Part 24 (1/2)
Her first order of business was to check for messages on her cell that had been silent longer than usual. For good reason. She'd forgotten to turn it on. Dumb-a.s.s thing to forget. Especially today. She found one from her son. His text message read: Sorry mist u. Try from Miami.
What's with Miami?
Have newz.
News? What news?
Her finger hovered over the call back icon. Not now, she couldn't deal with any more news. Not personal news anyway. These cubicles didn't really have walls. Just part.i.tions. Not like Veronica's office, which had real walls. Stop it. She couldn't halt the processing of minutia.
She brought Stephen's text message up again. Why couldn't he have left a voicemail? Then she could tell something from his tone. Why didn't he end the text Luv, Stephen, like a letter? Wishful thinking. She knew guys didn't do that, especially to their mothers.
”Well,” said Veronica from the doorway, ”that was one big, fat nothing.”
”Did you really expect an instant confession?”
”There was enough Demerol in her purse to sedate a horse,” Veronica said.
”What was she doing carrying it around in her purse?”
”She used it to treat her migraines. It's the brand name for meperidine, one of the drugs that turned up on Kevin's tox screen in such a high ratio that it suppressed his breathing and killed him.” Veronica kept her voice low, then added, ”Let's go to my office. Bring along whatever you've got from your Bayfield visits.”
Once inside Veronica's office with the door closed, Rae watched the detective sink down in her chair and cup her head in her hands. ”I have a really bad feeling about this.” Veronica's dark mane fell over her face, momentarily obscuring it from Rae's vision. ”She's being processed for release as we speak.”
”What did you expect? She's rich.”
Veronica looked up through angry eyes. ”Don't start with that liberal c.r.a.p.”
”Don't you start up with me. I'm not even liberal, in case you haven't noticed.”
Veronica shook her head, as if to erase the unwarranted jab at Rae. Probably the nearest thing to an apology she'd get.
”What did you find out about the GST tax?”
”Sam Garvin admitted it hadn't been paid. He took full responsibility. Said Morgan didn't know anything about it.”
Veronica was quiet for a moment, as she appeared to consider possibilities. ”I don't think the tax has anything to do with Kevin's death,” she finally said, ”but it's something we could use for leverage to maybe get Sam Garvin to implicate Morgan.”
”In your dreams.”
”What?”
”First, tax evasion isn't your jurisdiction--it's federal.”
”I know that. I'm talking about using it as Garvin's possible motive for conspiring with Morgan to kill Kevin.”
”He'll file a supplementary return, pay the tax, pay the penalties,” said Rae, ”but he'll never roll on Morgan. Nor her on him.”
”How can you be so sure? We'll do some checking, try to come up with an Achilles heel on one of them,” Veronica said.
”Won't do you a bit of good. They're like a pair of wild geese.”
”Geese?” Veronica raised an eyebrow.
”They mate for life. Did I mention that Sam Garvin is Deidre's biological father?”
Veronica seemed to puff up with a giant intake of breath that she held, then exhaled with a hiss. ”Just how long have you had that little piece of information?”
Rae consulted her watch. ”About an hour, give or take--”
”You're not going to tell me they were married, common-law or anything?”
”No. I'm pretty sure they weren't. Why?”
”Because that would make her marriage to Nate Farris invalid.”
”What possible relevance--”
”If Nate Farris was not Morgan Bayfield's legal husband, then there would be no chance of him later a.s.serting marital privilege when he was called to testify at her trial. If there is a trial. I can see this whole thing going south.”
”What about the informant? You got a warrant. It must have been a solid lead.”
”It seemed so at the time. Since Mr. Farris is not picking up my calls, I may have been overly optimistic.”
”Nasty Nate is your informant? How'd you manage that?”
”He came to us. Said his wife had been using injectable Demerol for years because it was the only thing that relieved her worst migraines. He believes she used it on Kevin.”
”I thought a husband couldn't testify against his wife.” Rae's already low opinion of Nate Farris took a new plunge.
”Mr. Farris said he was willing to waive his right to spousal privilege.”
”Can he do that?”
”According to the ADA I worked with to get the warrant, he can in a felony case. He's the witness. The potential witness. We don't need Morgan's permission for him to testify.”
”You mentioned looking for an Achilles heel. Looks to me like you've already found him. I don't know about the Achilles part.”
”He may have reason,” Veronica snapped back. ”He thinks the lady may have been gearing up to use her latest supply of Demerol on him.” Veronica paused. ”Now it makes sense. Morgan and Sam.”
”Yeah, who'd have thought? Did Nate tell you Morgan would be at Sam's office?”
”His best guess. She wasn't at home when he left.”
”That's a pretty big leap,” Rae said. ”She could have been...shopping.”
”It doesn't matter,” Veronica said, ”if all I have is the Demerol. It's useless without Nate Farris's testimony. Do you have anything else for me?”
”Sam asked if I was wearing a wire.”
”I wish you had been.”