Read Online Death by Trial and Error (A Legal Suspense Short) by R. Barri Flowers - Free Book Online Page B

thought about that,
especially since none of the men have a clean rap sheet. Bordeau
represented two of them—Shawn Wilkerson and Rex Lee—on illegal gun
possession charges." He passed Naku a sheet of their records, which
included mug shots, and then handed him a third criminal record and
mug shot. "Clark Oldham has a record for dealing drugs. And
Bordeau's also the attorney for Matsumoto, a smalltime illegal gun
dealer, who faces similar yet unrelated charges. So far, there's no
indication that any of the men at the scene of the crime, including
Matsumoto, were the shooter. With nothing to hold them, we had to
let them walk."
    Naku studied the rap sheets and then looked
up. "How's Matsumoto doing?"
    "He'll live," Ortega said as though that was
a bad thing.
    "You think he was the intended victim?"
    "Not necessarily. Maybe the shooter was
gunning for both of them. If Matsumoto was the intended target,
given his criminal activities, Mrs. Bordeau could've been killed to
eliminate any witnesses—assuming the shooter was unaware that the
three men were watching the whole thing unfold from another
vehicle. Right now, we have to assume that Higuchi-Bordeau was also
targeted, if not the primary target. By the way," Ortega added,
"she had a loaded .32 caliber pistol in her purse, but it hadn't
been fired."
    Naku silently mulled that over. Why would
she need to carry a gun? Did she have reason to fear for her life?
If so, what or who was she afraid of?
    "Have you questioned Patrick Bordeau?" he
asked, assuming this had been the case.
    Ortega nodded. "We asked him to come in and
he did. He answered all our questions without the presence of an
attorney, other than himself."
    "I'm sure you know that my client thinks he
was responsible for his wife's murder," Naku said.
    "Yeah, she mentioned that more than once,"
Ortega acknowledged. "Unfortunately, Bordeau has an alibi for the
time of the shooting."
    "Which was...?"
    "He was working at his office. It checked
out. His secretary vouched for him."
    Naku couldn't argue with the alibi, unless he
was to assume that the secretary was in on the murder as well. He
saw no reason to go down that road at the moment. However,
murderers weren't always at the scene of the crime. It was just the
opposite in many instances, with the ringleader clever enough to
stay far away, but close enough to smell blood.
    "What about the substantial insurance policy
he supposedly had on his wife?" Naku asked. "And the fact that he's
allegedly heavily in debt. That gives him two possible reasons to
want her out of the picture."
    "We're looking into both of them," Ortega
said. "But, as you know, these things take time to sort out. Right
now, there's no evidence that Bordeau was involved in his wife's
murder for profit. The man is a well-respected attorney, and it
seems like there's no shortage of low-life's with high earnings
seeking his services."
    "All the more reason why he may have
orchestrated his wife's murder," Naku said. "He could easily hide
behind his career and let others do the dirty work for him."
    "So prove it and make my job a helluva lot
easier," Ortega said bluntly.
    Naku accepted the challenge, for better or
worse. He stood up. "If you get anything from the security cameras
or anything else relevant to the case, let me know."
    "Will do," Ortega promised. "And if you run
into any problems that don't involve breaking the law, I'm here to
help."
    Naku made a note of that, wondering if he
could truly count on him, even it if meant stepping on the toes of
police detectives working the case. "Mahalo," he told him, before
leaving.
    * * *
    Naku got in his car and called his office.
"Hey, Vanna. So what do you have for me on Suzette
Higuchi-Bordeau?"
    "Hang on, let me pull up the info... Mrs.
Higuchi-Bordeau was thirty-seven when she died. She and Patrick
Bordeau had been married for ten years. Before that, she taught
grade school, but retired to become a stay-at-home-wife to an up
and coming attorney. I