Judging Time

'That's great, Charlie. Do it.'

He let go of the doorknob and turned to leave, then he turned back. 'Oh, and one more thing.'

April had already picked up the phone. 'What's that?'

'Well, that phone call Liberty made to the victim. At the restaurant.'

'What about it?'

'I checked it out. He didn't make it from the plane, or the limo coming into the city. That call came from the phone in his apartment. He was already home. Twelve-fifteen.'

Hagedorn let that item hang in the air for a minute, then turned on his rubber-soled boots and stomped away, leaving April's door open. Out in the squad' room, a male in the holding cell started screaming in Greek.

So, Liberty and his wife had altercations that were so noisy the neighbors called the police on maybe more than one occasion. On the night of the murder Liberty had returned home and made a call to his wife in the restaurant where he knew she was dining with his best friend. But they'd already known he'd gotten home by midnight. Was it enough time for him to jog twelve blocks and wait for the two to come out of the restaurant? Did the chauffeur really go home as he claimed? Did Liberty know the chauffeur had gone home?

Eighty percent of homicides were committed by people who were related to or knew the victim. Only twenty percent were stranger killers. It was probably one of the three of them: Daphne Petersen (to make a fortune), Wally Jefferson (because he was a thief?), Liberty (because he was jealous). In any case there had to be somebody who saw something. It hadn't been snowing at midnight.

She dialed Jason's number. He picked up on the first ring. 'I need your input here, Jason. What's your schedule?'

'Morning, April,' Jason said. 'I'm with someone.'

'Thanks for picking up. When can we talk—?'

'I'm with someone right now,' Jason repeated. 'What about twelve-thirty? I can arrange a meeting then.'

'You want me to come there?'

'Yes. See you.' He hung up.

April called Dr. Washington to find out what was going on at the medical examiner's office. The phone rang ten times before voice mail picked up. April left a message and hung up the phone. Because it was outside the squad room area, there were two solid doors, a wall, and a hall between her and the Special

Cases office where Mike would return soon or not, depending on his mood.

Damn him. April dialed his beeper number. Five minutes later he called her back.

'Yo, querida, what's happening?'

'I could ask you the same thing. Where are you?'

'ME's office. We're in the middle of an autopsy here.'

'Thanks for letting me know. Anybody I'd be interested in?'

'Yeah, Merrill Liberty, and guess who's with me?'

She sucked in her breath and had her fourth or fifth homicidal moment in the last twenty-four hours. Son of a bitch. For a second she was so mad at Mike she couldn't think of an appropriate reply. Then she said, 'Who?'

'Your boss, Iriarte.'

'That's great, Mike. That's really great. When are you coming in?' she asked coldly.

'Miss me?' he teased.

'Don't start that. You know I don't like being kept in the dark.'

'Lot of things you don't like, querida. If I worried about everything you don't like, we'd never get anywhere.'

'We aren't anywhere.'

Mike sighed. 'Es verdad. You took off on me last night. It's just like old times, isn't it. Ah, well. I'll be back with a preliminary in an hour.'

'I may be gone by then, chico.'

'Oh, come on, April. Don't be petty.'

'You could have called.'

'So could you,' he snapped back. The line crackled with New York static. 'Just opening her up. Gotta go.'

14

Jason was disturbed. By the clock on his desk, it was

12:35, but it seemed a lot later. He swiveled back and forth in his desk chair. 'I'm not sure what you want me to do, April,' he said, scratching at his beard as if he were truly perplexed.

'At the moment we have three possible suspects: Petersen's driver, Daphne Petersen—and your friend Rick Liberty.'

'Fine, take the driver first.'

'Wally Jefferson. He's a shady kind of guy. Liberty uses him occasionally, too. There's something off about the relationship. I'm not sure what yet. Liberty claims he stole his car. Jefferson says he had permission. Anyway, Liberty's car is missing.'

'How is it relevant?'

'That's unclear.'

'Okay, go on.'

'The driver took Merrill and Petersen to the theater. That we ^know. We're not sure about the rest. Jefferson says Petersen told him to go home around 7:45. He claims he took Petersen's car and drove home to New Jersey. His wife swears he was home by ten-thirty and didn't leave her side until the next morning. We're checking with the neighbors to see if anyone noticed the limousine outside. We might find a way to shake the wife's story. . . .' April shrugged. 'But so far we don't have a strong motive for Jefferson to kill his boss and Merrill Liberty. He doesn't have either the demeanor or the past history of a killer, not that that proves anything. Number two: Petersen's

widow had a lot to gain and a strong motive. He's worth over two hundred million dollars. I think she'd kill her mother to get it.'

Jason whistled. 'Emma told me he was about to divorce her.'

'At eight-thirty this morning, she was all dressed up for a TV interview in her living room. Tonight she'll break the exclusive story of Merrill Liberty's ten-year love affair with her husband. It makes you wonder where he got her.'

'Lot of buying and selling of love going around.'

'Do you think Emma was holding a little something back about Merrill yesterday?'

Jason frowned. 'What do you mean?'

April flipped back the pages of her notes and read. 'She said Merrill and Petersen were just friends, and Rick wasn't the jealous type.'

'I remember.' Jason didn't comment further.

'Daphne Petersen has a different story about them. She says Rick was extremely jealous and that he beat Merrill frequently.'

Jason shook his head. 'April, if the woman's a suspect, she would say that.'

'Maybe.'

'Anyway, it's hearsay.'

'Not if there are witnesses to Liberty's abuse.'

'Come on, April. This is garbage. You know that. Emma would have told me if she had seen evidence of abuse. And Merrill wouldn't have put up with it.'

'What if she was fearful and ashamed?'

'No.' '

'We have a record of a 911 call about a domestic disturbance at the Liberty apartment,' April went on unperturbed.

Jason's stomach growled. It had been a long morning. And this was news he didn't want to hear. He didn't want to believe this of Liberty. 'You hungry, April? I have about forty-five minutes. You want to get something to eat