“What does that have to do with Ajax?”
“He drove me to the deposition. Norm was outside the house when we got there. He and Ajax got into it before I went inside.”
“Over what?”
“Ajax made some kind of joke about Will. I mean, you know what he was like. A queer joke. It was pretty ugly, even for Ajax.”
“What did Norm do?” Darrell asked.
“He pulled a gun on Ajax,” Ruby replied, “and he threatened to kill him.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
I’d seen Norm many times throughout the year, but I guess I was so caught up in my own issues that I didn’t really look at him. When we stopped at his house, I realized that he looked tired. And years older. He’d lost weight. There had always been a cheerful energy about Norm, a belief that nothing could ever defeat him or slow him down, but it was obvious that the crisis with Will last January had taken its toll.
He covered it well, though. He fussed over me, making sure I was comfortable. He talked about camping, photography, and college football with Darrell. But when we sat out on his back porch and Darrell told him about Ajax, I could see his facade drain away. He hadn’t shaved, and he scratched his chin with an exhausted look that said: What next?
“I suppose you want my gun to test for ballistics,” he said, guessing why we were there. “I’m sure Ruby told you about the threat I made.”
“Ajax wasn’t shot,” Darrell replied.
“No? Well, I suppose that’s a relief. What happened?” Norm glanced back and forth between the two of us, and then he leaped to the correct conclusion. “The Ursulina again? Seriously?”
“That’s confidential for now,” Darrell told him, “although I’m sure the story will be around town in no time.”
“Yes, of course.” Norm got up and leaned against the porch windows. The morning sunlight made his face pale. “I can’t say I feel bad about Ajax being dead. I mean, it’s terrible for Ruby and the kids, of course. But I never forgave him for spreading the story about Will.”
“Tell us about the threat,” Darrell said.
Norm looked at the two of us with regret. “I wanted to take it back as soon as I said it. All I can tell you is, I reacted as a father, not as a lawyer. I would never have actually followed through on it.”
“You pulled a gun on him?”
“Yes. Ever since what happened to Will, I’m always carrying. I’ve started to share your philosophy of life, Darrell. You never know. If someone comes after me or my family, I intend to be prepared.”
“What was the argument about?”
“I’m sure Ruby told you. Ajax made a crude joke at Will’s expense. I won’t repeat what it was, but it was foul. It set me off. I’ve been working fourteen-hour days, seven days a week, as we get closer to trial, and I was strung out. Not that I’d ever laugh off the kind of thing he said, but I overreacted. Mind you, it wasn’t just the joke. It was the fact that it was Ajax.”
“Where were you on Friday and Saturday?” Darrell asked.
“I just told you. Working. Morning to night. I haven’t had a weekend off in a couple of months.”
“Can anyone verify that?”
Norm shook his head. “I had a couple of meals brought in. I made some phone calls. Otherwise, I was alone in my office in Random the whole time. I’ve hardly seen Kathy or Will. They know the drill. This is the critical time in the litigation.”
“So you don’t have an alibi,” Darrell concluded.
“Depending on when exactly Ajax was killed, no, I don’t. And yes, I’m obviously familiar with the Ursulina crime scenes. In fact, I’ll do your job for you and confirm what you already know. If I wanted to murder Ajax and make it look like the earlier murders, I could easily have done so.”
“Norm,” Darrell interrupted, because it was obvious that Norm was losing a grip on his emotions. In most circumstances, Darrell wouldn’t have tried to stop a suspect from talking, but Norm was also his best friend. The previous December, Darrell had declined to interview Norm for that very reason, but he didn’t let it stop him this time. It made me wonder if he had doubts about Norm and wanted to judge for himself what he saw in his friend’s face.
Regardless, Norm kept rambling, quickly and loudly.
“And yes, I was in a frame of mind to murder that piece of shit,” he went on. “Will almost died, and Ajax was as much to blame as the boys who beat him up. Darrell, you have children, so you know what it feels like. And Rebecca, you’re going to have a baby, so very soon you’ll understand, too. When your child is at risk, you will do anything to save them. You will walk through fire. You will steal, cheat, lie, and yes, kill, without so much as a second thought or a single regret. There is not a sin in this world you won’t commit. You’re going to love your child the way I love mine, and that means you’ll sacrifice anything to protect them. You’ll give up your life, your future, everything that matters to you. Which is what I would happily do for Will.”
Instinctively, sweetheart, I closed my hands around my stomach. Norm was absolutely right, and it wasn’t even a question of waiting until you were in this world. I was already protecting you. You were the one thing in the world for which I would give up everything. I was a little blackbird willing to go up against a hawk to protect my baby in the nest.
I was a mother.
Norm sighed and sat back down in the chair. “But I didn’t kill him, Darrell. Yes, I had every reason in the world to want him dead, and I had the time and opportunity, but I didn’t do it. Search whatever you want. Home, office, car. Look for bloody clothes, or knives, or whatever else you’re hoping to find. You’ve got the wrong guy.”
I knew Darrell wasn’t inclined to believe that his friend was a murderer. I didn’t believe it, either.
Then again, you never know.
“Can you think of anyone else who might have killed Ajax?” I asked.
“Other than Ruby? I mean, you know how badly he treated her.”
“Are you talking about abuse?”
“No, just the constant cheating.”
“Ruby thought there might be someone special this time,” I said. “A woman he was serious about.”
“If there was, they must have been discreet. I didn’t hear rumors, and it’s the kind of thing the plaintiffs and their families would have been gossiping about.”
“How is the litigation going?” I asked.
“It’s progressing,” Norm replied, with a lawyer’s caution. “The new partner handling the case for the mine is a cool customer. Have you met her? JoAnne Svitak. She’s every bit as ruthless as Brink. Maybe more so.”
“Ruby is a key witness for the mine. Could that be a motive?”
“Well, she’s important to the case, but I can’t see anyone taking it out on her husband.”
“Was Ajax involved in the lawsuit himself?”
Norm hesitated. “Not really. Not directly. But I did ask about him in my interviews with some of the mine workers.”
“Why?”
Norm took a moment to decide what information he was willing to share with us. “Ruby’s experience at the mine was different from most of the other women’s. I wanted to know why she wasn’t getting harassed. I wondered whether her being married to a deputy gave her some kind of protection.”
“Did it?” I asked.
“I think so, but I wasn’t able to prove it. Nobody admitted anything about Ajax intimidating or threatening them. However, there was one incident that made me curious. It was all hearsay, and I was never able to confirm it. In fact, everyone I talked to denied that it happened, but that only made me more suspicious.”