Cash Call, A Stan Turner Mystery Vol 5

  Chapter 29

  Follow-up

   While I was driving back to the office I thought about Paula's partnership proposal. It was an interesting idea, but completely out of the question. I couldn't let her see in what dire straits I was in. It would be humiliating. I should have just torpedoed the idea right then, but the thought of being with her and working together was tempting.

  Of more concern to me at that moment, however, was the no bill. My mind began to race as I considered the implications. How could they no bill that drunken piece of slime! Drinking a bottle of scotch and then racing down Lemmon Avenue going 65 mph. What does it take to get an indictment? . . . Maybe it was because Anant is from India . . . Oh, shit. I bet that was it!

  Later that day, I stopped by Margie Mason's place. I couldn't bring myself to believe that Jim was a murderer. But unless I kept pushing to find the truth, Detective Besch would find a way to pin it on him. I had a few more questions for Margie since there was a discrepancy between her story and the bartender's recollection of her activities on the night of the murder. I knocked, waited a minute, and knocked again. Finally the door opened and she appeared in her nightgown, her eyes half open. She obviously had been sleeping and I had awakened her.

   "Oh. Mr. Turner. What do you want?"

   "I have a few more questions for you if you have a minute."

   "Well, I was asleep actually."

   "I'm sorry, it will only take a minute or two. It's really important."

   "Okay, let me get some clothes on."

   Margie closed the door for a minute. When she opened it again she invited me inside.

   "I'm really sorry to bother you, but I was talking to the bartender and there are some discrepancies between what you and Lucy told me and what he remembers."

  "Really?"

   "Yeah. It revolves around the time you left and other things."

   "What other things?"

   "Well, he says that you and Lucy picked up some cowboys and left with them around 9:30 or 10:00."

   Margie frowned and replied, "I didn't leave with anybody. I was alone. Lucy might have taken one of those gigolos home with her, but I wouldn't think of it."

   "So you left the bar alone?"

   "Yes."

   "Are you sure it was 10:00 p.m.?"

   "Or a little later, the bartender must be mistaken."

   "Do you know the names of the men you met at the bar?"

   "No, I'd never seen them before."

   "Can you describe them?"

   "One was 6' 2" maybe, had short black hair, blue eyes, a mustache and lots of muscles. He was a good looking guy, but I don't pay for sex."

   "Is that the one Lucy took home?"

   "I don't know if she took anyone home, I just said she might have."

   "What about the other one?"

   "Around five foot seven, long brown hair, brown eyes," she recited thoughtfully, "a chain smoker--big ego. I didn't like him very much."

  "How long were you with them?"

   "I'm not sure, an hour maybe."

   "Well, very good, I just wanted to double check my notes. I appreciate you talking with me."

   "No problem, but if you don't mind I'm going back to bed."

   "Oh, one other question. How were you and Luther getting along--you know, with all the problems he was having with the Golden Dragon investors?"

   "Just fine."

   "No problems at all?"

   "Well, I was a little upset about Luther's habit of going to a bar at night instead of coming home. I worried about him."

   "Were you worried he'd pick up another woman?"

   Margie didn't respond but the expression on her face told me what I needed to know.

   "I see. . . . Well, thanks for your help. I guess I'll let you get back to sleep. Sorry for the intrusion."

   Even after talking with Margie I was still troubled by the thirty-minute discrepancy. I needed to find a way to pin down her departure from the Rendezvous Club precisely. Unfortunately, I didn't know how I could do that. I wanted so badly for the murderer to be someone other than one of my clients. For now, I decided there wasn't anything I could do so I turned my attention to Jim's alibi.

   I decided to try to find Julie at the Sunset Strip. As I was getting into my car, Margie's door opened and she waved at me to come back in. I shut the door and went back up the steps to her front door.

   "Your secretary is on the line. She's says it's an emergency."

   I rushed inside and took the phone.

   "Stan, they've arrested Jim. Wanda just called and said Detective Besch just picked him up."

   "Oh great," I said, shaking my head. "Okay. I'll call Wanda."

   I asked Margie if I could make a phone call. She said I could, so I dialed Wanda's number.

   "Hello, Wanda?"

   "Stan, they just arrested Jim! They've taken him away. They say he killed Luther Bell."

   "I'm sorry, Wanda. I was afraid they were going to do that."

   "Can you get him out? You can't let him go to jail."

   "Listen Wanda, I gave Jim the name of a couple good criminal attorneys. Didn't he contact one of them?"

   "Yes, but they both wanted a $20,000 retainer. We don't have any more money. We spent every dime we had on cash calls. You've got to help him, Stan."

   "All right, I'll go down and see what's going on. I can't promise anything. I've got a potential conflict since several of my clients are suspects. I'll need a waiver."

   "A waiver from who?"

   "All of the Blaylocks."

   "Don't worry about it. I'll get it from them. Just go take care of Jim, okay? . . . please."

   "Okay, I'm on my way. I'll call you later after I learn something."

   I made one more call to Detective Besch's office and found out that Jim was at the Mesquite Police and Courts Building. I thanked Margie, got in my car and drove there immediately. Once inside, I went directly to the front desk. A young lady was busy typing a report.

  "Hello, miss."

   "Yes?"

   "You wouldn't know where they hold prisoners would you?"

   "Down the hall to the next corridor and take a right, second door on the left."

   "Thank you."

   I followed her instructions and quickly found the police detention room. I opened the door and went inside. I identified myself and asked the receptionist about Jim Cochran. She said to take a seat and she'd notify the appropriate party of my arrival.

   After a minute, one of the inside doors opened and Detective Besch appeared. He raised his eyebrows when he saw me and said, "What are you doing here? I thought you weren't going to represent Cochran."

   "He ran out of money and couldn't come up with the retainer to give the attorney I had recommended to him. Anyway, I may someone to represent him in a few days."

   "So, does this someone work for free?"

   "No, but she'll let him pay her out. Hopefully you guys will cut him some slack on bail, so he can keep working and be able pay whoever ends up representing him."

   He laughed. "We'd like to help you out here, Stan, but we can't let murderers out on the street. We've got to protect innocent citizens."

   "Jim's no threat, and your case is pretty weak unless you've come up with something more than you had the last time we talked."

   "We've got enough. The DA wouldn't have let us arrest him unless they were sure we could convict him."

   "What about Jim's alibi? Did you talk to Julie at the Sunset Strip?"

   "Yeah, I know Julie confirms his alibi, but she's a topless dancer for godsakes. She might even be a hooker and we know he dropped a lot of money on her. Nobody's going to believe her. The DA thinks we can bust the alibi wide open."

   "Really? What about Margie? You haven't ruled her out, have you?"

   "Her alibi is a little shaky but she's got no motive. She doesn't get a dime from Luther's estate or any of th
e insurance. As far as I know she was in love with him and was devastated by his death."

   "What about Laura Bell?"

   "What about her? You know she was out of town at a wedding when the murder took place."

   "Yeah, but it's only a four or five hour drive to San Antonio. Did you verify that she was actually down there when the murder took place?"

   "Yes, we did. Forget Laura Bell. She didn't do it. Sure she had a motive--she's gonna pick up a nice check one of these days for $750,000--but she couldn't have killed Luther Bell. She was 300 miles away when Luther was killed."

   I sighed. "Okay, what else did you find on Jim to justify his arrest?"

   "I'm not at liberty to say right now but--" He flexed his fingers in front of me.

   "Fingerprints?"

  Detective Besch shrugged. Then he ran his fingers through his hair."

   "Hair fibers too?" I said shocked by this revelation. Damn it. Jim's been lying to me. Jesus!

   "You didn't hear it from me. I'm sure the assistant DA assigned to the case will fill you in when the time is right."

  Much to my dismay, I was now facing a murder trial unless Paula was serious about leaving the DA's office. I couldn't wait to tell Rebekah. She was going to be thrilled.

   Before Jim was sent on to the county jail, Besch let me talk to him. I confronted him about the evidence Besch had found at the scene of the crime.

   "Okay, I did get out of my car. . . . I wanted to see if Luther was home so I went up to the garage and peeked inside."

   "Did you touch anything?"

   "Well, I guess I might have touched the glass trying to get a good look inside."

   "That explains the fingerprints but what about your hair?"

   "I got a haircut that morning and there were hair trimmings all over me. I must have dislodged a few when I was straining to see into Luther's garage."

   I shook my head and said, "Wonderful."

   After leaving Jim, I headed back to the office and called Paula. "Listen, I got roped into taking Jim's murder case."

   "Roped?"

   "Well, I had referred him to another attorney before we talked, but he couldn't raise the retainer the attorney wanted."

   "He has no money?"

   "No, this Golden Dragon deal wiped him out."

   "Shoot. So how are you going to get paid?"

   "He's going to pay me out. It will take years, I'm sure."

   "Well, I could still handle the case if you wanted me to."

   "But, I'd have to pay you and I don't have enough money right now."

   "I don't need a big salary. Just match what I'm getting now."

   I sighed. "Paula, it's not going to work right now. Maybe when I get more stabilized financially. Anyway, you should know, I'm not the greatest businessman."

   "If you had the money, would you hire me?"

   "Absolutely, I'd love to have you as a partner, but--"

   There was silence. "I'll put up some capital."

   "What?"

   "I don't expect a free ride. I've saved up some money and I am a good business manager. My major in college was finance.'"

   "Really?"

   "Yes. You didn't think I was just another dumb blond, did you?"

   "No, of course not."

   "Anyway, it sounds like you need me."

   I laughed. "Yeah, maybe so."

   "So, if I'm going to handle Jim's case I need to know now, so I can advise my supervisor that I'm leaving the DA's office."

   "They're going to be pissed if you quit without notice."

   "I don't care. I want this case. I know we'll be great together as partners and I'll do anything to make it happen."

   I was shocked that Paula was willing to put up money to join the firm. I didn't know why being my partner was so important to her, but I liked her, we worked well together, and it felt good to have someone who obviously respected me a lot. And it would be wonderful not to have to deal with the management side of a law practice. It was obviously too good an offer to turn down.

   "Okay. If you are sure that's what you want to do."

   Paula let out a joyful shriek. "Oh, thank you, Stan. You won't regret this, I promise you."

   I smiled tentatively. I still had the problem of telling Rebekah the news. She wouldn't be happy. I knew that was a given.

   At the end of the day, I called Rebekah and told her I had to interview witnesses and wouldn't be home for dinner. I started to mention Paula and our new partnership but then thought better of it. This was a subject I had to breach carefully. I hung up and turned my thoughts back to Luther Bell. If Margie had left the Rendezvous Club at 9:30, then conceivably she could have been at Luther's place in time to kill him. I needed to talk to Lucy one more time. Since I only had a few questions, I called her.

   "I've told you everything I know," Lucy said.

   "Are you sure?"

   "Of course, I'm sure."

   "Well, the bartender says you two left with the cowboys. Is that true?"

   There was silence.

   "Listen, I'm married and I love my husband. But he travels a lot and I get lonely."

   "So that's a yes?"

   "Listen, my personal life is none of your business."

   "I don't care about your personal life. All I need to know is when Margie left the Rendezvous Club."

   "I told you--10:00 or 10:15 p.m."

   I could see talking to Lucy wasn't going to change anything. She was sticking by her story, but with an illicit affair going on her credibility had taken a dive. After I hung up, I called the Sunset Strip to see if I could set up a meeting with Julie.

  "Hello," Julie said.

   "Hi, this is Stan Turner. You don't know me, but I'm an attorney and I need to talk to you for a few minutes. I was wondering if I could meet you somewhere and we could talk. I'll buy you dinner if you don't have plans."

   "What do you want to talk about?"

   "I have a client who desperately needs your help."

   "This isn't a lame attempt to get a date is it?"

   "No, I just need to ask you a few questions. It won't take long."

   "Okay, pick me up outside the club at 5:30. I only have an hour for dinner, so you will have to feed me."

  "No problem. It will be my pleasure."

   I drove to the club arriving at 5:25 p.m. I parked out in front and waited. Right at 5:30 the tall, slender blond came walking out of the club. I waved at her and she nodded and walked over to my car and got in.

   "Hi," Julie said.

   "Hello. Thank you so much for meeting me," I said, as I handed her one of my cards. "Just wanted you to know I was for real."

   "Oh, I could tell you were for real by the way you talked to me."

   "Really?"

   "Yes, I hear so much bullshit all night at the club it's nice to talk to someone who is polite and professional."

   We drove down Walnut Hill Lane toward restaurant row. As we approached the area, I smiled at Julie and asked, "What do you feel like for dinner?"

   She smiled back and replied, "Would you mind taking me to Pelican's Wharf? I love seafood."

   "I do, too. Let's go."

   We drove to Pelican's Wharf and went inside. We were seated immediately. The waitress served us drinks and then we ordered.

  "So, who's your client that needs my help?"

  "Jim Cochran. He was in the club a month or so ago, and I understand he spent a lot of time with you."

   "Different guys like different types of women. When they find someone they really like, they can't get enough of them. It's not unusual."

   "Well, I can see why Jim liked you. You certainly are beautiful."

   Julie smiled and said, "Thank you."

   "I'm defending Jim. He's been accused of murder."

   "I figured. The cop who came to see me a few days ago was from homicide."

   "Yeah, that must have been De
tective Besch. Did he give you a hard time?"

   "No, not really. He just didn't like what I had to say."

   "What did you say that upset him?"

   "I told him that Jim was at the club until at least ten o'clock."

   "That would upset him, because if that's true then Jim couldn't be Luther Bell's killer."

   "Luther Bell?!"

   "Right."

   "Huh . . . I didn't realize he was the victim. Gee, I can't believe he's dead."

   "You knew him?"

   "Yeah, really well. He came to the club a lot. He had a thing for me too."

   "Is that right?"

   "Yeah, he got too drunk one night to drive home. I don't know why, but I felt sorry for him and took him home."

   "To his condo?"

   "Right. I was tired so I stayed the night. His girlfriend was really pissed off when she found me with him the next day."

   "I heard about that. So that was you?"

   "Yeah, there were fireworks, believe me."

   "Did you and Luther. . .did Luther and you ever . . . ever--"

   "Have sex? . . . Yeah, one night he offered me a lot of money to go out with him. I'm not really a prostitute. I don't have sex with men for money too often, but I kind of liked Luther so I just considered it a date with a fringe benefit."

   "I see."

   "Where did you go this second time?"

   "A motel somewhere. The Red Roof . . . no . . . no, the Blue Ribbon Motel."

   "I see. When did that happen?"

   "A few days before he was murdered."

   "Did Margie know?"

   "I didn't tell her."

   "Could she have seen you?"

   "I doubt it. It was pretty late--well early in the morning."

   "Hmm. Was that the only other time?"

   "Yes."

   "Did you ever go to his condo again?"

   "No."

   "Huh. . . . Well, that's very interesting. You didn't tell Detective Besch about this?"

   "No, he didn't ask. He wouldn't even tell me what he was investigating."

   "He thinks he can discredit you because you are a dancer. You're certain of the time Jim left?"

   "Uh huh."

   "It's not that I doubt you, but I'm curious how you are so certain he was at the club until ten?"

   "I don't know. It's just when I started thinking about it. I just remembered ten o'clock was about the time he left."

   "Do you have a watch on when you dance?"

   "No," Julie laughed.

   "Is there a clock in the dressing room?"

   "No, but I keep my watch in my purse."

   "Could you have looked at it?"

   "I doubt it."

   "Do these shows start at any particular time so you might have deduced the time by when a show started?"

   "No, the DJ announces them. They're every ten minutes but you couldn't set your watch by them."

   "Did Jim mention the time, maybe?"

   "No, I don't think so."

   "Were you just trying to help Jim out by telling Detective Besch what he didn't want to hear?"

   Julie gave me a big smile and laughed, "He was very generous, but I don't think that's it. I definitely would have remembered that."

   During dinner, I learned a lot about Julie. She was going to college at El Centro and someday wanted to be a fashion designer. She was a stripper because the money was good and the hours fit in with her school schedule. Besides that, she liked to dance and enjoyed entertaining. She was proud of her body and didn't mind showing it off.

   After dinner, I took Julie back to the club. Before I got out of the car I pulled another card out of my pocket and handed it to her. "If you think of anything that might help prove the time Jim left the Sunset Strip, anything at all, please call me."

   "I've already got one of these, but I'll keep it. One of the girls is bound to need a nice lawyer."

   "A nice lawyer? Not a good lawyer?"

   "Yeah, a nice lawyer. It's hard to find a good lawyer but damn near impossible to find a nice one."

   I laughed, "Okay, if you think of anything let me know."

   "I will. . . . Wait, I remember now why I knew it was ten o'clock."

   "You do? What was it?"

   "One of the girls in the club, Lindsay, had been caught with a big-named minister in a motel. We were told she was going to be on the ten o'clock news. The news was on in the dressing room. I remember going back there right after Jim left. The news had already begun and the story about Lindsay was just starting."

   "The ten o'clock news. Damn, that's good, Julie! I can verify that with the TV studio. . . . Oh, I'm so glad you remembered that," I said. "You're a lifesaver. I owe you one."

   "I'm glad I could help. Thank you for dinner, I really enjoyed talking to you."

  "Me too. . . . I'm sure Jim will be by to thank you personally."

   "Good. See you later," she said and then ran across the street and disappeared into the club.