“What do you need from me?”
“Five thousand dollars and a retainer agreement signed by you and your daddy, so if one doesn’t pay me the other one’s got to.”
“Can I put it on my credit card?”
“You can put it on your ass so long as it clears the Second National Bank of Cantrell.”
“And my father has to sign the retainer agreement too?”
“Way attorney-client privilege attaches. He knows that. Why? Is that a problem?”
“I hope not.”
She smiled big. “I can tell you and me are goin’ to get on real good, Will.”
Chapter
27
Where the hell have you been? You just shot outta here without a word.”
Victoria was standing on the porch at the Willows, her hands on her soft hips, staring at Robie as he climbed out of his car.
“Getting some things done.”
“What things?”
Robie walked up to her and leaned back against the railing.
“For starters, I saw my father.”
She gaped. “You did? How did it go?”
Robie pointed to his swollen cheek. “He can still pack a wallop.”
She stared at the spot. “Oh my God, do you want some ice for that?”
“No, it’ll be fine. I also got him a lawyer.”
“Who?”
“Toni Moses.”
“I hear she’s really good.”
“I think he needs really good.”
“Dan agreed to this?”
Robie shrugged. “He will, when I tell him what I’ve done.”
“You hired a lawyer for him without telling him?” She shook her head. “Well, if I were you I’d tell him from the other side of the cell door.”
“Why, does he get physical with you?”
The two stared at each other.
“Why do you ask that?” she said.
“You don’t really seem surprised that I did, Victoria.”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Sort of like why you spent the night drinking with Sherm Clancy. Again, none of my business, right?”
She sat down in a rocking chair. “I would say right, only it would be none of your damn business.”
“But it makes a perfect motive for my father to kill the man.”
She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “I have regretted that night ever since it happened.”
“Well, if it costs your husband his life I guess you should regret it forever.”
“It’s not like I told Dan to kill the bastard,” she barked.
Robie said firmly, “If he killed the bastard. So you think he did it?”
“I don’t want to believe he had anything to do with it.”
“He has no alibi. You were in Biloxi with Ty and Priscilla. So he had the opportunity. The weapon was like one that he possessed at some point and could have used to kill Clancy.”
“I know all of that, Will. Do you think he did it?”
Robie shrugged. “I have no idea. I don’t know enough. I don’t think anyone does. That’s why they’re having a trial.”
Victoria opened a bag on a table next to the rocker and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. She lit one and offered the pack to Robie.
He shook his head. “How’s Ty?”
“He’s fine. He’s with Priscilla. Why?”
“Credible threats.”
“We’ve been over this. What threats? Dan doesn’t have any enemies.”
“You can’t know that for sure. And if you’re wrong?”
“So what do you suggest we do? Hire an armed guard?”
“I’ll stay here with you. I can look after you. But I can’t be with you all the time.”
“Are you really taking this seriously?”
“I saw a man in the bushes on the rear grounds early this morning. I tried to follow him but he was already gone by the time I got outside. And your car had been searched.”
For the first time Victoria looked scared. “Someone was outside the Willows early this morning?”
“A tall man. White guy probably. Any idea who it might’ve been?”
“How should I know?” she said defensively.
“I’m just asking questions, trying to assemble some useful information. And what might he have been looking for in your car?”
“What, are you playing at detective now?” She paused, studying him. “You’re not a cop, are you?”
“Right now, I wish I were. I feel a little out of my depth.”
“Even so, I don’t understand what you’re doing. Are you saying you’re going to investigate the case and try to get to the truth?”
“Pretty much.”
“Why? And don’t tell me it’s because of your father. You’ve been gone longer than you were here. And you’ve never contacted him. Dan would have told me.”
“I don’t like questions without answers.”
“Well, like them or not, I think that’s what you’re faced with here.”
Robie’s phone buzzed. He checked the screen.
It was Blue Man.
“I have to take this,” said Robie.
He headed for the back of the property as he answered the phone.
“How is Mississippi?” asked Blue Man.
“Not as friendly as the tour guides say, at least for me.”
“Have you seen your father?”
“I have.”
“And did it go well?”
“No.”
“You still want to follow through with this?”
Do I want to follow through? thought Robie.
“Like it or not, I think I have to.”
“I expected you to say that. And I think you’re right.”
“What have you found out?”
“Not as much as I would have liked. It was damn tricky, Robie. You head down and all of a sudden the federal government gets interested in a murder in Mississippi. We had to tread carefully.”
“I understand that, but you must’ve found out something.”
“Sherman Clancy was intoxicated when he was killed. His blood alcohol was twice the legal limit.”
“Meaning he was pretty much incapacitated, incapable of defending himself?”
“Yes. The murder weapon was a serrated-edge knife. The police believe they have enough evidence there to say it was a Ka-Bar knife, though I’m not sure that would hold up in court. But it was definitely a serrated blade.”
“And evidence tying my father to the crime?”
“Well, the motive was obvious.”
“His wife was with Clancy and he found out.”
“Right. Have you talked to his wife, well, I guess also your stepmother?”
“I have. In fact, I’m staying at their house. She says she was just drinking with Clancy, nothing more.”
“And you believe her?”
“I don’t believe anyone. What else is there tying him to the crime?”
“Dan Robie was seen driving his car near the spot where the murder took place.”
“Who saw him?”
“A local fisherman and his son.”
“Their names?”
“Tuck Carson and his son Ash. They told the police they saw your father in his Range Rover driving from the direction where the body was found about one in the morning. That would be about the time the death occurred.”
“What were they doing out at that time of night?”
“They said they were out to get bait for the next morning.”
“What else?”
“At the crime scene forensics found a boot print matching one of your father’s by the driver’s-side door. The ground was damp and muddy and the impression was clear. There were also several hairs that they said matched his found in the Bentley’s interior.”
“He could have ridden in the car before. Or they could have been planted. So could the boot prints.”
“Yes, they could have. But the witnesses apparently did see him in the area at the time.”