chicago PD would have. We’ll be leaving now,” Mathys said.
Patrick watched both men stand up, not moving from his own seat. “Someone performed a ritual in your home, Mr. Westberg. There was no sign of forced entry, but they left behind a spell that would’ve resulted in the very messy death of anyone who crossed it. I was under the impression you didn’t care for magic.”
“How dare you imply I’ve hired someone to use magic on my behalf in my home,” Westberg spat out. “I don’t care what other people do in their lives, but magic goes against my faith. Perhaps your time would be better spent investigating the pro-magic groups who’ve harassed my family since I entered the race. I wouldn’t put it past any of them to break into my home and desecrate it as they’ve done.”
“If that’s the case, send me your itinerary.”
Tracking down all the people they would have to interview to corroborate his locations for the past two weeks was a headache Patrick thankfully wouldn’t have to share alone. The SOA was throwing more agents at the Westberg case than they had been now that a murder had hit the news. Patrick was curious about the spin Westberg’s campaign would use to try to distance him from the mess.
Mathys shot Patrick a dirty look. “Get a subpoena. If you aren’t charging