The Trophy Exchange (28 page)

She reached up and touched Lucinda
’
s face.
“
Maybe my daddy could fix your face. He
’
s a doctor. You want me to ask him?
”

“
He
’
s not the right kind of doctor, sweetie.
”

“
Well, will you ever go to the doctor?
”

“
Maybe. Maybe later. Right now, Charley, I
’
ve got work to do.
”

“
Catching the bad man?
”

“
Yes, Charley. I need to catch the bad man. Run inside now.
”
She watched as Charley opened the door, waved and shut it tight.
How will I face her after I arrest her father and take him away from her, too?

Thirty-Two

Returning to the station, Ted went straight to the conference room. Lucinda dropped the beer bottle evidence at the lab for DNA analysis. Then she rode the elevator to the top floor to see if the
d
istrict
a
ttorney was back from court.

She knocked on the open door of Michael Reed
’
s office.
“
Can I have a word with you?
”
she asked.

He looked up from his desk.
“
Just getting ready to head out and go home, Lieutenant. It
’
s been a long day.
”

Lucinda folded her arms
,
leaned against
the
door and stared.

“
O
kay
. O
kay
. Don
’
t look at me like that, come on in and have a seat. Who do you want me to execute today, Lieutenant?
”

“
Excuse me?
”

“
Don
’
t act surprised, Pierce. Every time you
’
ve ever come in to my office, it
’
s been to argue for a death
-
penalty charge against one scuzzball or another. So who is it today?
”

Lucinda was speechless.
Is that true?
she wondered. Her mind raced through the visits she
’
d paid to the
d
istrict
a
ttorney.
It might be
, she thought.
But it never crossed my mind.

Reed rattled through the papers on his desk and slid on his reading glasses. When he found the paper he was looking for, he scanned over it and looked at Lucinda over the top of his spectacles.
“
Don
’
t tell me you want the death penalty for that Wagner woman you just brought back from Baltimore?
”

“
No, sir, I do not.
”

“
That
’
s good to hear. I don
’
t think I could make that one stick,
”
he said with a laugh.

“
In fact, I don
’
t want you to stick with the murder charge at all.
”

“
You what?
”

“
I don
’
t want Julie Wagner charged with murder.
”

“
Let me get this straight, Lieutenant Pierce
–
the ardent advocate for the death penalty, the unwavering proponent of the strongest penalty possible, the curse of killers everywhere
–
wants me to lower the murder charges against someone who
’
s confessed to murder?
”

“
Did you see the report I filed about her confession?
”

“
Yes. Interesting story.
”

“
I checked out every detail of her story at the house. I can
’
t find any inconsistencies. You might be able to make an involuntary manslaughter charge stick but not murder.
”

“
Involuntary? I might consider voluntary manslaughter.
”

“
If I were
the
defense attorney, I think I could build a strong case for self-defense.
”

“
It wouldn
’
t be the first time. It
’
s one thing to build a case. It
’
s another thing to convince a jury. I
’
ve beaten those claims before. I haven
’
t been reelected twice because I
’
m soft on crime.
”

“
I know your next re-election bid is a little ways down the road yet, but I don
’
t think you want to scare away the votes of all the women who are sympathetic to claims of domestic violence, do you? Once the media latches on to her story of imprisonment and her fears for her safety and the safety of the baby she
’
s carrying, you know they are not going to let it go.
”
Lucinda could tell that
the
statement
had
hit home. Politicians are so easy.

“
I
’
ll tell you what, Lieutenant. I
’
ll make you a deal. You talk to Frances Wagner about the possibility of dropping the murder charge down to manslaughter. You talk with her about this and see what she has to say. After you talk to the victim
’
s grieving mother, you come back here and tell me if you still want me to lower the charges. If you do, I
’
ll give the request serious consideration
.”

“
You
’ve
got a deal.
’
She turned to walk away without another word.
Cover
your
ass at all costs
, DA, she thought.

“
Lieutenant, how
’
s the investigation going in the Spencer homicide?
”

Lucinda turned back to face Reed.
“
It
’
s moving along.
”

“
Any suspects?
”

“
One.
”

“
The husband?
”

“
Yes.
”

“
If you take that route, I don
’
t want to hear from you until it
’
s nailed down tight. He
’
s a prominent citizen
–
a veritable pillar of the community. Some people call him a saint.
”

“
I
’
m aware of that, sir.
”

“
Keep in mind, Lieutenant, I won
’
t be facing any pro bono rubes on this one.
”

Lucinda spun around and left without a word. She knew that politics formed an indigenous presence in any
d
istrict
a
ttorney
’
s
o
ffice. Still, it always gnawed at her every time that fact got up in her face. She took some comfort in knowing that in this office, with this
d
istrict
a
ttorney, truth and justice trumped politics almost every time. She said a quick prayer that the Spencer case would not be an exception.

Thirty-Three

“
Hey, Ted,
”
Lucinda said as she entered the conference room.
“
How
’
s the investigation into Spencer
’
s background going?
”

“
I
’
ve made lists of former neighbors, classmates and colleagues. And I
’
ve enlisted a small battalion of volunteers to help with the calls. A few calls were made this evening, but so far no indications of any aberrant
–
or even slightly suspicious
–
behavior in Spencer
’
s past.
”

Lucinda sighed.

“
But,
”
he added,
“
there are still a lot of calls to make. Somebody
’
s got to know something.
”

“
No red flags at all, yet?
”

“
There is one. I can
’
t quite understand what the problem is, but we backtracked Spencer all the way to when he was
nine
years old. Before that, we can
’
t find anything. It
’
s as if he and his family popped into existence at that moment in time.
”

“
Does it look like they intentionally covered their tracks before then?
”

“
That
’
s what it looks like. The summer before Evan Spencer entered fourth
grade, he and his parents moved into a home on Peakland Place, an upscale address in Lynchburg. His mother, Lily Spencer, still lives there today. Dr Spencer
–
Evan
’
s father Dr Kirkwood Spencer
–
was an OB/GYN. He was about
twenty
years older than his wife
–
a bit long in the tooth to be the father of
nine
-year-old. Five years after they moved
i
nto Peakland Place, Kirkwood Spencer died of a massive heart attack in the middle of delivering a baby at Virginia Baptist Hospital.
”

“
It should be easy to figure out where he went to medical school,
”
Lucinda said.

“
It should be but it
’
s not. I cannot find any past for him before he set up his practice in Lynchburg when Evan was
nine
.
”

“
That makes no sense at all.
”

“
I know it. I turned it all over to a crackerjack researcher down in Vice. She
’
ll start digging first thing in the morning. If he had a life, she
’
ll find it.
”

“
Have you looked at the canvassing reports
from the Linden Street scene
yet?
”

“
Skimmed over them,
”
he said.
“
Doesn
’
t seem to be anything there.
”

Lucinda grabbed the stack of paperwork and a city map. She sat down and marked an
“
x
”
on the spots where patrolmen interviewed residents. She noticed something interesting and walked over to her partner.
“
Ted, look at this.
”

After she explained the marks on the map, Ted asked,
“
O
kay
, so what
’
s the question?
”

“
See this street here,
”
she pointed to a road running parallel to Linden.
“
The witness saw the perp running this way toward Poplar,
”
she said tracing the movement with a finger through the backyards of the houses facing in opposite directions.
“
If anyone w
as
looking out of the front window from one of these houses on the opposite of the street, they would have seen him emerge.
”

“
And no one
’
s talked to them?
”

“
Not yet,
”
Lucinda said with a grin.

“
Let
’
s go.
”

They arrived in the neighborhood around the same time of day that the witness
had
spotted the killer scurrying past the houses. They knocked on four doors and conducted four fruitless interviews. At the fifth house, they heard a loud thud as they stepped on to the stoop. But when Lucinda rang the doorbell, there was no response. Ted pulled open the screen and rapped hard on the wooden door. Still nothing.

“
Odd,
”
Lucinda said.
“
There
’
s a car in the driveway.
”

“
Maybe whoever lives here got a ride from someone.
”

“
Maybe,
”
she said walking to the driveway. She laid a hand on the hood of the car.
“
Warm.
”

Without another word, they walked together around the house looking for anything that seemed disturbed or out of place.
“
There
’
s no screen on that one window,
”
Ted
said and
pointed
with his finger
.

They studied it and saw that although there was a crack in one pane, the window was shut and latched. They looked around the shrubs and bushes looking for the missing screen but found nothing. Lucinda exhaled hard.
“
Well, I doubt that a cracked window gives us probable cause to force our way inside.
”

“
I could tap it with the butt of my gun and see if it falls out.
”

“
Yeah, right, Ted. With our luck, the neighbors who saw nothing the other night will see that and we
’
ll have some serious explaining to do.
”

They laughed and then sighed in unison continuing their circuit around the house, stopping in front of the stoop. Their eyes scanned through the neighborhood. Ted suggested,
“
Maybe the resident walked over to a neighbor
’
s house.
”

“
Maybe someone
’
s hiding in the house not wanting to talk to us,
”
Lucinda replied.

They both turned and looked at the front door. Lucinda pulled out a business card and jotted
“
call me
”
on the back. She stepped up and pulled open the screen door. She knocked again, bowed her head, closed her eyes and listened. Nothing. Lucinda wriggled the edge of the card between the door and the frame and let the
screen
slam shut. They continued down the block to canvas the remaining houses, abandoning the one home that held the answers to all their questions.