"I loved him. He's the only man I ever loved. I gave Lamar everything and he threw my love in my face." A tear ran down Crease's cheek. "Fargo wasn't the first tramp he'd played around with, but she was the one he was going to substitute for me. It was history repeating itself. As soon as one of his wives started to age, Lamar would trade her in. I tried to talk him out of it. I did everything I could. I really loved that son of a bitch, but I told him I'd see him dead before I'd let him make me into one of his discards. He didn't believe me."
"What if you were wrong about me? What if I did fix the case so that you were convicted?"
"I thought of that possibility. If I saw that you were trying to help the prosecutor convict me I would have released the photographs to the media and moved for a mistrial claiming that you had been blackmailed into fixing the case. But I never had to do that, because I had you doped out one hundred percent."
Quinn felt like a complete fool.
"What we didn't count on was that police report with Jack's name on it," Crease said. "If it weren't for that ..." She shook her head.
"Did Brademas help you for the money?"
"Of course. And he was in love with me. He had been since we were on the force together. We were even lovers before I married Lamar. Jack had been shaking down drug dealers. Internal Affairs was after him, but they didn't have the evidence to make a case stick. He resigned to avoid a further inquiry. I got him his job in security at Hoyt Industries for old time's sake.
"When Lamar started cheating on me I became Jack's lover again, out of spite. But he never meant anything to me. When I decided to kill Lamar, persuading Jack to help me was easy. Then he started to get out of control. He was just supposed to kill Ritter, not torture her. I was furious when I heard what he'd done. I wanted to frame you for Ritter's murder, but you would never have killed her like that. Then you told me about the police report and I knew Jack was a liability I could not afford.
"When we got to the courthouse, I told Jack that I would follow him as backup. He thought that he was supposed to kill you and take the report. But I would never have let him kill you. Laura is right. You were worth more to me alive so you could tell everyone how I saved your life."
"Why did Brademas go after me in the parking garage?"
"We wanted to make sure that the order suppressing evidence would stand. I couldn't risk having it set aside if you told someone that you had fixed my case. Then you came to me for help. I decided that you would be of more use to me alive, because you would be my proof of the plot to frame me for Lamar's murder."
Crease suddenly looked very tired.
"We've talked long enough," she said. "Are both of your cars in back of the house?"
Quinn and Laura nodded.
"Get him up and help him outside," Crease told Laura.
"Don't do this," Quinn begged. "I'll make the broadcast."
Crease shook her head. "It's too late for that. I'd never be able to trust you."
"For God's sake," Quinn started.
"Move," Crease ordered, "and no more talking."
Quinn hobbled forward into the hallway. Crease followed at a safe distance.
"I love you," Quinn whispered to Laura.
"What did I say about talking?" Crease asked angrily.
A second later, a gunshot exploded in the hall.
Chapter 26.
A young cop was waiting at the front door of the Hoyt mansion when Anthony and Dennis drove up. Two marked cars were parked along the other side of the turnaround. The officer told them where everyone was and Anthony and Dennis walked along the front of the mansion until they found a slate path that led toward the pool. The path continued along the side of the house. Eventually, they rounded a corner and saw an ambulance and two parked cars. Richard Quinn was lying on a stretcher. A medic was working on his leg. A second medic was working on a nasty gash on Laura Quinn's cheek. Through the open back door, Anthony saw a forensic expert circling a third person who was lying facedown in the hall. He was carrying a camera. Every so often he would stop and take a photograph. Another cop was videotaping the scene.
Anthony walked inside and knelt next to the body of Ellen Crease. He spotted the entry wound in the back of her head. He had no desire to see the mess the bullet had made when it exited. It was enough to know that Crease was dead.
Anthony walked outside just as Quinn gasped in pain. The medic apologized and Quinn gritted his teeth. He looked spent, but Anthony needed to find out what had happened. He squatted down beside the judge.
"Feel up to talking?"
"I can manage a little."
"We're gonna have to take him to the hospital," the medic said. "Make it quick."
"She was in it with Brademas," Quinn said. "She hired Jablonski to make the hit on Lamar because he was going to leave her for Karen Fargo."
Anthony remembered his interview with Crease in the library on the evening of her husband's murder. He had been impressed by the dignity with which she had conducted herself despite her grief. Maybe the grief had not been an act.
"Crease was going to go on television Thursday night and tell everyone that I had been blackmailed to fix her case. She wanted me to speak at her press conference. Laura figured out what happened. She came here and confronted Crease. We were going to the police. Crease shot me and hit Laura. She was going to kill us."
"Gotta go," the medic said as he signaled his partner.
"You take care," the detective said as the medics started maneuvering the stretcher toward the ambulance. "I'll talk to you at the hospital."
Anthony walked over to Leroy Dennis, who was finishing up with Laura. She joined Quinn in the back of the ambulance. When the ambulance drove away, Anthony said, "Let's talk to the man of the hour."
The detectives found James Allen in the sunroom.
"Mr. Allen?" Anthony said.
Allen looked up, but he seemed to have trouble focusing and he looked unstable.
"Do you remember me, sir?"
Allen made an almost imperceptible nod. Anthony sat across from him.
"I had to do it," he said, his voice slightly louder than a whisper.
"I know, Mr. Allen," Dennis said. "She was going to kill them."
"How did you happen to come back to the house? I understand from the officer who talked to you that this was your night off."
"I didn't feel well, so I came home. I wanted to make myself some tea to calm my stomach before going to my quarters. I was going toward the kitchen when I heard them. Judge Quinn said he was going to the police. Then there was a gunshot."
Allen paused and shook his head in disbelief.
"I froze for a moment. Then I went into the den where the gun collection is kept. She was raising the gun to fire again when I reentered the hall. I ... I didn't feel that I had a choice."
Allen began to sob. Anthony watched helplessly. Dennis went into the hall and returned with a doctor. Then the detectives left.
"Let's take a walk," Anthony said. "I want to talk to you about something."
"Such as?"
"This blackmail business," Anthony told Dennis as they headed back toward the pool where the other policemen would not overhear them.
"We don't have any proof that Quinn fixed Crease's case. With Crease and Brademas dead, it doesn't look like we'll get any unless the judge confesses."
Anthony stood on the edge of the empty pool. Debris had settled on the bottom. Leaves mostly. Anthony figured the pool man would have cleaned it eventually, but he wondered what would happen now with everybody dead.
"Quinn's a good judge," Anthony said.
"If he fixed a case, he violated the law."
"I know that, but I'm wondering about the value of pursuing our investigation now that Crease is dead."
"Value? That's a funny word to use, Lou. We don't get paid to deal in values. That's for philosophers. We're lawmen. The senators and representatives write the laws, the governors sign them, we enforce them. Cops aren't supposed to think about whether the laws are good or bad."