The guards came for Kelly. They slowly prepared the restraints, generously allowing Kelly a few moments with her parents.
Coin did not offer the customary handshake. Sam barely noticed. She was too busy writing in her pad, recording for Rusty what exactly he could expect tomorrow afternoon because the court transcript would not be made ready for at least another week. There was a lot the judge had demanded; more than she had hoped for. Sam ended up having to write around some of the earlier notes she had taken when she spoke with Kelly.
Sam stopped writing.
She looked at the transcription, underlined—
It’s just a little upset this time of day.
Sam turned the page. Then the next page. Her eyes skimmed down what Kelly Wilson had told her.
… Tummy was hurting like it does … Usually calms down on its own … Sick same time yesterday … Make up for missing classes last week …
“Kelly.” Sam turned to the girl. Her feet were already chained. The guards were about to handcuff her, but Sam stepped in, drawing her into a close hug. The orange jumper bunched up under Kelly’s arms. Her stomach pressed against Sam’s.
Kelly whispered, “Thank you, Miss Quinn.”
“You’ll be okay,” Sam told her. “Remember what I told you about not talking to anyone.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll keep to myself.” She held out her thin wrists so that the guards could cuff together her hands. The chain was wrapped around her waist.
Sam resisted the need to tell them not to wrap the chain too tightly.
Lucy Alexander was not the baby that Kelly Wilson had been concerned about.
12
Sam carefully negotiated the steep loading ramp outside the courthouse. The stench of rotting food had dissipated, or perhaps she had become accustomed to the smell. She looked up at the sky. The orange sun grazed the distant mountaintops. Dusk was a few hours away. She had no idea where she was going to sleep tonight, but she had to speak to Rusty before she left town.
He needed to know that Kelly Wilson could be carrying the motive for her crimes in her belly.
Morning sickness did not always come in the morning. Sometimes, it came in the afternoon, but the key factor was that it came at roughly the same time every day, commonly during the first trimester. That would explain why Kelly was missing classes at school. It would also explain the round bump of her belly that Sam had felt when she had hugged the girl so tightly.
Kelly Wilson was several weeks pregnant.
Lenore’s red car made a wide circle, stopping a few feet from the bottom of the ramp.
“Sammy!” Charlie jumped out of the front seat. “You were fucking fantastic in there! Oh my God!” She threw her hand around Sam’s waist. “Let me help you.”
“Give me a minute,” Sam said. Her body was at that point where standing was easier than sitting down. “You could’ve warned me about the judge.”
“I said he was a hard-ass,” Charlie said. “But, Jesus, you made him smile. I’ve never seen him smile. And you had Coin sputtering like a broken sprinkler. That stupid asshole laid out his case right in the middle of the arraignment.”
Lenore got out of the car.
Charlie was beaming. “Didn’t my big sister play Ken Coin like a fucking fiddle?”
Lenore said, “‘I was impressed,’ she said begrudgingly.”
“That judge.” Sam took off her glasses to rub her eyes. “I had forgotten—”
“That you look like a Victorian-era Dracula?”
“Dracula was set in Victorian times.” Sam put on her glasses. “Rusty’s top priority should be finding an expert to evaluate Kelly. Either she’s deficient, or she’s clever enough to pretend. She could be fooling us all.”
Charlie huffed a laugh. “Dad maybe, but she can’t fool you.”
“Didn’t you say that I was too smart to know how stupid I am?”
“You’re right. We need an expert,” Charlie said. “We’ll also have to find someone who’s good with false confessions. You know that hospital recording is going to show hope of benefit.”
“Maybe.” Sam was worried that Ken and Keith Coin were too clever to show their work. Hope of benefit, or any false inducement such as the promise of a lesser charge in exchange for a confession, was illegal. “I can find an expert in New York. Someone will need to comb the recordings to make certain they’ve been unedited. Does Rusty have an investigator?”
Lenore said, “Jimmy Jack Little.”
Sam would not dither over the foolish name. “Jimmy Jack needs to locate a young man named Adam Humphrey.”
“What’s he looking for?” Lenore asked.
“Humphrey could be someone in whom Kelly confided.”
“She was screwing him, or was he trying to screw her?”
Sam shrugged, because that was all she could really give without breaking privilege. “I don’t think Kelly goes to school with him. Perhaps he graduated? The only detail I got was that he drives a Camaro.”
“Classy,” Charlie said. “Maybe he’s in the yearbook? Either his photo or he wrote something down. Did Kelly say he was her boyfriend?”
“Undetermined,” Sam said. Kelly Wilson might not fully understand the oath of confidentiality, but Sam did not take the pledge lightly. “Does Rusty know that Lucy Alexander’s father was Kelly’s teacher?” The man could be a second suspect in the paternity hunt. She asked Lenore, “If you could generate for Rusty a list of all of Kelly’s teachers—”
“You know that’s their angle,” Charlie said. “Kelly was mad that Mr. Alexander was going to flunk her, so she took a gun to school and killed his daughter.”
That wouldn’t be their case if a positive pregnancy test came out.
Charlie opened her mouth to speak.
“Shush,” Lenore nodded behind them.
Ben was coming down the ramp, hands in his pockets, hair tousled by the wind. He grinned at Sam. “You should be a lawyer when you grow up.”
She smiled back. “I’ll think about it.”
“You were amazing.” Ben squeezed her shoulder. “Rusty’s going to be really proud of you.”
Sam felt her smile soften. The last thing she had ever wanted was Rusty’s approval. “Thank you.”
“Babe,” Charlie said. “Didn’t my sister kill it?”
He nodded. “She killed it.”
Charlie reached up to neaten his hair with her fingers, but Ben was already stepping back. He stepped forward again, but her hand went down. The uneasiness was back.
Sam tried, “Ben, can we all have dinner together?”
“I’m going to be busy putting my boss together after that shredding you gave him, but thank you for asking.” His eyes darted toward Charlie, then back again. “But, hey, Sam. I didn’t know about the video at the hospital. I was at the station all day yesterday. I found out about the arraignment half an hour before it started.” He shrugged one shoulder, the same way Charlie did. “I don’t play dirty like that.”
Sam said, “I believe you.”
“I’d better get back.” Ben reached for Lenore’s hand. “Make sure they get home safe.”