Graden suggested we wait and see how the rest of the week shook out. “We could always just grab a quick bite downtown.”
I agreed. Did he know that my hesitation was only partially work related? I couldn’t tell.
On Thursday Bailey called with news.
“I got Averly’s phone bill. Wait’ll you see. Oh, and by the way, it does look like he and Powers go back-”
“Great. Wait’ll I see what?”
“I skipped right by it the first time, for some damn reason-”
This preamble was killing me. “Tell me already!”
She continued, rolling right over me, “-but then I realized there was something familiar about one of the numbers. I checked out the exact time and then I checked out the number-”
“Seriously, I’m going to hang up.”
“Remember the texts between Hayley and Brian on the mountain?”
I exhaled impatiently. “Of course.”
“Well, after the last text from Brian, there was a gap, and then there was a text telling Hayley to come out and meet on the trail-”
“That was probably from the killer. Yes, I know-”
“No, there’s no ‘probably.’ That text was definitely from the killer.”
I sat up and clutched the phone. “What?”
“In the same minute-probably within seconds of sending that text, the killer made a call from Brian’s cell. To Jack Averly.”
“Oh, my God.” This was huge. It proved that Averly didn’t take part in the actual killings. Powers wouldn’t be calling Averly if Averly was standing next to him. And Powers wouldn’t have been using Brian’s cell to do it if Brian was still alive and kicking.
“That’s it,” I said. “Ian Powers called Averly after he killed Brian-”
“-to say he’d found Hayley?”
“Or to tell Averly what direction he’d be moving in so Averly could meet him.”
We had our proof: Ian Powers had killed them both.
52
“We’ve got to turn this over to Terry,” I said. This was critical Brady material-evidence helpful to Averly’s defense-and it had to be provided immediately. Ian’s phone call was proof that Averly wasn’t present during Brian’s murder, and it was a pretty strong indication that he hadn’t been present for Hayley’s murder either. Powers didn’t need Averly’s help to take Hayley down, not once he realized she was within striking distance. His call to Averly-made at the same time he texted Hayley-provided some evidence that he was telling Averly where to meet him and going after Hayley himself. The fact that there was no physical evidence tying Averly to either murder offered more support for the theory that Ian had done the killings alone. Put it all together, and Averly had a decent basis for the claim that he truly didn’t know about the murder plan, which meant that he was only an accessory after the fact.
I put in a call to Terry and told her what I had. I said I’d sweeten the deal and give Averly time served, which meant that if he pled guilty as an accessory, he’d get out immediately.
“You’re going to insist on making him this deal in person again,” Terry said irritably.
“Correct. We should do it fast too, because if he’s going to take it, I’ll need to call off my witnesses and get him ready to testify at Powers’s preliminary hearing.”
“I can make it at two thirty,” Terry said.
“Fine.”
“And bring me a copy of that phone bill.”
I’d make her sign an acknowledgment of receipt form too. She’d already shown she was going to play the “prosecutor is hiding discovery” game at the arraignment. I planned to make sure she paid for that gambit. From now until her client pled guilty, I was going to bury her in discovery and have her signing acknowledgment forms, on the record, until her fingers fell off.
I gave Declan the good news.
“I’m calling Mr. Vanderhorn right now,” he said.
I hadn’t heard anyone say “Mr.” Vanderhorn in so long, I almost didn’t recognize the name.
Bailey picked me up outside the courthouse and we rehashed the ramifications of this latest development.
“It was pretty sloppy of Ian to call Averly,” I said.
“He’s not an experienced killer, and this whole thing was put together on the fly. Besides, he did have the presence of mind not to use his own phone.”
“True, that. And he was in a hurry to get to Hayley. Especially if she’d managed to get close enough to see Brian lying there.”
We fell silent, imagining the scene. Brian, bleeding out near a shallow open grave. Hayley alone in the darkness, peeking through the bushes. The shock of seeing her boyfriend lying there, on the ground, dying. And then…her terror as Ian-her second father-gave deadly chase.
“I hope Averly takes the deal,” Bailey said. “I’d like to hear how they all wound up on that mountain when the ransom drop was in Fryman Canyon.”
Personally, I wanted to hear why Ian decided that Brian had to die. But I doubted Averly would be able to give us that. Ian wouldn’t have wanted to tell him anything more than was absolutely necessary. This time, when we got to the waiting room, Terry was already there. And holding her hand out. I knew she wasn’t hoping to shake, so I put the report and a copy of her client’s phone record into it. She scanned the pages for the next few minutes.
“Thanks,” she said when she’d finished.
For Terry, that was gushy.
We waited in silence for the next ten minutes, and then a deputy arrived to escort us.
“I need a few minutes alone with my client,” Terry said.
I’d warned Terry on the phone that I didn’t want her to tell him about the deal. Again, I wanted to make sure he got the offer pure and unadulterated by any spin. She saw I was about to protest.
“I gave you my word I wouldn’t tell him what you plan to offer, and I won’t,” she said.
I nodded to the deputy, and he took Terry back to the same attorney cage we’d had last time. Jack Averly clanked in shortly thereafter. Terry’s back was to me, so I couldn’t see her expression, but I saw Averly tilt his head, then slouch down in his chair and nod. A minute later she signaled the guard to let us in.
I put my micro recorder on the table and turned it on. Bailey’d had one in her pocket last time, but I wanted to be open about it now. If Terry could see us recording the conversation, she’d be less likely to try and claim later that we’d strong-armed her client into a plea.
Terry again took control. “I’m going to let the prosecutor make her new offer.” She nodded at me. “Go ahead.”
Gee, thanks, boss lady. “First, I have to have an answer to one question.”
Terry narrowed her eyes. “No, absolutely not. I told you up front, no questioning.”
“This is a platinum offer, Counsel. I don’t give this kind of deal every day, and I’m sure as hell not about to do it unless I’m certain of what I’m getting. If you can’t even let him give us this one answer, we’re out of here.”
I stood to go.
“Wait, I want to hear it!” Averly flashed his lawyer an angry glance. “It’s my life, not yours!” He turned to me. “Ask your question.”
Terry’s eyes narrowed to slits and her chin jutted out. She looked like she wanted to reach over and snap his neck. But she didn’t object any further. A client doesn’t control much, but he does have the right to decide whether he’ll take a deal or not. If Terry tried to get in his way now, even if it was just to keep him quiet, she ran the risk of looking like she was interfering with that right. And it was all being recorded.
“When you were on the mountain, did you get a call from Ian on a strange cell phone?” Averly wouldn’t have known it was Brian’s cell that Ian was using, but he might well have noticed the number was unfamiliar.
Averly frowned and looked down at the table. Then his expression cleared. “Yeah, I did.”