“Sure, let’s use this room over here.” The detective led Eagle into an interrogation room and closed the door. The two men sat down.
“Please tell me how Joe Wilen died.”
“Your name again?”
“Ed Eagle. I’m an attorney, friend of the family. I may be able to help.”
“Mr. Wilen was scheduled to play in a golf tournament yesterday morning. He left his house and a few blocks away, he stopped at a traffic signal. We think another vehicle drove alongside his car and someone shot him once in the head. The weapon was a.380, the bullet a hollow-point. One was all it took. A jogger found the car a few yards away; it had come to rest against a tree at low speed, and the engine was still running. The jogger didn’t see another vehicle, but from the angle of the wound we think it was a taller vehicle, an SUV or a truck.”
“I think I may have a suspect for you.”
“Tell me who he is.”
“It’s a she, and she has more than one name: Barbara Eagle, sometimes; recently she was calling herself Eleanor Wright; and a couple of weeks ago, she married a Palo Alto man, Walter Keeler.”
“I know who Keeler is, sure,” the detective said. “He was killed last week in a car crash on the interstate.”
“That’s correct.”
“What would Mrs. Keeler’s motive be for killing her new husband?”
“I don’t think she did that, but I think she either killed Joe Wilen or hired someone to do it.”
“Okay, what was her motive for killing her husband’s lawyer?”
Eagle explained about the letter he had written, that Wilen had shown to Keeler, causing him to change his will. “If Wilen hadn’t shown him the letter, Mrs. Keeler would have inherited more than a billion dollars. After he read it, he cut her inheritance down to fifty thousand dollars a month for life and the use, but not the ownership, of their San Francisco apartment.”
“So she was angry with Wilen?”
“Oh, yes, and she told him so to his face. He told me, and I warned him to be careful.”
“Are you related to Mrs. Keeler?”
“She’s my ex-wife. She was recently tried for a double murder in L.A. and got off-this was only a few weeks ago.”
“And where can I find her now?”
“Maybe at her San Francisco home, but she could also be at the home of a friend called James Long, in Los Angeles.”
There was a knock on the door, and the detective got up and opened it.
An attractive woman in her thirties stood there. “Detective Hayman?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Lee Hight. I’m an associate of Joe Wilen-actually, his law partner.”
The detective offered her a chair and brought her up to date.
“I was at the meeting where Joe told Mrs. Keeler about her inheritance,” she said. “The woman looked as though she might kill him on the spot. It was scary.”
“So you concur that Mrs. Keeler should be our chief suspect?”
“Without any doubt.”
“Do you have the address of her San Francisco apartment?”
Hight gave it to him.
“Expect her to have a good alibi,” Eagle said, “but she’s responsible for Joe Wilen’s murder, I promise you.”
35
EAGLE AND SUSANNAH drove Sandi Wilen to her home, and she insisted that they stay overnight. They consented, and Susannah cooked dinner for them that evening.
“Ed, you think Walter Keeler’s widow had something to do with this, don’t you?” Sandi asked over dinner. “You told us at dinner the other night that she could be dangerous.”
“I have no doubt that she is responsible,” Ed replied. “She probably hired someone, because it would be too dangerous for her to do it herself, given the clause in Walter’s will, cutting her off if she committed a crime.”
“Did you tell the police detective about her?”
“Yes, I did, and Joe’s law partner, Lee Hight, added her weight to the opinion.”
“Lee is a good person and a good lawyer,” Sandi said. “Joe made her a partner in the firm just this past week.”
“Does the firm have a lot of clients?”
“One or two of Joe’s friends. Most of the work was for Walter Keeler, and Joe said that would continue to be the case, because they’ll be administering Walter’s estate, which, as you can imagine, is considerable.”
The doorbell rang, and Sandi went to answer it. She came back with Lee Hight. “Lee, you’ve met Ed Eagle; this is his friend, Susannah Wilde.”
Lee sat down. “Mr. Eagle, you should know that, tomorrow morning, I’m going to cancel all payments from Walter Keeler’s estate to Mrs. Keeler and issue an eviction notice for the apartment.”
“Lee, do the terms of Keeler’s will allow you to do that because you suspect Mrs. Keeler, or does she have to be convicted?”
“The will says she has to be convicted, but what the hell, she can sue us.”
“Please don’t do this,” Eagle replied.
“Why not? Do you think she’ll pursue it through the courts?”
“Yes, but more important, I think you would be placing your life in danger. If she has already had Joe killed, do you think she would hesitate to go after you? She’s a very angry woman.”
Hight looked worried. “I hadn’t got that far in my thinking,” she said.
“My advice is to continue to make the payments, and as soon as she’s convicted, stop them.”
“I guess that’s good advice,” Hight said. “I’m just so fucking angry about this, I’m not thinking straight.”
“Sandi tells me Joe made you a partner last week. Do you have that in writing?”
“Yes, Joe took care of that.”
“Then go run your law firm and don’t worry about Mrs. Keeler. Let the police do that.”
“All right, Mr. Eagle. I’ll do that.”
“And if I were you, I’d get a gun permit from your local police department, take some instruction, and carry it until Mrs. Keeler is locked safely away.”
“I think that’s good advice, too,” she said.
THE FOLLOWING MORNING, Eagle called Cupie Dalton.
“This is Cupie.”
Eagle told him about Wilen’s murder.
“Man, she’s something, isn’t she?”
“Yes, and she’s probably in L.A.”
“So I should watch my ass?”
“So you should watch your ass.”
“Do you know where she is in L.A.?”
“Probably at her friend Jimmy Long’s house.”
“I could tail her.”
“Better somebody she doesn’t know. I’m going to speak to the chief of police about that; maybe he’ll authorize surveillance. God knows, the D.A. would like another crack at her.”
“Good idea.”
“You might look into who the hit man could be, Cupie. My guess is that Jimmy Long found somebody for her, since she doesn’t really know a lot of people in L.A.”
“I’ll look into it.”
Eagle said good-bye and hung up. Next, he called his friend, the Los Angeles Chief of Police, Joe Sams.
“Hello, Ed, how are you?”
“I’ve been better, Joe. You remember my former wife, Barbara?”
“The double murderess? How could I forget.”
“Well, she’s done it again.”
“Not in L.A., I hope.”
“No, in Palo Alto. I believe she hired someone from L.A. to kill a lawyer named Joe Wilen.”
“Why from L.A.?”
“Because she doesn’t know anybody in San Francisco, where she’s now living. A couple of weeks ago, she married a very rich retired businessman named Walter Keeler.”
“I knew Walter; I read about his death in the papers. Did she have anything to do with that?”
“No, it was a traffic accident.” Eagle explained about the terms of Keeler’s will and Wilen’s part, as well as his own part in preventing her from inheriting everything.
“So she got Wilen, and you’re next?”
“Probably. Don’t worry, I’m carrying, thanks to your help with my license.”
“Do you have anything on the woman that would give me probable cause to arrest her?”
“No. I think what your people could do best would be to find out who she hired to do it.”