Chicken Caccia-Killer (A Jordan McAllister Mystery) (16 page)

“Isn’t it a little strange that he’s so sure of that now?”

“You would think so, but it’s not all that unusual for a witness to remember something days later. Usually, it’s some minor detail, though, and not something this big. I have no clue how he suddenly got enough clarity to not only identify another person on the balcony with Marco but also to be so sure it was a woman from twelve floors below,” Alex commented.

“Could it be that the police pressured him? You hear about that sort of thing happening all the time. I once met a woman who told me that after three days of relentless interrogation, bright lights, and no sleep, her son confessed to killing his cousin. When the truth finally came out, they discovered he was just as much of a victim as the dead girl.” She remembered the agony on the woman’s face when she’d related the story.

“When his mother asked why he’d confessed, he said the policeman promised him everything would be okay if he told the truth—the truth being the way the cops told him it had happened. Even though he had nothing to do with the crime, the police officers kept telling him he did. The kid was so confused he would have said anything to go home.”

“Unfortunately, that happens more often than I’d like to think. I’ll be able to get a better sense of it all after I talk to Kate’s lawyer and Darnell. But even if it were true, the cops wouldn’t admit to it.”

“If the valet can’t positively say it was Kate he saw on the balcony, why would the police think they had the smoking gun now?”

“With the DNA evidence still pending, the witness accounts of Kate fighting with Marco, and now the valet’s story coming to light, they must think there’s enough circumstantial evidence to formally charge her with the murder.” He sighed. “She must be freaking out.”

“I’m sure she is. None of us really believed it would get this far. We know she didn’t kill Marco and assumed it wouldn’t be too hard to prove.”

When he passed the exit to Plainville, Jordan leaned toward him. “You don’t have to take me home, Alex. You should be there when Kate and your mom arrive at the police station. It’s a given your sister will need you by her side. I’ll wait with you and then drive your mother home in their car.”

He reached out and squeezed her hand. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, Jordan.” He exited the Interstate and drove to the turnaround.

She smiled. “Do you want me to take your mother to your house and stay with her until you get back from the police station? She must be frantic.”

“I think she’d like that. She’s taken a shine to you these past few days.”

Jordan heard the catch in his voice and knew his heart was breaking for his sister. She concentrated on staying strong for his sake. “Then it’s settled. I’ve got your mother covered. You take care of Kate.”

They drove the rest of the way in silence until they pulled into the Plainville police station.

“We can sit out here until Kate arrives. By my calculation it will take her another ten or fifteen minutes to drive from downtown Dallas.” He reached for the bag the waiter had given him. “You must be starving.”

Up until now she’d completely forgotten that they hadn’t eaten, but now that he’d mentioned it, sudden hunger pangs made their presence known. “I am a little hungry, but I don’t think I can eat right now.”

“We might need to stop at the emergency room and have a doctor check you out,” he said, trying to lighten the mood. “Missing lunch and turning down dessert all in the same day has to mean…” He stopped talking when Kate and his mother pulled up beside him.

Alex got out of the car and walked around to the passenger side to open the door for Jordan. Then he did the same for his mother and sister. One look at Kate was all it took to know that she was more than a little rattled. As a lawyer herself, she had to know that things were about to go from bad to worse now that her status had changed from being a witness in a murder case to actually being a suspect.

Alex took a couple of steps toward her and pulled her to his chest. “Whatever we have to do to clear your name, we’ll do. I promise you.”

Watching Alex cradle her in his arms and hearing him promise that everything would be okay should have been reassuring to Jordan. And it would have been except that she heard the sadness in his voice and knew he was genuinely scared for his sister. She hoped Kate hadn’t picked up on it as well.

“Alex?” Natalie moved up alongside Kate and cast a questioning look her son’s way.

He opened his arms to allow her to be part of his cocooning embrace. “Hamilton will be able to punch holes so deep into the valet’s statement it will be useless. Without that testimony, the police have very little right now.”

His eyes connected momentarily with Jordan’s, and once again she saw the fear. She forced herself to give him a reassuring smile, but both of them knew it was going to be a long night.

They all turned as a dark sedan pulled up alongside Kate’s car and screeched to a halt. The door bolted open and Jeff Hamilton emerged, looking like he’d just stepped out of the shower. His sandy-brown hair, normally coiffed in a modern style, was still wet and slicked back off his forehead.

“Don’t worry, Kate,” he said when he approached. “They’re grasping at straws here. I’ll have you back in your own bed by morning.”

Kate wiggled out of Alex’s arms and attempted to smile at her lawyer. “I hope you’re right.”

“Are you ready?” Jeff grabbed her elbow and led the way after she nodded.

The others followed behind. Jordan made sure she stayed close to Natalie in case what awaited them inside the station proved to be too much for her to bear. It would be very difficult for a mother to watch her daughter booked for a murder she didn’t commit.

As soon as they entered the police station, Alex, Jeff, and Kate approached the desk and announced their arrival to the sergeant on duty. Almost immediately, the police captain who had interrogated Kate the night of Marco’s death, sauntered down the hallway.

“I see you made it back from the concert,” Captain Darnell said to Kate when he stopped at the desk. “I’m glad we were able to do this without a scene.”

“You’d better have a damn good reason for dragging my client down here at this time of night, Darnell.” Hamilton moved in front of Kate. “Something a little more incriminating than a young valet who just happens to remember that he saw a woman on the ledge with Petrone. A tad coincidental that just when you realized you have no case against my client, the kid suddenly has a total recall moment, don’t you think?”

Darnell stared hard at Hamilton making it obvious there was no love lost between the two. “It was enough to get a warrant against your—”

“For now,” Jeff interrupted. “I’ll have her out of here before the judge has time to finish his first cup of coffee in the morning.”

“That may be true, Mr. Hamilton, but right now, I’ll need to proceed.” He turned to Kate. “Ms. Moreland, you’re being charged with the murder of Marco Petrone. My officers will take you to the back, read you your Miranda rights, and then book you.”

A flash of panic crossed Kate’s face, and Alex reached out to touch her shoulder. She hugged him, then turned to her mother, who was fighting back tears. “Mom, I’ll see you in the morning. Please don’t worry.”

Neither woman wanted to let go, and it was only after Darnell cleared his throat that Kate finally pulled out of her mother’s embrace. Then, like an obedient lamb being led to slaughter, she followed the officers down the hallway.

“I still can’t believe you arrested her on the word of a young man who admitted on the night of the murder that the balcony was too high for him to see anything. Now all of a sudden he says he saw clearly enough to make out the image of a woman, and you buy into it like you had just found the murder weapon.”

“Witnesses have been known to remember things the first few days after the crime,” Darnell said with a smirk on his face.

“Just because he said he saw a woman doesn’t mean it was my sister, Captain. There were plenty of other women at the party that night, and from what I understand, several may have had a good reason for wanting to harm Marco Petrone.” Alex nailed the police captain with a smirk of his own.

“Again, this may be true, Mr. Moreland, but none of these other women were upstairs when the man was shoved over the balcony.”

“And that’s another thing, Darnell,” Jeff interrupted. “The toxicology report I received this morning from your office showed that Marco Petrone’s blood was loaded with more than enough alcohol and cocaine to suggest there’s a good probability the man accidently fell over the rail himself. With that amount of depressants in his body, any jury would agree that he would have had to have been more than a little unstable on his feet.” He shrugged. “It isn’t too much of a stretch to imagine him wandering out to the balcony after he hit my client and then leaning over a little too far, is it?”

“It wouldn’t be if we didn’t have an eyewitness who said he saw a woman out there with him, and according to everyone we questioned at the party, your client was the only woman upstairs at the time.”

Alex glanced toward Jordan and she gave him the okay with a bob of her head. Turning back to Captain Darnell, he locked his hands across his chest. “There was at least one other woman up there with Petrone when he fell that night.”

Both Darnell and Hamilton’s head snapped around to face Alex.

“And how would you know that, Mr. Moreland?” the captain asked.

“Someone mentioned it to Ms. McAllister during an interview.”

All eyes turned to Jordan.

“It’s true. My source said she saw another woman go up the staircase right after Kate.”

“And I don’t suppose your source mentioned who this other woman was?” The tips of his lips curled in a smile, as if he was certain he had just caught her in a lie.

It felt like she was about to throw Emilio’s daughter under the proverbial bus, but there was no other option. She looked up at Alex for reassurance. When he encouraged her with a half smile, she said, “Tina Calabrese.”

“What?” Jeff Hamilton turned to her “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”

Jordan didn’t like his tone. “Because I only found out myself yesterday. I was waiting to tell Alex tonight at dinner. I figured he’d know what to do with the information.”

“So does your source have a name?” Darnell asked.

“I’d rather not say right now,” Jordan said, hoping she didn’t have to admit that Ginny Bruno had actually confessed to Victor and not to her.

Darnell took a step in her direction. “Look, Ms. McAllister, I know you write a culinary column over in Ranchero. It isn’t like you have to protect your sources here. I just need the name of the woman who made that statement so I can investigate your claim.”

Jordan looked at Hamilton, who was staring at her as if she had just confessed to the murder herself. “Her name is Ginny Bruno, and she’s one of the festival planners. She was at the party and was sitting directly across from the staircase. She saw everyone who went up there that night. When I was interviewing her for my column yesterday, she blurted out that she’d seen Tina head that way right after Kate did with another man she thought was Petrone.”

Darnell glanced down at his watch before turning to the desk sergeant. “Get Cummings and Jaworski to pick up this Ginny Bruno in the morning and bring her in for questioning.” He twirled around to face Jordan. “Where did you say she lived?”

“I have no idea,” Jordan replied, shaking her head. “If I had to guess, though, I’d say she and her sister were staying at a local hotel in Plainville.”

“Have Cummings check that out. If necessary, call the head of the festival’s planning committee to find out where we can reach her. I want this woman at the station first thing tomorrow.” He paused as if contemplating his next move. “And send a couple of uniforms to pick up Tina Calabrese in the morning as well.”

Alex turned to his mother who, up to this point, hadn’t said a word. “Mom, Jordan is going to drive you home now. There’s no sense in you hanging around here all night. I’ll stay in case Kate needs anything.”

“I won’t go home,” she protested. “Every time I look at her empty bed, I’ll think about her.” She grabbed her son’s arm. “Let me stay. Please, Alex?”

Alex shook his head. “I need you to do this for Kate, Mom.”

Jordan stepped up and reached for Natalie’s hand. “How about if you spend the night at my apartment? You can sleep in my bed, and I’ll take the couch.”

Natalie looked up at her son, probably hoping he would give in and let her stay. When he didn’t, she slumped her shoulders in a gesture of defeat. “Okay, but I expect you to call me the minute you know something—anything at all, no matter what time of the night. Promise me.”

“You have my word. Now go with Jordan so Jeff and I can work on getting Kate out of here.”

Natalie handed Jordan the keys to Kate’s car and followed her out of the building.

The fifteen minute ride to Jordan’s apartment seemed like forever with little conversation between the two. Jordan wanted to believe everything was going to be okay for Kate, but she had a niggling feeling that it wasn’t going to happen that way. So much could go wrong.

What if Ginny was still furious with Victor over his mustache remark and denied seeing Tina go upstairs that night? If, in fact, the valet really had seen a woman on the balcony, was it possible that Tina herself was actually the killer? She had certainly been mad enough at Marco earlier that evening, but was that anger enough for her to flip out and kill her fiancé? If that were true, what if Tina decided to save her own butt and verified the valet’s statement? She might even say she actually saw Kate push Marco over the ledge. Then there was the mysterious man Ginny saw going up the stairs with her. A man who could or could not have been Marco Petrone.