Final judgment

EIGHTY

Mason drove Fish’s rental car, with Fish’s body lying in the backseat, to Fish’s house. The charge of mail fraud and the suspicion of murder would be buried with his client. Mason wanted more for him than that. He wanted Fish’s daughters to believe their father had died peacefully in his own home, his debts paid in full, their memories of him not tainted by murder. That meant finding Charles Rockley’s killer. Though Fish had no connection to the murders of Johnny Keegan and Mark Hill, Mason’s gut told him they were dominoes that fell when Rockley’s body hit the ground.

Blues followed in his pickup with Lila, awake but still groggy, riding shotgun. They were surprised that a police car wasn’t parked in front of Fish’s house after the APB had been issued for him.

They sat Fish in his easy chair, expecting that his body would be found in the morning by the housekeeper or perhaps by one of his daughters. His death would be classified as unattended, requiring an autopsy that would reveal his body had been moved after he had died. There would be questions to answer, but no crime had been committed.

After another trip to Lake Lotawana to pick up his SUV, Mason took Lila home. She rejected Mason’s apologies, insisting she’d known what she was getting into and making her own apology for getting caught.

“I would have gotten away with it,” she said, “if I had quit after I found the e-mail Johnny sent to Mr. Webb, but I kept poking around. Mr. Webb had an e-mail folder for travel. He had made a reservation for Johnny to go to New York and then make a connection to Saudi Arabia.”

“When was he supposed to leave?” Mason asked.

“Last Saturday,” she said. “The day after he was killed. The weird thing about it was it was a one-way ticket. Johnny was leaving and he wasn’t coming back.”

“Why were you so curious?”

“I know this makes me a real bitch, but me and Johnny had been spending time together again. He said he was finished with Carol Hill, but he didn’t tell me he was leaving. It made me wonder if he told her.”

It made Mason wonder too. It was after midnight when he left Lila’s house. He called Samantha Greer on her cell phone.

“Things are going crazy around here, Lou. What do you want?”

“Did you get a ballistics report yet on the bullet that killed Mark Hill?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Do me a favor. Check for a match with the bullet that killed Johnny Keegan.”

“Do you know something I should know?”

“Carol Hill was cheating on her husband with Keegan. Her husband was beating the crap out of her.”

“That I know. Carol may have killed her husband for beating her, but why would she kill her lover?”

“Because he dumped her for someone else and he was leaving the country on a one-way ticket,” Mason said.

“What about Rockley?” Samantha asked. “You think she went for the hat trick?”

“Carol says he raped her.”

“Even so, I don’t see Carol cutting him up.”

“She didn’t. I’m betting Keegan did. He knew about the connection between Fish and Webb and dumped Rockley’s body in the trunk of Fish’s car to throw suspicion at Fish.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. What connection between Fish and Webb?”

“It’s complicated. Ask the FBI.”

“We’re being overrun by the FBI at the moment and the lab doesn’t open until seven o’clock. It’ll have to wait till morning.”

“What’s with the FBI invasion?”

“You won’t believe this. The bank robbery was an inside job. The two agents-what were their names? Brewer and Holt-set the whole thing up. The feds released Mickey and want our help catching their agents. We cancelled the APB on Fish. Be sure you tell him.”

“Thanks. I’ll do that.”

“One other thing,” Samantha said. “Griswold told me about your come-to-Jesus session. You didn’t leave him much choice. He had to take it to the prosecuting attorney.”

“I know. Any word from Ortiz on what he’s going to do?”

“Ortiz doesn’t have much choice either. Hard to give a criminal defense lawyer a pass at the same time a couple of FBI agents make the Ten Most Wanted list. Are you going to be all right?”

“It’s no hill for a climber. Call me in the morning when you get the ballistic results.”