âNot another word.â He turned to Mel. âReceipts,â he said. âI want receipts for everything in those two boxes.â
âTalk to my partner,â Mel said sweetly. âHeâs the one in charge of paperwork.â
I gave him a lowly carbon copy of the receipt form. I knew in advance that it wasnât especially legible. McCarthy looked at the paper, then at me.
âYou expect me to read this?â he demanded.
âSorry about that,â I said with a shrug. âOld technology and all that. I can copy the originals and fax them to you later if you like.â
McCarthy didnât say yes or no to that. âIs my client under arrest?â he asked.
âNot so far,â I told him cheerfully. âRight now heâs merely a person of interest. With any kind of luck on our part, however, heâll be a full-fledged suspect under suspicion and under arrest in no time at all.â
Scowling, McCarthy gave me a business card with his name and a whole collection of phone numbers embossed on what looked and felt like expensive paper. I dropped the card in my jacket pocket. I offered him my hand. He ignored it. I love it when attorneys canât bring themselves to be collegial, to say nothing of polite. In my book, that was strike one against Garvin McCarthy.
I took my box and followed Mel out into the hall. On the second floor I made my way to the balcony and picked up the coil of rope ladder that was still lying in the far corner of the balcony where Josh had left it. Once that was in my Bankers Box, I finally stripped off my latex gloves and dropped them into my pocket.
Back in the hallway I heard raised voices coming from the landing at the bottom of the stairs. I recognized the governorâs voice. Hers was followed by a manâs voice, an angry manâs voice. The First Husband had evidently emerged unexpectedly from his hospital bed in the maidâs quarters. It sounded as though he wasnât happy to discover that any number of things had transpired behind his back.
âWhat the hell is going on up there?â he demanded. âWho are all these people coming and going?â
âSome police officers stopped by,â Marsha responded pleadingly. âPlease, Gerry. Itâs just a little problem with Josh. Iâm taking care of it. Itâs handled.â
âItâs not a little problem,â Mel said, stepping briskly into the argument as well as into the lionâs den. âMy name is Agent Melissa Soames. Iâm with the attorney generalâs Special Homicide Investigation Team, Mr. Willis. My partner, J. P. Beaumont, and I are here executing a search warrant of your grandsonâs room.â
âA search warrant?â Gerry Willis repeated. âWhat kind of search warrant? Why? Whatâs going on? Is Josh in some kind of trouble? And what team again?â
I came down the last flight of stairs in time to answer that one.
âSpecial Homicide,â I told him. âWe found some troubling images on your grandsonâs cell phone.â
âWhat do you mean, âtroublingâ?â
At the bottom of the stairs Mel and Marsha Longmire stood on either side of an angry older gentleman in a wheelchair. Since the man was seated, it was difficult to tell how big he was, but he struck me as a large man, with a fringe of iron-gray hair around a balding pate. Knowing Gerry Willis had recently undergone bypass surgery, I expected him to look wan and sickly. He did not. His coloring was great, and from the fit he was pitching, there was nothing at all the matter with his vital signs or mental faculties.
âSnuff film,â Mel said in answer to his question.
âSnuff film,â Gerry repeated. âAs in somebody died?â
Mel nodded. âApparently,â she said.
Gerry Willisâs hardened eyes flashed in his wifeâs direction. âYou knew about all of this and didnât tell
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