Black Monday, A Stan Turner Mystery Vol 7

  Chapter 21

  FRANTIC CALL

   

  After my second interview with Jimmy Bennett it was clear we were going to have to delve deeper into the relationship between Metroplex Savings and Loan, Congressman Manning, and Speaker Potts. I asked Stan what he thought about it.

  "The secret alliance among the three men certainly could have led to Don's murder. I wonder if Don was upset at the Congressman for not making his problems with the federal regulators go away?"

  "I bet he was," I replied. "Perhaps out of frustration he threatened the Congressman."

  "Right. And the Congressman decided it wasn't healthy to have Don alive anymore."

  "So," I asked. "How do we prove that?"

  "Well, maybe somebody, a neighbor or jogger, saw something at the condo the night of the murder."

  "I'm sure Detective Perkins talked to everybody?" I replied.

  "True. But they may not have asked the right questions or they may have only listened to what they wanted to hear," Stan suggested.

  "Well, I'll be happy to go canvass the neighborhood. If there is a connection between the Congressman and Don's death that should go a long way to creating reasonable doubt."

  "Sounds good," Stan said and then excused himself to let me get back to work. As I was opening my mail Jodie buzzed to tell me that Jimmy was on the line. I picked up the telephone.

  "I'm at the Condo," Jimmy said. "They followed me here."

  "What?"

  "They're up in the trees. They have guns."

  "Who's in the trees?"

  "The feds, the IRS, hell I don't know who they are?"

  "Have they talked to you?"

  "You need to do something. They're going to kill me?"

  "Why would they want to kill you?"

  "Aren't you going to do something? Shit! Click"

  The phone went dead. I rushed over to Stan's office and told him what had happened.

  "He said the Feds were after him?" Stan asked.

  "Yes, he was frantic. He sounded like he'd gone mad."

  "Let's call his wife and maybe she can go over to the Condo and find out what's wrong with him."

  I nodded, buzzed Jodie, and asked her to get Betty Bennett on the phone. A minute later she buzzed back and said Betty was on the line.

  "Mrs. Bennett. We just got a very strange telephone call from Jimmy. He said there were people up in a tree with guns who were trying to kill him."

  Betty sighed. "Oh, shit. He's on a cocaine binge."

  "What?"

  "When he gets high on cocaine, he becomes very paranoid and often imagines people are after him. I've gotten calls before like the one you just got. Sometimes he'll get in the car and drive hundreds of miles thinking he's running from someone. He called me one time from Florida."

  "Jesus, I didn't realize his addiction was that bad."

  "That's another reason I'm divorcing him."

  "Well, should we do something?"

  "I'll go over to the condo and make sure he's okay."

  "Thanks," I said.

  Stan and I discussed Jimmy's condition and decided we couldn't really do anything about it, so we'd just have to come up with a strategy to mitigate its impact on the jury. That usually meant bringing it up early and being honest about it. It would take some fancy footwork but it wasn't an insurmountable problem. Jodie buzzed in again and said Betty was back on the line. I picked up the phone.

  "Jimmy's not here. He may have taken a road trip," Betty said.

  "What do you mean?"

  "He took some clothes and a suitcase?"

  "Oh, my God. They'll revoke his bond if he leaves the state."

  "My guess he's half way to Louisiana by now."

  "Why Louisiana?" I asked.

  "He likes to get out of Texas, and north and east are the quickest ways to do that."

  "Maybe we can catch him before the cops do?" I said. "Hold on."

  I put Betty on the speaker phone.

  "There's no way we could catch him unless he stops," Stan said.

  Betty replied, "That a strong possibility. When Jimmy travels, he stops frequently for coffee or food. I'll go east on I20 and check all the roadside restaurants and convenience stores. You go north on I35 and do the same. I think there is a fair chance we can catch him. We've got to catch him. He'll go crazy if they lock him up in a jail cell.

  "Okay. Call me on my car phone every thirty minutes," I said. "The number is on my business card."

  "I will. Thanks," Betty replied.

  For the first time since I had met Betty, she seemed concerned for Jimmy's wellbeing. I guess there still was some love left for him after all. I knew Jimmy loved her. He had made that abundantly clear each time I'd interviewed him. In fact, if Jimmy was guilty of killing Don Baker it would be because Don was responsible for Jimmy losing Betty, the woman he loved.

  We didn't figure Don would stop right away so we didn't start hitting convenience stores and restaurants until we got to Denton. We got off on the access road at the Triangle Mall exit and went by each restaurant, gas station, and convenience store very slowly looking for Jimmy's pickup. After the eighth or ninth establishment we pulled into a roadside bar next to a Cracker Barrel Restaurant. We were looking for a big black Ford F150. Betty had given us the license plate number. We drove all the way around the lot and didn't see anything until we had gone almost a full circle. Then we saw it. We parked next to it and rushed inside.

  Jimmy was at the bar smoking a cigarette and talking to the young lady bartender. Stan and I slipped up and sat on each side of him. He looked at us and did a double take.

  "Counselors? What are you two doing here?"

  "You called me, remember?" I said. "The FBI was after you."

  "Oh, right. . . . I lost them," he said taking a drag on his cigarette. "Thanks for coming, though. I'm okay."

  Stan said, "Where are you headed?"

  "Just out for a drive?"

  "Not out of state, I hope," Stan asked.

  Jimmy shook his head and smiled at the barmaid, "No, just out and about hoping to get lucky."

  The barmaid blushed and walked to the other end of the bar. Jimmy took another drag on his cigarette. Stan looked at me and shook his head.

  "Why don't you come back with us?" Stan said. "In your condition you're likely to get stopped and if they see your suitcase they may think you're skipping out on your bond."

  "Nah., I'm all right," Jimmy said. He stood up and then nearly collapsed. Stan grabbed him under one arm to keep him on his feet. We helped him out to Stan's car.

  "You take him home in your car," I said. "I'll follow you in the pickup."

   Stan nodded and closed the passenger side door. It was about a forty-five-minute drive back to the condo where Jimmy had been living since Betty kicked him out. Betty must have called right after we left because she was there to meet us. We took him inside and put him to bed. When Betty returned, she asked us if we wanted a cup of coffee. We accepted.

  "I so sorry you two had to waste the afternoon chasing Jimmy. Now you can see why I'm getting a divorce."

  "Yes, I don't blame you," I said. "It must be very difficult."

  "Yes, it is. . . . So, how is your investigation going? Do you think there is any chance Jimmy can be acquitted?"

  Stan looked at me expectantly. I smiled at him. "Actually, to be honest with you it's not looking very good. The state's got a pretty good case against Jimmy, even if it is circumstantial."

  "But Daddy had so many enemies, so many people who were angry with him. Don't you have any other suspects?"

  "Sure, what do you know about Congressman Manning and Speaker Potts?" I asked.

  "They were very good friends. Daddy took them fishing at Lake Fork a lot. They came over to the house quite often before I got married and they did some business ventures together."

  "Yes, and we believe some of those ventures were not entirely legitimate. It's a possibility that when Metroplex Savings and Loan go
t into trouble that your Dad got at odds with Congressman Manning and the Speaker. If that is true, they may have felt it necessary to kill your father."

  "What? No way. I know both of them very well. They are both honorable men. They wouldn't be involved in murder."

  "I don't know. If they had a lot at stake, they might."

  "Do you think you can prove that?" Betty asked.

  "Luckily we don't have to," Stan said. "Our goal is to get enough evidence of that relationship to create reasonable doubt."

  Despite her spirited defense of Congressman Manning and Speaker Potts, Betty didn't seem all that shocked by the notion that Congressman Manning and the Speaker might have killed her father, or had him killed. It was clear she knew or was, at least, aware that they were involved in some illicit ventures. All we had to do now was to gather some credible evidence of those illicit deals so we could convince the jury that Jimmy was innocent. The problem with that strategy, however, was that the Speaker and the Congressman wouldn't take kindly to us snooping into their affairs.