“Anything in Wright’s background helpful?”
Chandler shook his head. “No skeletons that we found so far. Motive is going to be tough on this one.”
“But his wallet was missing.”
“Yeah, I thought about that. A little too convenient.”
“Like somebody wants to make us think both murders are connected?”
“You know, it actually could be some nut with a grudge against the Court.”
“I believe the murders are connected but not for the reasons everyone probably thinks,” Fiske said.
“How do you mean?”
“If Mike was killed for a reason someone doesn’t want us to find out about, then killing another clerk and making it look related would be a great way to divert our attention.”
Chandler looked intrigued. “So what’s the real reason someone killed your brother and is trying to cover it up?”
Fiske hesitated again. Keeping the stolen appeal a secret was beginning to become very awkward. “I don’t know, but I might have an idea why Wright was killed.”
“Other than as a red herring?”
“Let’s say his death might have served a dual purpose.”
At that moment Sara joined them, trying very hard to conceal her excitement.
“John, can we talk for a minute?”
“Ms. Evans,” Chandler said with a broad smile, “I hope your drive to Richmond was pleasant and uneventful.”
“Let’s just say it was different,” she said quickly. “John, I really need to talk to you.”
“Can I catch up with you later, Buford?”
“And you can tell me your theory.”
As they walked off together, Chandler’s smile faded. He was wondering if he had just lost his “unofficial” partner to Sara Evans.
* * *
Minutes after Sara had left her office, Justice Knight had stopped by to see her. She started to leave a written message when she saw the Chance bench memo with Wright’s attached note. She sat down in Sara’s chair and read the note. After she finished, it suddenly dawned on Knight what she had done. She had instructed Wright to work late, all night if necessary. He had done so, left the building late and someone had killed him. Her precious bench memo. She had never really focused on this chain of events before. A gush of air came out of her lungs so hard it almost choked her. She put the memo down and rushed from the room.
A minute later she raced past her astonished staff and locked the door to her office. She looked around the spacious, beautiful room, with even its own fireplace. Here she had sat and contemplated her little strategies, her philosophies of life. And it had cost a young man his life. She threw off her pumps, collapsed in a corner, covered her face and wept.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
* * *
Back at her office, Sara spent the next thirty minutes filling Fiske in on everything she had found out. “When Barker calls back with the attorney’s name, we can talk to him and maybe really start getting somewhere.”
“That would be nice.”
“Do you believe Michael went to see Harms in prison?”
“It really complicates matters that the guy’s escaped.”
Sara had a sudden terrifying thought. “You don’t think Michael was somehow mixed up in that, do you?”
“My brother would not be part of anything illegal.”
“I didn’t mean intentionally.”
“According to the newspaper reports, Harms escaped from a hospital in Roanoke after Mike’s body was found. But I’m not saying that the timing is just coincidental.”
“Do you have any brilliant deductions?”
“I think I know why Wright was killed.”
“Why? Because he knew about Harms? About what Michael had done?”
“No, he was killed because he saw something. Something he shouldn’t have.”
Sara drew her chair closer to his. “What do you mean?”
“Wright’s office — your former office — is right down the hallway from Mike’s. Wright was going to be working all night.”
Sara slumped in her chair. “Right. Because I told him he had to.”
“No, because Knight told you to tell him he had to. Well, his body was found in a park that wasn’t on his way home. Chandler told me that he was killed between midnight and two last night. If he was working all night here, what was he doing in that park?”