Shaded Light: The Case of the Tactless Trophy Wife: A Paul Manziuk and Jacquie Ryan Mystery (The Manziuk and Ryan Mysteries Book 1) (41 page)

“You’re making me weep. Is there anything outstanding?”

“No. But I can’t help wondering if Jillian Martin mightn’t have hired someone like you to help her. Or perhaps someone like you gave her the idea.”

“Are you serious that she was blackmailing people?”

“Dead serious, Mr. Brodie. I’m dead serious.” With that, Manziuk stood and walked to the door. “If you think of anything that could help us…”

Bart stood up. “If I do, I’ll toddle right along to let you know.” He sauntered out of the room.

“Well, he leaves a bad taste in the mouth,” Manziuk said.

“Do you really think he could have been working with Jillian Martin?” Ryan asked.

“Why not? There’s nothing to say one of them might not have found the other. Like to like.”

“We’ve talked to everyone except Kendall and George Brodie.”

“What time is it?”

“After four.”

“I wonder if Martin’s left yet.”

As if on cue, there was a quick rap at the door. It was Peter Martin, together with George Brodie. “Sorry to interrupt, but I’m wondering if I can go home, Inspector. Jillian’s family will be there now.”

“Yes. No. Just give me one minute. Unless… Could I have your suitcases brought to you later?”

Peter shrugged. “I guess so. Nothing in them I desperately need. And your boys have already seen everything at least twice.”

“I’ll have them delivered later today. Oh, by the way. You said you went straight to your room yesterday at three-thirty. I have reason to wonder about that. Want to tell me the truth?”

“I suppose someone saw me.”

“Never mind. Where were you?”

Peter Martin looked away for a moment as if gathering his thoughts. Finally, he turned back to face Manziuk. “All right, I went to Hildy’s room. She didn’t answer when I knocked. I wondered if she’d heard me, so I tried the door. It was open, so I went in. She wasn’t there.”

“How long did you stay?”

Peter licked his lips. “This is hard to explain. I stayed about ten or fifteen minutes. There was a picture of my son Stephen on her nightstand. For some reason I can’t explain even to myself, I picked it up and sat on the bed staring at it for a long time. That’s all I did.”

“We’ll be in touch,” Manziuk said.

“Get him, Inspector.”

“We will, Mr. Martin. You can bank on it. By the way, is Shauna Jensen going back with you?”

“I certainly assumed so.”

“Shauna seems to be opposed to going anywhere near her family right now.”

Peter sighed. “That’s all I need. Okay. Thanks for the warning, Inspector.”

“Good luck.”

Ryan continued to stare at the door after Peter had gone out. After a moment, she said, “If that doesn’t beat all! Do you realize Douglass was going through Peter’s room while Peter was sitting in Hildy’s room and Hildy was walking around out front? Talk about musical chairs!”

George Brodie was waiting in the hall. Manziuk went over to him. “Mr. Brodie, could you spare me a few minutes?”

“Yes, certainly. Are you nearly finished with this? Several others are also wishing to leave.”

“Let me make a call.” Manziuk returned to the study and, dialing the number of the morgue, asked for Munsen. “Anything on Crystal Winston yet?” he asked when the pathologist came on the line.

“Two wounds. The first to the abdomen under the rib cage. As I suspected, the liver was pierced. The second to the heart. Either could have killed her. The combination of the two left nothing to chance.”

“Anything else?”

“A couple of curious things. Her right foot was quite bruised on the top of the instep and toes. Her left wrist was also bruised. And there was bruising around the neck. My best guess would be that someone stepped hard on her foot, grasped her around the throat with his left arm, and grasped her left wrist with his right hand. The knife was apparently held in her left hand, since hers are the only fingerprints on it. Whether she was originally holding the knife or it was forced into her hand I couldn’t say. My guess would be she had held it previously.”

“Knowing she was going out to face a murderer, she may have taken it for protection.”

“Nothing to say she hadn’t.”

“Okay. Anything else?

“Only that if my analysis is correct, you’re looking for someone quite strong. Someone who could have held her while forcing her arm back to stab herself.”

“Not a woman?”

“Could be a woman, but it would have to be a strong one. Tennis player, swimmer, someone who worked out a lot.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

“I’ll let you know if anything else turns up.”

Manziuk hung up and turned to George Brodie. “Sorry, there’s one thing more I need to check. Do you know if Ford’s still here?”

“There are still a number of policemen out back.

“Let’s go see how they’re coming.”

Ford was still at the body site. He smiled when he saw Manziuk. “Good timing. Just finished up here.”

“Find anything?”

“Just one thing which might help. A footprint that isn’t hers or one of the kids. Over here.” He pointed to a spot in the ground. “Looks like a man’s size ten.”

Manziuk nodded, then told Ford about Munsen’s suspicions.

“Interesting,” Ford raised his eyebrows. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

“What about the clothes?”

“Kelly’s going to have a look at them tonight. Lots of blood. Leaves, grass, some dirt. It’ll take a while to go over them. If the girl was holding the knife, she could have pricked him, too.”

“We don’t know what her other hand was doing, either. She could have scratched his face. Okay, I’ve two more interviews and then I’ll see what we have.”

“Lots of fun,” Ford said in parting.

Back in the study, Manziuk sat across from George Brodie and waited until Ryan opened her notebook. She’d taken it with her when she went to escort Peter Martin. That pleased him. It wasn’t something to be left lying around.

George took charge of the conversation. “What do you want to know? Where I was when she was killed? I understand it happened in the middle of the night. Ellen will already have told you we went to bed before twelve. I was up before seven. The rest of the time I was asleep and I don’t know anything that could help you.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe this is really happening.” He sighed. “I’m not a young man, Inspector. At the beginning of this weekend, I was looking forward to seeing my son come into the firm and thinking that in a few years I’d be able to retire and let him take over. It was a good feeling. I can accept the idea of his taking over, my taking Ellen on a cruise, enjoying what time we have left. But right now I feel a hundred years old and completely helpless.”

“Murder of an innocent young person makes us all feel helpless, Mr. Brodie.”

“I suppose so. But in my own home!”

“It’s been violated. You’ve been violated. And you have to sit back and let me do my job. And tell me anything you know that could help me.”

George shook his head. “I wish I knew one thing that could help you. But I’ve seen and heard nothing that makes me think I know who did it.”

“Do you suspect anyone?”

“No.” He dragged the word out.

“That didn’t sound definite.”

“Oh, it’s likely just because I don’t like him, but it seems to me Bart has the temperament for it. I don’t know that any of these other people could have.”

“Mr. Brodie, has anyone been blackmailing you? Jillian Martin, for instance?” Manziuk threw it out as a cast. He didn’t expect George Brodie’s face to turn ashen. “Mr. Brodie?”

“Do you know what you’re asking me?” he asked in a rasping voice.

“I do,” Manziuk replied.

“But I don’t understand.”

“Mrs. Martin seems to have found weak spots in several people. She didn’t find one in you?”

“Are you telling me that she was blackmailing people?”

“Yes.”

“Then that was what she was trying to do!”

“She had approached you?”

George stood up and paced back and forth in front of the fireplace. “She called in at my office one day and said she had a problem and couldn’t ask Peter for help. Apparently she’d overspent her allowance. She asked me for money. When I said no, she suggested that I wouldn’t enjoy having my background written up in the gutter press. Sensationalized, she meant. I’m not ashamed of my past, but that doesn’t mean I want it smeared with the kind of headlines they’d use. They twist things so much you can’t recognize them.”

“Did you give her the money?”

“Certainly not. I simply reminded her that her husband’s job depended on my firm’s having a good reputation. If she were to do what she’d suggested, we’d lose clients, and all of the members of the firm would suffer. That set her in her place.”

“She left?”

“Yes. But not happily.”

“Did you talk to Peter about it?”

“I would have if she’d tried anything else.” George shifted in his chair. “Look, I brought Peter into the firm because I wanted him, and I haven’t regretted my choice. Peter’s a first-class lawyer. His personal life is nothing to do with me. Having said that, I should add that I do regret his choice of wives. At least the two I’ve known.”

“Hildy Reimer was also one of his wives.”

“She seems much more suitable, although her decision to crash our house party was deplorable.”

“So Jillian said nothing else to you?”

“Nothing.”

“Had you heard of anything else, or anyone else she might have approached?”

“I had no idea that this wasn’t an isolated incident. You mean she was actually blackmailing other people who are here this weekend?” His voice rose in astonishment. “Douglass?”

Manziuk stood up. “I don’t think we’ll get into that, Mr. Brodie. Thank you for your help. I just need to talk to your son and then I’ll be out of your hair. Could you ask him to come here?”

“Certainly. And if I think of anything that can help, I’ll give you a call. I want this solved as quickly as possible.”

“Bad publicity,” Ryan said as the door shut behind George Brodie.

“What?”

“He seems to be more worried about the bad publicity for the law firm than about two women’s deaths.”

“I believe him when he says he feels very old right now. He seems tired and confused. Could simply be shock. Women cry; most men try to be stoic. But that doesn’t mean men don’t feel it.”

“Do you think he lied about not giving Jillian any money?”

“Could be. All I know is we’ve got more people with a motive for killing Jillian Martin than I’d have dreamed possible.”