Deadly Defiance, page 11
“How about around three?” Elena suggested.
“That will be fine.”
Paula hung up and began going through her messages. She stopped when she found one from Ryan Jones, Randy Rhymes’s old agent. She had called him to get some background information on Maureen’s ex-husband—the first victim of an ice pick. She dialed the number and got his secretary. The secretary put Jones through.
“Hello.”
“Hi. This is Paula Waters. Sorry I missed your call.”
“Oh, yes. You called me. What can I do for you?”
“I’m Maureen Thompson’s defense counsel. I guess you heard about Rodney Thompson.”
“Yes, how is Maureen holding up?”
Paula was surprised by the question and the apparent concern Jones had for Maureen.
“She’s holding up pretty well considering everything. I take it you didn’t blame her for Randy’s death.”
“No,” Ryan said. “I never thought she was guilty. She’s got a hot temper, but she loved Randy too much to kill him.”
“That’s what other people have told me. Do you have a theory as to who might have wanted Randy dead?”
“Well, Randy had his share of enemies. You know rock stars, they tend to use people and then discard them.”
“So, anyone in particular you think I should take a look at?”
“Randy had a falling-out with his financial manager, Robert Brown. He had made some bad investments and cost Randy a bundle. He’d handled his affairs for over ten years, so the breakup was pretty nasty.”
Paula took down the information on Robert Brown but didn’t see how there could be a connection between Robert Brown and Rodney Thompson, so she kept asking questions.
“Tell me how Maureen and Randy met.”
“They met at a party after one of his concerts,” Ryan replied. “Maureen is very pretty as you know and Randy was really taken with her.”
“Did Randy have a girlfriend at the time?” Paula asked.
“Not anyone in particular. There were three or four groupies who were always hanging around Randy, hoping he’d take them to bed.”
“Hmm. They probably weren’t real thrilled when Randy fell for Maureen.”
“No. In fact, Maureen ran them off in short order, once Randy made a commitment to her. She wasn’t into sharing.”
“So, any one of them could have killed Randy and made it look like Maureen had done it.”
“It’s a possibility. The police questioned them all but apparently they had alibis.”
Paula got the information on the three girlfriends anyway, thanked Ryan, and hung up. Jill Johanson, Monica Rogers, and Sandy Watkins had scattered after Randy’s death. Jill had moved to Hollywood, Monica to Houston, and Sandy to New York. She sighed. It seemed she’d have to do some traveling.
Paula was now beginning to understand why the jury wrestled with the first murder case. There were several people with more compelling motives to kill Randy than Maureen. She wondered if Maureen had carried insurance on Randy and if she had eventually collected it. She knew that Maureen would collect half a million on Rodney’s death if she wasn’t convicted for his murder. If she’d collected a sizeable sum on Randy, it would really look bad.
A hour later Elena dropped off Maureen and said she’d be back in a couple of hours. Paula hoped that would be long enough to get the information she needed. She wanted to understand exactly what had happened in both cases. That was the only way she’d have any chance at solving the murders. She took Maureen into the conference room and they sat across from each other.
“All right, Maureen. Let’s start at the beginning. Tell me about Randy.”
Maureen sighed. “Well, it was kind of a fairy-tale romance. A friend had given me one of Randy’s albums for Christmas. I loved it and went out and bought everything he had ever recorded. I became an avid fan and whenever there was a concert anywhere close to Dallas, I was sure to be there.
“It was at a concert in Houston that I got lucky. There was a party after the concert sponsored by a local radio station. Before the concert they had a contest and the prize was a ticket to the after-party. I entered the contest and won a ticket.
“After the concert I went to the party and was introduced to Randy. That was part of the prize. He was very nice and ended up hanging around with me the entire evening. I was ecstatic, particularly when he asked me to stay after everyone else had left.”
“So, was it love at first sight?” Paula asked.
“For him it might have been. I don’t know. But I’d fallen in love with Randy before I had even met him. Or, I guess I should say, I fell in love with his music, anyway.”
“So, I understand there were a few women whose hearts were broken when you and Randy hooked up.”
“Oh, yeah. Jill, Monica, and Sandy. They were his unofficial harem and took care of all his sexual appetites.”
“So, I heard you ran them off.”
She nodded. “Yes. I told Randy I was an old-fashioned girl and would not tolerate any other woman in his life. He said he totally understood and would be absolutely faithful to me.”
“Was he?” Paula asked.
“I thought he had been, but the DA in the first trial found some women who claimed to have slept with Randy after we were married. He tried to prove that I’d found out about them and killed him for betraying me. But he couldn’t prove his theory because it wasn’t true. I never knew about his infidelity.”
“So, tell me about Jill, Monica, and Sandy. Did you have any confrontations with them?”
“That was inevitable. They were all very jealous women and didn’t want to share Randy, but since he liked them all they had no choice but to tolerate each other. That all changed when I showed up.”
“I bet,” Paula said.
“Monica was the most outright belligerent. She caught me alone one day before the show and told me she’d slit my throat rather than let me take Randy away from her.”
“What did you do?”
“I told her it was Randy’s decision who he wanted to be with and that if any of us died he wouldn’t sleep until he found out who was responsible. I suggested she might want to stick to traditional seduction techniques and be a good sport if she lost.”
“What did she say to that?”
“She delivered a few obscenities I wouldn’t want to repeat, but she’s a smart girl. I think she knew I was right. If Randy hadn’t made a choice between the three of them, it meant only one thing—he didn’t love any of them.”
“So, you don’t think one of them killed Randy and tried to make it look like you’d done it—perhaps to punish him for not loving her and you for destroying what relationship she did have with him?”
“That’s what my defense counsel claimed at trial and I think the jury bought into it, but I kinda doubt that’s what happened. All three of them have moved on to other musicians. In fact, Jill married Jules Burns.”
Jules Burns was a British rock star that Paula had heard of but wasn’t familiar with. She assumed from the inflection in Maureen’s voice that he was an equal catch to Randy.
“Okay, tell me about Rodney. What happened to make him leave you?”
“His business tanked and he became very distant and depressed. We argued a lot about money and I guess he just couldn’t handle it anymore.”
“Do you know what specifically happened in the business? From talking to Elena it didn’t seem that bad.”
“Well, she only told you about his construction management business. I told him just to stick with that but he wanted to go for the big bucks and develop an entire subdivision—Autumn Hills. Unfortunately, the bank pulled his line of credit before he even built the first home.”
“Why did they do that?”
“The competition in the homebuilding business is brutal, and one of his competitors opened a subdivision called Park Meadows in the same area as Autumn Hills. The lots in Park Meadows were quite a bit cheaper so Rod had a hard time selling his lots. In fact, he’d only sold one lot in the last six months. Eventually he got behind on his note to the bank and they foreclosed.”
“So, this is a different bank than the one we’re dealing with on the houses that are being finished up?”
“Yes, but the bank wasn’t the problem. Oh, they were getting ready to sue him, but Rod wasn’t worried about that. He was worried about his partner.”
“His partner? Who was his partner?” Paula asked.
Maureen swallowed hard. “Doc ‘the Clock’ Mellon.”
Doc “the Clock” Mellon was an ex–college football player who ten years earlier had been banned from football when he was convicted of accepting money to influence the outcome of a football game. He was dubbed “the Clock” because he was so big he looked like a giant grandfather clock. During his trial, allegations were made that Mellon and two other players on the team, including the team’s quarterback, accepted $10,000 each to “make sure it was a close game” so that a certain gambler with connections to organized crime would win a large bet. One of Mellon’s teammates testified that Mellon didn’t think it was a big deal since his team could still win the game. Mellon was bitter after the conviction and reportedly turned to friends he had made in organized crime since any chance at a career in the NFL had been dashed.
“Why would Rod do business with the Clock?”
“They went to high school together and were old buddies. When the bank threatened to foreclose the first time the Clock offered to loan Rod $250,000 to buy him the time he needed to get the lots fully developed and sold.”
“So, he sounds like a good suspect to me,” Paula remarked.
Maureen shrugged. “Maybe. But he and Rod were friends. You think he’d kill a lifelong friend?”
“I don’t know. If he’s in the mob he might have just considered it business. You know, you mess with the Clock, you die. It’s a matter of maintaining your reputation.”
Maureen didn’t say anything.
“So, is there anybody else we should be looking at?” Paula asked.
“The only other major problem that I know about was with the IRS. Many years ago Rod had been referred to a tax preparer out in East Texas who was supposed to be very creative and able to save his clients a bundle on taxes. His name was Ronnie Moses, I think. It turned out his tactics and tricks were illegal and the IRS came down on him and all his clients. Rod had been fighting that battle forever and it just seemed to be getting worse and worse. That’s why he had to set up a corporation. The IRS had shut him down personally and even came after me although I had not been involved at all.”
“So that would give Rod a reason to kill Ronnie, but that doesn’t help us.”
“I suppose you’re right. That’s everyone that I can think of right now.”
Paula nodded. “Okay, you’ve given me a lot to think about. I’ll start digging into it and get back to you as new questions pop up.”
Maureen left and Paula began sifting through her notes trying to decide what she should check out first. She decided Doc “the Clock” Mellon was her best bet. When she got home that night she decided to elicit help from Bart.
“Honey, what do you know about Doc ‘the Clock’ Mellon?”
Bart looked up at her. She smiled and began explaining why she was interested. Bart had been a prosecutor for a long time and, even before they were married, had been a great source of inside information.
“The Clock’s bad news. Even sniffing around him is dangerous. If you need anything, let me get it for you. They won’t mess with an assistant DA, but they’d have no qualms about stepping on you.”
“I just need information for now. Where he was on February 25th. What he does to people who don’t pay their debts. You know. That kind of stuff.”
Bart smiled. “You don’t want much, do you?”
Paula shrugged. “Just enough to prove reasonable doubt.”
“If you do that you may force the DA into investigating his organization. That won’t sit too well with him.”
“This is a murder trial. I can’t worry about hurting people’s feelings for godsakes.”
Bart rolled his eyes.
The next day Lee Long called to advise Paula that the three applications for the final inspections had been filed on behalf of Thompson Construction. She thanked him for the heads-up and asked if he’d contacted his inspector friend.
“I’ll call him this afternoon after we have lunch.”
Paula stiffened. She didn’t have time for this nonsense. She hadn’t signed on for a long-term affair—just a one-night romp. “Listen, Lee. The other night was great, but like I told you, I’m not interested in an affair.”
“Come on. Just this one time. Then I’ll make the call. It will be fun.”
Paula shook her head in disgust. “All right. But this is the end of it. The deal is done.”
“Sure. Absolutely,” Lee promised.
They met at Baby Doe’s as the lunch crowd was thinning. Then they went across the freeway to the Anatole where Lee had rented a room. At least he wasn’t cheap, Paula thought as they drove into the parking lot.
“Listen,” Paula said. “This is a little too public for me. I don’t want to be seen here with you. Let’s go in separately and meet at the room.”
Lee shrugged. “Sure, whatever makes you feel more comfortable.”
Paula got out of the car and walked across the parking lot to the hotel entrance. A few minutes later Lee drove up to the hotel entrance and left his car with the valet. Ten minutes later they were together in the room. Paula hated giving in to Lee, but she was stuck. She had been fortunate to get a high-profile case and couldn’t stand the thought of giving it up to a court-appointed attorney. She just prayed it would be worth the risk she was taking. Before she left, she made Lee make the phone call. He assured her the job would be inspected the next day.
They left separately as agreed, but on the way out of the hotel Lee was spotted by a friend and was stopped. The old friends chatted awhile while Paula tried to make her escape only to be spotted by a member of media who intercepted her.
“Oh, Paula,” Edgar Williams called out. “Paula Waters.”
Paula turned and smiled. “Ed. How are you?”
“Fine.”
“What brings you to the Anatole?”
“Ah . . . Just meeting a potential witness.”
“Oh, really? Who is it?”
Paula smiled “I can’t really say, Ed. I don’t want to tip off the prosecution on my case.”
“Right. How is the investigation coming?”
“Very well, actually. I’m finding a lot of people who had better motives for killing Rodney Thompson than my client.”
“Oh, really. Care to give us a name?”
Paula thought a moment. Did she want to try the case in the media? It wasn’t usually a good idea, but sometimes letting the media do some of the digging wasn’t a bad idea. It certainly could cut down expenses.
“Well, we have no proof of anything but I did learn today that there were three women who were very upset about my client’s marriage to Randy Rhymes. One of the things I’m doing now is investigating the possibility that one of these women hated Maureen so much that she killed Randy Rhymes and tried to frame my client for the murder. When that didn’t work it’s conceivable that she tried again with Rodney knowing it would be tough for my client to beat the rap on the murder of a second husband.”
“That is interesting,” Ed agreed.
“It’s just speculation right now,” Paula added forcibly. “It may not pan out. Who knows? But this is an example of what I’m doing right now to try to prove Maureen innocent.”
Paula ended the interview and then grabbed a cab to take her back to her car. She wondered if she’d been a fool to talk to Ed, but she wanted to take the offensive and not let him focus on what she was doing at the Anatole. When she got home that night her interview had already made the evening news and Paula got some answers to her questions.
“And now it’s Ed Williams with the local news. Ed?” Brad Henderson, the anchor, said.
“Thank you, Brad. As you know Maureen Thompson, dubbed the Ice Pick Widow on account of her two husbands both being brutally attacked and killed with an ice pick, was arrested and charged with the murder of her husband, Rodney Thompson, yesterday. Although she avoided conviction for her first husband’s murder, Assistant DA Stuart Rawlins assured me today that she will not escape justice a second time. At the bond hearing yesterday, none other than Paula Waters of the firm Turner & Waters, showed up and announced the firm would be representing the young widow.
“What is astonishing is that although Ms. Thompson claims to be broke and in debt due to her husband’s financial blunders, she managed to post a $200,000 bond. Later today when I caught Ms. Waters coming out of the Anatole Hotel after meeting with a mystery witness, she told me that there were a lot of persons other than her client who had a motive to kill Rodney Thompson and she would be spending a lot of time trying to prove one of them did it. When I pressed her for names she mentioned three groupies who had been livid when Maureen and her first husband, famed singer-guitarist Randy Rhymes, got married.
“After hearing this angle we contacted investigative reporter John Schmitz who covered the first trial to get his opinion. He said both he and the assistant DA had gone down that road and it led nowhere. So, it sounds like Paula Waters is spinning her wheels as she attempts to come up with some kind of a defense for the Ice Pick Widow. This is Ed Williams reporting.”
Paula switched off the TV in disgust. Ed had caught her off guard and managed to make her look bad. She was pissed and now very much determined to prove him wrong. She wasn’t quite ready to give up on the three groupies. She had a gut feeling one of them had done it but somehow managed to cover it up. She just hoped she’d be able to figure it all out.
Chapter 12
Blown Cover
After Jodie filed the civil suit against Alliance Fabrications and Stan had briefed her on the confrontation with Melendez earlier in the day, she went to visit a man who had been a good friend of Romildo Alvarez before his murder. Pandora had indicated he may know more about the murder than he told the police. His name was Juan Salazar. Salazar had worked next to Romildo on the assembly line for over ten years. Juan and his family also lived in the same neighborhood so they often saw each other coming from and going to work.
