Rossi said, “That makes for a long list. Can you shorten it up?”
“I tried to but I struck out.”
“Who?” Rossi asked.
“Anthony Steele.”
“The judge? Christ! You’ve got to be kidding. What possible connection does he have to either one of them?”
“Joanie’s first arrest was in Clay County for shoplifting. Steele was the judge and he put her in diversion before she even had an attorney. Fast-forward to five years ago and Joanie is a hooker with a drug problem and Steele pays for her to go to Fresh Start for rehab.”
Rossi raised an eyebrow. “Out of his own pocket?”
“No. His family has a foundation, the Steele Family Foundation. They paid for it.”
“How do you know that?”
“Steele told me. When I saw him at Robin’s memorial yesterday I said that his name had come up when I reviewed Joanie’s arrest record. He said he didn’t remember her but he gave me a Voldemort look when I mentioned her name.”
“A Voldemort look?”
“Yeah, Voldemort is the bad guy in the Harry Potter books. He’s so scary that just saying his name out loud will ruin your day, and Steele acted like I ruined his. And then he calls me this morning and says he remembered Joanie and would I come to his chambers so he can tell me all about her.”
“And I’m guessing that instead of thanking him for taking the time to help you out, you accused him of murdering Joanie?”
Alex shrugged. “It sort of came up.”
“How’d he take that?”
“He laughed it off, said I was just doing my job and he thanked me for giving him something to talk about at dinner.”
“I’ll bet,” Rossi said, dipping his chin for a moment, his eyes narrowed in concentration. “Wait a second. Back up. What did you say the name of the foundation was?”
“The Steele Family Foundation, why?”
Rossi opened his phone and pulled up the spreadsheet Milton had e-mailed him, scrolling down until he found the entry that read SFF.
“Motherfucker.”
“What?”
“Tell me about your conversation with Judge Steele in his chambers and don’t leave anything out.”
Alex grimaced, suddenly woozy, her wounds throbbing. She grabbed a patio chair and eased herself into it.
“You should have stayed in bed. You okay?”
“Peachy. Let me think for a minute.” She took a breath. “Okay, I walked into his chambers, we said hello, he told me I looked like shit and I said I threw my back out. He said he’d been there because of how much his wife makes him work out. He was dressed down, khakis, no socks, that kind of thing. I asked him if the court had adopted a casual dress code and he said he could always put on his robe and that if I’d been there an hour earlier I’d have caught him in his workout clothes. His gear was in a bag on the floor-”
Rossi interrupted. “The bag. Tell me about the bag.”
Alex furrowed her brow. “I don’t know. It was a bag, you know, some kind of duffel.”
Rossi pulled up the airport video on his phone, freezing it on a close-up of the duffel bag. “Did it look like this?”
Alex took the phone, playing with the image, making it larger, then smaller. “Who’s that in the video?”
“We don’t know yet. Just focus on the bag. Does it look like the one you saw in Steele’s chambers?”
Alex played with the image some more, wrinkling her nose. “Could be. What’s that word on the bag? This image is too fuzzy for me to make it out.”
“Solutioneering, all lowercase.”
Alex nodded. “Yeah. There was something printed on his bag. That could have been it.”
Rossi’s face lit up, his eyes dancing. “How well did you know Robin Norris?”
“Like I told you before. We were good friends but in a professional way. I didn’t know much about her private life.”
“What about her and Judge Steele? Was there anything going on between them?”
“Not that I knew. . Wait, let me show you something. Meg Adler packed up Robin’s personal stuff from her office and I offered to drop it off at Robin’s house. It’s in my car. I’ll get it.”
Alex started to get up, but Rossi put his hand out.
“Keys.”
He brought her the box from her car, putting it at her feet.
“Show me.”
She retrieved the framed photograph of Robin and Judge Steele, handing it to Rossi.
“That was taken at the state bar convention earlier this year. The judge presented Robin with a service award. Later that night, I saw them having a drink, and they looked so cozy that I kidded Robin about it the next morning. She told me I was being ridiculous because he was married and she was close friends with both the judge and his wife.”
“Hmm. But she kept a picture of the two of them in her office.” Rossi turned the frame over, raising the clips holding the photograph in place, sliding it out, and turning it over. “I think she was a little closer to him than she was to his wife.”
He handed the photograph to Alex. There was an inscription on the back. This will have to do until the next time we can be alone.
“Is that Robin’s handwriting?” Rossi asked.
Alex shook her head. “No. It must be Judge Steele’s. Wow. Who’s that in the video?”
“Robin Norris’s killer.”
Rossi opened his phone and called Wheeler.
“Did you find out who was using the rooms on the west side of the motel?”
“Yeah,” Wheeler said. “Only one room was occupied. It belongs to someone with the initials SFF, but your buddy Milton swears on his life that he doesn’t know who that is.”
“I do. Meet me at the court of appeals.”
Chapter Fifty-Two
Alex stayed in the patio chair while Bethany’s body was bagged and carried out of the trailer. The wooziness she’d felt had passed. Harris approached her.
“You okay to drive yourself home? I can have an officer take you and another one drive your car.”
“Thanks, but I think I can handle it.”
“Okay, then. We’re pretty much wrapped up here.”
“What about Charlotte?”
“We’re combing the area. If she’s on her own, she’s probably fairly close by. If the killer took her, it’s anybody’s guess. We don’t have much to go on.”
“I guess Rossi thinks Judge Steele killed Robin.”
“Yeah, lover’s quarrel and all of that. They’ll have him in custody before you get home.”
She shook her head. “The whole thing is unbelievable. Robin and Judge Steele. How could he do it? How could he kill her?”
“C’mon, Counselor. You spend enough years doing what you and I do and there’s nothing we can’t believe. Look on the bright side. You may not have found the killer you’re looking for, but because of you, Rossi got his guy.”
“Swell.”
Alex took her time going to her car, slow steps less painful than rapid ones. If Rossi was right about Judge Steele, then the judge must have also tried to kill her. But if he had, why invite her to his chambers the next morning? She slid into the driver’s seat, grunting at a flash of pain, and sent Rossi a text, asking him to let her know when he arrested Judge Steele.
As upset as she was about Robin and Judge Steele, she was more worried about Charlotte, ten years old and alone in the world. Had she been home when Bethany was killed and somehow escaped? Was the killer hunting for her because she was a witness? Or had she been out wandering only to discover Bethany’s body when she came home, leaving again because she was afraid and didn’t know what else to do? And if she was on her own, where would she go? Alex could think of only one place: Liberty Park.
She left her car at the north end, just as she had before, making her way south, taking her time, zigzagging from side to side to cover as much ground as possible, calling Charlotte’s name as she went, hearing nothing in reply. The sun was beginning to set, shadows washing in from the west and climbing up the eastern bluff. The ground was covered with a tangle of weeds that grabbed at her ankles, tagging her with burrs and thorns. She caught her foot in a rut, falling to her knees, groaning, her wounds burning.