True Blue

CHAPTER 9

ROY KINGMAN had hit thirty-one shots in a row on his behind-the-door basketball hoop. The police had swarmed the place minutes after he’d phoned 911. It still didn’t seem possible that he’d gone to make coffee, opened the fridge, and caught Diane Tolliver’s dead body before it hit the floor. He’d been asked lots of questions by lots of people, some in uniform and some not. As the other lawyers had arrived at work, word had quickly spread as to what had happened. Several partners and a few associates had stopped by to see him, offering supportive words and also expressions of sympathy, puzzlement, and fear. One fellow lawyer had even seemed a bit suspicious of him.

The cops wouldn’t tell him anything. He didn’t know how long Diane had been dead. He didn’t even know what had killed the woman. There was no blood or wounds that he could see. Although he’d defended accused murderers when he’d been a CJA and had seen his share of autopsy photos, he wasn’t exactly an expert on violent death.

He looked at his desk full of work to do and then glanced away. Not today. The clients could wait. He hadn’t been Diane Tolliver’s closest confidant, but he had worked with her and liked her. She’d taught him a lot. And somebody had killed her and stuffed her in a fridge next to a container of days-old potato salad.

He palmed the little rubber ball, cocked his arm back, and with a smooth motion released his thirty-second shot. It sailed straight and true right to the hoop. Only the door opened and the rubber ball hit Beth Perry in the head instead. She bent down to pick it up and tossed it back to him as he rose from his chair, his mouth agape as his gaze took in the four stars. Not that he needed that to know who she was. The D.C. police chief was in the media spotlight quite a bit.

People marched in behind her. The last one closed the door. The last one was Mace, doing her best to get lost in the crowd. Beth introduced herself and some of the folks with her. She’d already interviewed the first responders and looked at the body. Other than Roy there were no witnesses, at least that they had found so far. The paramedics had preliminarily pronounced Tolliver dead, and the ME was on the way to make that pronouncement official.

As two detectives took notes, the chief guided Roy through the events of the morning and what he knew about the dead woman. Her questions were crisp, her methodology spot-on. This was not by accident; she’d worked homicide for two years.

Roy finally said, “You always do the questioning, ma’am? I thought you’d have, you know, some bigger butts to kick around.” He added hastily, “I meant that with all due respect.”

In the back of the room Mace smiled at his comment. Beth did too.

Beth said, “I like to keep my hand in things. So you were a CJA?”

“That’s right.”

“You didn’t like it there?”

“I like it here better.”

“So no reason you know of that someone would want to harm Diane Tolliver?”

“None that I can think of. She wasn’t married. She went out some, no serious dating, at least that she talked to me about.”

“Would she talk about things like that with you?”

“Well, probably not,” he admitted.

“Were you one of her nonserious dates?”

“No. It wasn’t like that with us. She was, well, she was a lot older than me.”

“Forty-seven.”

“Right. I’m about to turn thirty.”

“Okay. Go on.”

“Her clients were mostly big companies, most of them overseas. She traveled. We both did. She never mentioned any problems.”

“When you say you traveled, you mean together?”

“Sometimes, yeah.”

“Where, for example?”

“We have an office in London and one in Dubai too.”

“An office in Dubai?”

“Lot of money and development going on there. And they need lawyers.”

“Did she usually work late?”

“Only occasionally. I do too sometimes.”

“Did you ever work late together?”

“A few times.”

“You were the first to arrive this morning? Around seven-thirty?”

“Yes, at least I didn’t see anyone else.”

“The office space has a security system?”

“Yep. We’re each assigned cards, so that’ll tell you exactly when she came in.”

“And exactly when you came in too,” the voice said.

Everyone turned to stare at Mace, who’d looked chagrined the second she’d finished speaking. Her sister frowned and turned back to Roy, who had his gaze dead on Mace. He squeezed the rubber ball tight in his hand.

“But you don’t need the key card to leave the space after hours?” asked Beth.

“No, there’s a door release button you push.”

“And of course during business hours the security system is turned off?”

He said, “That’s right.”

“The garage elevator doesn’t have a key card access?”

“That’s right, but you need a key card to access the garage.”

“If you’re in a car.”

“Yeah, it is a gap in security, I know.”

“A real gap,” she said, eyeing Roy closely.

He shifted uncomfortably. “Look, am I a suspect?”

“We’re just collecting information.”

His face flushed. “I called 911. I caught her damn body in my arms. I was just going to make coffee. And I had no reason to kill her.”

“We’re getting way ahead of ourselves, Mr. Kingman. So just calm down.”

Roy took a breath. “Okay. Do you need anything else from me?”

“No, but I’m sure my detectives will have some follow-up. No travel plans to Dubai coming up, I hope?” She was not smiling when she asked this.

“I don’t think so, no.”

Beth rose from her chair. “Terrific. Let’s keep it that way. We’ll be in touch.”

They all filed out. Mace held back while the others disappeared down the hall.

He eyed her. “Can I help you?”

“I don’t know. Did you kill her?”

Roy stood, towering over her. “Are you a cop?”

“No, just tagging along for fun.”

“You think murder is fun? Are you some kind of sick freak?”

“Well, if you put it that way I guess I am.”

“I’ve got some work to do.” He glanced at the door.

Instead of leaving Mace plucked the ball from his hand. In one motion, she turned and drained the shot, hitting nothing but net.

He said, “Nice mechanics.”

“High school girls’ basketball. We won the state title my senior year.”

He appraised her. “Let me guess, you were the leave-it-all-onthe-court point guard who could score and also play some wicked D, including the occasional knocked-on-their-ass flagrant foul to cold-face the other teams?”

“I’m impressed.”

“I’m not.”

“What?”

“You just basically accused me of murder. So why don’t you get the hell out of my office.”

“All right, I’m going.”

“Best news I’ve heard all day.”