The Victim's Wife Read online

  I hesitated, feeling the early-morning preparation I had been counting on for the day slipping through my fingers. I had actually been grateful that I’d slept so poorly, so I had an opportunity to get in earlier than normal.

  That opportunity was rapidly disappearing.

  “Sure,” I said as I inserted the key and walked inside. Penny started up once we were both seated in my office.

  “I’m sorry, I lied. This is about the case.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m shocked.”

  “They’re making it look like Mason and I have had an ongoing relationship for years. That’s just not true. We broke it off over a year ago.”

  I gave her a skeptical look. Mason had never returned my call the night before. That was a question I intended to ask before we went into court today.

  If I made a big deal about the fact that it had been months since their last contact with each other before Max’s death and it turned out not to be true, that would become a significant obstacle.

  I wanted to know the truth before I continued to grill any more of the prosecution’s witnesses because it seemed like every time I did, they brought out further evidence that Mason and Penny had been carrying on for longer than Mason had represented.

  “You need to talk to your attorney about this. He’s going to ask questions on your behalf.”

  “But don’t you see?” Penny said, leaning forward. “This is all a game for Vivian. She’s the one who first told them about the affair, and now that’s all the prosecution can think about. It’s all they can focus on. They feel like they have a motive, and they’re running with it. She’s laughing as she watches how all this unfolds. You have got to bring her into this.”

  I opened my mouth, about to say that I had a plan to do so, but then clapped it shut.

  Penny had no right to know. For all I knew, she was here on a fact-finding mission for her attorney.

  “Let’s just see how the next few days play out,” I said instead.

  “That’s not good enough. We have to coordinate our case. We have to get our story straight.”

  I lifted an eyebrow. “Is that what this was about? You want to make sure that I don’t do anything to contradict anything your attorney is going to do?” I shook my head. “You’re leaving me more convinced that your relationship was ongoing this whole time.”

  Penny turned pink.

  “One of the surprising things I’ve learned is that you see Vivian far more regularly than you represented to me. You both attend the same country club at the same time each day.”

  “I hate seeing that woman every time I go there.”

  “Why not go at a different time?”

  “I am not going to change my schedule for her,” Penny said indignantly

  I nodded. “Indeed.” I made sure my voice dripped with sarcasm so thick that Penny couldn’t miss it. “You and Vivian are good friends, aren’t you?”

  “Where did you get that idea?”

  I nodded. “Something clicked into place for me yesterday in court when the prosecution talked about the poison found in your house.” I licked my lips and leaned forward. “I know what was going on between the two of you.”

  “What do you mean?” Penny looked worried.

  I couldn’t resist.

  “You guys had a sick little game of one-upping each other, didn’t you?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Penny moved to stand. I opened my desk drawer and pulled out a plastic bag with several cans of Dr Pepper.

  I set them down and looked at Penny.

  “Want to know where I got these?”

  Penny glanced down and harrumphed, turning to go.

  “I got these from Max’s office.”

  Penny stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes studying the Dr Pepper, and then turning to focus on me. She had an unreadable look on her face, but I suspected that I knew what she was thinking.

  “My husband loved Dr Pepper. It was his favorite drink. I told him he drank it too much.” She chuckled quietly. It sounded rueful. “I always told him that it was going to be the death of him. Turns out I was wrong about that, huh?”

  The merriment did not touch her eyes. I could see her mind working fast, trying to come up with a resolution to the problem I had just presented.

  Death of him?

  “Would you like to know what we found in a can of Dr Pepper?” I asked, observing her face.

  It was as if I had just dropped a ton of bricks on her. One moment, she had been fine; the next, she scowled and looked like she wanted to attack me before smoothing her face over and giving me a small thin smile.

  I knew now that there was something to my supposition.

  “Looks like you left something behind, didn’t you?” I said, quietly picking up the cans and sliding them back into my drawer again as if I were trying to protect them as evidence.

  Penny licked her lips. “What are you gonna do with those?”

  I was surprised she had not asked to know what we had found in the cans.

  The truthful answer would’ve been nothing, but she had no way of knowing that. And a guilty conscience kept her from suspecting that I was angling to get the truth out of her.

  I shrugged. “I guess you’ll find out, won’t you?”

  Penny licked her lips and folded her arms. “Those are my property. I would like them back.”

  I shook my head. “We need them for the case. How about this? We have some Dr Pepper in the fridge back in our break room. It’s just straight down the hall there. You can’t miss it. You can grab a couple on the way out.”

  Penny was looking pale now, as if afraid that the police were going to burst in on her at any moment. This had been a theory I had considered for a while, but I’d never found proof.

  I had, of course, read the police reports about the trace amounts of poison they had found in Penny’s home. While I liked the theory from Detective Thompson that Penny was trying to build up an immunity to the poisons, I thought that was unlikely.

  I believe now she had a different reason for experimenting with the poisons.

  “Those are my property,” Penny said, nodding as if she was now certain about her course of action. “You took them from Max’s office without getting permission. I ask you to give those back.”

  I leaned back and put my hands behind my head. “You see, that’s going to be a point of contention.” I gave her a big smile. “How do you know I didn’t receive permission to remove those from Max’s office? Anybody there could give it to me.” My smile grew bigger to show all my teeth, and I raised my eyebrows to taunt her. I couldn’t help myself.

  “You did not receive my permission.”

  “I didn’t need it. These were on Meridian Solutions property.”

  Penny came back and sat across from me.

  I immediately thought of the Glock 19 I kept in my top desk drawer, but it did not look like she was ready to attack me. She still thought she was going to talk her way out of this. I was happy to let her have that illusion if it meant she walked out of my office with nothing happening.

  “What do you want, Mr. Turner?”

  “Justice. I only want justice.”

  Penny stared at me. The only thing I could hear was the ticking of my clock in the corner of my office.

  “Surely, there’s something else I can give to you in exchange for those cans.”

  “What do you have in mind?”

  “I have proof about who killed Frank.”

  “Really?” I gave her a curious look, uncertain what she thought that would do for me. I wasn’t representing anybody on Frank’s murder; perhaps she had forgotten that. Maybe there was a reason why she felt this was significant, though I could not perceive it at the moment. “Is this a confession?”

  “Hardly. If you give those cans to me, I will make sure proof about who killed Frank gets into your hands—”

  “Why haven’t you given it to your attorney?”

  Penny w
ent still, so still that I was certain another theory of mine had some weight to it as well.

  “It has to do with Vivian, doesn’t it?”

  “Why would you say that?”

  “You did not go to your health club in spite of the fact Vivian was there. You went because Vivian was there. Aren’t the two of you friends? Having you done lots of things together over the years?”

  “No, I can’t stand that woman.”

  “The evidence suggests otherwise.”

  “The evidence is wrong!” Penny slammed her hand on my desk and then leaned back in her chair, rubbing her forehead with her other hand. “You’re making this far more complicated and harder than it needs to be. Those cans belong to me. I’m going to leave with those cans!”

  “You won’t.”

  “Give me my property!”

  “I already suggested I could swap them for something else. Why won’t you do that?” I leaned forward. “It’s because you spiked the Dr Pepper. There were two poisons in that room that day, and both of them were geared towards making Mason and Max upset with each other.” I gave Penny a knowing look. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

  “You are wrong, Mr. Turner. You are dead wrong.”

  “And if I am dead wrong, why are you still here? Why haven’t you taken a couple of cans from the refrigerator in my break room?”

  “Because those have sentimental value,” Penny said, her eyes looking wet. “They belonged to my former husband. I want to keep everything of his to remember him.”

  I nodded as if this were valid. “Sentimental. I thought it strange when I went to your house and saw that your husband’s pictures had been taken down. I’m glad I was not the only one who found it unique. Detective Thompson had a good theory to explain that.”

  “Have you ever lost somebody close to you, Mr. Turner?” Penny demanded. “It’s very difficult being reminded of your loss, day in and day out. It was the only thing I could do to maintain my sanity. Taking down those pictures was the most difficult thing I have ever done. If you don’t give me my property, I will have no choice but to refer this matter to the police.”

  “Over a couple of cans of soda?”

  I smiled.

  “You know what, that’s a great idea,” I said. “Let’s get the police involved. I have Detective Thompson’s phone number right here. How about I give him a phone call. It is probably a bit early, but I imagine he would want to talk with us. Don’t you?”

  I pulled out my phone, scrolling through my contacts until I had Detective Thompson’s number displayed. I turned it so that Penny could see my screen. “Would you like to press the call button or should I?” I pushed the phone closer so she could press the button if she wanted.

  Penny gave me a hard look. She hesitated but only for a moment before she stood. “I don’t care for you, Mr. Turner.”

  “I can live with that.”

  Penny left without another word. When she was gone, I pulled out the bag with the Dr Pepper cans, surprised my gamble had paid off.

  The lab where we had sent several cans of soda from Max’s office had found nothing. There had been no trace amounts of anything.

  But there is a reason Penny is afraid.

  She had probably replaced the original soda in Max’s refrigerator but feared she had missed some.

  I chuckled darkly. “Today will be interesting.”

  56

  “Court is now in session. The prosecution may call its next witness,” Judge Lewis said a few hours later, looking over at Cindy Seakowics, who stood and walked to the lectern. As she did, she glanced at me. Our eyes locked onto one another.

  There was something there I couldn’t identify, but I didn’t want to dwell on it. I was still smarting over Barbara and would be for a long time. I had a hard time believing that things had not gone better between us, but I didn’t blame her for responding the way she had.

  What made it worse was the truth hurt.

  I should have called Barbara sooner to let her know she had been drugged on the night we had broken up, but I had been so wrapped up in what was going on with me that I had not done it until yesterday night.

  Was I just waiting for her to calm down?

  Yesterday, I’d been ready to commit to her long term, prepared to talk about marriage, kids, the whole nine yards. Today I was now back on the street as a single man. Even though I had not been looking to commit until the last moment, I felt like I had lost something significant, even though I’d held it for only a few seconds.

  “The state would like to call Vivian Fuger to the witness stand,” Cindy said after she’d arranged her notepad in front of her and folded her hands on top of it.

  I glanced back as Vivian walked up, my eyes alighting upon Penny. She frowned and looked away when she saw me.

  What is going through Penny’s mind right now?

  Was she worried I was going to bring the Dr Pepper up in trial?

  I could get away with bluffing in my office, but I could never do that in open court without severe professional consequences.

  The value of my bluff would only last for as long as the trial. If I was going to get anything from it, I needed to leverage it before we got to the end.

  But how?

  Vivian took her seat at the witness stand. I was not surprised to see that she looked resolute and ready to be there.

  Was it my imagination, or was there an air of giddiness about her as well?

  As if she is getting away with murder?

  After Vivian had been sworn in, Cindy started with the usual questions to lay the groundwork. She asked Cindy about how she had come to Meridian Solutions, what Cindy did for Meridian Solutions, and eventually, she started to ask about the dynamics between the partners.

  “How long were you business partners with Max and Mason?” Cindy asked.

  “Approximately ten years.” Vivian’s response was spoken slowly as if thinking through every word.

  I couldn’t help but think back to my assumption that Vivian and Penny were friends. I had been working up to my theory about what had gone on between them when Penny had stormed out of my office.

  I was hoping to get more information from Vivian today when it was my turn to cross-examine her.

  “When you joined the partnership,” Cindy said, “Mason and Max were both already there, is that correct?”

  Vivian nodded. “Yes.”

  “What did it take for you to become a partner?”

  “I negotiated my way in, purchasing ownership that came with voting rights.”

  “Before you joined, did you have any idea there was tension between the two of them?”

  Vivian closed her eyes as if deep in thought. “Perhaps, but it’s difficult to say now because it has been a long time. If I noticed anything, I would have just dismissed it as normal partnership dynamics. It doesn’t matter what partnership you belong to; there are always issues between partners.”

  “Dynamics like what?”

  “Well, there’s always tension between people, isn’t there?” Vivian shifted in her chair. It wasn’t because she was uncomfortable. If anything, it looked like she was trying to get more comfortable. I just couldn’t shake the feeling she was more than happy to be here, that it felt like the culmination of a bunch of work for her today. “I’ve been involved in one other business partnership before this one, and I’ve learned that there are always interpersonal conflicts between people that make things difficult at times.”

  Cindy nodded as if this were evident. “What were the difficulties experienced in your partnership at Meridian Solutions?”

  “There were five of us. Five different people usually have at least five different opinions and ideas on what ought to be done.”

  Five is now two, I thought. That’s quite the coincidence.

  “How did things typically work on a day-to-day basis in your partnership?”

  “We had distinct executive roles for each partner. Each partner was delegated a certain amount
of authority to oversee their responsibilities. Only certain issues were brought before the partnership as a whole. For example, Max was the Chief Executive Officer. It was his role to be our chief evangelist, thinking of new products to sell and bringing on new customers for the products we already sold. He also spent a lot of time looking into acquiring new companies to expand our portfolio of services and companies we already had in-house.

  “Would it be accurate to say that at your company, Meridian Solutions, all decisions were made by the partnership in their executive roles?”

  “Not all of the time. In fact,” Vivian nodded over at Mason, “Mason had the majority of the voting shares, so generally speaking, if he wanted to put his foot down on a particular issue, we all had to toe the line.”

  “How often did that happen?”

  “Not very often, not often at all.”

  A glimmer of satisfaction crossed Mason’s face. This would look good with the jury, and it was something I would hit on in my closing.

  “Why?”

  “Mason was focused more on his side of the business. He recognized he did not have the leadership qualities necessary to grow the business in the way that somebody like Max did.”

  Mason shifted beside me. I glanced over and was surprised to see him given a little nod. I glanced at the jury to see if any of them were watching, but only Vern Goodman had noticed. He frowned, clearly thinking this was an act on Mason’s part.

  Vivian had said this to me before, but I had not believed it was true. It was interesting to see that Mason shared Vivian’s assessment of how he viewed his own role in the company. I had considered it inconsequential to our case and never asked him about it.

  “So why were there tensions between the partners if that was how Mason chose to run things?”

  “Max was resentful about how Mason had almost total control of the company if he wanted. He didn’t use it often, but when he did, it rankled Max.”

  “But you just said that didn’t happen often, so why was this a serious issue?”

  “The times that it did, it really got under Max’s skin.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t want to speak ill of the dead,” Vivian paused, and I saw her glancing over at Penny, “Max could be a little power-hungry. He didn’t like it if anybody was touching his turf or messing around with his responsibilities. To be frank, I believe he felt threatened whenever Mason put his foot down.”