Julia pointed across the coffee table to Willie. “I think you have a pretty darn good motive. Plus, I know you were in the hotel that afternoon.”
“Me? You’re nuts, Julia.” Willie’s voice came out in a squeak.
“I saw you,” Julia said. “In the revolving door as I was leaving.” She sat back and crossed her arms across her chest. Her smile was grim.
Willie laughed, startling us all. “Yes, I was there. I went to see Godfrey to talk about the new book. Not the one that’s coming out next year, the one after that.”
“And you got into a fight and bashed him over the head.” Julia nodded. “I can see it now.”
I looked to Kanesha to intervene, but she didn’t. She simply stood there and watched.
“Well, I saw you too, Julia.” Willie did not appear in the least perturbed by Julia’s accusation. “But you’ve got it backward. I was in the revolving door with you, but I was the one leaving, not you. I saw Godfrey around two-thirty, after waiting for him almost twenty minutes. He was upset about something when I finally did get in to see him, and he said we’d have to talk later. By then I couldn’t really hang around any longer either. I was due back on the reference desk at three. One of my staff called in sick that morning, and I had to take his stint at the desk.”
“The reference desk?” Julia had paled.
“Yep,” Willie said. “At three, and in full view of plenty of people for two hours, because I manned the desk until five. Then I had a meeting with the chair of the history department, and I was with him until nearly six.”
It appeared that Willie had a pretty good alibi for Godfrey’s murder. Based on what Julia had told me, it was nearly three when she left Godfrey. That statement lent credence to Willie’s assertion.
But if she had lied about when she saw Willie, had she lied about anything else?
Kanesha broke the tense silence that had fallen. “I have to ask you, Mrs. Wardlaw, if you would like to revise what you told me earlier. Is Mr. Clark correct? Did you see him as you were entering the hotel?”
“Perhaps I got it wrong, and I did see Willie as I was entering,” Julia said. “But he could have come back later and killed Godfrey.”
“I most certainly did not,” Willie said. “After I finished the meeting with the head of the history department, I walked over to the patisserie for something to eat, and then I went to the bookstore for a poetry reading. I didn’t have time to go to the hotel and kill anybody.”
All eyes appeared to be on Julia now. Except for Justin’s. He had his head against Diesel, hugging the cat closely to him.
“Mrs. Wardlaw, refresh my memory. What was it you did after you left the hotel and your interview with Mr. Priest?” Kanesha took a step closer to the sofa.
Julia watched Kanesha, the unease evident in her face. “I went to the bank to deposit a check Godfrey had given me. Then I went to the hospital. I got there in time for the shift change, a little after three.”
“Were you given a receipt for your deposit, Mrs. Wardlaw?”
What was going on here? From Kanesha’s demeanor I began to wonder if she had decided Julia was the murderer. My stomach began to knot up in distress.
“Yes, I suppose so,” Julia said, shrugging. “Don’t they always give you one?”
“They’re supposed to,” Kanesha said. “And generally those receipts record the time of the deposit. Were you aware of that, Mrs. Wardlaw?”
The relentless use of Mrs. Wardlaw was like a nail being slowly hammered into a coffin.
Julia stared at the deputy but didn’t respond. It was clear that she had never given a second thought to the time stamp on her bank receipt.
“I believe also that the bank is open until six P.M. during the week,” Kanesha said. “I can of course check with the bank, and I will, to determine at what time you made your deposit, Mrs. Wardlaw. I have already spoken with hospital personnel in order to verify your whereabouts.”
Kanesha paused, but there was only the sound of hard breathing. Julia was afraid, and the fear was almost palpable in the room.
“Do you have anything you wish to say about the time you made your bank deposit, Mrs. Wardlaw? It’s only a matter of time before I know the truth.”
Julia took a deep breath. “It was a few minutes before six.”
Justin raised his head and looked at his mother. “Mama, what’s going on? Why did you lie about the stupid bank deposit?”
“I guess I was just mixed up,” Julia said, but even Justin didn’t believe her. The pain in his eyes as he looked at his mother was heartrending.
“Mr. Priest wanted to take Justin back to California, didn’t he? You were afraid you might lose your son, weren’t you? And you weren’t going to let that happen.”
“No, that’s not right. Godfrey wasn’t going to do that. I talked to him and he promised he wouldn’t, at least not until Justin finished college.” Julia sounded desperate, but at this point I didn’t think anyone believed her.
“Can I ask a question?” Rick Tackett spoke, his voice low and hesitant.
“Yes, Mr. Tackett, what is it?” Kanesha appeared surprised at the interruption, but she nodded encouragement when Rick failed to speak right away.
“Justin, when is your birthday?” Rick watched Justin, his hands on his knees. I saw that his knuckles were white.
“August fourth,” Justin said after clearing his throat. Then he added the year.
“Thank you,” Rick said. “He wasn’t premature, was he, Julia?”
Tears welled in Julia’s eyes. “No, he wasn’t.” We could barely hear her.
Rick nodded. He took a deep breath as he looked straight at Justin.
“He’s not Godfrey’s son,” he said. “He’s mine.”
THIRTY-THREE
I wasn’t the only one in the room who was stunned. I sneaked a quick look at Kanesha’s face, and I could have laughed at her expression. The English have a term for it: gobsmacked. Translated roughly, it means utterly astounded.
That’s exactly how Kanesha looked.
Rick spoke again. “Son, I’m truly sorry you had to find out this way.”
“Mama, is it true?” Justin put a trembling hand on Julia’s arm.
Julia didn’t answer.
“It has to be,” Rick said, his voice steady. “I suspected it for a long time, and I just let it go, I guess. Julia had dumped me for Godfrey. And then she went and married Ezra. She made it clear she didn’t want me, even though I’d asked her to marry me.” He paused. “I didn’t realize until today that she was claiming Godfrey was the boy’s father. I couldn’t let the lie go on any further.”
“How can you be sure?” Kanesha asked.
Rick shrugged. “The last time I saw Julia back then”—and we all understood that saw was a euphemism—“was in early December. Godfrey didn’t blow into town until mid-January.”
We could all do the math. If Rick was right, Godfrey couldn’t have been Justin’s father.
“Did Mr. Priest know about your relationship with Mr. Tackett?” Kanesha went back on the attack.
“No,” Julia said. “He was only here for about two weeks that time, and I made sure he didn’t hear about it. He never knew.”
I had to speak up, though it hurt me to do so. “He found out about it on Tuesday,” I said. “I told him. It just came up in the conversation. My family and I were here for Christmas that year, and we saw Julia and Rick together. I told Godfrey that, and he seemed surprised by it.”
“She told Godfrey the boy was a preemie.” Andrea Ferris got off the sofa and came to stand near me. “When Godfrey first told me about it, he said he was thankful the boy hadn’t had any significant health problems despite being two months premature.”
“Mr. Priest confronted you that afternoon, Mrs. Wardlaw. He had figured out that he might not be Justin’s father. I imagine he was very angry with you.” Kanesha glared at Julia.