‘What are the chances Johnna decided to disappear?’
Molly asked. ‘Lucy thinks, I mean Buddy told her he thinks Johnna did this to get at David.’
Gail considered the possibility for a moment, then shook her head. ‘Have you seen her parents on TV?
This thing is killing them. If Johnna Masterson disappeared to hurt David, I guarantee you one thing: she hates her parents a lot more than she hates him.’
‘But it’s possible?’
‘Johnna Masterson is the victim,’ I said.
‘And you’re the suspect,’ Gail answered, her voice sharp with authority. Gail was tired of my Buddy Elder theories. It was time I faced up to the situation.
‘No argument there. On the face of it, my story sounds incredible.’
‘Then change your story before it’s too late,’ Gail answered.
‘Even if it’s true?’
Gail looked away from us, swallowing whatever insult she intended. Finally, she said, ‘A woman called Denny’s. A woman, not a man. This was twelve, twelve-fifteen?’
‘Just after Lucy gets off the phone and before she goes down the hill and gets in the car with the son of a bitch.’
Gail smiled at me condescendingly. ‘The window of opportunity?’
‘What would you call it?‘
‘Unless Lucy made the call to Denny’s, you’ve still got a problem. You pick up the phone and it’s Buddy Elder. The only way he knows you’re at Denny’s is if Johnna told him, but he’s been on the phone with Lucy since ten-thirty.’
‘He has a partner who snatches her.’
‘While Buddy’s on the phone?’
‘The perfect alibi.’
Gail seemed dubious. ‘Who was the woman who called Denny’s, David? Another partner?’
‘Denise Conway. Why not?’
‘Why not? Well, for starters, Lucy comes out and gets in the car. Where’s Denise – in the backseat?’
When I didn’t answer her, Gail levelled her gaze at me as if she had caught me in a lie. ‘I didn’t like your story when it was possible. I’m sure as hell not buying it now.’
‘What if I’m not lying, Gail? Can you just consider that for a minute?’
‘It’s a waste of time.’
‘I know you don’t like it. I don’t like it, but I’m telling you what happened! What if she has a car parked out there, makes the call for Buddy, and then drives off before Lucy shows up?’
‘Why go to all that trouble?’
‘I don’t know, Gail! Maybe because I’ll look like a muddle-headed fool trying to explain how I got a phone call from Buddy Elder while he was seducing my stepdaughter!’
Gail shook her head angrily. ‘You’re convicting yourself with this story, David. You can’t stay with it!’
‘You tell me what I did then! You’re the attorney.
Pick a story that will float, because I don’t have a clue what you want to hear!’
Gail leaned back in her chair, looking exasperated.
‘You need another lawyer. I can’t handle this. I’ll stick with you until you get someone, but I can’t deal with you when you get like this.’
‘Like what?’
‘It’s like you want to go to prison.’
‘I want a lawyer who believes me.’
‘They don’t make lawyers that stupid.’ Gail looked shocked by her own response, but she didn’t back down. ‘Sorry, but it’s the truth.’
‘If David says-’
‘David says whatever he thinks people will believe.
You know that, Molly. You of all people! Fine, that’s David. Part of his charm, once you get used to it. The trouble is we’re not drinking cocktails and talking about cars and horses! We’re fighting for his life here, and he’s too stubborn to admit he’s lying!’
‘I guess you need to tell us what we owe you. For everything,’ Molly answered. ‘We’re going to find another attorney.’
‘I’ll get a bill out to you this afternoon,’ Gail answered with a touch of relief. She stood up, her eyes shifting between us. ‘I can give you some names if you want.’
Molly would not look at her. She said that wouldn’t be necessary.
In the truck, Molly said to me, ‘What now?’
‘Dalton,’ I said.
Chapter 26
Detective Dalton, the woman in the sheriff’s department told us, had the morning off. I told her to call him. We had information about the Johnna Masterson case. She said I could talk to Lt. Gibbons or Detective Jacobs. I shook my head. Dalton.
When she got the detective on the phone, she relayed what I had told her. Hanging up, she looked at us.
‘One hour.’
I said we would be at the cafe down the street. ‘When he gets in, call us,’ I said, handing her my card with the cell phone number listed. ‘We’ll be here in five minutes.’
Forty minutes later Detective Dalton walked into the cafe where Molly and I were working on our third cup of coffee. We had been talking out our options again, the things we needed to do after the arrest.
‘Are you going to confess?’ Dalton asked cheerfully.
He was alone, dressed casually, a man pulled in from his morning off.
‘Only my innocence.’
He sat down and like a regular signalled the waitress for a cup of coffee. ‘Does your lawyer know we’re talking, Professor?’
I told him I no longer had an attorney representing me.
‘Well, that must mean you wouldn’t mind taking a polygraph.’
‘Two conditions,’ I said. ‘First, I need to tell you a couple of things about last Tuesday night.’
Kip Dalton didn’t really smile, but his expression seemed to relax. I knew then he already had the phone records and maybe a lot more. He expected me to recant. ‘I’ll listen.’
‘Second, when you’ve got me hooked up to that machine, I want you to ask about Denise Conway. I don’t care what you ask, but you cover the subject.
When I pass this son of a bitch I want you and my wife to know that diary she wrote is a lie.’
Dalton smiled at this. ‘You understand these tests aren’t one hundred percent. What they do-’
‘You’re telling me I’m still going to be a suspect even if I pass.’
‘I can’t rule you out if the evidence says you did it.
As far as what your wife thinks, I don’t know a woman alive who would trust a machine over her own instincts.’
‘Just ask the questions.’
Dalton gave me a grudging smile. ‘I’ll see that they’re asked. Now why don’t you tell me about last Tuesday night, the way it really happened.’
‘My stepdaughter Lucy tells me she’s been seeing Buddy Elder the past month or so without our knowledge.’ Kip Dalton’s eyes brightened momentarily.
‘Tuesday night, according to her, she was on the telephone with Buddy from sometime after ten o’clock until midnight. At that point she left the house and was with him until about three o’clock in the morning.’
Dalton seemed to expect me to adjust my story.
When I made no attempt to do so he seemed confused.
‘You still believe the call at Denny’s came from Buddy Elder?’
‘No belief to it, Detective. I talked to Buddy.’
‘And your statements to us are substantially accurate and complete?’
‘No, sir,’ I said. ‘They were entirely accurate and complete. Except that we don’t cook at the fireplace in the kitchen, and we never have folks out to the farm dressed up in costume.’
The detective stared at me for several seconds before he smiled. ‘I thought that was stretching it.’
‘Where did I go wrong?’
He shook his head. ‘You folks didn’t strike me as the kind of people who would throw a big fancy party.’
‘You’re still going to be a suspect if you pass?’
Molly asked.
I shrugged my shoulders. We were in the truck driving back to the farm.
‘So what’s the point?’
‘Right now Dalton is sure I’m guilty. Come four o’clock he’s going to have to admit to himself that just maybe he’s wrong.’
‘You seem pretty confident.’
‘I’ve got nothing left to lose.’
Molly smiled. ‘You think they’ve got a setting on that machine for lying used car salesmen?’
‘Everyone knows when a used car salesmen is lying, Molly. They’re just like lawyers: their lips move. That’s why Tubs was the best. Tubs never lied. The man didn’t sell cars, he sold his own uncompromising honesty, and he taught me to do the same.’