“How the guy got to him before the cops.”
“Exactly. Well, that problem is solved, LP, and the answer is going to make your day.”
“What is it?”
“Get down here, and I’ll tell you.”
Fifteen minutes later I walked into the office and found him behind the desk, a grim smile on his face.
“What do you have?” I said.
“That question ate at me all night, LP. I couldn’t put a scenario together to explain it unless Ward was lying or this guy had been following Doran the night Monica Heath was murdered.”
“You think that’s it?”
He shook his head. “Nope. I got up this morning at about five and read through the case file again, looking for something I missed. Found out that Doran refused a police interview and demanded an attorney. They gave him a public defender, and Doran talked to this guy before he ever told the police his account of the night. The only person who would have known Donny Ward’s role at the start was Doran’s PD.”
“So he had to leak it.”
“Exactly. I thought I’d track him down and we could interview him. Learned he’s no longer with Ashtabula County. Moved into private practice. Guess where?”
I didn’t answer, just waited.
“Jefferson, Groff, and Associates,” he said.
I stood where I was and stared at him, watching his smile spread.
“You’re serious,” I said.
“Absolutely. He’s listed on the firm’s Web site and with the bar association.”
“He went to work for Jefferson. Sometime after he convinced Andy Doran to take a plea bargain that kept a weak case out of court scrutiny, he went to work for Jefferson.”
“That’s the story.”
“Son of a bitch,” I said. “We’ve got him. Jefferson rigged Doran’s case from the inside and outside. Intimidated his alibi into silence and paid off his attorney.”
“The fact that he works for Jefferson’s firm today is not proof of any wrongdoing in the Doran case.”
“But you
“At least one.”
“Yeah. I’m guessing it wasn’t the strength of his resume that landed him the spot.”
“We’ll have to confront him, but I don’t know how well that will go. Tough to imagine him being as forthright as Donny Ward. The guy’s an attorney; he knows what this means—loss of his license and probably jail time. If he undermined Doran’s offense, he’ll be petrified of us.”
“So he’ll deny it. Fine. It still gives us credibility with the Doran angle. Even Targent will have to pay attention.”
“I also called the prosecutor in Doran’s case, a guy named George Hilliard. He sounded leery, but he agreed to give us a few minutes this morning.”
“You have any reason to think he was involved with this, not just fooled by it?”
“Can’t say for sure, but there’s been no obvious indication he played a part.”
I nodded. “We’ll ask him about the public defender, too. See what he thinks of the guy. I also want to know when Jefferson’s firm hired him. How close it was to the Doran case.”
“Karen should be able to help with that. She worked for Jefferson’s firm. She can get the hire date, I’m sure.”
I nodded and walked behind my desk and sat down. “Yeah. It’ll take one phone call for her, and probably a court order for me. I need to talk to her, anyhow. I was chased out of the house last night.”
Joe raised his eyebrows. “By Karen?”
“Targent. He played a copy of my gym’s security tape that showed Thor.”
Some of the good humor left his face.
“He did that with Karen there?”
“Yeah.”
“How ugly did it get from that point?”
“The two of them asked me to leave so they could finish discussing the investigation. I doubt Andy Doran’s name came up often in that conversation.”
“So you did tell Targent about him?”
“And wasted my breath.” I picked up the phone receiver. “Let me call Karen and get her in action on this public defender. What’s his name?”
“Cole Hamilton.”
It took Karen one ring to pick up. Probably close to the phone at all times, waiting for another call with instructions about a money transfer. Her voice was tight and unnatural when she answered, and it didn’t change much after I identified myself.
“You okay? No calls, no contact?”
“Nothing. It’s been quiet.”
“Listen, the stuff Targent brought up last night—”
“Don’t, Lincoln. You don’t have to explain it.”
“I felt like I should have warned you about some of it. Particularly Thor. That’s my mistake.”
She didn’t respond.
“Joe and I are working on this, and we’re getting somewhere. Andy Doran is more of a legitimate suspect than Targent wants to accept. I think we might have something that can change his mind, though, and I’m going to ask for your help. Can you contact your husband’s firm for us and verify the hiring date of one of their attorneys?”
There was a long pause before she said, “Why?”
“His name’s Cole Hamilton, and he could be very important to all of this.”
“Why do you need this? Why is he important?”
“He was Andy Doran’s public defender. We found out he’s since gone on to work with your husband’s firm.”
“Which means what to you?”
“It could be important, Karen. That’s all. Matt Jefferson was a key witness, and this attorney going to work for your husband . . . We need to connect the dots. That’s all I’m trying to do.”
“You’re suggesting that Alex hired him because of what happened with that murderer? Doran? You’re suggesting that—”
“That he might know information of importance, Karen. I just need to know the date he was hired.”
“No. I want to hear what you think happened, Lincoln. It seems to me you’re accusing Alex of something horrible.”
It was quiet. Ten seconds passed, maybe twenty.
“Well?” she said.
“Something you need to understand, Karen. Whoever killed your husband? He probably had a reason. Okay? He had a reason.”
There was a pause, a second or two in which she said nothing, and I actually closed my eyes with regret, understanding how the statement must have sounded to her.
“Do you know what they did to him?” she said. “Do you know the pain he had to have felt, the agony? Now you’re telling me that it was somehow
“No, Karen. Damn it, that’s not what I said and not what I meant. It was a heinous, terrible crime, but whoever did it had a
“I should never have asked you to do this.”
“Karen, I’m trying to help. I’m not concerned in the least with your husband, I’m just trying to show—”
“That’s not true. You
