“Thank you, Bob,” Eagle said. “You can understand that time is of the essence.”
“Certainly, Ed. I’ll get back to you when I know something.”
“Thank you so much, Bob.” Eagle hung up and turned to Cupie and Vittorio. “All right, we’re moving on that front. Now I suggest, Cupie, that you call whoever you can in L.A. and see if you can get them to issue an arrest warrant for Barbara. I know we’re light on evidence, but I’d like her off the street.”
“So would we, Ed,” Cupie said. “I’ll get right on it.”
“You can use the phone in the living room,” Eagle said.
Cupie went into the living room, dialed the number in Burbank and asked for Dave Santiago.
“Detective Santiago.”
“Dave, it’s Cupie Dalton. I’m going to give you an opportunity to turn that lunch I owe you into a dinner, with a very expensive bottle of wine.”
“You have my attention, Cupie.”
“I know who killed Bart Cross.”
“Are you going to share that name with me?”
“It’s two names. Got a pencil?”
“Always.”
“Her name is Barbara Eagle, and she also uses the name Eleanor Keeler.”
“Wait a minute,” Santiago said. “Isn’t that the woman who was tried and acquitted of the murder of some Mafioso at the Hotel Bel-Air?”
“One and the same.”
“And she was married to that guy, Keeler, the electronics zillionaire, who drove his car into a gasoline tanker?”
“It sounds as though you’ve been introduced to the lady.”
“No, but I read the tabloids like everybody else. Tell me why you think she killed Cross.”
“Evidence that she knew him is in the airplane logbook you’re already in possession of. The next-to-last page in the logbook.”
“Wait a minute,” Santiago said. He came back a moment later. “Okay, I’ve got it: a flight from Acapulco to Yuma?”
“That’s it. That’s proof that she knew him. The guy she was traveling with is James Long.”
“Movie producer?”
“Righto.”
“Motive?”
“She hired Cross to kill my client, Ed Eagle, and he very nearly got it done, cut the man’s throat. When Barbara heard Eagle was still alive, she killed Cross and burned her bridges.”
“Is Long involved in this?”
“I can’t prove that he knew she was going to kill Cross, but he certainly introduced the two, and he told me that he kicked her out of his house when he heard about the murder. Cross worked for him out at Centurion.”
“What can you prove?”
“I’m afraid that’s up to you and your guys, pal, but trust me, she’s your perp.”
“Any idea where she is?”
“As a matter of fact I do. Long told me she knows some people in Los Alamos, and my partner and I tracked her there this morning, saw her car parked at their guesthouse. Their name is Holroyd.” Cupie gave him the address.
“Cupie, I’ve been through the murder book, and we don’t have anything that can place anybody in that house on the night Cross was killed.”
“Well, you know somebody was there, Dave.”
“Sure, we do.”
“You need to go back to that house and find something-anything-that can put her at the scene. Her prints and DNA are in the system.”
“I can get that done,” Santiago replied.
“In the meantime, can you get a warrant and get her off the street before she makes another attempt on Ed Eagle’s life?”
Santiago was silent for a moment. “Cupie, I’d like to help you, but all we can prove is that she knew Cross, and that’s not enough for an arrest warrant. The D.A. would throw me out of his office.”
“I’ll give you odds she’s still got the gun,” Cupie said. “And that would be all you need.”
“Cupie, she’s in New Mexico.”
“I know that.”
“Haul James Long in and grill him. Maybe he’ll give her up.”
“Guy like that is going to lawyer up instantly.”
“I’ll bet you he’d sell her out for immunity.”
“It’s a thought. I’m going to have to get back to you, Cupie.”
“Make it soon, Dave. You’ve got my cell number.”
“Where are you now?”
“In Santa Fe, at Eagle’s house.”
“When I know something,” Santiago said, and hung up.
Cupie went back and reported to Eagle.
“All right,” Eagle said. “Now all we can do is wait: me for my guy, you for yours.”
Vittorio spoke up. “Ed, we’ve involved the U.S. government and the Burbank police in this, and that means that we can’t do anything, ah, extracurricular, to Barbara.”
“I understand that,” Eagle said, “and we’re all better off not being tempted.”
49
Barbara was watching Morning Joe on MSNBC, as Joe Scarborough, in a generous mood, was saying something nice about Barack Obama.
“Pinko!” she shouted at the screen as her cell phone rang. Barbara found it under a pile of clothes and picked it up. “Yes?”
“Barbara, this is Ralph Waters, in Palo Alto.”
“Yes, Ralph.”
“I’ve made some real progress here,” the lawyer said. “I’ve located Margie, the secretary, and she’s given me copies of the two pages that were changed in Walter’s will, along with copies of the two replacement pages. I’ve taken it to a judge, and he’s going to schedule a hearing as soon as he can appoint a new executor to represent the estate.”
“Why does he have to do that?”
“Because Joe Wilen was the executor, and Ms. Hight was the backup, and they’re both dead.”
“Oh. How long is this going to take?”
“I can’t say. I’ve pushed the judge as hard as I can to move this along, and I’ll call his clerk tomorrow to remind him.”
“Once the hearing date is set, how long will the process take?”
“If everything goes smoothly everything could be decided at the hearing, and I’ll ask the judge for expedited probate.”
“All right, Ralph. Call me the minute you know something.”
“Do you want to come to the hearing?”
“Not unless I have to.”
“No, you don’t. I can represent you.”
“Thank you, Ralph, and please continue to keep this quiet.”
“I’ll do the best I can.”
They both hung up.
She tried not to hope, lest she be disappointed. She watched television for another two hours and was about to get into a shower when her cell phone rang again.
“Yes?”
“Barbara, it’s Ralph Waters.”
“Hello again, Ralph.”
“I’ve got something incredible to tell you: The judge has appointed a new executor. He’s an underemployed crony of the judge, who will do whatever he’s told. We’ve got a hearing tomorrow, and Margie is going to be there with the original pages of the will!”
“That’s fantastic, Ralph! I don’t know how you got this done so quickly!”
“It was a matter of knowing which judge to take this to,” Waters said.
“What about the other heirs?”
“There’ll be no dispute there. They’ll inherit as per the will, so they’ll have no beef. The only entity that will lose on this is Walter’s personal charitable foundation, and Walter’s old secretary is the head of that. What sort of relationship did you have with her?”
“I met her only once, and we got along very well. After that, I spoke to her when I was calling Walter, or he was calling me, and that’s all.”
“Then I hope she won’t be a problem,” Waters said. “One thing: