to help. Then Alex called the house and asked for my father, making sure Matt had been honest about the situation.”
“That’s more than we were bargaining for with that phone call,” Joe said.
“Pretty intriguing stuff, but I don’t see what it could possibly have to do with Alex Jefferson’s murder or the son’s suicide,” Brooks said. “I’d have to say you’re grasping for straws on that one.”
“Who was the victim?” I said. “Did she belong with your party?”
“In a way. She worked for the caterer my father had hired for the party. She was only twenty years old, I think. A girl, really. They’d been going back and forth between the house and the winery, and she was left to clean up there alone. Not a good decision.”
“And the guy who killed her?”
Brooks hooked one moccasin-clad foot over his knee. “Someone she’d gone out with a time or two, then tried to dump. He was a real loser, criminal record nine miles long. Lived in a trailer maybe three miles up the road from the winery. Easy for him to come down that night.”
“He was arrested?”
“Arrested, tried, convicted. He’s still in jail.”
“You know his name?”
“Andy Doran. The girl he killed was named Monica Heath.”
“Quite a story,” Joe said.
“Quite a story,” Brooks agreed. “I imagine that answers your question about the phone call. What I can’t imagine, though, is that it will help you with the current problem.”
“You never know.”
Brooks looked skeptical. “I guess not. The whole situation was quite an embarrassment to my father. I mean, Andy Doran was certainly not an invited guest, but still . . . the girl was working at our party, you know?”
“Nobody else saw or heard anything?” Joe said. “No other witnesses except for Matt Jefferson?”
“None.”
“So Matt Jefferson gave a positive ID on this guy, Doran?” I said.
Brooks started to nod, then frowned and shook his head.
“To be honest, I can’t remember. I feel like he recognized a car, but not the actual guy? I’m not sure.”
“Pretty tough to convict someone with nothing but one eyewitness.”
“They had a lot more than that. Turned up hard evidence at the guy’s trailer, and then he got himself into all sorts of trouble lying to the cops. Changed his story six times before the trial, or something like that.”
“You said Matt called his dad because he took offense to the questioning,” Joe said. “What exactly did you mean?”
“Him being the only witness, I think maybe the police were more aggressive with the questions than he thought they should be. What I mean is, I think he felt—for a little while at least—like he was a suspect.”
“No kidding,” Joe said. “Like
Brooks saw where he was going and grinned. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Detective. The right guy went to jail. Check the case out yourself, but I’m pretty sure you’ll agree with the jury.”
“How well did you know the Jeffersons?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Casual acquaintance. My father knew them better.”
“What did you think of the two of them? Alex and his son?”
“Didn’t know them well enough to make any sort of a judgment, really. But it would appear they were ill- fated, don’t you think?”
16
We drove back down the winding road without seeing another car.
“And you wanted to give up on the phone call,” Joe said. “Go chasing Thor around the city, waiting to be killed.”
“The phone call was a good idea. I’m glad I thought of it.”
“Thought of it and then decided to forget it.”
“That’s why I need you around—to keep my own genius focused.”
He smiled and shook his head.
“It feels like something,” I said, “but it could be nothing.”
“What’s that?”
“All of this—the girl’s murder, the cops questioning Jefferson’s son.”
“Be a hell of a surprise to me if it’s not worth something. Jefferson and his murderer both referenced this phone call from the son. We trace the call back and find the kid was a murder witness? That matters.”
“Okay, but how? Sounds like this Doran guy was good for the crime. Hard evidence against him, a story filled with lies, and the kid putting him at the scene. Where does Alex Jefferson come into play there?”
“No way to know until we get into the old case, see what really happened. The obvious guess is that they set him up.”
“Looking at Jefferson’s kid as a murderer might be a bit overzealous.”
He shot me a quick glance before looking back up the road. “You’re the one who told me the kid was front and center in this thing, and your boy from last night came with a grudge.”
“Indeed he did. But Doran’s still in prison. So scratch him from the list of grudge suspects, and who do you have left from this scenario?”
“Maybe the guy who came after Jefferson’s family is connected to Doran. A brother or a close friend or something.”
“Someone who cares about Doran enough to kill for him but is restrained enough to wait five years before moving into action?”
Joe sighed. “Okay, the time lag is a problem. Still, it’s something to consider.”
“And we’ll consider it. I’m just saying we don’t know much yet in the way of facts.”
“We should try to get in to see Doran. Most of the guys doing time for crimes they pretend not to be guilty of will talk to anyone looking at their case, let alone the guys who
“Not a bad idea.”
It was quiet for a minute, and then I looked over and saw that Joe was grinning.
“What?”
“Sign of the apocalypse,” he said.
“Huh?”
“You just cautioned
He was still laughing at that when we made it back to the highway.
We got back to the office just after five. Joe pulled into the lot and shut off the engine and reached for the door handle. He went across his body with his right arm, which told me that his left arm had to be aching from driving.
I’d just closed my own door when I heard another open and turned to see Targent climbing out of a Crown Victoria that was parked on the street just up from our building. He was talking on a cell phone, but he lifted his free hand in a congenial wave.
“Shit.” I pointed at Targent. “Doesn’t this guy have anybody else to talk to?”
Joe and I waited beside the car while Targent wrapped up his conversation, snapped his phone shut, and walked over to join us.
“Should we go upstairs?” he said.
“I don’t think so. You spend any more time in our office and I’m going to start charging you rent.”
He gave me a wan smile and nodded at Joe. “Mr. Pritchard. How you doing?”
“Fine.”
“Where you guys been?”
