“I met her there, yes,” Carr said. “But she was alive when I left. I swear to you.”
“What did she say? What was she scared of?”
“She wouldn’t tell me. She just said she needed to speak with you. We heard the library’s elevator and she told me to go. It was Malik. I left through the hidden staircase in the back. I wouldn’t have left her if I knew he would…” Carr’s voice trailed off.
“If you left, how do you know it was Malik?”
“Who else would it be? He was on the surveillance video. He was angry…”
“What about Mason James?” Sean knew that the senator had been out of town that night, but he wanted to see Carr’s reaction.
The justice shook his head in dismissal. “James is a corrupt viper, but he didn’t have any reason to hurt Abby.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I know.” Carr looked down again. “They were following her after she visited that guy at the prison and must have seen us together. James’s security man said if she backed off and kept quiet about whatever she’d learned about James, they’d do the same about her relationship with me. She agreed, so they had no reason to hurt her.”
“Then why did you meet with them at the Shakespeare library?”
That seemed to send a jolt through Carr. “They wanted my support for James’s nomination. They threatened to expose my relationship with Abby unless I helped.”
“Or they knew you were involved in her death.”
“You’re wrong.”
“So you’re either a murderer or a coward who left her alone with a killer?”
At this, Carr’s tone grew emotional. “You don’t think I wish I would have stayed? You don’t think I wish I could’ve saved her?”
“I don’t need to know what you think. All I know is that you are the last person who was with my daughter before she was killed. You didn’t go to the police after her murder. And you had a motive to kill her. To save your precious job.”
“No!” Carr pounded his desk with a closed fist. He was an imposing figure, someone who in a fit of anger could inflict a fatal head injury on a young woman with little effort.
“We’re done here.” Sean turned to leave and Justice Carr reached over the desk and grabbed his arm. Sean ripped it away and in a surge of fury swung his other arm wide and connected a fist on Justice Carr’s jaw. The justice stumbled back. He clawed at the desk to prevent the fall, but managed only to bring down a pile of briefs onto the floor with him.
The justice slowly picked himself up. He gazed at Sean, then his eyes flicked to a gold letter opener that was at the edge of the desk.
“Everything okay in here?” a voice called out from the door. It was Carl Martinez. Someone must have heard the shouting and summoned him.
Sean turned to Martinez. “Everything’s fine. I was just leaving.” He turned back to Justice Carr and said, “It’s over for you.”
CHAPTER 77
But it wasn’t over.
Sean sat at his dining room table amid the remnants of Thai take-out: empty cardboard boxes and plastic containers of red curry with chicken. Jack’s glass of milk was smeared with handprints and kernels of white rice. The sound of the boys playing video games floated up from the basement.
Emily surveyed the wreckage. “I really need to start cooking for us again.”
“I think we all feel bad enough,” Sean deadpanned.
A faint smile crossed Emily’s lips. There was a knock at the front door.
“Frank’s here.”
The three converged in the living room. Frank Pacini sat on the couch, Sean and Emily in the chairs across from him. Each held a cup of coffee. Pacini reached for a coaster and set down his mug. “What a day,” Pacini said. “I think we won the motion to suppress. But, between us, I’m starting to question the government’s case.”
“We are too, which is why I invited you over.” Sean told him about his confrontation with Justice Carr, that the justice admitted to having a relationship with Abby and to seeing her the night she was murdered.
“How did you find out about them?” Pacini asked.
“Today in court. It was the Gmail account. When Blake Hellstrom mentioned the court’s decision in Ahmed, I remembered it was Justice Carr who wrote the dissent, spelling out how terrorists use draft e-mails to communicate. We knew from Abby’s friend that she was seeing someone and that she was keeping his identity a secret. Before I confronted him, though, I wanted to make sure. The brother of Abby’s friend had seen her with an older man. I showed the kid a photo, and he recognized Carr.”
Pacini rubbed his chin. “So, what’s it mean? You think Carr murdered Abby?”
“I don’t know. He had motive—he told me that someone knew about their relationship.” Sean left out that Senator James was blackmailing Justice Carr. The senator still had the evidence on Ryan. “And Carr admits he was at the library that night and he didn’t come forward after her murder.”