“Crap.”
“Right,” I said. “You should see Jessica Hunley and her buddy Tatiana.”
“Why?”
“A tad more… oh, sophisticated than we're used to. She drove the Z8.” I grinned. “I think Borman's wondering if he can take Tatiana home as a war bride.”
“Like you're not susceptible, Houseman,” she said, raising one eyebrow.
“Well, Jessica's more my age, but I don't think she bakes.”
“A cookie factory would make a fine dowry,” she said. “Watch yourself.”
Hester was right, of course. “ 'An attractive member of the opposite sex can influence you, without your being aware,' ” I quoted from my Academy days. “Although it never seems to work for me.”
She laughed. “You're hopeless.”
“What did you find here?” I asked.
“Possible stains in the hall, a possible wipe-up stain on the floor beside Edie's tub, and lots of SPF fifty sunscreen, and makeup in the guys' rooms, as well as the gals',” she said with a chuckle. “Really light shades. Some really nice Victorian clothes, and lovely old-fashioned jewelry. Applique tattoos. Nice CD players. Not much else. No weapons-not yet, anyway. Nothing to indicate anything sinister at all.” She glanced around. “We have three more rooms to go. There are tons of nooks and crannies… ”
I told her about my conversation with Chester. She asked if he'd be any real help, and I told her that we'd just have to wait and see.
She'd apparently been in the main kitchen downstairs just before I'd returned.
“You know how many knives there are in a kitchen like that? Knives that could be a murder weapon?”
“Lots, huh?”
“We've seized sixteen or seventeen, so far, to send to the lab. We may never know which knife was used.”
When I got back to the parlor, Tatiana was sitting on a davenport, with her legs pulled up onto the seat, so that her chin was almost resting on her knees. Her arms encircled her leather-clad knees, with the wrists crossed about halfway between her knees and ankles. Everything she owned was pointing at him. The light through the window was doing great things to that hair. She was saying, “… and you've really been in high speed chases?”
I'm not certain what Borman was about to say, but when he saw me, he caught himself and said, “Well, a couple of times.” Between her posture, her shimmering hair, and her feigned interest, he was totally wasted. I honestly think that, if she'd asked to see his service weapon, he would have handed it over. He might have unloaded it first, but he would have done it. I made a mental note to keep those two as far apart as I could.
“We don't encourage chases,” I said. “Of any kind. Too dangerous.” He caught my meaning, I think, but without a bucket of ice water, I was not going to get his undivided attention.
“My attorney will be here in a moment,” said Jessica. She smiled sweetly.
Borman's walkie-talkie crackled and hissed to life. “Eight, there's an attorney out here, says he's supposed to talk to the lady with the great car.” Knockle, the older reserve. I nodded to Borman, who keyed his mike and said, “Let him in.”
A few seconds later, the front door opened and I was surprised to see both Junkel and Koch, of Junkel amp; Koch, Attorneys at Law, enter as a group. Or, more correctly, as a firm. Both were definitely not dressed in their court clothes, Junkel in jeans and a sweater, and Koch in shorts, sandals, and a polo shirt.
“Gentlemen,” I said, “come on in.”
They looked past me.
“Over here,” said Jessica Hunley. “This man has told us we can't leave this room.”
Not quite true, but both Junkel and Koch hurried over to her, and gave me obligatory dirty looks as they passed. I looked over at Borman.
“Gonna be a long day,” I said.
As things progressed, and they did so fairly rapidly at first, the true clout of Junkel and Koch became apparent. First, because I knew Junkel was rumored to be under consideration for a seat on the Iowa Appellate Court, and because Koch had been a state senator and was rumored to be being groomed as a possible gubernatorial candidate for 2002. Second, they were both known to be extremely wealthy. And third, after they'd talked with Jessica for a few seconds, they asked me for the phone number of the county attorney. As Koch called him, Junkel scanned the search warrant copy I'd given Jessica. While I was busy thanking God that Winterman was the issuing judge, I could hear Koch begin to have the county attorney jump through hoops. After a few seconds, he handed me the cell phone. “The county attorney would like to speak with you,” he said.
“Carl?” My prosecutor sounded a little worried.
“Yep?”
“Carl, we might have a problem. I mean, if that third floor is locked, and she has the key, and there isn't really any way the door has been pried or anything, I think that it might be a good way to defuse the situation if you people just didn't go up there today.”
All in one breath.
“I don't think that Judge Winterman will agree with that, Mike,” I said.
He sighed. “Let me be the judge of that. Do you realize who those attorneys are?”
“Yep.” I tried to keep things to one-word responses, since Junkel and Koch were listening.
“I don't think that if we piss them off, Carl, that they will let the search go unchallenged. We don't want to lose the case by having the search declared invalid.”
“Won't happen,” I said.
“You sure?”
“Yep.”
There was a pregnant pause. “I'm hoping, here, that you know something I don't.”
What were the odds? “I do.” I knew that Edie was supposed to have a key of her own.
“Boy, Carl, I hope you're right.”
I couldn't resist. “Me, too. Catch you later.” I broke the connection.
Attorney Junkel looked at me. “You're in charge?”
“Deputy Houseman, at your service,” I said.
Attorney Koch, who had been conferring with Jessica Hunley in a muted voice, turned and looked at me very closely. “Aren't you…?”
“Yep,” I said. “It was me.” I gave him my best smile. About ten years ago, I'd arrested his nephew for third- degree sexual abuse, a felony, after he'd allegedly gotten a girl drunk and had sex with her after she'd passed out. After a little bargaining between the county attorney and Attorney Koch, the kid had pled to a charge of serious misdemeanor assault. Got a $250 fine. Not my idea, and I'd been told at the time that Attorney Koch thought I was being “obstructionist” and “vindictive” by arguing against the plea bargain. All I'd said was “He screwed her after she passed out; he didn't beat her up.” I'd lost the argument, of course, but I'd had the satisfaction of scaring the little shit. Scared his nephew, too, by the way.
There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that we had to go to the third floor, and no doubt in my mind that we'd get up there. Just how we were going to get that done, on the other hand, was something else again.
I excused myself, saying I was going upstairs to check on the progress of the team on the second floor.
“Team?” said Junkel.
“Yeah. There are officers and lab techs on the second, conducting the search.”
“I think I'd like to go up there,” he said, “and see just what they're doing.”
“Not a chance,” I said. “Borman?” He obliged by tearing his eyes from the two women for a second. “If anyone who isn't a member of the search team tries to go to the second floor, arrest them for interference, and call me right away.”
“You bet.”
I looked at the four other people in the parlor. “Nobody to the kitchen, either. Just the restroom on this floor. If they need a cup of coffee or anything from the kitchen, you'll have to get it for them. Within reason.” I smiled at Jessica pointedly. “We wouldn't want him fixing supper.”
Jessica glanced at her watch. “He may have to, if this takes much longer.”
