‘I’m not a wealthy man.’ It was the truest thing he’d said in the past few minutes.
After ten minutes the judge rubbed his eyes, pushed the receipts back across to Mac and shifted to look at the state’s attorney. ‘Mr Bassett has offered credible evidence that he spent one heck of a lot of time in Linder County.’
‘But Your Honor-’
‘Credible evidence,’ the judge repeated. ‘This case is dismissed.’
Stunned, not believing, Mac grabbed the receipts in fistfuls, jammed them into his pockets and walked out like he was on springs, through the empty courtroom and into the hall.
It was justice of a sort, though even a month ago, Mac would have recoiled at such a notion.
A lot had happened since then.
He laughed at the fraud of it.
SIXTY
Breathing purer oxygen than he had in months, Mac called Rogenet’s office first, from his truck. He intended to leave a message, but Rogenet’s wife picked up.
‘The doctor doesn’t think there will be any lasting damage, Mr Bassett,’ she said. ‘He’s bright-eyed and talking. And worried about your situation.’
‘Tell him the case got kicked.’
‘Seriously?’
‘Case dismissed after the judge reviewed some receipts I found.’
‘He’ll be so pleased.’
‘Tell him I’ll take him out for pizza and beer when he gets out of the hospital.’
‘The heck you will. Congratulations again, Mr Bassett.’
He called Maggie at home. ‘Case tossed,’ he said, ‘thanks to you.’
‘So we expected,’ she said, without asking more.
‘You and April?’
‘Me and… Let’s just say there are people who need you free.’
She might have been talking about Abigail Beech or perhaps she was talking about Betty Jo Dean. It was too fine a day to argue with such thinking.
April picked up her phone on the first ring.
‘We’re pouring free tonight at the Bird’s Nest,’ he said, and told her of the dismissal. ‘Change the letters on the outdoor sign: “Case Dismissed. Celebrate With Us. Drinks On The House.”’
She was ecstatic, of course, but still practical. ‘Mac, do you really think we can afford-?’
‘Number one, I’m feeling lighter than air. But number two? I don’t think we can afford not to. I want everybody to know we’re going to be around.’
‘Around, as in keeping the Bird’s Nest afloat? Or around so you can alienate more people about the death of Betty Jo Dean and-?’
‘I’ll see you back at the restaurant,’ he said, and hung up before she could see any further into his head.
He didn’t want to look too deeply into it himself.
April hadn’t indulged his instructions fully. She’d lettered ‘Case Dismissed’ and ‘Celebrate Tonight’ on the outdoor sign, but no degree of euphoria would cause her to give away booze. The sign offered drinks at half-price.
It hadn’t mattered. By seven o’clock that evening the Bird’s Nest was packed.
‘Can it really be because of the half-price booze?’ Mac overheard April asking Maggie above the din.
‘They came for Betty Jo Dean,’ Maggie said.
Mac thought the truth was somewhere in between.
Reed Dean had been among the first to arrive. He’d been the fourth call Mac had made from his truck, but they’d had the most to discuss.
‘They’re still denying my request,’ Reed said. ‘Bales, I can understand; he might be covering for somebody local. But those state police people down in Springfield, and Powell, the state’s attorney? What have they got to lose by giving me my sister’s bones?’
‘If we prove the skull was switched it will open up Peering County and perhaps the State of Illinois to a lawsuit. The county was the custodian of your sister’s remains from the time she was discovered until she was put into a casket; the skull was switched on their watch. That alone implicates one or more county officials – a sheriff’s officer or the coroner, along with the people at Wiley’s acting as their agents – as being involved in a conspiracy to cover up the identity of your sister’s killer. There might have been state police involvement back then somehow, too.’
‘You’re still sure more than one person was involved in covering up?’
‘Then, like now, the people who ran this town stuck to one another.’ Mac recited the list he’d gone over with Ridclass="underline" ‘Bud Wiley, the undertaker. Luther, his nephew. Doc Farmont, if the switch happened during the autopsy. Randall White, because he’s admitted knowing the head was removed. Clamp Reems, simply because he was in charge of the investigation, along with any number of his deputies. And last, but maybe most important, Horace Wiggins, because I believe he took more than one crime scene photo, and knows darn well your sister was shot from behind.’
‘There are all kinds of maybes in there.’
‘Tonight’s our best opportunity to start narrowing our list.’ Mac pointed to the people starting to fill the dining room. ‘How many of them do you know?’
Reed took a minute, and said, ‘Maybe half.’
‘Excellent. Chat with as many as you can. Tell them how relieved you are that I’ll be around.’
‘Because of that other thing?’ Reed was talking about the plan Mac had outlined earlier, on the phone, from his truck.
‘That’s the most crucial part. Tell everybody. Be excited.’
Jen Jessup came up to him as he stood in the back, watching Reed work the booths and the tables. Waitresses and busboys jostled each other, grinning as they bustled through the room. Even April smiled, the times she passed through. It was ten o’clock and people were still waiting to get tables.
‘Looks like Reed Dean is running for office,’ Jen said, watching Mac’s eyes.
‘From personal experience, I don’t recommend it.’
‘Here’s what I know,’ she said. ‘You were set for a status hearing this morning. You showed up unaware your attorney just had a heart attack. The judge reviewed something you’d written, unimpressed. Then you dumped out an envelope full of nickel and dime gasoline receipts, proving you’d spent an awful lot of time buying gas in tiny amounts in Linder County. And proving as well you weren’t sleeping here, most nights, because you’d been too busy buying little dribbles of gas in Linder County. The judge dismissed the charges against you, provided you dropped your countersuit. Am I right so far?’
Now it was his turn to study her. She really was beautiful. ‘I hear you’re really tight with Powell.’
‘Maybe not as tight as you think. Know what else I did today?’
She was crafty, too. He shrugged.
‘I visited every gas station within five miles of Grand Point.’
‘Lotto tickets?’ he managed, knowing well what was going to come next. ‘I heard the jackpot’s up to five million.’
‘I did hit a big-enough jackpot, at the Shell Station just north of here. In the most casual way, I asked if you bought your gas there. The owner knows you, though he’s not proud of that. He did say you’ve always filled your tank, even before you moved here.’
He kept his eyes on Reed, working the room. ‘Sure, but I was driving a Corvette back in those days. They get lousy gas mileage, and I had to top off most mornings back in Linder County.’
‘Want to know what I really don’t understand?’ she asked.
‘I can’t imagine,’ he said.
‘Why sometimes you’re tenacious like a ferret, and other times you leave things alone.’
It surprised him enough to risk looking at her. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘A sister,’ she said.
She wasn’t talking about Reed and Betty Jo. He wasn’t even sure she was talking about her own sister, Laurel. Jen Jessup was a digger; she might have discovered something new.
When he said nothing, she said, ‘I respect tenacity,’ and then she laughed, obviously enjoying the discomfort she saw on his face. She nodded slightly toward Reed, who was talking to two people sitting in a booth. ‘Let’s talk about a brother, instead. I’ve heard he’s quiet and shy, not given to schmoozing. Yet all evening he’s been moving from one table to the next, with the forced humor and persistence of a man selling raffle tickets.’