Dance of the Bones

“A woman named Ava Hanover, at least that was her name at the time of John Lassiter’s first trial, but she’s Ava Richland now. Back in the day, while she was still Ava Martin and working for an escort ser-vice, she and a newbie prosecutor named Eric Tuttle had a little extramarital fling. He was married at the time. She wasn’t. Years later, when Ava’s name came up on the witness list in the case, Tuttle should have recused himself—-both times—-but he didn’t.”


At the time of John Lassiter’s trials, Brandon had found it puzzling that the prosecutor had gone for broke both times. Brandon was, after all, the primary investigator on the case—-the lead detective for much of it by virtue of being the only detective. The evidence, such as it was, was entirely circumstantial. To his way of thinking, Lassiter should have been charged with second--degree homicide rather than murder in the first degree. Now it all made sense, because by the time John Lassiter went to trial, Eric Tuttle had been the duly elected county attorney.

“All this happened a long time ago. How exactly did Justice for All find out about it?” Brandon asked.

“They do data mining, at least that’s how Rosalie Whittier explained it to me.”

“Who’s Rosalie Whittier?”

“JFA’s lead attorney on the John Lassiter case. Somehow JFA tracked down a long out--of--print book called Lawmen Gone Bad. Hardly anybody’s read it—-had a print run of five hundred copies or so—-but it’s a tell--all book about a previous sheriff, a guy named DuShane. Ever hear of him?”

Brandon Walker remembered Jack DuShane, all right. Sheriff DuShane had been as corrupt as they come. He still remembered the bumper stickers that had blossomed around town at the time. SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF, they said. GET A MASSAGE. That may have been a joke, but unfortunately, it was also all too true. DuShane’s involvement with the massage parlor/escort ser-vice industry was one of the things that had finally propelled Brandon into running for office against the man and eventually defeating him.

“I know the name well,” Brandon said aloud. “DuShane was my boss at one time, but I never heard about the book. You say it’s a tell--all?”

“I haven’t seen it, but that’s what I’m told.”

“Why haven’t I heard about it, then? A book exposing Jack DuShane’s carryings--on should have been big news around here.”

“That’s what makes all this so interesting,” Junior said. “As far as I can tell, the book never saw the light of day. The entire first printing was sold to what was most likely a single buyer who destroyed all the copies.”

“What single buyer?”

“No ID on the buyer, but I have a pretty good idea of who it might have been.”

So did Brandon Walker. Most likely Sheriff DuShane himself, now retired and living the good life in Palm Springs.

“At any rate, there was never a second printing,” Junior continued. “Word is, the author made a good piece of change by just going away and keeping his mouth shut.”

“Not blackmail, then,” Brandon suggested. “More like hush money.”

“Correct.”

“How did JFA find a copy?”

“Somebody gave them access to an uncorrected proof. Don’t ask me how, but they did, and that’s where they came up with the connection between Ava Martin and Eric Tuttle. He wasn’t the county attorney at the time, but he and DuShane were evidently good buds.”

Who played poker together for years, Brandon thought. If there had ever been a doubt in Brandon’s mind about looking into John Lassiter’s case, that was the moment it went away.

“Okay,” Brandon said aloud, “based on all that, JFA comes in and negotiates a deal that, as I understand it, Lassiter no longer wants.”

“He never wanted it to begin with,” Junior said. “And he isn’t the one who brought JFA into the deal. The person responsible for that would be his daughter, Amanda Wasser.”

“Back then I had no idea he had a daughter.”

“His girlfriend was expecting at the time he was arrested. The baby was born right after he went to prison for life without. He signed away his parental rights, and the mother gave the baby up for adoption at birth. Amanda had a health issue in her late twenties and came looking for her biological parents. By the time she did that, her birth mother was dead and you already know about John.”