Peggy Holloway - Judith McCain 02 - Portrait on Wicker (16 page)

Bill and I looked at each other.
He was right. She would have known ahead of time about Tricia. “But we’ve already ruled everyone else out,” I said.

John chuckled, “You’re no Sherlock Holmes, Judith.
We haven’t ruled anyone out yet. But we do know that one of us is guilty.”

CHAPTER 40

“I have some important news,” the judge began as soon as we were settled in with our food.

Delilah
had volunteered to come over and cook again.

“John got a call from FBI agent George Patterson from St. Augustine.
He had been thought to have died in the beach house fire along with agent Tracy Carr. He apparently survived.”

She looked at Mark, “Sorry Mark, I wish Tracy had survived too.
Mr. Patterson said they had arrested a female judge down there. Her name is Veronica King. They want Delilah to go down and see if she recognizes her voice.”

“Reco
gnizes her voice from where?” asked Bill. As soon as he asked that I knew something didn’t fit but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“
Delilah heard a female judge, Calvin Lessiter, and Mackey talking about burying a young girl’s body in the bayou. They didn’t realize that she was, at the time, living in a house on the other side of a thick layer of river reeds.

“That’s the way it is down there in that area.
Some of these houses are so hidden you need a topographical map to find them. She’s flying down tonight and Dave Boudreau is going with her.”

“I think I should go too,” Bill said.

The judge studied him a few minutes and he looked away. “I think you need to stay here, Bill. I appreciate it, but you can’t go on neglecting your responsibilities.”

“Yeah, partner, I need you here,” Sandy said, poking him in the ribs.

“I’d go but I’m still on maternity leave,” John said. “And besides, Dave can handle this just fine.”

I spoke up, “I want to go with Dave.”

Bill pulled me against him, “Oh no you don’t. I need you here.” I could feel everyone looking at me. I didn’t realize Rosa had come into the room and she looked really angry.

“Actually, I don’t think it would be such a bad idea for Judith to go with them,” The judge said.
I was surprised she had said that. Bill didn’t say any more.

The rest of the meeting went smoothly.
John reported he hadn’t located anymore of the victims. “Of course, some of these women have probably married and changed their names,” he said.

“Or they’re buried out there on the bayou,” the judge said and
she was again looking at Bill.

I was beginning to feel uncomfortable.
Did she suspect Bill? I didn’t want Bill to be guilty but something was gnawing at the back of my mind.

Tracy, sti
ll dressed like an old lady, came in with Delilah to serve the coffee and that’s when what had been bothering me clicked. I was thinking back to when Bill and I were going down the list of the people we could trust and he had said he thought we could trust Tracy.

He wasn’t supposed to know Tracy was alive.
The judge didn’t even know and Tracy had waited until everyone had left before she took off her wig and contacts the night before.

I looked over at Bill.
He didn’t look worried at all. He looked at me and winked and my heart melted. He couldn’t be involved in any of this horrible stuff. He just couldn’t be!

Afte
r everyone left, I asked John “When was the last time you scanned the house for bugs?”

He looked concerned and admitted it had been awhile and did so immediately.
There was a bug in the kitchen. This was where we had been when Delilah had told Tracy she wasn’t who she appeared and Tracy had taken off her wig and contacts and introduced herself.

I told John about Bill including Tracy when we were talking about who we could trust.

“Actually, Judith,” he said, “I’ve suspected Bill for some time. I discussed it with Rosa and that’s why she has been so upset with you. She’s worried about you.

“Think about it.
He used to be in the vice department. He would have had plenty of opportunity to catch young girls running drugs, like you were doing, or hooking.”

“But, John, he would have plenty of money if he was involved and believe me he lives in a small cheap apartment.”

“You’ve been to his apartment? Please don’t tell me you slept with him.”

I didn’t say anything and he groaned, “Why didn’t you stay with Ben, Judith?
I don’t understand. He was nice and safe. I didn’t worry about you when you were with Ben.”

“Maybe that was the problem.
Ben was safe,” I mumbled. I knew I needed to do some honest soul searching. Did I have the same problem as Julia? Did only dangerous men turn me on?

I was glad I was going to St. Augustine with Dave and
Delilah. I needed to put some distance between Bill and me. I was beginning to wonder if he had gotten close to distract me.

CHAPTER 41

Delilah was nervous. This was her first flight. She held onto my hand the whole time. At one point she had her eyes closed and I talked her into looking at the scenery. But when we landed in Jacksonville, it was raining and the landing was rough. At one point she grabbed my hand and stifled a scream.

Tracy had arranged for George Patterson to pick us up
. He was waiting for us at the curb, when we walked out of the airport with our luggage.

When we got in his car, Tracy was in the backseat.
“I flew over in the FBI helicopter. I kissed Rosa, John, and the baby goodbye in case anyone was looking and made for the airport, just a little old lady going back home.”

She laughed when she saw the look on our faces.
“You didn’t really think I would miss out on this, did you?”

“I’m so glad you’re here,” I said
, as I hugged her. “And you’re right. It wouldn’t be the same without you.”

We checked into the Omni Hotel in Jacksonville.
George had booked the penthouse. It had four bedrooms and four and a half baths. George, Tracy, and Dave had their own room and I would room with Delilah.

It had its own kitchen, living room
and dining room, like a big apartment. It even had a small conference room, where we agreed to meet in twenty minutes.

George
ordered snacks and wine from room service. After we were settled in, he said, “They’re going to bring the judge in here. She’s been in an FBI safe house. She’s been very cooperative. Of course she doesn’t know what we will have on her, if Delilah can recognize her voice.”

“What does she think you do have on her?” I asked.

“She thinks we have her on signing some papers about bogus adoptions, and assignments of teenage girls and boys. She claims she didn’t know what would happen to them.”

It was at this point that a huge woman wearing a loose fitting dress walked in.
I think she was the ugliest woman I had ever seen in my life. She was accompanied by two men in dark suits, but she wasn’t handcuffed, like I expected her to be.

Her hair was thick salt and pepper and wiry.
It reminded me of a steel wool. It was cut in a short butch cut.

She looked angry.
I thought to myself,
she’s used to having people obey her and being afraid of her. She’s used to having the upper hand.

“Let’s get thi
s over with,” she said as she looked around the room. “Who are all these people?”

George started with the introductions, “Judge Veronica King, this is…”

Just then Delilah walked in with a tray of finger sandwiches.

“That’s her
,” she said. “I recognize the voice.”

The judge looked
Delilah up and down, as if she expected her to be intimidated, but Delilah stood tall.

“Who is this person and what does she mean
, she recognizes the voice. I agreed to come here to tell what I know. I’m willing to confess to what little part I had in it in exchange for no jail time. I know I’ll lose my license and never be able to practice law again. I can live with that, since it’s not that long before I retire anyway.”

She turned to George, “Do you have my statement I dictated to you?
If so I’ll sign it and be on my way. I’m looking forward to retiring and spending time with my grandchildren.”

George pulled some page
s out of his briefcase.

“You’re implicating Calvin Lessiter,
Mackey Broleen, Judge Renfroe, and Judge Chaney. Then you name several other older gentlemen in whose home you placed several teenage boys and girls.”

He kept flipping through the pages, “Is this everyone, judge?”

She reached for the papers, “It’s everyone I know about.”

George pulled the pages back, “Have you ever been to Terrebonne Parrish in Lou
isiana, judge?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“You said that mighty fast, judge, like you didn’t have to think about it. What if I told you someone saw you there and heard you talking about a body you, Calvin Lessiter and Mackey Broleen had just dumped in the bayou?”

She looked
at Delilah, and then glanced toward the door. The two men in suits were standing in the doorway. What happened next happened so fast it hardly had time to register. The conference room in our suite was shaped like a semi-circle with glass top to bottom.

The judge jumped up and, running faster than I would have expected someone her size to run, hurled herself at the plate glass.
Her size and speed carried her through. The glass shattered and she flew though the night and onto the parking lot below.

“Wow, a
flying judge,” Dave said.

W
hen I looked at Delilah, she was fingering some bones, hanging on a chain around her neck; she had pulled out of her blouse. I realized I had been holding my breath and let it out in a loud exhale.

The rest on that day was like a blur.
We were questioned by the local police, and the press was there trying to get statements. We were exhausted by midnight.

Of course we couldn’t stay there.
We had to move to another hotel. Dave, Delilah and I left to find another place to stay. George and Tracy stayed to talk to the local police.

CHAPTER 42

We boarded a plane the next morning, leaving George and Tracy to finish up paperwork. They said they would see us that night at John’s. George still hadn’t told us who else was on the confession that Judge King had dictated. I would love to have seen it.

When I got back to the Hyatt, Mark was waiting and wanted to know what had happened.
When I finished telling him, I suddenly remembered something I had forgotten. I ran to my bathroom and emptied my bag of dirty clothes onto the floor. I hadn’t had time to do any laundry and the bag was huge. I was looking for the pair of jeans I had worn when I rescued Julia.

They weren’t there and then I remembered I had left them in Houston
, when I had gone back with Mimi, to put Julia in the hospital. Mimi and I did our own housekeeping, except for having a girl twice a week to clean. She didn’t do personal laundry and I was hoping Mimi hadn’t done it either.

Mark came up behind me, “What’s going on?
What are you looking for?”

“I feel like an idiot.
I had found a note Julia left for me in the apartment at her beach house. It implicated Judge Renfroe. I put it in my jean pocket, but in all the confusion, I forgot about it.”

“
You don’t need it do you? Julia can testify herself.”

He picked me up off the floor and held me
. I started to cry. “It’s all right, honey. You’re just overwrought. Have you had any sleep lately?”

“Not much,” I said.
“I’m exhausted. I think I’ll try to take a nap.”

I had just barely dozed off when someone rapped on the door.
I could hear Mark and someone else talking in low voices. My curiosity got the best of me, and I went to see who it was. When I opened my door and peeked out, I saw Bill and Mark arguing.

“Well, I guess it’s a mute point now anyway.
She’s awake,” Mark said. “Bill wanted to see you but I was telling him you needed to sleep.”

“That’s o
kay, He knocked loud enough to wake up the dead,” I said as I smiled at Bill. I was glad to see him.

He walked over and gave me a long passionate kiss that took my breath away.

“I think I’ll go downstairs and get a cup of coffee,” Mark said and left before either of us could say anything.

Bill picked me up and carried me to my bedroom.
He dumped me on the bed and I forgot all about what John had said about suspecting Bill. I forgot everything except being in his arms once again.