'I did tell Judge Quinn one thing that I didn't tell you. That's why I'm calling. I thought about it all night. Judge Quinn seemed to think it was important, so I decided that you should know, too.'
'What is it that you think I should know?'
'The judge asked me if Marie had any clients from Portland. I told him that Marie didn't tell me the name of any of the men she had been with, but she did tell me that one of them lived in Oregon. The only reason I remembered what Marie said was because he had an odd job. She said he was an undertaker.'
Anthony and Ritter talked for a few more moments. The detective was thanking her when Leroy Dennis strolled over to Anthony's desk. Anthony waved him into a seat, finished with Ritter and hung up.
'The person on the phone was Denise Ritter. She called to tell me that Judge Quinn flew up to Seattle yesterday and pumped her about her sister's background.'
'No kidding?'
'No kidding. She also told me that Quinn knew that Andrea Chapman and Claire Reston were the same person. But that's not the most important thing Denise told me. It seems that one of her sister's customers was an undertaker from Oregon.'
'Whoa.'*
'Yeah, whoa.'
'What are you thinking, Lou?'
'What if Junior learned that his father was going to marry Karen Fargo and alter his will in her favor? Steve Appling said that the two Lamars had a pretty bad argument shortly before the murder. Maybe that's when Junior discovered Senior's plan.'
'So you think Junior may have hired Jablonski to kill his father?'
'And Crease. With both of them dead, he would inherit everything. But Jablonski screwed up and got himself killed, so Junior's plan failed. Then Crease was arrested and Junior had a second chance. If Crease was convicted of hiring Jablonski to kill her husband she couldn't benefit from the will. I think Junior used Ritter to blackmail Judge Quinn.'
'Damn, you may be right.'
'It would certainly explain the way Quinn is acting. Those photographs scream blackmail, Leroy.'
'And Denise Ritter has just supplied the link between Junior and her sister,' Dennis answered thoughtfully. Then he frowned. 'But there are problems with your scenario, Lou.'
'Such as?'
'Jablonski for one. He was in prison for a long time. When he was out, he wasn't running in Junior's circle. How did they meet?'
'I don't know, but I'm gonna nail Junior's ass as soon as I find out.'
'And another thing,' Dennis continued. 'Until you learned about this possible connection between Marie Ritter and Hoyt, you thought Crease killed her husband.'
'She still could be good for it,' Anthony answered grudgingly. 'That blood spatter evidence bothers the hell out of me.'
'Exactly. And don't forget Judge Quinn. If Ritter was blackmailing him, he'd have a powerful motive to kill her.'
Anthony sighed. 'I have to admit that I've been really pissed at Quinn since he accused me of lying, but I have a hard time seeing him as Ritter's killer.'
'Quinn has been acting like a man with something to hide.'
'No doubt about that. The judge flat out lied about knowing Ritter and he continued to lie after being confronted with the pictures, but I still don't make Quinn for the Ritter killing. Any man can commit murder under the right circumstances. Ritter threatens to ruin Quinn, go to his wife, go to the press. Quinn hits her in a rage. One moment of passion, one dead woman. But that isn't what we have here. Marie Ritter was raped and systematically tortured. My gut tells me that Quinn couldn't kill her like that.'
'So you think that the judge is concealing information about the murder because he's being blackmailed?'
'That's the only way I can explain the way the judge has been acting. Quinn definitely saw those pictures before we showed them to him at the Heathman. He almost peed his pants when he saw them, but he didn't ask a single question about where they came from or how we got them. And why else would he be playing detective in Seattle? I think he's trying to figure out who killed Ritter himself.'
Dennis thought about what Anthony had just said. His brow furrowed. Then Dennis shot up in his seat.
'Hot damn. If someone did use those pictures to blackmail Quinn it might be our lucky break.'
'I don't follow you.'
'If Junior was the blackmailer he would have ordered Quinn to fix the case so that Crease would be convicted.'
Anthony frowned. 'Quinn rigged the case for Crease.'
'Right.'
'That puts us back to square one again with Crease as the main suspect.'
'Not necessarily. I've been checking on Quinn. Everybody says that the man's a saint, and I mean everybody. Real high principles. Look at the way he sent that Eugene judge to jail. Everyone was betting that he'd give him probation. It's possible that the blackmailer ordered Quinn to make certain that Crease was convicted and Quinn just couldn't do it.'
'So where does that leave us?'
'I think the key to identifying the blackmailer is finding out what Quinn was told to do, not what he really did. And to do that, we've got to ask the judge.'
[2]
On Saturday morning, Quinn and Laura slept until nine-thirty. They decided to visit Frank Price at the hospital. After that Quinn would go to the courthouse. He had put his decision to resign on hold, but he still had to prepare the memos on his cases so he could take time off.
Quinn was washing the breakfast dishes when the doorbell rang. Laura looked up from the paper when her husband walked to the door. Quinn peered through the peephole. Lou Anthony and Leroy Dennis were standing on the welcome mat.
'Good morning, Judge,' Dennis said. 'May we come in?'
'What's this about?' Quinn asked warily.
Dennis glanced at Laura. He looked uncomfortable.
'Maybe we should talk in private, Judge.'
'I have nothing to hide from my wife.'
Dennis hesitated. 'Some of the questions we're going to ask . . . The subjects are delicate.'
'I repeat. I have nothing to hide from my wife.'
Quinn led the detectives into the living room.
'What do you want to know?' he asked when they were all seated.
'Denise Ritter called me this morning and told me about your trip to Seattle,' Anthony said. 'What were you doing up there?'
'She called me. She said that she wanted to talk to me about her sister.'
'So you hop a jet and fly to Seattle?'
Quinn did not respond.
'Why didn't you tell me that Andrea Chapman and Claire Reston were the same person when we were at the crime scene?'
'I only suspected that the two women were the same when I saw the dead woman at the hotel. I wasn't certain. I was pretty upset.'
'I remember,' Dennis said, 'and I can't believe that you want the person who tortured Marie Ritter to death to get away with it.'
'I don't.'
'That's not the way you're acting,' Dennis said.
'We think that you have information that will help us identify Marie Ritter's killer,' Anthony told Quinn.
'We're counting on your decency, Judge,' Dennis said. 'We're counting on you coming through for us.'
