fine whiskey. Frank had known him for years. Their relationship was one
of friendship and the shared belief that murder must always be punished.
“Never too busy to come over to see if you ever got any good at this
detective stuff,” Frank replied, a wry grin on his face.
Miller smiled. They were in Jack’s office. The crime unit was just
finishing up.
Frank looked around the spacious interior. Jack was a long way from this
kind of life now, he thought to himself Miller looked at him, a thought
registering. “This Graham fellow, he was involved in the Sullivan case
out your way, wasn’t he?”
Frank nodded. “The suspect’s defense counsel.”
“That’s right! Man, that’s a pretty big swing. Defense counsel to
future defendant.” Miller smiled.
“Who found the bodies?”
“Housekeeper. She gets in around four in the morning.”
“So any motive work its way through that big head of yours?”
Miller eyed his friend. “Come on. It’s eight o’clock in the morning. You
drove all the way in here from the middle of nowhere to pick my brain.
What’s up?”
Frank shrugged. “I don’t know. I got to know the guy during the case.
Surprised the shit out of me to see his face on the morning news. I
don’t know, it just stuck in my gut.”
Miller eyed him closely for another few seconds and then decided not to
pursue it. , “The motive, it seems, is pretty clear. Walter Sullivan was
the deceased’s biggest client. This fellow Graham, without talking to
anybody at the firm, jumps in and represents the dude accused of
murdering the guy’s wife. That, obviously, didn’t sit too well with
Lord. Apparently, the two had a meeting at Lord’s place. Maybe they
tried to work things out, maybe they just made things worse.”
“How’d you get all the inside scoop?”
“Managing partner of the place.” Miller flipped open his notebook.
“Daniel J. Kirksen. He was real helpful on all the background shit.”
“So how does that lead to Graham coming in here to pop two people?”
“I didn’t say it was premeditated. The video time tables show pretty
clearly that the deceased was here several hours before Graham showed
up.”
44SOT, “So the two don’t know the other’s here, or maybe Graham sees
Lord’s office light on when he’s driving by. It overlooks the street,
it’d be easy enough to see someone in the office.”
“Yeah, except if the man and woman were getting it on, I’m not sure
they’d be showcasing it to the rest of the city.
The blinds were probably down.”
“Right, but come on, Lord wasn’t in the best of shape so I doubt if they
were doing it the whole time. In fact the office light was on when they
were found and the blinds were partially open. Anyway, accidental or
not, the two run into each other here. The argument is rekindled. The
feelings accelerate, maybe threats are made. And barn. Heat of the
moment.
It could be it was Lord’s gun. They struggle. Graham gets the piece away
from the old guy. Shot’s fired. Woman sees it all, she has to eat a
round too. All over in a few seconds.”
Frank shook his head. “Excuse me for saying so, Craig, but that sounds
awfully farfetched.”
“Oh yeah? Well we got the guy blowing out of here white as a sheet. The
camera got a clear shot of him. I’ve seen it, there was no blood left in
the guy’s face, Seth, I’m telling you.
“How come Security didn’t come and check things out then?”
Miller laughed. “Security? Shit. Half the time those guys aren’t even
looking at the monitors. They got a tape backup you’re lucky if they
even review on any consistent basis. Let me tell you it is not hard to
get into one of these office buildings after hours.”
“So maybe somebody did.”
Miller shook his, head, grinning. “Don’t think so, Seth.
That’s your problem. You look for a complicated answer when the simple
one’s staring you in the face.”
“So where did this gun mysteriously appear from?”
“A lot of people keep guns stashed in their office.”
“A lot? Like how many is a lot, Craig?”