Show of Evil

The state has no employment or health records on her, and social security didn't turn up anythin' on her until she went to work teachin' school. Apparently they needed a teacher so bad they overlooked certain fundamentals, like a teaching certificate and a background check. The locals say she was a good teacher.'

'Depends on what she was teaching,' Stenner said.

 'Well, she sure taught Stampler a few tricks you don't normally learn in school, like Murder 101. Anyway, she taught there until 1991, then she just left. Boarded up this little house she owns one weekend and vanished into the night, just like in Denver. But interestingly enough, she paid her taxes every year by money order, so the house is still in her name.'

'I missed the last act,' said Stenner. 'You think that's where Stampler was heading when you caught up with him?'

'He was ten miles from her house when we nailed him. You tell me.'

As the weeks drifted by, the subject of Aaron Stampler took a backseat to the Edith Stoddard case. When Vail was not there, Venable stared at the blank TV screen or out of the window, thinking about the night she discovered the hidden closet in Delaney's apartment, about the paraphernalia. About the gun. And she wondered whether Edith Stoddard was a victim or a willing participant in the bizarre sexual games Delaney obviously liked to play. If Stoddard contended that she was victimized by the dead man, Venable could build a strong case in her favour.

She sent notes to Stoddard, advising her not to discuss the case with anyone until Venable was back on her feet and able to discuss the case with her. Stoddard never answered the notes and refused to recant the confession she made to Shock Johnson.

Shana Parver, with the assistance of Dermott Flaherty, continued to construct the murder one case against Edith Stoddard, whose arraignment had been postponed for a month because Jane Venable was in the hospital. Parver was the strategist, Flaherty the pragmatist.

'Venable will use the insanity defence,' Flaherty guessed.

'It's still premeditated murder,' Shana snapped back. 'But extenuated. Venable will argue that she was a sexual victim of Delaney. That he kept her in sexual bondage. That her job was at stake. And then he cut her loose and she was mentally unstable because of her daughter and husband.'

'We still have her confession,' Parver countered. 'Which Venable will get thrown out. She was distraught, scared, anguished…'

'Oh blah, blah, blah,' Parver said. Flaherty laughed.

'C'mon,' he said. 'I'll buy you dinner.'

'No, I'll buy you dinner. I'm the primary on this case. And don't let me order a martini.'

'Oh, I don't know,' he laughed. 'You get very lovable when you're loaded.'

She cast a dubious glance at him. 'I don't have to be loaded to be lovable, Flay,' she said.

Trees trembled before a warm spring breeze as Vail drove along Lakeshore Drive. He stopped and bought several bunches of spring flowers from a street vendor before entering the hospital. Jane was sitting up in bed and Stenner, who could now get around with the help of a cane, was sitting across the room.

'I got my walking papers today,' Stenner said. 'They're going to parole me an hour early so I can come to court in the morning.'

'Nothing to see,' Vail said. 'We're going to ask for a continuation of the arraignment until Jane's well enough to go to court.'

'That was thoughtful of you,' Venable said. 'Do I see signs of a crack in your armour?'

'It was Shana's idea,' Vail said with a smile. 'And I don't see so much as a blemish in her armour.'

'She's a tough little cookie, Marty,' Jane said. 'You taught her well.'

'I didn't teach her anything,' Vail laughed. 'She was born tough. Wait'll she gets John Wayne Darcy in court.'

'How about Edith Stoddard?' Jane asked.

'That's between the two of you. I'm not involved in that one, thank God.'

'You're involved in everything that goes on in the DA's office, Marty. Who are you trying to kid?'

'I didn't come here to talk business,' Vail said. He handed her the bouquet of spring flowers. 'I came to tamper with your affections.'

'You can tamper with my affections anytime,' she said and took the dead flowers from a vase on the table beside the bed and dropped them in the wastebasket. Vail took the vase to the sink in the corner and filled it with water.

'I think I'll go back to my room and spend a little time,' Stenner said. 'Been there four weeks. Be like leaving home. Goodnight.'