Old Loves Die Hard (A Mac Faraday Mystery) (7 page)

After years of seeing the two of them out about town together, Mac was still unsure if they were indeed a “couple” in the romantic sense of the word. He never saw them kissing, holding hands, or other body language that betrayed two people as being romantically linked.

They never appeared to be guilty about being seen together, which led Mac to suspect that they were simply very good friends. Considering that she was married to Stephen Maguire and, to Mac’s knowledge, had never divorced him, to be romantically linked with Judge Sutherland gave them much reason to be apprehensive...if they were indeed a couple.

Mac was never sure, which bothered him. He hated not being able to pin someone down.    

Natasha Holmstead was the personification of brains over beauty. Not that she was ugly. She was as skinny as a stick. Bee stings were bigger than her breasts and she had no butt to speak of. If she would ever do something with her cinnamon-colored hair, which she wore in a chin-length bob style with the part in the middle and combed straight down the sides, she would be considered attractive.

From all the beauties that Mac knew Stephen Maguire had bedded throughout the years, the only reason that he could conclude for him marrying Natasha was the millions of dollars per year she made defending the richest criminals in the world. He certainly didn’t marry her for her winning personality.

Mac knew Garrison Sutherland from back when he had held Stephen Maguire’s position in the U.S. Attorney’s Office. As mediocre a prosecutor as Maguire had been, Sutherland was sharp and fair. He carried his passion to the bench.

While Natasha stood tall and thin, Judge Sutherland was short and stocky with black hair and wire-rimmed glasses. She was aggressive, he was soft spoken. As abrasive as she was, he was compromising.

“Hello, Mac,” the judge greeted him in a somber tone, while holding out his hand to him. “Natasha and I came to personally offer our condolences on your loss.”

Stunned by the visit from the couple who lived over three hours away, Mac accepted their condolence, while holding Gnarly back by his collar. Gnarly liked to check out every visitor by giving them a nasal pat-down. Mac invited them in to the living room.

Natasha and Garrison reacted with surprise at seeing that their host had company.

“I hope we’re not interrupting anything,” the judge said, while easing Gnarly’s snout away from his pants’ pockets.

After assuring them that they weren’t, Mac introduced them. “This is Archie Monday.” Not sure what to call her, he stumbled over the words, “She’s my friend.” He realized, even as he said it, that his tone sounded guilty.

He didn’t like the knowing glances that Garrison and Natasha exchanged upon hearing the introduction.

After he had finished checking out the judge, Gnarly moved on to examine Natasha, who gave his snout a quick swat. She might as well have called him out for a duel. The German shepherd backed up and sat with his eyes on her.

He dared her to make her next shot.

Judge Sutherland waited until after they had taken seats on the sofa across from Mac and Archie to explain the reason for their visit. “I don’t know if you’re aware, but Natasha has suffered a loss as well. You see, she and Stephen Maguire were still married.”

Archie said, “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Thank you for your kindness.” Natasha blinked away non-existent tears while wiping one away from her cheek.

Having seen the defense attorney in action in the court-room, Mac was very familiar with her techniques. She was like any predator. She laid low and observed her prey before devouring it, with no regrets for doing so.

Garrison went on in his methodical tone, as if he were explaining the intricate steps of a murder plan to a jury. “For a variety of reasons, which we won’t bore you with, Mac, Natasha and Stephen had made a decision to remain married while living separate lives. They were still each other’s beneficiaries. As a matter of fact, Stephen had left Natasha sole heir to his estate, which leads to the reason for our visit.”

Natasha jumped in. “I’d like to know when I can pick up Stephen’s stuff.”

Mac asked, “What stuff?”

“The stuff he left at Christine’s house,” Natasha said. “He left it all there while he was looking for another place to live. Since he left everything to me, then it’s mine, and I want to make arrangements to pick it up. Also, I want any personal effects that he had left in his room at your hotel. The police have taken it into evidence, but surely they don’t need it. Everyone knows what happened. Christine flipped out and gave Stephen what he had coming for a long time. The police don’t need to keep his personal effects to prove that.”

Garrison said, “We tried to talk to the police chief about it, but he’s been stonewalling us. We were told that you two are pretty good buddies. Maybe you can use your influence—”

“You and Maguire haven’t been living together for years,” Mac replied. “According to my information, he’s lived with at least three other women since leaving you.”

“But we did remain friends,” she said.

“Friendly enough for him to leave you everything,” Mac said. “Sounds to me like a motive for wanting him dead.”

When Natasha made a move, threatening to jump across the room to physically force Mac to give her what she wanted, she became aware of Gnarly between them.

The dog’s unblinking eyes were on her. 

Easing back into her seat, Natasha said, “Since there’s no shortage of rich criminals looking to get away with murder, I’m very wealthy in my own right. Compared to my own financial portfolio, his estate isn’t worth the energy it would’ve taken to kill him.”

“Money isn’t the only reason to kill someone,” Mac said. “Why are you so anxious to get your hands on his stuff now? What did Maguire have that you wanted badly enough to exert your energy killing him?”

“I resent that.” She shot a glare at Mac and another one at the dog that refused to stop staring at her.

“Natasha, please,” came a plea from her companion, who patted her hand. “It isn’t like you don’t know how this works. Ask Mac to tell you what Stephen had with him, and then if it’s there, ask him nicely if he can help you get it back. If it isn’t pertinent to the case, then maybe the police chief will let you take it without the pissing contest.”

For her own curiosity, Archie asked, “What is it?”

Natasha gritted her teeth and looked over to Garrison who waved his hand in a gesture for her to go on. Finally, she told them, “A watch. A gold pocket watch. It had belonged to my father. When I married Stephen, Dad gave it to him.”

“Why didn’t you take it when you separated?” Mac wanted to know.

The attorney’s face flushed. “I didn’t know he took it with him until after he had moved out. I asked him to give it back, but Stephen argued that it was a gift, which, yes, it was, but my father never would have given it to him if he’d known what a prick he was. Since we never officially got divorced—”

“Why didn’t you divorce him?” Archie asked.

“It’s complicated.”

Natasha rolled her eyes in a way that reminded Mac of when his daughter had been an adolescent in middle school. After years of being on the receiving end of the teenaged eye roll, such gestures now instantly got under his skin.

The defense attorney said, “It’s of purely sentimental value to me. Since Stephen’s dead now—Christine probably didn’t even know he ever had it.”

“A watch? A pocket watch?” Mac scoffed. “You’re here making all this stink over a watch, which since you’re his heir you’re going to get eventually anyway?”

“It belonged to my father.” Natasha moved to the edge of her seat.

Like an army general seeing the enemy make an advanced move, Gnarly inched forward. All he needed was the word.

“I don’t believe you,” Mac said. “Someone broke into Christine’s home and went through her stuff. Why shouldn’t I think it was you?”

Garrison grasped her arm as if to hold her back. “Offer him something to work with, Natasha.”

She asked Mac, “If I tell you what I know about who else would have wanted Stephen dead, will you help me get what is rightfully mine?”

“Tell me what you know, then I might be persuaded to help you.”

When Mac turned to follow her eyes to that of her companion in search of his opinion, he noticed the judge staring at him. After years of knowing and working with Judge Garrison Sutherland, he recognized the expression on his face. It was one of study. The man had seen something that captured his interest.

Seeing that the judge’s thoughts were elsewhere, Natasha said, “I really shouldn’t do anything to help catch whoever did society a public service by killing that slime bucket.”

“Think of it this way,” Mac said. “For once, you’ll be helping to catch a murderer instead of getting him off.”

Somehow, that persuaded her. “Stephen was extremely ambitious.”

“Now tell me something I don’t know.”

“Boris Hunter, the U.S. Attorney, has been burning up the phone lines to get on the short list to be appointed U.S. Attorney General to replace Reed ever since the grapevine started murmurings about him announcing his retirement before the holidays. I suppose you didn’t hear that his cancer resurfaced?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Meanwhile, this whole summer, Stephen and Roxanne Burton have been neck and neck to replace George Vance.” Natasha shot Mac an aside, “Did you know Hunter’s deputy, George Vance, got appointed judge?”

“Vance deserves it,” Mac said. “He’s a good guy.”

“Well, according to my sources,” Natasha said, “Hunter decided on Stephen Maguire. It wasn’t official and he hadn’t announced it yet. I guess now that Stephen is dead, he’ll be falling back to number two.”

“Christine’s sister, Roxanne,” Mac noted.

The judge jumped back into the conversation with the question, “If Boris Hunter gets appointed attorney general and Vance is judge of the criminal court, then who’ll take Hunter’s place?”

Mac’s and Archie’s faces were blank. Even Gnarly’s expression was questioning.

Natasha said, “Not Vance. He’s got what he’s always wanted. He’s not going to step down from judgeship to take Hunter’s old job.”

Archie looked over at Mac. “Stephen Maguire?”

Tapping his hand on imaginary steps on the coffee table, Garrison told them, “Stephen Maguire was looking to go from criminal prosecutor straight into the seat of U.S. Attorney.”

Mac pointed out, “That’s a really big jump for a prosecutor who didn’t have a very good conviction record.”

“But Stephen figured out a way to do it,” Natasha said. “He was investigating wrongdoing in the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Once he got his evidence, he was going to go public with it. He’d smuggled out some case files. Hunter sent Hamilton Sanders, Maguire’s assistant, here to get them back. He’s probably at the police station right now.”

“Evidence of what wrongdoing?” Mac wanted to know.

“That I don’t know,” she said, “I only know that he was planning to make a big media splash by exposing or insinuating unethical, or maybe downright illegal, dealings in the prosecutor’s office to get his name and face out there. Then he planned to ride that media wave to get appointed U.S. Attorney for D.C.”

“But if he found something dirty and went public with it, wouldn’t that ruin Hunter’s chances of getting appointed attorney general?” Archie asked.

“Yeah!” Natasha said. “But Stephen didn’t care about that.”

“The way Maguire saw it, he could win either way, whether Hunter got the appointment or not,” explained Garrison.

Mac said, “If Maguire was onto something and the man who had put him on the fast track got wind of it—”

“Which he did,” Natasha smirked.

“You sold him out and warned Hunter,” Mac said.

“Stephen did nothing to earn my loyalty.” She pointed out, “It wasn’t a week later that someone slipped arsenic into his champagne at a retirement party for Judge Anderson at the Chase Club.”

Archie wanted to know, “How do we know you weren’t the one who slipped it to him? Were you at that party?”

“Yes, I was there, but I had no reason to want him dead.” She glanced at Gnarly as if to tell him that she wanted him dead.

“What were you doing Saturday night?” Mac asked her. “Were you here at Deep Creek Lake?”

“I won’t dignify that question with an answer,” she replied forcefully. “For one thing, you’re not even a cop anymore. You have no right to treat me like a murder suspect.”

“You came to me,” Mac reminded her. “I doubt if you drove all the way out here from Washington only to give me your condolences.”

“Half of the attorney’s office was at that party,” she scoffed, “people who I just told you Maguire had been investigating.”

“Where were you while your husband was being killed?” Archie demanded to know.

“She was with me,” Garrison answered in a bored tone. He asked Natasha, “Why do you have to make everything so hard?” He went on to tell them, “Yes, we’ve been in the area since the Thursday before the murder. Purely coincidence. Natasha and I are staying at the Carmel Cove Inn, a favorite little bed and breakfast we like to visit in the autumn. We checked in Thursday afternoon. We were already here in Deep Creek Lake when we got the call from the police.” He responded to Natasha’s glare by telling her, “A simple check of your cell record would have told the police that we were already here.”

“Can you give us names of witnesses to confirm you were at the Carmel Cove Inn?” Mac asked.

Garrison said, “The owner saw us when we came back from dinner and went up to our room at around ten o’clock Saturday night.”

 “Okay, we answered your stupid and insulting questions and it’s apparent that you don’t intend to willingly turn over my husband’s things, so I guess we’ll be going on our way.” Natasha stood up.

When Gnarly mirrored her move, she uttered a growl from deep in her throat.

“Just one more thing,” Mac asked before she had time to follow Judge Sutherland into the foyer. “Do you have any idea what business Stephen may have had here in Spencer?”

Tearing her attention from the dog escorting her out, she turned back to him. “Business?”

“He paid for his suite with a federal government credit card,” Mac explained. “That tells me it was a business trip.”