Long Shadows

Chapter 61

“You drive, I need to Google something,” said Decker after they left the courthouse.

As they got into the car, White said, “Let me guess — Florida law on spousal testimony?”

Decker nodded curtly. As they drove off he scrolled through some screens and said, “Okay, Florida has no testimonial privilege, but it does have a spousal communication privilege. So if they get married Langley could stop his wife from revealing confidential communications they had unless a couple of exceptions exist, which I’m sure the smart criminal lawyer will make sure never do.”

“But she already alibied him, Decker.”

“And if she was lying? If he told her to say that and then that communication is privileged and she can’t be asked about whether he told her to lie?”

“But how do we even charge the guy if the lady says he was with her that night?”

“We need to talk to her before she ties the knot.”

“You really think he might be our killer?”

“He sounds like an overbearing, slick creep to me, but I’ve met lots of them and most turn out to be scared of their own shadow. But it only takes one exception to that rule for a murder to happen. And keep in mind that if I’m right and there are two killers involved, nailing Langley only solves half the equation.”

“Again, the two-killers theory is not something I’m convinced of. Although I don’t see a guy like Langley stuffing foreign money down people’s throats and following us to Key Largo and taking out Kelly and shooting an FBI agent. But maybe he’s a sociopath.”

“Let’s also talk to Gloria Chase’s neighbors. And Langley’s. They might have seen him that night.”

“The murder took place in the middle of the night. They might not have seen anything because they were in bed.”

“We’ll never know if we don’t ask.”

They struck out in Langley’s upscale neighborhood. The people on either side of him had been out of town since before the murders. The neighbor across the street had seen nothing and couldn’t even tell them if Langley’s car was there that night, since he had a two-car garage.

“We can do traffic camera searches,” suggested White. “He wouldn’t have been going through any tolls, so we can’t capture anything there. We can follow the route from his house to Chase’s and see if anyone might have been around that night who might have seen something.”

“He drives a dark blue Bentley, so at least it’s a memorable vehicle.”

“How do you know that?”

“It was parked outside his office when we went to talk to him there,” said Decker.

“But how do you know it was his ride?”

“The vanity plate read LAW1. Doesn’t take a genius. And if his assistant or one of his associates is driving a Bentley, maybe we should apply to work for him.”

White looked chagrined.

“What?” he asked, noting this.

“I should have seen the Bentley and the plate.”

“I’ve got the advantage. Everything I see and hear, I remember, or pretty much everything.”

“Nice tool to have.”

“Yeah, but acquiring it was a real bitch.”

On the way to Chase’s neighborhood they stopped in at Ricardos. It was the place where Chase had told Decker that Langley had gone to get some gin the night of the murders, Decker told White.

A check of the receipts showed that Langley’s credit card had been used at five minutes past midnight to buy a bottle of gin. The man on duty had not been working during that time, so he couldn’t identify the picture of Langley that Decker showed him. Decker texted the picture to the clerk who had been on duty along with a message for the man to provide an answer on the ID.

They next spoke with three of Chase’s neighbors. One of them remembered the Bentley being there, but she couldn’t swear it was that night. The other two had not seen Chase or Langley that night, at least they didn’t think so. No one saw the Aston Martin, but Chase also had a garage where it could have been parked.

“Dead end,” said White as they walked back to their car.

“But at least it doesn’t conclusively rule out Langley as being the killer.”

“Well, if we can’t shake Chase’s story it sort of does.”

“We can pull the traffic camera records like you suggested.”

“If he used the Bentley. He might have another vehicle or he could have cabbed it or done a rideshare.”

“Or taken Chase’s car. We’ll have to check all angles.”

“You’re starting to think this guy is good for Cummins’s murder, aren’t you?”

He glanced at her. “I don’t know, Freddie. That’s why we do the dance.”

“But if so, Chase must be in on it.”

“You’d think, wouldn’t you?”

“But you don’t?”

“I’m not sure that lady would take that kind of risk for anyone. She strikes me as being very much into self-preservation.”

“But if she loves the guy? Love can mess you up. Makes you do stuff you wouldn’t have ever contemplated.”

Decker thought of Mary Lancaster taking her own life, because she had briefly forgotten her beloved daughter. “Yes, it can.”