political career, that power, that ambition outweighs everything else.”
Lich back in, calm. “So, you two naturally start to argue. But it escalates. It gets physical. It goes too far and, before you know it…” And then quietly, “You didn’t mean for it to happen, Senator. It was an accident.”
Captain Peters, having admired the performance of his two detectives, spoke directly to Hisle, “Manslaughter. Work with us and the district attorney will go that direction.”
The senator rolled his eyes. “Helen Anderson? I bet she’d sign off on this and file for my office the next day.”
“Mason, enough,” growled Lyman, obviously upset with his client. To the detectives, “You will excuse us.”
With that, Mac, Lich, and Peters headed out of the library and stepped outside.
Lyman and Senator Johnson headed downstairs to his game room. The senator was about to speak, but Lyman waved him off. This conversation would require some courage. He went to the bar grabbed two glasses and put them up on the counter. He snagged the bottle of Wild Turkey off the back shelf and poured each glass a quarter full, shots. The senator sat down on a barstool, grabbed his glass and knocked it back. Lyman did the same. Lyman looked at his glass and thought for a moment, another one? He decided the better of it. “Mason, we have issues here.”
“I’m sorry, Lyman. I spoke too much, but that little punk-”
“Did a number on you. And so did his partner.”
The senator jumped back in his barstool, thought for a moment, cognizance dawning. He nodded. “Yeah, they did.” He lifted his glass and Lyman poured him another small drink. He slammed it. “What do we do now?”
Lyman gave his friend another long look. “They’ve got you nailed pretty good, my friend. Do we need to discuss the offer made upstairs?”
The senator gave Lyman a quizzical look. “You think I did this?”
Lyman ignored the pleading voice, his own voice deep, hard. “I’m asking you this once, do we take the deal?”
The senator didn’t hesitate. “I did
Lyman gave him one last long look and decided he believed his friend. Even if he didn’t, so what? He was the lawyer. He now had a job to do and a big one at that. “Okay, then, my friend. First thing you’ll do is shut the fuck up.” He couldn’t say that to most clients. Mason was his friend, and he needed a serious dose of reality. He couldn’t act like a United States senator anymore. He needed to listen to, instead of give-hell ignore-direction. He’d also have to give some thought to giving up his seat, but that wasn’t Lyman’s call. That was one for the political people. Johnson just nodded, and Hisle continued. “I’m going to tell the detectives that we’re done.”
“They’re going to arrest me, aren’t they?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Soon. You were there that night. You admitted you had sex with her. And we learned a few more things.”
“Like?”
“No forced entry, nothing stolen, and, most importantly, time of death between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m.”
The senator pinched the bridge of his nose. “Can we beat this?”
“Don’t know yet,” replied Lyman honestly. “We have a lot of work to do to create reasonable doubt.”
“Reasonable doubt?” growled Johnson. “Shit, reasonable doubt ain’t going to cut it. My career. Shit. My life is fucked if we don’t find who did this?”
“We’ll try, Mason.” Lyman replied.
“I’ve been fucking set up.”
“Like I said, we’ll try, but you better think about something else right now?”
“What’s that?”
“Gwen.”
They stepped outside, and Peters closed the door. Still standing on the steps, he took one long look at Lich and McRyan, smiled and stated, “Boys, that was good work in there.”
“Shit,” replied Lich, laughing out loud. “Mac, just so you know, I wouldn’t expect a Christmas card from the senator.”
Mac smiled. “No, I don’t imagine I’ll make the list.”
Peters chuckling along with his detectives, said, “Jesus Christ, Mac. ‘Your wife know you were fucking Daniels?’ I thought he was going to lunge across the table.”
They all shared a brief little laugh, and then Mac, back to business, said, “What’s next?”
“Well, much to your enjoyment, I’m sure,” replied Peters lightly, “you’ll be working with Sally Kennedy on writing up the summons and complaint.”
Mac wanted to say, “Fuck you,” but one didn’t respond that way to a captain. “You think we’re ready to go?”
“Yeah, I do.” Peters was going to say something else, but looked beyond the two of them out to the road, “Ahh, shit.”
Viper had followed them out from St. Paul. Once they’d reached Hisle’s, he’d scoped out his current position, half a mile away, standing in a park on the bluff, two-hundred feet above. There were swing sets, slides and sandboxes all over, abandoned since kids were in school and the cool weather of November had rolled in. He was by himself, looking down from the bluff with a pair of high-test binoculars. He would have been able to look inside Hisle’s house if the shades weren’t drawn.
Once he found his spot, he made the call. The boss wanted the heat turned up and fast. The first call was to Channel 12 and then to Daniels’ Channel 6. Once the call was placed, it took the Channel 12 news truck forty-five minutes to get out to Stillwater. Just as he saw the truck coming out of downtown Stillwater, he’d seen the detectives walk out the front door. He was briefly concerned, would the media miss them? No. They weren’t leaving. Rather they were loitering around in front. The one Viper had learned was named Peters was standing on the front steps, facing him while McRyan’s and Lich’s backs were turned. Peters had a smile on his face, and it looked like the group was enjoying a laugh. Things must have gone well inside. Viper moved his head to the right and down slightly, picking up the van as it pulled up. He looked back up to Peters, and saw his smile vanish when the news van pulled up. He could read Peters’s lips, and while his smile may have vanished, a small one creased Viper’s face.
The front door opened, and Viper saw Hisle look out. Hisle saw the news van as well, and a grim look overtook his face. The detectives and Hisle went back in the house. The Channel 6 van pulled up just then. A reporter and cameraman got out. All four of them stood around talking, waiting for something to happen. They didn’t have to wait long.
Hisle carefully closed the front door before he turned to the three men. “When did they get here?”
“They just pulled up,” Peters replied.
“I guess it was inevitable,” said Hisle, and then a little suspiciously, “How do you suppose they found out?”
Peters gave Lich a little look. Did you talk? Lich gave a little shake of his head. No. “I don’t know, Lyman. They didn’t follow us, we made sure. I don’t know how they found out.”
Lyman shrugged. It was all going to come out anyway. “What will you say on the way out?”
“I assume that means we’re done?” asked Mac.
“Yes, it does. You’ll do what you have to do. Again, what will you say to the media?”
“For now, nothing,” replied Peters. “But we’ll be charging the senator, and that’ll be news. I’m sure the
