The St. Paul Conspiracy

day.”

Lyman knew his friend. He was concerned about his career. He didn’t necessarily see beyond that, and that had to change if Lyman was going to help him. “Mason, I’ll do what I can to protect your career. But we have to see what they have.”

The senator had a panicked look. “What? What the fuck are you saying, Lyman? What, you… you think I did this?”

“NO!” snapped Lyman. The next part would be difficult, he knew, so he took a long drink, a slow drag on his cigar and walked towards his friend and put a hand on his shoulder. He exhaled slowly and spoke. “Mason, I’m with you, but we have to see what the police have. You didn’t do it. I believe you,” Lyman said, looking him right in the eye. “But look at the evidence they likely have. You were there that night. We have to assume they have the guy who saw you. Otherwise, how do they link you?”

“Yes, I was there. What does that prove, Lyman?” the Senator growled, taking a chair.

Lyman sat down next to his friend and continued. “In and of itself, nothing, but they’ll have your semen. It wouldn’t even be worth a fight on the DNA. They’ll get it.” Lyman took a drink. “Now, like I said-in and of itself that means nothing, but…”

“But what would mean something?”

“Time of death, forced entry, and if there was a robbery. If there’s a robbery or forced entry, and time of death is 4:00 a.m., you’re in the clear. You merely help them with their timeline. If this is the case, then the police say thanks, and nobody ever knows you were involved.”

Mason Johnson looked hopeful for the first time. Lyman reassured him, “Your name came up. They have to talk to you. Simple as that. But if the evidence doesn’t point to you, you’ll be fine.”

The senator sighed and nodded. “Look. I didn’t do it. I need to say that.”

“And I may let you. But first, we need to see what they have.”

Mac and Sally finished up with how to deal with Hisle and the senator around ten. Mac offered one more beer, and Sally accepted. She was easy to talk to. They talked about sports, politics, and lawyers. They had similar interests. They were both career focused. She wasn’t stopping at assistant district attorney. She had higher aspirations.

Mac could feel his attraction to her growing. He hadn’t felt this way in a long time, and it was a nice change. He had ignored women since the divorce. It wasn’t that there couldn’t have been some. There had been plenty he could have taken home from the Pub. More than one had sauntered on up to make a pass at him, and he almost took a couple up on it. Sooner or later, he figured he’d finally break down and do it. But it never seemed right.

Sally was interested. She was attractive as hell, with pretty dark-brown eyes and a bright smile. She was intelligent and liked to laugh, yet she had a little edge, some street to her-which he liked.

She’d been checking out the Springsteen print all night. “So how’d you get Bruce to sign it?”

“You like the Boss?”

“Is there anyone better?”

“No. I’ve never seen a better live performer.”

She got up to look at it more closely. “So, how did you do it?”

“A buddy of mine, Wren Frane, runs the non-hockey events at the Xcel Energy Center. He got me back stage for the second half of a concert. It was pretty unreal. I saw Bruce, Clarence, Little Steven come off the stage, and it was cool just to see them. Anyway, the arena had emptied, and Wren and I were the only ones left back stage. We’re just talking, concert’s been over for an hour, and here comes Springsteen out of the dressing room, looking to see if they can get a few more beers. Most everyone’s gone, but Wren scares up some brews, and the Boss says thanks. He sees the poster and asks if I wanted it signed.

“No way!” Sally replied in disbelief.

“Oh, yeah. Pure luck, but I met the man.”

They transitioned to Helen Anderson. “She can’t be easy to work for,” Mac said.

“That’s somewhat true. She’s demanding of everyone’s time and efforts. But at the same time, she generally let’s you do your job.”

“Probably because she never did it herself,” Mac intoned.

“Well there might be some truth to that,” Sally replied, smiling. “She’s more a politician than a lawyer.”

Then they got to Lich. “By the way, where’s your partner?”

Mac chuckled, “Dickey boy is on a date with Dot.”

“Who’s Dot? Should I know her?”

Mac shook his head. “No. I just met her this morning. She’s a rather, shall we say, buxom waitress at the Cleveland Grille.”

“Ahhh. So, your partner’s on the dating seen, huh?”

“That he is. I have to give him credit. His last wife absolutely cleaned him out.” Mac just shook his head.

Sally looked around the apartment. “It would appear you didn’t get cleaned out?”

“We parted amicably.” Mac didn’t want to talk about his divorce. He’d caught his ex-wife having an affair with a married partner in her law firm. Mac threatened to expose the affair unless he got the better of the marital assets, which he had. To change the topic, he got up, picked up their empties and asked, “One more?”

Sally looked at her watch, 11:30 p.m. “I’d like to, but it’s late.”

Mac looked at his watch. He’d lost track of time, “Geez. You’re right.”

They walked to the door, and Mac grabbed her coat, helping her put it on. She said, “Thanks.”

“I’ll walk you down.”

As they were walking down the stairs, Sally said, “So, you ready for tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Mac replied enthusiastically.

Sally picked up on it. “You’re looking forward to it, aren’t you?”

Mac looked at her. “You surprised by that?”

“It’s a murder case. Yeah, a little.”

“Tomorrow’s why you do this job. Cases like this don’t come along too often. I probably won’t sleep much tonight. But, yeah, as morbid as it sounds, I can’t wait. I can just feel the adrenaline flowing.”

They were at her car. Mac stayed back a few feet. She reached in her purse for her keys and opened her car door before looking back. They stood awkwardly, staring at each other for a moment.

Mac finally spoke. “So, I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Let me know how it goes.”

“I will.”

He held back. It didn’t feel right yet. Sally smiled at him and got in the car and started the engine. Before she closed her door, she said, “Good luck tomorrow, I’ll be thinking of you.” She closed the door and backed away from him, turned, gave him a wave and drove off.

Chapter Ten

“Good cop. Bad cop.”

Mac, along with Lich and Captain Peters climbed into Mac’s Explorer, headed out of the Department of Public Safety ramp and worked their way quickly to Interstate 35E, driving north out of downtown St. Paul on their way out to Hisle’s place in Stillwater.

The morning had been a blur, spent in a number of meetings. It started with a meeting with Captain Peters, which then moved to the chief’s office for his daily briefing. Sylvia Miller sat in on that one to discuss what to do if the media showed.

Before they left for Stillwater, Mac finally had time to meet with Lich about last night’s meeting with Sally.