Marcie's Murder (42 page)

Steele crossed his legs calmly and folded his arms across his chest, craving a cigarette. It was his jail and he could break the rules and smoke if he wanted to, but unlike the man in front of him he was stronger than his cravings, stronger, smarter, more ambitious, more successful, with a hig
her ceiling
. A
better man.

“If she’s your alibi and she don’t come forward,” Steele pointed out, “you could be
screwed
. Hatfield can make a case against you tomorrow that’s good enough to get you the death penalty even without DNA evidence.”

Steele’s last words hit hard, reminding him that Marcie had been pregnant when she’d been killed. Murdering a pregnant woman was a capital offense in Virginia.

“Leave
Pricie
alone,”
he
repeated.

Steele considered the possibilities for a moment. “Muncy could drive up there, have a quiet word with her. Corroborate your story. If it’s true and the investigation leads somewhere else, she’s not a factor and she stays out of it. We just tell the press something vague and non-specific.”

What
he
left unsaid was that if Askew were charged and the case went to trial, she’d be dragged into it
regardless
by Askew’s own lawyer as a witness for the defense, and she’d not only become a focus of attention for the media but fair game for Hatfield to destroy as he saw fit. Steele knew what was on Askew’s mind. He just didn’t give much of a shit, one way or the other.

“I don’t like it at all,” Askew said.

Steele shrugged. In ten seconds he was going to stand up and go
back
home to bed.

“I could check on her,” Muncy offered. “See if she’s okay. Have a word with her
husband;
let him know somebody’s still watching him. Ask her about Saturday night while I’m there.”

Askew opened his mouth to tell Muncy to butt the fuck out of it, then closed it again. “Mmm.”

I
can
be discreet, Billy
. B
elieve it or not.”

Askew stared hard at him, then nodded. “Okay.”

Muncy nodded back. “Okay.”

Steele stood up and walked out without another word.

30

It was getting late, but Hank was restless and couldn’t sleep.
He lay in bed staring up into the darkness, watching headlights
crawl
across the ceiling as cars
drove
by on
the highway. He hoped it wouldn’t be all that long before he was able to fall asleep in a motel room again without half-expecting the door to be kicked in at any moment.
It
was no consolation
that the primary door-kicker around here, Billy Askew, was safely behind bars. Any door could be kicked open at any time by anybody,
when you really thought about it
.

Hank
mulled over
Billy Askew as a suspect and didn’t really like the way it fit together.
Unless he could satisfactorily explain his whereabouts on Saturday night when his wife was killed, Askew would be Donnie Hatfield’s best bet for a conviction at this point, depending of course on what kind of physical evidence came out of the lab tests ordered by the medical examiner, but Hank felt uneasy. The compass in his head was slowly swinging toward David Morris. There was reason to believe that Morris was the other man in Marcie’s sex life and that he was the father of her child. There was talk about him being physically abusive of women. He was at Gerry’s on Saturday night around the time that Marcie was murdered.

It bothered Hank that they hadn’t been able to find him. Hall said he’d already interviewed Morris and that the former chief of police had
had
nothing useful to contribute to the investigation. Branham, when asked today about his relationship with Morris and his assessment of Morris’s potential as a suspect, had been vague and uncomfortable. He’d only known Morris for a year while the man served as their “star” chief. He hadn’t liked him all that well, hadn’t socialized with him off-duty, hadn’t really gotten to know him before he
’d
resigned to run for
s
heriff.
They hadn’t really spoken since then.

Hank threw himself out of bed and went into the washroom. When he came back out he sat on the side of the bed and deliberated. What about Hall? Hank realized he had no idea what Hall’s attitude toward Morris might be. His loyalty to Billy Askew was clearly evident, but it occurred to Hank that Hall had never expressed an actual opinion of Morris. Perhaps Hall knew more than he was letting on.

Making up his mind, he got dressed and drove over to Hall’s house. The lights were all out. Hall was likely in bed,
since
it was now past midnight. Hank pulled into the driveway and pounded on the locked metal screen door of the enclosed porch.

A dog in someone’s back yard began to bark, causing another dog
farther away
to begin barking
as well
. Hank pounded again.

“Hall! It’s Donaghue! Open up!”

The closest dog began to yodel an octave higher than before, excited by the sound of Hank’s voice in the otherwise quiet neighborhood.
The light came on in the enclosed porch
.
T
he inside door opened.

“What the hell are you doing? It’s late at night. I’m trying to sleep.”

“Open up, Hall,” Hank said. “We need to talk.”

“Are you psychotic? It’s after midnight. Get lost.”

“Let me in, Hall.
I want to talk to you about David Morris.
”

Grumbling and grousing, Hall came out and unlocked the screen door. Hank followed him inside
in
to the kitchen, where Hall gestured to a round wooden table with four woven place mats and matching napkins in wooden rings
set neatly in front of four oak press-back chairs
.

“Sit down, Lieutenant. Want some coffee? I’m going to have some.”

Hank noticed a subtle difference in Hall’s demeanor. “With a whisk
e
y chaser?”

Hall poured water into a coffee machine and shook his head. “Not tonight.
T
omorrow night, but not tonight. You said you want to talk about Morris. What about him? I told you already he didn’t have anything useful to say about Saturday night.”

“Branham,
Karen
,
and I
conducted a few more interviews this afternoon. We asked them
who Marcie Askew might have been messing with. Morris’s name
came
up.
It’s possible he was
the father of her unborn child.”

“It’s actually a
double homicide, isn’t it, Lieutenant?” Hall said, scooping coffee into the basket and shoving it into the machine. “Nobody’s mentioned that small detail yet
.
The Virginia
Criminal
Code
has
a section
covering
fetal homicide
, although
at only three months the fetus
probably
wouldn’t be legally accepted as a separate victim.
Just the same
, morally,
the killer’s
responsible for two deaths, not just one
, and it’s a capital offense on top of that
.”

“
I see what you mean.
” Hank
turned one of the chairs sideways and sat down, resting his elbow on the table
. “
You worked for David Morris for a year
.
Is he that kind of guy? Someone who’d have an affair with another man’s wife, physically abuse her, lose his temper
,
and strangle her to death?”

“I don’t know.” Hall switched on the coffee machine and leaned against the counter. “I just
got to
sleep
when you started pounding
. I feel like dog shit. After you left
,
I put the booze away and ate some supper. I had a little nap, watched some TV, didn’t have anything else to drink, went outside and stood in the backyard for a while,
remembered the names of all the constellations my dad had taught me when I was a kid, wondered what the names of the other ones were that he didn’t tell me about,
came in, went to bed, stared at the insides of my eyelids for a while, fell asleep,
then
woke up when
all hell started to bust loose
.
I was dreaming I was dating some woman. The woman had a dog, and the dog didn’t like me. It kept barking at me. Turned out it was only you
and the dog down the street
.
”

“What did you think of Morris, Hall? How did you get along with him?”

Hall rubbed his forehead and nodded. “I agree, Lieutenant. Let’s not dwell on personal stuff we can’t change overnight. I’ll have a drink tomorrow, just not right now. I didn’t like Morris one bit. He was a stuck-up, self-righteous
,
greas
y little fuck
er
that no one liked, least of all me. He treated me with complete contempt. I’d been a detective for a few years by the time he came along
,
but I’d started drinking by then and it was showing. He had this sneery, superior attitude I couldn’t stand. The way Grimes and some of the other uniforms treat me? They picked it up from Morris, the prick.”

“Were there ever any conduct complaints against Morris filed by women?”

Hall shook his head. “No.
But some of the guys, like Grimes, Collins
,
and Brooks, liked to talk about his ‘way with women.’ That’s how they like to put it. He had a ‘way with women.’ I may be a bachelor who wouldn’t know one end of a woman from the other, Lieutenant, but I’d never treat a woman the way Morris treat
ed
them.”

“Rough? Control freak? Dominating?”

Hall took two coffee mugs down from a counter. “You could say that. How do you take your coffee?”

“One sugar. Cream if you have it. Did you hear of any connection between him and Marcie Askew?”

Hall took a carton of coffee cream out of the refrigerator and put it on the table in front of Hank, followed by a sugar bowl and a spoon. “No. Nothing.
B
ut they wouldn’t say anything about Marcie even if they knew. Too scared that Billy would hear them.”

“
Think h
e’s been involved with women at the college?”

“Is the sky blue?” Hall took the carafe out of the coffee machine and filled Hank’s mug. “It’s like a joke to
men around here
. College women are supposed to be like these horny minks running around throwing themselves at every man they see.” Hall
snorted. “In their dreams.” He
poured his own coffee, then sat down across from Hank. “
Morris
didn’t like women, that much was obvious.”

Hank
fixed his coffee and
moved the carton of cream
closer to Hall. “What makes you say that?”

Hall shook his head. “
I take it black. Real black.” He sipped and winced as it burned his lips. “He liked to screw them, sure enough, but he had no use for them otherwise. Neil wanted to start recruiting women
into the job
back then, just as one example, but Morris told him flat out to forget it. Had no use for the idea at all. Typical, too, that he’d promote a guy like Neil and then never listen to any of his ideas.”

“Branham was promoted to
d
eputy
c
hief under Morris?”

Hall nodded, looking into his coffee mug. Then he met Hank’s stare and shook his head. “No, don’t get the wrong idea.
Neil was by far the best candidate for the job. Even the
m
ayor liked him. Neil didn’t have
any
more use for
Morris
than I did, but Neil’s very astute politically and knows how to keep his mouth shut. I don’t know what he’s told you about Morris, but there’s no misplaced loyalty there. He was just as relieved as I was when the guy resigned and Billy took over.”

“
Branham was already
d
eputy
c
hief when Askew was promoted over his head?”

“People around here treat me like I’m invisible, Lieutenant. Like I don’t exist. So I hear stuff I’m not always supposed to hear. When Morris quit
,
Blankenship came in to talk to Neil about taking over. Neil turned him down flat and said they’d be nuts to pass over Billy a second time. The
m
ayor didn’t like it, but Neil said he wanted to stay as
d
eputy
c
hief for a few years to learn the administrative side of the job first. Blankenship
agreed
and gave the job to Billy. There was no intrigue there. It happened the way it should have.”