Act Normal, A Stan Turner Mystery Vol 9

and some of the board members. Then Francis asked her about the day of the fire.

  "Did you see Walter Stanley on the day of the fire?"

  "Yes."

  "When and where did you see him?"

  "It was in the evening before the fire. I saw him pacing back and forth in the alleyway."

  "Pacing? What do you mean?"

  "Well, he went out his back gate and stopped, then he walked up and down the alley like he was waiting for somebody or something."

  "Was he carrying anything?"

  "He had a brown bag and some kind of tool. I thought it was hedge clippers or something."

  "Could you tell what he was doing?"

  "No, not really, but he stood by the Brown's back gate for quite a while."

  "Thank you, Mrs. Hines, no further questions."

  The judge nodded. "Ms. Waters, your witness."

  I stood. "Mrs. Hines. You really don't know what Walter Stanley was doing in the alley, do you?"

  "Not exactly, like I—"

  "You don't know what was in the bag, do you?"

  "Ah. Well I assume—"

  "I don't want assumptions. Do you know for certain what was in the bag?"

  "No, I do not."

  "Did you see Mr. Stanley go into Mr. Brown's back yard?"

  "No, from my bedroom window I can't see the Brown back fence, so I'm not sure if he entered the back yard or not."

  "Did you see a GTE truck in the alley while you were watching Walter Stanley?"

  Mrs. Hines frowned. "GTE. Ah . . . yes, now that you mention it. I did. It had been there a couple days. I figured they were putting in some new cable."

  "Where was it parked?"

  "Down the alley a ways. I don't remember seeing any workmen though."

  "Mrs. Hines. Were you friends with Gladys Brown?'

  "Yes, we were good friends."

  "How would you characterize their marriage?"

  "It was okay. They both loved each other."

  "Did they have any serious problems that you were aware of?"

  "Objection," Francis exclaimed. "Irrelevant?"

  "Your Honor, in his opening statement Mr. Francis stated the Brown family was happy and they were innocent victims. I want to show that is not the case. Counsel has opened the door to this issue."

  "Objection overruled," the Judge ruled. "Proceed."

  "I'll cut to the chase, Mrs. Hines. Chester Brown was cheating on his wife, wasn't she?"

  There was a murmur in the gallery. The judge sat up and put his hand on his gavel. The room quieted. Mrs. Hines swallowed hard.

  "Well, I'm afraid that is true. There was a short fling with Ruth."

  "Ruth?"

  "Ruth Willis. She was a neighbor down the street."

  "Did Gladys's Brown know about the affair?"

  "Yes."

  "Had there been confrontations between Gladys Brown and Ruth Willis?"

  "They had it out at one of the homeowner association meetings, if that's what you mean."

  "Yes, exactly. So, there was more than just one feud in the neighborhood?"

  Mrs. Hines shrugged.

  "Thank you, pass the witness."

  Francis took Barbara Hines on redirect and I followed up with some more questions. The facts didn't change, however Barbara Hines really hadn't seen anything conclusive since her vantage point precluded her from actually seeing the Brown's back fence. After Mrs. Hines stepped down Francis called one of the crime scene investigators who testified about the crime scene and blood evidence collected there. Then he called the butcher who sold steaks to Walter Stanley the day of the fire. At five o'clock the judge recessed until Friday morning at ten.

  That night we met with our five hired mach jurors to get their impressions of the prosecution's case so far. There were three women and two men. Three were white, one black, and the other Hispanic. Two were white collar, two workmen, and one housewife. It wasn't a perfect replication of the jury, but close enough to give us some valuable input. In today's session we wanted to find out what the jurors thought were the strengths and weaknesses of the prosecution case. First I asked them what they thought about Richard Francis.

  "He seems like a nice guy,"#3 juror replied. "I like him."

  "I like him too," #5 juror agreed. "He seems honest and sincere. I trust him."

  I nodded. "Anything anybody doesn't like about him?'

  There was no response. Great, they all loved him. "Okay, what about the defendant, Walter Stanley? How does he strike you?"

  Juror #1 said, "He doesn't seem like a killer. I don't think he would have had the guts to set the fire."

  "I disagree," #5 juror objected. "His wife divorced him. He'd lost everything because of Mr. Brown. I can see him wanting revenge. A fire is exactly how he'd do it and if he could set it remotely that's even better. He's a coward and this fire was a cowardly way to kill someone."

  My mouth fell opened. Our whole theory of the remote triggering device had backfired at least with one potential juror. His argument made sense. The fact that Stanley probably didn't have the ability to rig a remote triggering device didn't seem to bother him. I made a note to really emphasis the complexity of the triggering device and the fact that Stanley couldn't have rigged it by himself.

  "Okay, does anyone else feel that way?"

  Juror #2 raised her hand gingerly. "He must have been pretty bitter about his wife leaving him. It must have been difficult for him to see Mr. Brown and his family coming and going every day when he was all alone. The temptation for revenge must have been very strong."

  "All right. What do you think of the defense's theory that a corporate competitor was responsible for the Brown murders?"

  Juror #4 frowned. "We haven't seen any evidence of that."

  "That's true. That will come when the defense presents its case. I was just wondering what you thought at this point. Does it sound plausible or not? Are you anxious to see the proof?"

  Juror #2 raised her hand slowly. I nodded. "I don't understand why Mr. Brown wanted to put up a chain-link fence. They are so tacky."

  I chuckled. "I don't know, it does seem rather strange."

  "He obviously didn't care much about property values," Juror #1 replied.

  "The fence couldn't have been the reason the Browns were murdered," #3 said. "It must have been something more significant. I like your rival company theory. It makes a lot more sense."

  We talked another thirty minutes and then called it a night. The meeting had been fruitful in that I had confirmed my fear that the jury probably liked Richard Francis a lot and that they didn't much like Walter Stanley. The hope that came out of the meeting was that at least some of the jurors didn't believe a barking dog or a chain-link fence could be responsible for the murder of five people. If that were the case, when we put on our case against Almatech and T. Robert Stout many of the jurors would be listening and considering that possibility very carefully.

  45

  Royal Bank

  Stan Turner

  On Monday morning Alice and I went to the Royal Bank to visit with the bank officer assigned to the Stover Enterprises account. The bank was located in a modest four-story office building in downtown George Town. It wasn't at all what I expected. The people who ran this bank obviously were interested more in the bottom line than impressing anyone. We went to the reception desk and told them we had arrived for a meeting with our bank officer. She pointed to a sofa and asked us to take a seat.

  Less than a minute later a dark-haired woman in a business suit walked over to us. She smiled and asked us to follow her. She led us down a hallway that ran between several large, plush offices with glass walls. I guess whoever ran the bank wanted to be able to keep a close eye on everybody. You couldn’t pick your nose or scratch your ass without somebody seeing you. At the end of the hall was a conference room with a small table. The woman asked us to have a seat and wait. She asked if we wanted coffee. We accepted her offer.

  A few moments later a tall,
middle-aged man came in with a file and sat across from us. We introduced ourselves. He said his name was Ben Adams. The woman came back and set a cup of coffee in front of each of us. Adams opened the file and began studying it while we fixed our coffee. He flipped through some of the pages and finally cleared his throat and looked up.

  "So, you are from Texas, I see?"

  "Yes," Alice said. "Waco."

  "Oh, Waco. My niece went to Baylor University. She really enjoyed Texas. She said it was hot, though."

  "Yes, four or five months out of the year are quite hot," I said, “but our winters are mild and spring and fall are very pleasant.”

  "Is that right. Hmm. . . . So, what can I do for you?"

  "This bank account is kind of a mystery to us," Alice said. "My husband and I own Stover Enterprises, Ltd. and neither of us can remember setting it up."

  Adams frowned. "Well, somebody set it up obviously. Let me see," he said as he flipped through to the first page. "Oh, this is strange."

  "What?" Alice asked.

  "The RCIP has already been through this file. They've taken the original signature card."

  "They have?" I asked somewhat surprised. Then I thought about it and figured the U.S. Attorney must have asked them to do it before they came down with the indictment.

  "How could they do that? I thought our account was private."

  "If there is an accusation of money laundering or other criminal activity sometimes the account can be examined by the authorities. It's rare though."

  "So much for bank secrecy laws," I said.

  "There is a copy of the signature card in the file. Benjamin Stover, General Partner is what it says on the card," Adams advised.

  "Can I see that?" Alice asked.

  "Sure," Adams said turning the file around so Alice could see the document.

  She shook her head. "It's a