Supreme Justice

Chapter Thirty-four

Mary Garrett had been expecting a call from Sarah Woodruff ever since she’d read about John Finley’s murder. The first words Sarah spoke were tinged with panic.

“Mary, Arnie Lasswell is here-at my house-with another detective. They have a search warrant, and they want to question me.”

“Don’t say a thing, and put Arnie on the line.”

“Hey, Mary,” Lasswell said. The two knew each other because the detective had investigated a number of cases Mary had defended.

“What’s up, Arnie?” Mary asked.

“We have a warrant to search your client’s house and car in connection with John Finley’s murder. We’d also like to talk to her.”

“Can you tell me anything else, like why she’s a suspect?”

“Monte Pike is running the show. You’ll have to ask him.”

“What happened to Max?”

“I guess Jack wanted to try someone new this time around.”

“OK. Look, I’m coming over. I don’t want anyone talking to Sarah, understood?”

“Gotcha. I put her in the kitchen with a cup of coffee.”

“OK, and be gentle during the search, OK? Make sure nothing is broken or torn. You guys screwed up the first time. If Sarah is innocent this time, too, you won’t want to put the bureau and the DA’s office in an even worse light.”

“She’s a fellow officer, Mary, and I am sorry for what she went through. I’ll be gentle as a lamb.”

It took Mary twenty-five minutes to get to Sarah’s house. When the uniform at the front door let her in, she saw a team of police officers working their way through the living room and heard drawers and closet doors opening and closing on the floor above. Arnie Lasswell came down for a few minutes and laid out the ground rules, which included staying in the kitchen with her client and staying out of everybody’s way.

Mary made small talk with Sarah for a few minutes, then called Monte Pike on her cell phone. She’d had two cases with Pike, which ended in pleas, so she had not had a chance to see the young DA in action, but Mary’s impressions of the prosecutor were positive. Mary thought that Pike saw law as a game like chess and didn’t take his work personally. He was definitely smart and honest; he worked hard, but he had a good sense of humor.

“Monte, it’s Mary Garrett,” she said when they were connected.

“Yeah, Arnie said you were coming over to make sure his boys don’t steal the silverware.”

“With the mayor cutting down on overtime, I hear the rank and file are getting desperate.”

Monte laughed. “So, what can I do for you?”

“How about you tell me why you’re sifting through Ms. Woodruff’s lingerie.”

“Why did I think that would be your first question? God, I hate being right all the time.”

“And?”

“I’ll tell you some stuff but not everything. A grand jury hasn’t even been convened-and it may never be-so I’m going to keep some info close to the vest. I will tell you that Ann Paulus, the neighbor who called 911 in the first case, saw Finley go into your client’s house. She’s pretty certain it was the evening of the murder.”

“Why only pretty certain?”

“That’s for me to know and you to find out until I’m required to give you discovery. But I will tell you she heard arguing and what she thought might have been a shot or two. And that’s it for now.”

“OK. Will you give me the courtesy of telling me if you indict Ms. Woodruff?”

“Sure thing.”

“Will you let her surrender herself?”

“I guess she’s entitled to a little leeway in light of the mess we made last time.”

“Are you certain you’re not stepping in it again?”

“Unlike some people who shall remain nameless, I don’t shoot first and ask questions later.”

“What are you thinking about for a charge?”

“You want to know if I’m going for a lethal injection?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know enough to answer that question right now.”

“Fair enough.”

“Honestly, Mary, I sincerely hope this search is an exercise in futility. I don’t enjoy making life difficult for someone who’s already had one awful experience with the justice system. But I’ll go after Ms. Woodruff full-bore if I believe, beyond a reasonable doubt, that she murdered John Finley.”

As soon as the last police car was out of sight, Mary got down to business.

“Monte Pike is in charge of your case, and he isn’t a loose cannon like Max Dietz. This guy is very bright and very methodical. He didn’t tell me much, but he did tell me that your neighbor, Ann Paulus, will testify that she saw Finley go into your condo around the time he was killed. Was he here?”

“Yes. The bastard broke in.”

“Why would he do that?”

“He said he was on the run.”

“From whom?”

“He wouldn’t tell me. He said I would be in danger if I knew.”

“If he was on the run, why did he go to your place?”

“He came back for his duffel bag. He said there were passports and ID in different names he could use. He’d hidden the bag in my house just before he was kidnapped.”

“Pike told me the neighbor heard an argument and possibly shots.”

“There was an argument, but I didn’t shoot John, even though I was tempted. When I caught the bastard sneaking around my house, I thought he was a burglar. I fired a shot into the floor at his feet.”

Mary had seen an officer digging something out of the floor in the hall. She made a note to ask if it was a bullet.

“When I saw who it was, I went ballistic. The son of a bitch ruined my life, Mary. I’m pushing papers, my chances of making detective are slim and none, I was humiliated and forced to stand trial. I let John know what I thought of him. That’s when he explained what happened and why he couldn’t help me right away. I calmed down a little after that and told him to take the duffel bag and get out. When he left, he was alive and well.”

“What did Finley tell you?”

“He said he was a navy SEAL with contacts in the CIA. After he left the military, he freelanced for the Agency on occasion, and they took him off the books so anyone who checked on him wouldn’t know about his background. TA Enterprises was created to purchase and refit the China Sea and to provide money to finance the operation that almost got John killed.”

“Tell me about that.”

“John told me that the China Sea was anchored in the Columbia River near Shelby. On the night he was kidnapped, she had just returned from a rendezvous at sea where she’d picked up a cargo of hashish from a freighter from Karachi, Pakistan. John guessed that the hashish was going to be sold to pay for covert operations that couldn’t be financed from budgeted funds because they were illegal.

“John told me that a crew member named Talbot murdered the rest of the crew. John killed him in a gunfight, but he was wounded. My house was the only place he could think of, so he drove here. He still had a key. He’d just finished hiding the duffel bag when two men broke in and attacked him.

“John thought that Talbot didn’t know that the CIA was behind the smuggling operation and thought John was just another drug dealer. He thought Talbot cut a deal with a Mexican named Hector Gomez to steal the hashish. John’s kidnappers worked for Gomez. They took him to a deserted spot and were going to kill him, but a team of government agents rescued him. Everything that happened on the ship was kept quiet so the people who were going to buy the hashish wouldn’t get alarmed and back out.”

“Why didn’t John come forward earlier?”

“He couldn’t stop my prosecution without blowing the deal. After he sold the hashish, he insisted on helping me. That’s when he made that video.”

“If I can corroborate your story, I might be able to convince Pike to drop the case against you.”

“God, Mary, I hope so. I can’t go through another trial.”

Woodruff had been fighting to keep her composure, but she suddenly burst into tears and buried her face in her hands. Mary felt helpless as she watched her shoulders shake with each wrenching sob.

“I didn’t do anything. You have to believe me. If anyone killed John, it would be the drug dealers or the CIA. I just wanted John out of my life.”

“Well, he’s back in it. Hopefully, he won’t be for long.”