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Authors: H. Terrell Griffin
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an hour’s grace on either side. Pearl would testify that Connie could not have been killed before 11:00, because she was sitting at the piano bar. If Logan had been with his friend from shortly after 10:00 until 2:00, he was in the bar when Connie was killed.
Logan’s alibi would probably take him out of the picture. He said that he’d been with his army buddy for several hours. If we could place him in the bar drinking from about 10:30 until closing at 2:00 a.m., it would have been impossible for Logan to have killed Connie.
If I could establish the alibi, Logan would be home free. While Elizabeth would have the statement that Pearl gave to Banion, she would not have any way to know about the alibi witness. Elizabeth would know that Connie was alive at 11:00 and dead no later than 2:00. Those were the three critical hours. What did Elizabeth know that I didn’t? She had to have had more evidence than what I had seen in order to even think about charging Logan with first degree murder. She was too good a lawyer to hang herself out on such a thin reed.
The other question that kept nagging at me was that if Logan didn’t kill Connie, who did. I would need to work on that theory a little. One of the oldest defense lawyer tricks in the book is to try somebody else for the crime your client is accused of. I thought the alibi would handle things, but a good lawyer always has plan B. I would have to try to develop another murder suspect.
I knew I wouldn’t know anymore until Logan called again. It was frustrating, and I couldn’t figure out what kind of games Logan was playing. Why not just tell me everything? What was he trying to do by giving me small pieces of the puzzle with each phone call? It didn’t make sense, and I figured it was about time to tell him to defecate or decommode, as they used to say in the Army.
Since I knew I wasn’t going to solve the problem that day, I called my old friend Denny, known for some long forgotten reason as K-Dawg, and we went fishing. Didn’t catch a thing.
Chapter 9
“How’s it going, buddy?” It was eight o’clock and Logan was on the other end of the phone line.
“Tell me about this army buddy, Logan,” I said.
“What do you want to know?”
“Look,” I said, getting angry, “I didn’t want this case in the first place, and I promise you I will drop it today if you don’t start leveling with me.”
“Sorry, Matt. I don’t know what to tell you. I walked into Dewey’s, and this guy sitting in the corner called me by name. I didn’t recognize him, but he told me we were in flight training at Rucker together. He introduced himself to me as Bill Smith. I didn’t remember him, but he knew a bunch of the guys I knew and the places we used to hang out in around Ozark. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings by telling him I didn’t remember him, and besides it was fun talking about the old guys. A lot of them didn’t make it back from Nam.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you didn’t know his name?”
“After Connie’s death,” Logan said, “I went looking for him. He told me he was staying at the Tiki Beach Resort up on Anna Maria, but they never heard of a Bill Smith there. I called a couple of my old flight school buddies, and neither of them remembered him either. There wasn’t a Bill Smith in school with us that anybody can remember.”
“Didn’t you find that strange?” I asked.
“Of course I found it strange. But what could I do?”
“You could have mentioned it to me.” I said.
“It didn’t seem important until I was charged with the murder.”
“You know, Logan,” I said, “This complicates things a lot. The alibi I was counting on to get you out of this mess just disappeared.”
“I know”, he said. “I’ll get back to you.” He hung up.
I rooted around in the box into which I throw my occasional snapshot and found one of Logan and K-Dawg standing on the back of my boat during a fishing trip the past summer. I also
Logan’s alibi would probably take him out of the picture. He said that he’d been with his army buddy for several hours. If we could place him in the bar drinking from about 10:30 until closing at 2:00 a.m., it would have been impossible for Logan to have killed Connie.
If I could establish the alibi, Logan would be home free. While Elizabeth would have the statement that Pearl gave to Banion, she would not have any way to know about the alibi witness. Elizabeth would know that Connie was alive at 11:00 and dead no later than 2:00. Those were the three critical hours. What did Elizabeth know that I didn’t? She had to have had more evidence than what I had seen in order to even think about charging Logan with first degree murder. She was too good a lawyer to hang herself out on such a thin reed.
The other question that kept nagging at me was that if Logan didn’t kill Connie, who did. I would need to work on that theory a little. One of the oldest defense lawyer tricks in the book is to try somebody else for the crime your client is accused of. I thought the alibi would handle things, but a good lawyer always has plan B. I would have to try to develop another murder suspect.
I knew I wouldn’t know anymore until Logan called again. It was frustrating, and I couldn’t figure out what kind of games Logan was playing. Why not just tell me everything? What was he trying to do by giving me small pieces of the puzzle with each phone call? It didn’t make sense, and I figured it was about time to tell him to defecate or decommode, as they used to say in the Army.
Since I knew I wasn’t going to solve the problem that day, I called my old friend Denny, known for some long forgotten reason as K-Dawg, and we went fishing. Didn’t catch a thing.
Chapter 9
“How’s it going, buddy?” It was eight o’clock and Logan was on the other end of the phone line.
“Tell me about this army buddy, Logan,” I said.
“What do you want to know?”
“Look,” I said, getting angry, “I didn’t want this case in the first place, and I promise you I will drop it today if you don’t start leveling with me.”
“Sorry, Matt. I don’t know what to tell you. I walked into Dewey’s, and this guy sitting in the corner called me by name. I didn’t recognize him, but he told me we were in flight training at Rucker together. He introduced himself to me as Bill Smith. I didn’t remember him, but he knew a bunch of the guys I knew and the places we used to hang out in around Ozark. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings by telling him I didn’t remember him, and besides it was fun talking about the old guys. A lot of them didn’t make it back from Nam.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you didn’t know his name?”
“After Connie’s death,” Logan said, “I went looking for him. He told me he was staying at the Tiki Beach Resort up on Anna Maria, but they never heard of a Bill Smith there. I called a couple of my old flight school buddies, and neither of them remembered him either. There wasn’t a Bill Smith in school with us that anybody can remember.”
“Didn’t you find that strange?” I asked.
“Of course I found it strange. But what could I do?”
“You could have mentioned it to me.” I said.
“It didn’t seem important until I was charged with the murder.”
“You know, Logan,” I said, “This complicates things a lot. The alibi I was counting on to get you out of this mess just disappeared.”
“I know”, he said. “I’ll get back to you.” He hung up.
I rooted around in the box into which I throw my occasional snapshot and found one of Logan and K-Dawg standing on the back of my boat during a fishing trip the past summer. I also
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