Deadly Judgment (Detective Sarah Spillman Mystery Series Book 5) Read online

  Hernandez nodded. “You want me to see if the neighbor with the security cameras picked up the Uber driver, maybe got a license plate number?” he asked.

  “Yeah, and also, see if they were followed. We should be able to get the judge’s credit card records, and Uber should have a record of who they drove that night, too. Between the two, we should be able to figure out who drove the judge home.”

  “I’ll get in touch with Uber right away,” he said. “I’ll give them your number, too, so we don’t miss them.”

  I glanced at my watch. “I need to head back to the station to do some research on Olivia Hartnell and Victor Marko. Something’s weird there, too, and I’m going to find out what it is. Once you get the phone recs for Nakamura, let me know. And I want a list of Nakamura’s friends and neighbors, so I can compare those names to Judge McCleary’s contacts. I want to know if there’s a killer out there who’s targeting both judges.”

  “One killer?”

  I tipped my head, skeptical. “It could be two, but what do you think?”

  The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes flared. “Yeah, I kinda doubt that.”

  “You’ll wrap up here?”

  “Yeah, I’ve got this.”

  I thought for a moment. “I’ll drop by the courthouse as well. I’d like to talk to Nakamura’s staff to see what their impressions of him are, what he was like leading up to his death. I want to hear for myself.”

  He consulted his notes. “His admin assistant is Sheila Noonan. She should still be there. Nakamura also has a personal law clerk who’s worked for him for several years. We’re still trying to get hold of him, a man named Zack Newberry. He’s off for a few days and isn’t answering his cell phone.”

  “A scheduled vacation?”

  “Apparently so.”

  “Hmm,” I said. “Keep trying him. I want to know where he was last night and early this morning, and what he has to say about Nakamura. When we find him, I want to be in on the interview.”

  “Yeah, me too.” His phone rang and he held up a finger, then answered. After a second, he said, “You’re kidding. Was it reported?” A pause. “Okay, make sure you test it for fingerprints and DNA.” He ended the call and looked at me. “They found a note hidden under some files in Nakamura’s desk. There’s no record of the judge ever reporting he received the note. It said ‘It is time for your judgment.’”

  I swore. “That’s similar to one of the notes Judge McCleary got, but not the other two.”

  “Maybe Nakamura received others, and we just haven’t found them yet?”

  “Now I really want to talk to his staff to see what they know about it. Is Nakamura’s assistant still there? I can drop by on my way back to the station.”

  He shook his head. “She had some other appointment, and she left. She’ll be back later this afternoon.”

  I was tempted to swear again, but held it back. “Well, I guess that can’t be helped. I’ll talk to her later this afternoon.”

  “I’ll work on finding out who the Uber driver is and get a list of Nakamura’s family and friends for you.”

  “Good. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call. And you can try Spats or Ernie.” I gave him their numbers. “We’ll all touch base in the morning at the station, get all the detectives on the same page. If you need anything before that, let me know.”

  “No problem.”

  I left Hernandez and drove back to the station. On the way, I heard from Spats.

  “Spillman,” he said. “I did some sweet-talking, and I’ve got a warrant for Olivia Hartnell’s phone recs. I’m working with the phone company now. Hopefully they can get me her records today. Thought you’d want to know.”

  “That’s good work. Unfortunately, I’m going to add to it.” I told him about Judge Nakamura. He swore.

  “You’ve got to be kidding. Two judges in twenty-four hours?”

  “We’ve got to figure this out,” I said as I switched lanes to go around a car. “It could be a coincidence.”

  “But you don’t buy that,” he finished.

  “No. We need to look at this from all angles, though. I don’t want to assume the murders are related and be wrong. I have Hernandez getting Nakamura’s phone recs, and then we can compare his to McCleary’s.”

  “I can get with Hernandez on that.”

  “How are the interviews with McCleary’s staff going?”

  “I’ve talked to his admin assistant. She was shocked to hear of his death, and she didn’t have much else to say. She didn’t know about any threatening notes, but she did say that McCleary had been edgy the last couple of weeks. That was it. His law clerk, a woman named Alexis Taylor, didn’t have much else to add. Now that I know about Nakamura, I’ll check back with them, see if they know anything about the two judges connecting.”

  “Keep plugging away.”

  “I will, Speelmahn.”

  I thanked him and ended the call. By now I had reached the station. My mind was whirring like a machine with all the details of both investigations, and I took a moment when I sat down to text Harry.

  I hope your day is going well.

  I waited a moment to see if he’d reply, and when he didn’t, I sent another telling him I doubted I’d be home for dinner. I was still staring at my phone when I heard Rizzo.

  “Sarah, could you come here for a minute?”

  I slipped my phone in my pocket and looked up. He stood in the door to his office, and behind him was Chief Follett. I muttered foul words under my breath, stood up, and squared my shoulders. Then I walked into Rizzo’s office. He indicated I should take a seat.

  Rizzo walked around his desk and sat down. Follett stood near a bookcase and looked at me. He’s over six feet tall and stocky with a full head of gray hair. He seemed to want to be above Rizzo and me, both physically and mentally, a pompous leader. It was an attitude I’d come to expect, and I didn’t like it. He clasped his hands over his stomach.

  “Detective Spillman,” he said with authority. “Calvin has been telling me about these two murdered judges. What do you have so far?”

  “Right now, we’re in the preliminary stages.” I filled him in on what everyone was doing. I finally ran out of words, my mouth dry. He pursed his lips thoughtfully, then glanced to Rizzo.

  “One killer, or two?”

  Rizzo shrugged. “It’s too early to say.”

  “Do we have someone targeting judges?” Follett asked, more to himself than us. His face was grim.

  I shrugged. “I would certainly wonder that, sir.”

  He chewed on that for a minute. Rizzo and I stayed quiet, waiting for the chief to make whatever pronouncement he deemed to be impressive. “The press is going to be all over this,” Follett finally said. “They already are all over it.”

  “There were news vans at Nakamura’s house,” I said. “But they were gone by the time I left.”

  Follett wagged a finger at me. “Not a word to them. No comment.”

  “I understand.” I knew how to handle myself, but it seemed wisest not to remind him of that.

  “I’ve had phone calls from the mayor, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I hear from the governor.” Follett let out a dramatic sigh. “Two murdered judges in such a short span. Man.” Another sigh. “I’ll be addressing the press later this afternoon.”

  “Do you need me at a press conference?” I asked.

  Follett shook his head. “I’ll handle it. I need you in the field, getting to the bottom of this.”

  I didn’t want to say anything, but I knew Follett loved getting in front of the cameras, that he loved the attention, and that he was already dressed for the event. His tailored suit looked great, his cologne just enough to be noticed, but not too much. Despite all that slick perfection, or maybe because of it, I found his whole demeanor off-putting.

  Rizzo cleared his throat to get Follett’s attention. “I have Sarah in charge of both investigations, and she’ll keep me informed of everything.”
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  “Good,” Follett said. “We’ve already communicated with the courts, let everyone know to watch for anything unusual, to let us know if they see anyone who stands out.” He swiped imaginary lint off his shirt. “Security is tight right now. Tighter than usual.” He stared at me, then Rizzo. “I don’t have to tell either one of you that we need to find this killer, or killers, fast.”

  I nodded. Follett flicked a hand at me, and I was finally able to escape. I left the room with relief. Ernie was at his desk, one eyebrow raised high, his head tipped to the side. He eyed Rizzo’s door.

  “What was that all about?”

  I grimaced. “Filling in Rizzo and Follett. There’s been another murder.”

  His jaw dropped. “What?”

  I told him about Judge Nakamura. By the time I’d finished, he was shaking his head. Then he swore. “What the hell is going on?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “But the pressure’s on. Follett’s in full leader mode, ready to take command –”

  “– and credit –”

  I smiled ruefully. “– for what we do.”

  He shook his head, and a grin crept across his face.

  “What’s with the smile?”

  He didn’t try hard to hide it. “Glad you had to deal with Follett and not me,” he said in a low voice.

  “Yeah, always fun.”

  That drew a laugh from him.

  “What do you have going on?” I asked.

  “I had to get a report out about another case, so I came back.” He leaned back, intertwined his fingers and put them behind his head. “I’ve got sore feet chasing down McCleary’s neighbors who we missed last night. It’s the same story. No one saw or heard anything unusual, and no one has any idea who might’ve wanted to kill the judge. I also talked to McCleary’s poker buddies, and the same thing there. Everyone says he was a great guy, smart, and he didn’t have an enemy in the world.”

  “He had at least one,” I muttered.

  “Yeah.” He unlaced his hands and leaned into his desk. “I still need to check Tewksbury’s alibi, and McCleary’s cleaning lady. And I talked to Dana and Bryce, McCleary’s kids. They both were at home with their families last night.”

  I nodded. “I want to talk to Nakamura’s admin, but she’s not there. That brought me back here. I need to look up Felix Robinson’s sister.” I told him about my day so far.

  “Why would Robinson go after Nakamura?” Ernie asked.

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” I said. “First, we need to find out whether Robinson even knew Nakamura.”

  “And if he didn’t?”

  I pondered that. “What if Robinson had someone kill Nakamura to throw us off?”

  Ernie’s eyebrows formed a pensive line. “That’s cold-blooded, but not impossible.”

  “Yeah, it is.”

  “Hmm.” He shook his head once, still thinking about someone vile enough to murder someone just to confuse the police.

  “You’ll need to circle back with McCleary’s family and friends, see if any of them know Olivia Hartnell or Victor Marko.”

  “Oh, my aching feet,” he groaned.

  I laughed. “If you have time, check with Tara, see what she’s found on McCleary’s phone and laptop. I’m going to see what more I can find on Olivia and Marko.” I got busy on my laptop. I looked up Olivia first. She was twenty-five years old, and she’d been married at eighteen, then divorced a couple of years after that. She had the daughter she’d mentioned, named Alice. I didn’t see any criminal record for Olivia, and she didn’t have a LinkedIn profile or a career of any kind, at least that I could ascertain. I did find a criminal record for her ex-husband, for theft and criminal mischief. I couldn’t find much else on him.

  I shared what I discovered with Ernie. “Olivia has a pretty nice house,” I mused. “Seems like a pretty good place given the fact that she’s divorced, the ex has a criminal past, and she doesn’t seem to have a way to earn income.”

  Ernie rested an elbow on his desk. “You’re thinking that Felix is exactly what he was convicted for, a drug trafficker?”

  “The money’s coming from somewhere. He supposedly worked at a construction site. Would he have made enough money to support his own lifestyle, and his sister’s, too?”

  He didn’t answer and turned back to his laptop.

  “Oh, an email from Jamison,” I said. Ernie looked across his desk. “The autopsy results for McCleary. Blunt trauma to his head killed him.”

  “We knew that,” he said.

  I perused the report. “No other signs of trauma. Some abrasions on his wrists and ankles where the ropes rubbed his skin. No drugs or alcohol in his system.”

  He scratched his nose. “So not much.”

  I shook my head and went back to researching Olivia. I found her Facebook page. She wasn’t active there, but she did have an Instagram account with a lot of short videos showing her with her daughter, some with Felix, but none with Victor Marko. There were several videos of her complaining about Felix’s trial and how unfair Judge McCleary had been.

  I turned to Victor Marko next. He was thirty years old, had been a manager at Auto Zone for six months, and been employed at that store for two years. He had a criminal past, some petty theft, misdemeanor drug possession, but no felonies. I couldn’t find anything else on him, and no mention of him in relation to Felix Robinson. Victor didn’t have a social media presence, at least not that I could find. I found articles about Felix’s trial, some that I had read before. I couldn’t find where Victor Marko was mentioned, that he had been present at any point during the trial. If he was connected to Felix Robinson, I couldn’t find it. I told Ernie this as well.

  “That doesn’t mean they don’t know each other,” he said.

  I nodded. “Yeah, but I’m not seeing it. I think I should talk to Marko, stir the pot to see what I can find. But before I do that, I’m going to see if any of his neighbors saw him with Robinson. I have Felix’s picture. I’ll do a little canvassing in the neighborhood myself.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  I looked up Victor’s address. He lived in Lakewood, a suburb west of downtown.

  Ernie glanced up. “You want me to go with you?”

  I smiled. “I can handle myself. And I’m going to stop by the district courthouse to talk to Sheila Noonan, Nakamura’s admin assistant.”

  “Get a firsthand impression of her, see what she thought of the judge?”

  “And what she knows about the note Nakamura received, and whether she might’ve heard him mention McCleary.”

  I quickly googled Noonan but didn’t find anything particularly noteworthy about her. She was in her mid-forties, was married, with two teen boys. She had a Facebook profile, but she didn’t post there much.

  “Have fun interviewing her,” he said. “You sure you don’t want me to go?”

  I shook my head. “I need you working on McCleary’s cleaning woman. Maybe she knows something.”

  “That I can do,” he said. “Be careful.”

  “I always am.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  It was quiet when I walked into Judge Warren Nakamura’s chambers. I’d had to go through security, and as Chief Follett had noted, it was tighter than usual. The aura in the whole building was somber. I was directed to Nakamura’s chambers, which had an outer office decorated with dark wood paneling, paintings of gardens on the walls, and two large plants on either side of a big window.

  Sheila Noonan sat at a large mahogany desk near the door. She looked just like her Facebook profile picture, with shoulder-length dark hair, a thin face, and big eyes. When I entered the room, she looked up, her expression a mix of wariness and consternation.

  “Oh, another detective,” she said flatly. “What can I do for you?”

  I introduced myself. “I’m sorry to bother you. I’m sure it’s been a rough day.”

  She leaned back in her chair. “Yes, it has. The phone has been ringing almost nonstop,
people who knew Judge Nakamura have been stopping by, and there have been a string of detectives or CSI technicians coming and going. I think the last one left just a little bit ago. I left for a while, thank goodness, and got a bit of a break. I’ve barely had time to do anything. I could’ve gotten some lunch, but I’ve lost my appetite.” She frowned and stared past me. “I’m sorry, I’m sure this isn’t what you wanted to hear. It’s just that I never expected my day to end up like this.” She seemed fond of apologizing.

  “You don’t need to explain anything,” I said. I pointed at a chair sitting under the window at the other side of the room. “Do you mind?”

  Sheila glanced that way, then shook her head. I picked up the chair, moved it closer to her desk, and sat down. She ran a hand through her hair, seeming to adjust both it and her mood. She looked at me expectantly.

  “What can I do for you?” she repeated.

  “How long have you worked for Judge Nakamura?” I began with something easy to get her to relax.

  “Geez,” she said. Her eyes momentarily misted over. “It’s been over twenty years now. I worked with Warren before he became a judge, and once he was appointed, he asked me to join him here.” She touched the corners of her eyes with her index fingers. “To tell you the truth, I was delighted that he asked. He was a wonderful man to work for.” She glanced around the room. It was quiet, just the occasional footfalls or voices from the hall. “I’ll bet people you’ve talked to said he was quiet.” She stared at me, and I nodded. “That was true, but once you got to know him, he was a pretty funny guy. He had a dry sense of humor, and he liked to tell corny jokes. He would almost go out of his way to make you smile.”

  “He sounds like a very nice man.”

  She nodded. “He was. I can’t tell you what it’s going to be like around here now.” She got choked up and reached for a tissue on the desk. She wiped her eyes in an unladylike manner, then blew her nose. She got herself under control and focused on me again. “Like I said, this wasn’t how I thought my day would go, and I don’t even know what to expect now.”