Chapter 10
TEN
MINA
“Defendant’s motion to suppress is denied.
” Judge Elena Clarke banged her gavel and gathered her paperwork.
Before she left the bench, she gave me a wide-eyed glare.
I knew what it meant. I had won today, but only by the skin of my teeth.
At thirty-two, Elena was one of the youngest judges in the state.
Like Lock, her last name carried weight in this county.
Her father had served as Chief Judge for thirty years before retiring two years ago, making way for Elena’s appointment.
Last November, she won her seat outright in a hotly contested election that still garnered hard feelings from her opponent, Vic Jaffe, whose client, Shawn Cummings, was now whispering obscenities to him in anger.
“Mr. Cummings?” Judge Clarke said. “Would you like me to add contempt of court to your list?”
“No, Your Honor,” Jaffe said. He curled his fingers around Cummings’s upper arm and dragged him out of the courtroom.
When Cummings and Jaffe were safely gone, Elena caught my eye. “May I see you in chambers, Ms. Sobel?”
I gathered my things and followed her through the door to her chambers. Elena tore off her robes and hung them on a coat rack beside her desk. She wore a red-and-white polka-dot sleeveless dress. Her fashion choices were bold for this county. But I respected her style.
“Have a seat,” she said. She had a mass of thick red hair, which she wore piled on top of her head.
Rumor had it her father had suggested she put some gray streaks in it to give her more gravitas.
She wisely ignored him and let her judicial talent speak for her.
I’d found her fair, efficient, and in complete command of her courtroom.
“You wanna talk about it?” she asked me.
I smiled. “Is it that obvious?”
“You’re preoccupied with something.”
“Did I do something wrong in there?” Her observation took me off guard. She wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t want to tell her everything that had been swimming in my mind since I put down the negative pregnancy test and kissed Lock goodnight.
“Of course not,” Elena said. “But you were going through the motions in there. Still no luck?”
I sighed, deciding to let her make an assumption.
We weren’t close friends in the sense of socializing outside of this building.
But she was someone I trusted and whose counsel I valued.
Even in the twenty-first century, the Benton County bar was made up of mostly men.
Elena was the only woman on the entire bench. And I felt bad for misleading her.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “That just really sucks. How is Lock taking it?”
“He’s typical Lock.”
“Sexy as hell?” She smiled. I knew she’d always loved Lock. It was why I couldn’t tell her what I’d been thinking. Not yet. “You know plenty of the single ladies of Benton County still resent you for snagging our most eligible bachelor.”
“Are you one of them?” I said, trying to play along.
“Me? Lock? No chance. I’ll admit I had a crush on him when I was sixteen. But no, you’re good for him.”
“I hope so.” I blushed.
“You are. He was broody and dark before you came along. Which, admittedly, added to his appeal.”
I probably should have changed the subject. But she’d opened a door. “Did Lock have a lot of girlfriends before me?” I fought hard not to add “or after.”
Elena tilted her head to the side, flashing a curious smile. “Are you worried about that?”
“No. Just ignore me,” I said. “I was just really hoping this would be the month.”
“Well, dammit anyway,” she said. “But… might the timing not be ideal right now?”
She had a sly twinkle in her eye. “What have you heard?”
“You’re an assistant prosecutor. A brilliant one. But that job is usually a stepping stone, not an end point. I heard a rumor your boss has eyes on higher office in next year’s election cycle. If he leaves, you’d be a natural to replace him.”
“Now you sound just like Lock.”
“I’ll always be grateful for his support in my campaign. I know full well I might have lost this seat without him.”
“He was glad to do it. And not because of who you’re related to. Just don’t do anything crazy and make a bid for the Michigan Supreme Court anytime soon. Though Lock thinks that’s in your future.”
“He is determined to put Lasalle Harbor in play in Lansing. If you ever do decide to run for office, you can count on me to help.”
My phone rang. “Sorry. I should have silenced that before I walked into your courtroom.”
Elena waved me off. “Take it. I’ve got an evidentiary hearing in about twenty minutes.”
I looked at my screen. Roy Dennison. “Thanks,” I whispered to Elena, then showed myself out.
“Hey, Roy. I was just about to call you. Judge Clarke denied the Cummings suppression motion. Good work on that warrant. I have a good feeling we might actually be able to convict that monster this time.”
“Good news,” he said. “Is your docket clear for the rest of the afternoon?”
“Uh… yes. Why?”
“I’m on my way back to my office from Ann Arbor. I should be there in an hour. We’ve got a major break in the Gretchen Small case. Her car was found at the bottom of a muddy ravine in Lodi Township.”
“Is there a body?” I asked.
“No. But the car’s covered in blood. Washtenaw County’s got the State Police crime scene unit out there. They gave me the highlights of what they’ve found so far. I want to go over it with you.”
“I’ll meet you as soon as you get back,” I said.
I walked into the parking garage. I’d have just enough time to grab lunch before Roy got back.
I hit my key fob, unlocking my car. As it happened, Vic Jaffe and Shawn Cummings were just a few feet away. Vic cut his conversation with his client short when he saw me.
“Nice wheels,” Shawn Cummings said to me, licking his lips. “Who’d you sleep with?”
“Get gone, Shawn,” Vic shouted to his client. Shawn climbed into his rusty pickup truck and drove away.
“Sorry about that,” Vic said. I had a good working relationship with him. But he tended to represent some of the more unscrupulous criminals in town. “He’s right about the nice wheels part. Birthday present?”
I felt self-conscious about my Aston Martin. Lock bought it for me on my last birthday. He had the thing wrapped with a big blue bow to match its Concours Blue paint. Not red. My fingers went to my watch and touched the hidden red silk ribbon beneath it.
“Yes,” I said.
“Those things run higher than my annual salary.”
I had the urge to apologize. I’d told Lock it was too much. I just wanted to drive a reliable Ford, the kind my father would have picked out and used his A-Plan discount. Lock wouldn’t hear of it.
“I’m not sure how you want me to respond to that,” I said.
“Sorry,” Vic said. “That was rude. I just meant it’s a nice car. See ya around, Mina.”
I got in my car. Elena Clarke’s red Lexus was parked beside mine. Oddly, Elena almost always wore red. Even if it was just her shoes poking out beneath her robe. I no longer had a single piece of clothing in that color.
I left the parking lot, grabbed a bagel at the nearby deli, and then drove back to Roy’s office just as he pulled in. He was on his cell phone when he exited his unmarked sedan. We made the short walk to his office. Roy finished his call and pulled a tablet out of the leather backpack he carried.
“That was the detective on scene,” he said. He pulled up the camera roll on his tablet and showed me a series of crime scene photographs. Gretchen Small drove a navy-blue Honda Accord. It lay on its side against a muddy hill. Roy scrolled to a wider shot. The ravine was next to a country road.
“She drove off the road?” I asked.
“Doesn’t seem like it. From what the analysis says, the car’s been there a couple of months at least. It wasn’t there six months ago, around the time Gretchen went missing. They’ll be able to give us a better estimated timeline once they’ve run some labs on the vegetation.”
“But no body?” I said.
“No, but it’s a whole lot of blood. If it all turns out to be Gretchen’s…”
“Then you’re looking at murder, no matter what,” I said.
“Right. The coroner will be able to say whether it’s enough blood loss to be survivable.”
“But you’ve been to enough crime scenes to know what you’re looking at,” I said.
“Pretty much. After six months with no leads until now, there wasn’t much hope she’d be found alive.”
“Our WhisprMatch bad guy killed her,” I said.
“We need to find him,” Roy said. “Fast.”
“He’ll kill again. If this is a pattern.”
“Without a doubt. It’s gonna take a week or two before we get the major testing back.
DNA in particular. But they’ll be able to tell us whether the blood found was Gretchen’s type.
I’ve given their analysts a heads-up on some specific things to look for.
This just turned into something else, Mina.
It makes our job that much more important. ”
“But we can’t jump to the conclusion that Corrine Egan’s case had anything to do with this. She’s alive.”
“Turn to the next photo,” he said.
I did. It was a close-up of the car’s interior. Roy touched the screen and zoomed in on the steering wheel. The air went out of me.
“Unless he escalated after her,” Roy said.
“And I’m starting to feel like that’s not a coincidence.
The rest of the task force feels it too.
Corrine might have been this close to becoming victim one.
We’re looking for a murderer now. There will be DNA, by the grace of God.
And that’s starting to look like a calling card. ”
Roy pointed to an object lying in the cup holder of the center console. A smartwatch. But there was something caught in its clasp and stained dark. Maybe with blood. By itself, it probably wouldn’t have meant anything. But there was no mistaking what I saw.
Wrapped with Gretchen Small’s smartwatch was a red silk ribbon the same length and width as the one I wore.