Gone, but not forgotten

Chapter Twenty-four

The door to the jail interview room opened and Darius walked in. He was dressed in the shirt and suit pants he had been wearing when he was arrested. His eyes were bloodshot and he seemed less self-assured than he looked during their other meetings.

"I knew you'd be here, Tannenbaum," Darius said, trying to appear calm but sounding a little desperate.

"I don't want to be. I'm required to represent you until another attorney relieves me of my obligation."

"You can't leave me in the lurch."

"I haven't changed my mind, Martin. I meant everything I said the other day."

"Even though you know I'm innocent?"

"I don't know that for certain. And even if you are innocent, it doesn't change what you did in Hunter's Point."

Darius leaned forward slightly and locked his eyes on hers.

"You do know I'm innocent, unless you think I'm stupid enough to murder my wife in my basement, then call Alan Page and tell him where to find the corpse."

Darius was right, of course. The case against him was too pat and the timing of this new killing too opportune. Doubts had kept Betsy up for most of the night, but they had not changed the way she felt about Darius.

"We'll be going up to court in a few minutes. Page will arraign you on a complaint charging you with Lisa's murder. He'll ask for a no-bail hold and ask Norwood to revoke your bail on the other charges. I can't see any way of convincing the judge to let you out on bail."

"Tell the judge what we know about Gordon. Tell him I'm being framed."

"We have no proof of that."

"So this is how it's going to be. I guess I figured you wrong, Tannenbaum. What happened to your high-blown sense of ethics? Your oath as an attorney? You're going to throw this one, aren't you, because you can't stand me?"

Betsy flushed with anger. "I'm not throwing a goddamn thing. I shouldn't even be here. What I am doing is letting you know the facts of life. judge Norwood took a big chance letting you out. When he sees the pictures of Lisa spread-eagled in your basement with her guts pulled through her abdominal wall, he is not going to feel like letting you out again."

"The State calls Victor Ryder, Your Honor," Alan Page said, turning toward the rear of the room to watch the courtly justice walk past the spectators and through the bar of the court. Ryder was six feet three with a full head of snow-white hair. He walked with a slight limp from a wound he had received in World War Two. Ryder kept his back rigid, scrupulously avoiding eye contact with Martin Darius, as if he was afraid of the rage that might overpower him if he set eyes on the man.

"For the record," Page said as soon as Ryder was sworn, "You are a justice of the Oregon Supreme Court and the father of Lisa Darius?"

"Yes," Ryder answered, his voice cracking slightly.

"Your (daughter was married to the defendant, was she not?"

"Yes, sir."

"When Mr. Darius was arrested, did your daughter move in with you?"

"She did."

"While Lisa was staying at your home, did her husband phone her?"

"Repeatedly, Mr. Page. He phoned for her several times each evening."

"Is it true that inmates can only make collect calls?"

"Yes. All his calls were collect."

"Did your daughter accept the calls?"

"She instructed me to refuse them."

"To the best of your knowledge, did your daughter speak to the defendant while he was incarcerated?"

"She may have, once or twice immediately after his arrest. Once she moved in with me, she stopped."

"What was your daughter's attitude toward her husband?"

"She was scared to death of him."

"Did this fear increase or decrease when Mr. Darius was released on bail?"

"It increased. She was terrified he would come for her."

"Did the defendant phone Lisa Darius after his release on bail?"

"Yes, sir. The first evening."

"Did you hear the conversation?"

"Snatches of it."

"Did you hear the defendant make any threats?"

"I believe he told her she would not be safe in Portland."

"When you say you believe he said this, what do you mean?"

"Lisa told me he said it. I was standing at Lisa's shoulder and could hear something of what he said."

"Do you know if Mrs. Darius believed the defendant meant this as a threat?"

"She was confused. She told me she wasn't certain what he meant. He seemed to be implying Lisa was in danger from someone else, but that didn't make sense. I took it that he was threatening her indirectly, so no blame could be placed on him."

"justice Ryder, when was the last time you saw your daughter alive?"

For a brief moment the judge lost his composure. He sipped from a cup of water before answering.

"we had breakfast together between seven and seven-thirty a.m. Then I drove to Salem."

"When did you return home?"

"Around six in the evening."

"Was your daughter home?"

"No."

"Did you see anything in the house that alarmed you?"

"The television was on, but no one was home. The sound was high enough so Lisa should have heard it and turned it off before she left."

"Was there evidence that she'd had a visitor?"

"There were two coffee cups in the kitchen and some coffee cake was out, as if she'd been talking to someone.

"Did your daughter leave a note telling where she was going?"

"No."

"Nothing further."

"Your witness, Mrs. Tannenbaum," judge Norwood said.

"He's lying," Darius whispered. "I never threatened Lisa. I was warning her."

"He's not lying, Martin. He's saying what he honestly believes happened.

If I push him, he'll just harden his position."

"Bullshit. I've seen you take witnesses apart. Ryder is a pompous asshole. You can make him look like a fool."

Betsy took a deep breath, because she did not want to lose her temper.

Then she leaned over to Darius and spoke quietly.

"Do you want me to push justice Ryder until he breaks down Martin? Do you really think it will help you get bail if I cause One of the most respected judges in the state, and the father of a young woman who has been brutally murdered, to crack up in open court in front of one of his colleagues?"

Darius started to say something, then shut up and turned away from Betsy.

"No questions, Your Honor," Betsy said.

"Our next witness is Detective Richard Kassel," Page told the judge.

Richard Kassel sauntered down the aisle. He was dressed in a brown tweed sports coat, tan slacks, a white shirt and a bright yellow print tie.

His shoes were polished and his black hair was styled. He had the smug look of a person who took himself too seriously.

"Detective Kassel, how are you employed?"

"I'm a detective with the Portland Police Bureau."

"Did you arrest the defendant yesterday evening?"

"Yes, sir."

"Tell the judge how that came about."

Kassel swiveled toward the judge.

"Detective Rittner and I received a call over the police radio. Based on that communication, I entered the grounds. The door to the defendant's house was locked.

We identified ourselves as police and demanded that the defendant open the door. He complied. Detective Rittner and I secured the defendant and waited for the other cars to arrive, as we had been ordered to do."

"Did other officers arrive soon after?"

Kassel nodded. "About fifteen minutes after we arrived, you and Detective Barrow arrived, followed by several others."

Betsy's brow furrowed. She checked something she had written during justice Ryder's testimony. Then she made some notes on her pad.

"Did you discover the body?" Page asked.

"No, sir. Our instructions were to stay with the defendant. The body was discovered by other officers."

"Did you give Mr. Darius his Miranda warnings?"

"Yes, sir."

"Did Mr. Darius make any statements?"

"Other than to ask to call his lawyer, no."

"Your witness, Mrs. Tannenbaum."

Betsy looked unsure of herself She asked the judge for a minute and pretended to look through a police report while she worked through her thoughts.

"Detective Kassel," Betsy asked cautiously, "who told you to enter the Darius estate and arrest Mr. Darius?"

"Detective Barrow."

"Did he say why you were to arrest Mr. Darius?"

"Yes, ma'am. He said there was a tip that the defendant had killed his wife and her body was in his basement."

"Did Detective Barrow tell you who gave him the tip?"

"I didn't ask."

"How was Mr. Darius dressed when he opened the door for you?"

"He was wearing a white shirt and pants."

"Mr. Darius, please stand up." Darius stood.

"Are these the pants?" Detective Kassel took a second to look at Darius.

"Yeah. Those are the ones we arrested him in."

"And this is the white shirt?"

"Yes."

"It's in the same condition as when you arrested him?"

"Yes."

"There's no blood on this shirt, is there?"

Kassel paused, then answered, "No, ma: am.

"Did you view the body of Lisa Darius at any point?"

"Yes."

"When it was still in the basement?"

"Yes."

"Mrs. Darius was disemboweled, was she not?"

"Yes."

"There was blood all over that basement, wasn't there?"

"Yes," Kassel answered grudgingly.

"The gate to the Darius estate is locked. How did you get in?"

"Detective Barrow had the combination."

"How is it that you arrived at the Darius estate so far ahead of Detective Barrow, Mr. Page and the other officers?" Betsy asked with an easy smile that disguised the tension she was feeling. She would know if her suspicions were correct after a few more questions.

"We were parked outside it."

"Was that by chance?"

"No, ma'am. We had the defendant under surveillance."

"How long had you had him under surveillance?"

"We've been SURVEILLING him for quite a while. Back before his first arrest."

"Just you and Detective Rittner?"

"Oh, no. There were three teams. We switched off You can't do that twenty-four hours."

"Of course not. When did your shift start on the day you arrested Mr.

Darius?"

"Around three in the afternoon."

"Where did you start?"

"Outside his office."

"I assume you took over for another surveillance team?"

"Right. Detectives Padovici and Kristol."

"When had they started?"

"Around five in the morning."

"Where did they start?"

"The defendant's house."

"why did the other team start so early?"

"The defendant gets up around five-thirty and leaves for work around six-thirty. By getting there at five, we kept him covered when he left his place."

"Is that what Kristol and Padovici did?"

"Yeah."

"I suppose they followed Mr. Darius to work?"

"That's what they said."

"Anything unusual happen that day, according to the detectives?"

"No. He went right to work. I don't think he ever left his office.

Detective Padovici said it looked like he sent out for sandwiches at lunchtime. Around six a bunch of guys in suits left. I think they were having a meeting."

"When Mr. Darius left, you followed him home?"

"Right."

"Was he ever out of your sight?"

"No, ma'am."

"How long after Mr. Darius arrived home did you receive the instructions from Detective Barrow to enter the Darius estate and arrest Mr. Darius?"

"Not long."

"Give me your best guess."

"Uh, about fifteen, twenty minutes."

Betsy paused. She felt sick about asking the next series of questions, but her sense of duty, and the possibility that the answers could prove her client innocent, overcame her revulsion at the prospect of Martin Darius walking free.

"Did you ever see Mr. Darius with Lisa Darius that day?"

"No, ma'am."

"What about Padovici and Kristol? Did they say they saw Mr. Darius with his wife?"

Kassel frowned, as if he suddenly realized where Betsy's questions were leading. Betsy looked to her left and saw Alan Page in an animated discussion with Randy Highsmith.

"I can't recall," he answered hesitantly.

"I assume you wrote a daily surveillance log listing any unusual occurrences?"

"Yes."

"And the other members of the surveillance team also kept logs?"

"Yes."

"Where are the logs?"

"Detective Barrow has them."

Betsy stood. "Your Honor, I would like the logs produced and Detectives Kristol and Padovici made available for (Questioning. justice Ryder testified that he last saw his daughter at seven-thirty a.m. Detective Kassel says Padovici and Kristol reported that Mr. Darius left his estate at six-thirty and went directly to work. if neither team saw Mr.

Darius with his wife during the day, when did he kill her? We can produce the people who were with Mr. Darius yesterday. They'll say he was in his office from about seven a.m. until a little after six p.m." judge Norwood looked troubled. Alan Page leaped to his feet.

"This is nonsense, judge. The surveillance was on Darius, not his wife.

The body was in the basement. Mr. Darius was with the body."

"Your Honor," Betsy said, "Mr. Darius could not have killed his wife before he got home, and he was only home for a short time when Detective Kassel arrived.

The person who disemboweled Lisa Darius would have blood all over him.

There was no blood on my client.

Look at his white shirt and his pants.

"I suggest that Mr. Darius is being set up. Someone was at justice Ryder's house having coffee with Lisa Darius during the day. It wasn't the defendant. Lisa Darius left the house without turning off the television. That's because she was forced to leave. That person took her to the estate and murdered her in the basement, then phoned in the anonymous tip that led the police to the body."

"That's absurd," Page said. "Who is this mysterious person? I suppose you'll suggest the mystery man also butchered the four people we found at your client's construction site."

"Your Honor," Betsy said, "Ask yourself who knew the body of Lisa Darius was in Mr. Darius's basement.

Only the killer or someone who saw the murder. Is Mr. Page suggesting that Mr. Darius found his wife — alive in his home, butchered her in the fifteen minutes or so between the time Detective Kassel lost sight of him and the time Detective Kassel arrested him, got no blood on his white shirt while disemboweling her and was such a good citizen that he reported himself to the police so they could arrest him for murder?" judge. Norwood looked troubled. Betsy and Alan Page watched him intently.

"Mrs. Tannenbaum," the judge said, "your theory depends on Mr. Darius leaving his estate at six-thirty and being in his office all day."

"Yes, Your Honor."

The judge turned to Alan Page. "I'm keeping Mr. Darius in jail over the weekend. I want you to give copies of the logs to Mrs. Tannenbaum and I want the detectives here Monday morning. I'll tell you, Mr. Page, this business has me seriously concerned. You better have a good explanation for me. Right now, I can't see how this man killed his wife."

Goddamn it, Ross, how did this slip by you?"

"I'm sorry, Al. I don't review the log entries every day."

"If Darius didn't go near justice Ryder's house, we have trouble, Al,"

Randy Highsmith said.

"The surveillance teams must have screwed up", Page insisted. "She was there. She got into the basement somehow. Didn't you tell me there were paths through the woods? The surveillance teams weren't watching Lisa.

She could have used the paths to sneak onto the estate while the teams were tailing Darius."

"Why would she go to the estate if she was terrified of Darius?"

Highsmith asked.

"He could have sweet-talked her over the phone," Page said. "They were man and wife."

"Then why sneak in?" Highsmith asked. "Why not drive through the front gate and up to the front door? It's her house. It makes no sense for her to sneak in if she was going back willingly."

"Maybe the press has been hounding her and she wanted to avoid reporters."

"I don't buy that."

"There's got to be a logical explanation," Page answered, frustrated by the seeming impossibility of the situation.

"There are a few other things that are nagging at me, Al," Highsmith told his boss.

"Let's hear them," Page said.

"How did Nancy Gordon know where to find the body? Tannenbaum's right.

Darius couldn't have killed Lisa at night, because she was alive in the morning. He couldn't have killed her off the estate. We had him under surveillance every minute during the day. If Darius did it, he killed her in the house. There aren't windows in the basement. How would anyone else know what was going on? There are problems with the case, Al. We have to face them."

"How was the meeting?"

"Don't ask," Raymond Colby told his wife. "My head's like putty. Help me with this tie. I'm all thumbs."

"Here. Let me," Ellen said, untying the Windsor knot.

"Can you fix me a drink? I'll be in the den. I want to watch the late news."

Ellen pecked her husband on the cheek and walked toward the liquor cabinet. "Why don't you just go to bed?"

"Bruce Smith made some dumb comment on the highway bill. Wayne insists I hear it. It should be on toward the top of the news. Besides, I'm too wound up to go right to sleep."

Colby went into the den and turned on the news.

Ellen came in and handed the senator his drink.

"If this doesn't relax you, we'll think of something that will," she said mischievously.

Colby smiled. "What makes you think I have the energy for that kind of hanky-panky?"

"A man who can't rise to the occasion shouldn't be on the Supreme Court."

Colby laughed. "You've become a pervert in your old age."

"And about time, too."

They both laughed, then Colby suddenly sobered.

He pointed the remote control at the screen and turned up the volume. a startling new development in the case against millionaire builder Martin Darius, who is accused of the torture-murder of three women and one man in Portland, Oregon. A week ago Darius was released on bail when trial judge Patrick Norwood ruled that there was insufficient evidence to hold him. Yesterday evening, Darius was rearrested when police found the body of his wife, Lisa Darius, in the basement of the Darius mansion.

A police spokesman said she had been tortured and killed in a manner similar to the other victims.

"Today, in a court hearing, Betsy Tannenbaum, Darius's attorney, argued that Darius was the victim of a frame-up after it was revealed that police surveillance teams followed Darius all day on the day his wife was murdered and never saw him with his wife. The hearing will resume Monday.

"On a less serious note, Mayor Clinton Vance is reported to have Colby turned off the set and closed his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Ellen asked.

"How would you feel if I was not confirmed by the Senate?"

"That's not possible."

Colby heard the uncertainty in his wife's voice. He was so tired. "I have to make a decision. It concerns something I did when I was governor of New York. A secret that I thought would stay buried forever."

"What kind of secret?" Ellen asked hesitantly.

Colby opened his eyes. He saw his wife's concern and took her hand.

"Not a secret about us, love. It concerns something I did ten years ago.

A decision I had to make. A decision I would make again."

"I don't understand."

"I'll explain everything, then you tell me what I should do."