Deadly Dining
Chapter 26
Stan Turner
After Paula had left, Stan’s head was spinning from the implications of Emilio Bellucci and Sandy Richmond’s sudden disappearance. It could just be a coincidence, but Stan knew such coincidences were rare. As he was thinking Detective Besch called.
“I’ve checked with all the airlines and neither Emilio or Sandy were on any flights out of DFW or Love Field in the last 24 hours,” Besch said.
“Well, that’s good news. Eva says her husband told her he was going striper fishing at Lake Texoma.”
“Really?”
“Yes, but she also admitted he’s cheated on her from time to time and going on a fishing trip means he is going somewhere with his girlfriend.”
“Do you know who the girlfriend is?”
“She doesn’t know and doesn’t really care.”
“Huh. That’s some kind of marriage they have.”
“Yeah. It’s a real shock to me since I’ve been their attorney for years and had always thought they were fully devoted to each other.”
“I guess that makes you naive.”
“I like to think of it as assuming people are honest and good until they prove otherwise.”
“Like I said. You’re naive.”
“So, what does Rutledge want you to do about your missing witnesses?”
“He says to leave it alone for now. If they don’t show up on Monday to be sworn-in then the serious search begins.”
“Alright. Have a good weekend.”
“You too,” Besch said and hung up.
Stan thought about Rutledge’s strategy to wait and make absolutely sure there was a problem before taking action. It made sense, but it was a risky strategy for two reasons. First, if the two witnesses weren’t hanging around for the trial there had to be a reason and that reason had to be significant enough to make them ignore a subpoena and risk a contempt citation. Second, by doing nothing for two or three days they were compromising the chances of ever finding them if they were on the run. In this day and age a person could get almost anywhere in the world if he had two full days to get there. Stan decided to call Ricardo and see if he knew anything. He picked up the phone and dialed the number.
“Hello.”
“Ricardo. This is Stan.”
“Is everything okay?” Ricardo said cautiously.
“I don’t know. That’s why I’m calling. . . . Have you seen Emilio lately?”
“No. Not since yesterday.”
“Hmm. Nobody seems to know where he is and we’re worried something might have happened to him. Sandy Richmond is missing too.”
“Oh, no! What’s going to happen if they’re not at trial?”
“Well, nothing that will hurt your case. We don’t need them as witnesses since the State has the burden of proof. The prosecutor may ask for a continuance though since Sandy would be a critical witness for them.”
“Good. I wonder where they are.”
“Well, Eva Bellucci thinks her husband may be out with this girlfriend and Sandy said she was going out of state to do some gambling, so they may just be letting off some steam before trial.”
“I hope that’s all it is.”
“Other than on the night of the murders have you seen Sandy Richmond around the restaurant in the last few weeks?”
“Yes. She’s been by a couple of times to talk to Emilio. They usually go back to his office.”
“I wonder what that could be about?” Stan said.
“I don’t know. They’re really good friends. I’ve seen Eva talking to John too. I think John and Eva went to high school together.”
“Is that right?”
“I think so. Hillcrest High School if I’m not mistaken.”
Stan thanked Ricardo and hung up. He knew his friend Derek Donner had graduated from Hillcrest High School so he gave him a call.
“Derek. This is Stan Turner.”
“Hey Stan. What’s going on?”
“A couple things. Do you have your old Hillcrest High School yearbooks?”
“Sure. Between my wife and mine we have six years—1977-1982.”
Stan knew from doing their estate planning that Eva was fifteen years younger than he was and he had graduated from high school in 1965, so he figured she would have graduated in 1980 or 1981.
“Would you look in your books and see if by chance John Richmond and Eva Bellucci are in there?”
“Okay. Give me a minute.”
As Stan waited he wondered if Eva Bellucci was the woman involved in John Richmond’s conviction for statutory rape. If he was and they were still friends that would be an important piece of information to know. Derek came back on the line.
“Yes. They were both there in 1979. I guess John graduated in 1979 and Eva in 1982.”
“So, if he was eighteen when he graduated and Eva was fifteen she could have been his girlfriend.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Oh, sorry. John was convicted of statutory rape. The girl’s father caught them in bed and he filed criminal charges.”
“Oh, I remember that case,” Derek said. “It was big news on campus. I remember because I was dating an underage girl at the time and that definitely put a damper on our sexual experimentations.”
Stan laughed. “I bet.”
“So, how can you find out if she was the woman?” Derek asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve got a friend who is a detective. I’m sure he’ll look it up for me, that is, if I want him to know about it.”
“Why wouldn’t you?”
“Because if it’s true I might have a conflict of interest.”
Stan explained his concerns.
“Oh, the ethical dilemmas of an attorney,” Derek teased. “I don’t know how you cope with it.”
“Me either. It can get pretty sticky.”
“Well, good luck.”
“Oh, one other thing,” Stan said.
“What?”
“You represent several different insurance companies, right?”
“Yes, eleven life insurance companies and six casualty underwriters,” Derek said proudly.
“Could you check and see if there is a life insurance policy on John Richmond?”
Derek thought a moment. “Well, that would be an ethical issue for me.”
“I don’t need to know any specifics, just if a policy existed and how much the beneficiary was paid or will be paid. If you would just tell me one way or the other, I could then subpoena the detailed information so you wouldn’t get in trouble.”
“So, you’re telling me your entitled to the information, but you don’t want to have to subpoena records from eleven companies?”
“Exactly. The court wouldn’t let me do that.”
“Okay,” Derek said. “It might take me thirty minutes or so to do it.”
“That’s no problem. No hurry. Just do it the next time that it is convenient for you.”
“Okay. I’ve got to go to the office in the morning for a few hours. I’ll take care of it then.”
“Great, thanks.”
Stan looked at his watch and saw it was nearly 5:30 p.m. It was time to leave. On Friday nights Stan and Rebekah usually went to dinner and then to a movie. If he didn’t get home by 6:00 they wouldn’t have time to eat before the movie started and Rebekah wouldn’t be happy. Surprisingly traffic on Central Expressway was moving right along so he made it home at 6:05. When he walked in the door Rebekah was dressed and ready to go, so he quickly changed and then drove them to Red Lobster. While they were dining he told her about the missing witnesses.
“So, what if John Richmond had a big insurance policy? How is that relevant to the case?”
“Well, if Sandy Richmond was the beneficiary of a large insurance policy then she had a motive to kill her husband.”
“Yes, but I thought she was poisoned too?”
“She was, but she survived. Maybe she was careful just to take a little poison. Enough to g
et sick but not to die. That would be pretty clever.”
“So, you think Sandy Richmond is the killer?”
“Yes. I think it is a distinct possibility. The fact that she has disappeared is more evidence of my suspicions.”
“But what about the shoe box full of cash with Wilkinson’s fingerprints?” Rebekah asked.
Stan shrugged. “That is troubling. I can’t understand how that happened. Wilkinson wouldn’t plant a shoe box under Ricardo’s bed with his fingerprints on it. It almost looks like someone was trying to frame him.”
“Who? Sandy Richmond?”
“Maybe.”
“But how would she get a shoe box with Wilkinson’s fingerprints on it?”
“If they had access to his home they could rummage around and probably find a shoe box that he had handled.”
“Sandy Richmond wouldn’t have access to his house.”
“No. She wouldn’t,” Stan admitted. “But she could steal his trash and then rummage through it. I’ve done that before.”
“Yes, I remember. It stunk and you left it in the garage for a week.”
Stan laughed. “Sorry, but I did find a key piece of evidence.”
“So, what does Paula say about all this?”
Stan sighed. “Well, actually she knows nothing about it. The last thing I want to do is confuse her right now. She’s all ready to present her defense that Wilkinson and his cohorts were behind the murders and Ricardo was set up to take the fall. I wouldn’t want to say anything to the contrary unless I had ironclad proof.”
“So, how can you get that proof?”
“Tomorrow I should know if she had insurance, how much, and if she has collected the proceeds yet. If she doesn’t show up on Monday and we find out the insurance company paid her, then we may want to present that evidence to the jury.”
“Well, we better get going or we’re going to miss the movie.”
“What are we seeing?” Stan asked.
“LA Confidential,” Rebekah replied.
Stan nodded his approval. “I’ve heard that’s good.”
“We shall see,” Rebekah said getting up.
That night Stan had trouble sleeping. He kept running different scenarios through his head of how and why the three diners had been murdered. Nothing made sense to him until Derek called him late Saturday morning.
“Well, John Richmond definitely had an insurance policy.”
“Really? How much?” Stan asked.
“How about five million dollars.”
“Whoa! Five million?”
“Yes, and she’s already collected it. She got a check on Wednesday afternoon.”
“No wonder she left town.”
“So, you think she did it?”
“I guess we’ll know on Monday. If she doesn’t show up it’s probably a safe bet she’s the murderer. Since she was at the table she could have put the rat poison in the bowl of cheese, maybe while the others were in the restroom or looking the other way.”
“Well, I hope that helps,” Derek said.
“Oh. It does, believe me. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the information.”
“Good luck with that.”