Rittenhouse stood as soon as he spotted Kerrigan. "Tim, do you have a minute?" he asked anxiously.
"Sure, Carl."
Kerrigan motioned Rittenhouse to follow him to his office.
"Yesterday, at the house, you were talking about Dupre," Rittenhouse said as soon as Tim shut his office door. "You said he ran an escort service and some woman was killed."
"That's right." Kerrigan dropped his files on his desk and sat behind it.
"I wanted to tell you then, but I wasn't certain, so I found the article about her murder in the paper. There was a picture." Rittenhouse hung his head. "It was the same woman."
"I'm not following you, Carl."
"I'd seen the woman before, Lori Andrews. I took her to the cabin."
"The Senator's cabin?" Kerrigan leaned forward. "When was this? The night she was killed?"
"No, a few months before. We were back in town for a round of fund-raisers. Harold asked me to meet her and drive her out. That's all. I never saw her again."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"What if the argument Dupre had with the senator at the Westmont was about Lori Andrews? What if the senator was involved in her death?"
Rittenhouse was sweating.
"Have you helped the senator with women before, Carl?"
"Once or twice. I'm not proud of it."
"Did he ever do anything to any of them that would make you think he hurt Lori Andrews?"
The AA looked down. He wrung his hands.
"There was one time, this one girl. It was in D.C. There had been a party at an embassy. He called me at home, late, about three in the morning. I brought her home, to her apartment. She had a black eye and some bruises."
"The senator beat her?"
"He said that she'd had an accident."
"What did the woman say?"
"Nothing. She was really scared and I didn't ask. Harold told me to bring money, five hundred dollars. I gave it to her. The senator never mentioned it again."
Kerrigan asked Rittenhouse a few more questions, told him that he would have Sean McCarthy take his statement at a convenient time, then thanked him for coming. As soon as Rittenhouse was gone, Kerrigan grabbed the police reports in Travis's case. On page seven of a report written by one of the investigators from the crime lab, there was mention of traces of blood found on the baseboard of a wall in the living room. This blood appeared to be old. Kerrigan called the lab and spoke to the person who had written the report. Before he hung up, the prosecutor asked the investigator to run a DNA test to see if the blood on the baseboard was Lori Andrews's.
Chapter Nineteen.
As soon as Amanda returned to her office after talking to Oscar Baron, she looked up Ally Bennett's address in the police reports. Forty minutes later, she and Kate Ross were at the door of a garden apartment in Beaverton.
Amanda was curious to see what a high-class call girl looked like, and she was a little disappointed. Ally's black hair was cut short, framing a face that was pretty, but not striking. With the proper makeup and clothing, she would probably look sexy, but today, without makeup, wearing sweat socks, jeans, and a T-shirt, she had the tired look of a co-ed who was cramming for exams.
"I'm Amanda Jaffe," she said, holding out a business card, which Ally looked at but did not take.
"So?"
"I'm an attorney. This is my investigator, Kate Ross. I've been appointed by the court to represent Jon Dupre. We'd like to talk to you about him."
Amanda hesitated for a moment, hoping for a response. When she didn't get one, she forged on.
"He's facing a possible death sentence, Miss Bennett. Kate and I want to save his life, but we need information to do that. Right now I don't know very much about him. That's why we're here."
Ally opened the door and ushered Amanda and Kate into a small, spotless front room. The floor was partially covered by a throw rug. Framed Monet and Van Gogh prints decorated the walls. The furniture was inexpensive but in good taste. Ally dropped into a chair and folded her arms across her breasts; her body language told Amanda that Bennett didn't trust her.
"What do you want to talk about?" Ally asked.
"The DA has charged Jon with killing Wendell Hayes, a lawyer who was appointed to represent Jon before I was, and U.S. Senator Harold Travis. We're interested in anything you can tell us about Jon or these two men that will help us defend him."
"I don't know anything about Hayes, but I can tell you about Travis," Ally said angrily. "The papers are making him sound like a choirboy but he was scum."
"Why do you say that?"
Ally's eyes misted. "He murdered Lori."
All good trial lawyers develop an ability to keep their emotions hidden when the unexpected happens, so Amanda managed to conceal her surprise.
"Are you talking about Lori Andrews?" Kate asked. "The woman who was found in Washington Park?"
Ally nodded.
"The police think Jon killed Lori Andrews to keep her from testifying at his trial," Kate said, keeping her voice level.
"The day Lori disappeared, Travis asked for her specifically. He had one of Pedro Aragon's men take her someplace so he could meet her later."
"How do you know that?" Kate asked.
"I was there. Travis had a fund-raiser for a bunch of high rollers at this big house in the country. He arranged for Jon to bring me, Lori, and some other girls to entertain these special guests after the regular guests had left."
"You're talking about sex?" Amanda said.
"What do you think?" Ally asked with a roll of her eyes.
"What happened with Travis and Lori?"
"Me and the other three girls were at the party most of the evening. We were told who our dates would be, but we circulated most of the night so no one would catch on about the real party that would take place after the straight guests left. As soon as we were the only ones left, Jon drove up with Lori, and Travis told one of Aragon's men to take her away." Ally paused. When she spoke again there was a catch in her voice. "Lori was scared to death. I tried to get Jon to stop it but . . ."
Ally shook her head.
"Why would Pedro Aragon be getting women for Senator Travis?"
Ally shrugged. "All I know is that Travis dated Lori before. The first time he beat her bad. One of Aragon's men drove her to emergency. He told her if she called the cops he would kill her and her daughter, Stacey."
"If Travis beat her, why did Lori see him again?" Amanda asked.
Ally looked sick.
"She didn't know what Jon had done until she got to the fund-raiser. Then it was too late."
"Why did Jon put Lori in that position?"