"Did you ever see Mr. Darius with Lisa Darius that day?"
"No, ma'am."
"What about Padovici and Kristol? Did they say they saw Mr. Darius with his wife?"
Kassel frowned, as if he suddenly realized where Betsy's questions were leading. Betsy looked to her left and saw Alan Page in an animated discussion with Randy Highsmith.
"I can't recall," he answered hesitantly.
"I assume you wrote a daily surveillance log listing any unusual occurrences?"
"Yes."
"And the other members of the surveillance team also kept logs?"
"Yes."
"Where are the logs?"
"Detective Barrow has them."
Betsy stood. "Your Honor, I would like the logs produced and Detectives Kristol and Padovici made available for (Questioning. justice Ryder testified that he last saw his daughter at seven-thirty a.m. Detective Kassel says Padovici and Kristol reported that Mr. Darius left his estate at six-thirty and went directly to work. if neither team saw Mr.
Darius with his wife during the day, when did he kill her? We can produce the people who were with Mr. Darius yesterday. They'll say he was in his office from about seven a.m. until a little after six p.m." judge Norwood looked troubled. Alan Page leaped to his feet.
"This is nonsense, judge. The surveillance was on Darius, not his wife.
The body was in the basement. Mr. Darius was with the body."
"Your Honor," Betsy said, "Mr. Darius could not have killed his wife before he got home, and he was only home for a short time when Detective Kassel arrived.
The person who disemboweled Lisa Darius would have blood all over him.
There was no blood on my client.
Look at his white shirt and his pants.
"I suggest that Mr. Darius is being set up. Someone was at justice Ryder's house having coffee with Lisa Darius during the day. It wasn't the defendant. Lisa Darius left the house without turning off the television. That's because she was forced to leave. That person took her to the estate and murdered her in the basement, then phoned in the anonymous tip that led the police to the body."
"That's absurd," Page said. "Who is this mysterious person? I suppose you'll suggest the mystery man also butchered the four people we found at your client's construction site."
"Your Honor," Betsy said, "Ask yourself who knew the body of Lisa Darius was in Mr. Darius's basement.
Only the killer or someone who saw the murder. Is Mr. Page suggesting that Mr. Darius found his wife — alive in his home, butchered her in the fifteen minutes or so between the time Detective Kassel lost sight of him and the time Detective Kassel arrested him, got no blood on his white shirt while disemboweling her and was such a good citizen that he reported himself to the police so they could arrest him for murder?" judge. Norwood looked troubled. Betsy and Alan Page watched him intently.
"Mrs. Tannenbaum," the judge said, "your theory depends on Mr. Darius leaving his estate at six-thirty and being in his office all day."
"Yes, Your Honor."
The judge turned to Alan Page. "I'm keeping Mr. Darius in jail over the weekend. I want you to give copies of the logs to Mrs. Tannenbaum and I want the detectives here Monday morning. I'll tell you, Mr. Page, this business has me seriously concerned. You better have a good explanation for me. Right now, I can't see how this man killed his wife."
Goddamn it, Ross, how did this slip by you?"
"I'm sorry, Al. I don't review the log entries every day."
"If Darius didn't go near justice Ryder's house, we have trouble, Al,"
Randy Highsmith said.
"The surveillance teams must have screwed up", Page insisted. "She was there. She got into the basement somehow. Didn't you tell me there were paths through the woods? The surveillance teams weren't watching Lisa.
She could have used the paths to sneak onto the estate while the teams were tailing Darius."
"Why would she go to the estate if she was terrified of Darius?"
Highsmith asked.
"He could have sweet-talked her over the phone," Page said. "They were man and wife."
"Then why sneak in?" Highsmith asked. "Why not drive through the front gate and up to the front door? It's her house. It makes no sense for her to sneak in if she was going back willingly."
"Maybe the press has been hounding her and she wanted to avoid reporters."
"I don't buy that."
"There's got to be a logical explanation," Page answered, frustrated by the seeming impossibility of the situation.
"There are a few other things that are nagging at me, Al," Highsmith told his boss.
"Let's hear them," Page said.
"How did Nancy Gordon know where to find the body? Tannenbaum's right.
Darius couldn't have killed Lisa at night, because she was alive in the morning. He couldn't have killed her off the estate. We had him under surveillance every minute during the day. If Darius did it, he killed her in the house. There aren't windows in the basement. How would anyone else know what was going on? There are problems with the case, Al. We have to face them."
"How was the meeting?"
"Don't ask," Raymond Colby told his wife. "My head's like putty. Help me with this tie. I'm all thumbs."
"Here. Let me," Ellen said, untying the Windsor knot.
"Can you fix me a drink? I'll be in the den. I want to watch the late news."
Ellen pecked her husband on the cheek and walked toward the liquor cabinet. "Why don't you just go to bed?"
"Bruce Smith made some dumb comment on the highway bill. Wayne insists I hear it. It should be on toward the top of the news. Besides, I'm too wound up to go right to sleep."
Colby went into the den and turned on the news.
Ellen came in and handed the senator his drink.
"If this doesn't relax you, we'll think of something that will," she said mischievously.
Colby smiled. "What makes you think I have the energy for that kind of hanky-panky?"
"A man who can't rise to the occasion shouldn't be on the Supreme Court."
Colby laughed. "You've become a pervert in your old age."
"And about time, too."
They both laughed, then Colby suddenly sobered.
He pointed the remote control at the screen and turned up the volume. a startling new development in the case against millionaire builder Martin Darius, who is accused of the torture-murder of three women and one man in Portland, Oregon. A week ago Darius was released on bail when trial judge Patrick Norwood ruled that there was insufficient evidence to hold him. Yesterday evening, Darius was rearrested when police found the body of his wife, Lisa Darius, in the basement of the Darius mansion.
A police spokesman said she had been tortured and killed in a manner similar to the other victims.
"Today, in a court hearing, Betsy Tannenbaum, Darius's attorney, argued that Darius was the victim of a frame-up after it was revealed that police surveillance teams followed Darius all day on the day his wife was murdered and never saw him with his wife. The hearing will resume Monday.
"On a less serious note, Mayor Clinton Vance is reported to have Colby turned off the set and closed his eyes.
"What's wrong?" Ellen asked.
"How would you feel if I was not confirmed by the Senate?"
"That's not possible."
Colby heard the uncertainty in his wife's voice. He was so tired. "I have to make a decision. It concerns something I did when I was governor of New York. A secret that I thought would stay buried forever."
"What kind of secret?" Ellen asked hesitantly.
Colby opened his eyes. He saw his wife's concern and took her hand.
"Not a secret about us, love. It concerns something I did ten years ago.
A decision I had to make. A decision I would make again."
"I don't understand."
"I'll explain everything, then you tell me what I should do."