I was a sentimental, trusting old man who was blinded by guilt for denying Mitchell his heritage in the past?” Cecil suggested sarcastically.
, that you were a devious, arrogant, manipulative old man who had a need for a new heir apparent you could depend on, but you did not want the police or anyone else to know where he’d been for the last thirty-four years.”
you,” he said stiffly, but sincerely, are quite right. You have always been a rather bright young man.”
we both know you aren’t sentimental or trusting, there’s only one reason left for you not to have suspected Mitchell was responsible for Edward’s death or William’s disappearance.”
that reason would be?”
you alreadyknew what happened to both men, and that Mitchell hadn’t been involved. With that suspicion in mind, I had already reopened the investigation into William’s disappearance—with you as a target of the investigation—when Billy suddenly came to my office.”
told you what?”
told me he’d heard Mitchell tell Caroline that he’d never been to the farm, which Billy said was a lie. That focused us on Mitchell. Now you tell me something, Cecil: When did you find out what Billy had done? When did you discover he’d planted a button from Mitchell’s coat at the well?”
came here right after you had Billy call Mitchell down in St. Maarten. She told me what was going on. She was beside herself thinking that she and I were harboring a murderer in our midst. I told her I felt sure there was some mistake.”
knew Billy had planted the button?”
we talking off the record?”
Gray hesitated; then he nodded. the record.”
realized at once that it had to be Billy. Who else would have done such a thing? Besides that, he was sitting right in front of me when Caroline told me about the button you’d found, and your suspicions about Mitchell, and the phone call you had Billy make. I could tell from Billy’s face that he was responsible for everything. He smiled at me. He was quite proud of his cunning, actually.”
Gray nodded, thinking things over, surprised that Cecil was so forthcoming, even off the record. Mitchell’s coat had been delivered to him any timebefore William’s disappearance, we would have arrested him and tried him for William’s murder. Were you going to let him be convicted, just to save Billy’s hide?”
Leaning forward, Cecil folded his hands on his desk, and said proudly and emphatically, would never have let that happen. He is a survivor, like me, and like them—” Lifting his chin, he indicated the ancestral portraits on the wall across from him.
Rather than pointlessly debate Cecil’s logic, Gray got down to the real purpose for his visit. helping Billy, you’ve committed a variety of crimes yourself—”
don’t need to discuss that today, and you aren’t going to arrest me, either. Henry and Evan Bartlett have already assured me you have no jurisdiction in this case. Furthermore, Billy’s confession is worthless because he wasn’t represented by an attorney. You had no right to question him without the presence of the family’s attorneys.”
mother was present, and she gave her consent.”
is in no mental condition to make sound judgments for herself, let alone for Billy in this situation. You’re wasting your time by—”
have one more minute to waste,” Gray said icily, looking meaningfully at the walnut clock on Cecil’s desk. ’d be wise to let me waste it and to listen to me very carefully, because I can and will have you hauled out of here in handcuffs.”
Cecil leaned back in his chair, brows drawn together in cold affront, but he was listening.
Bartlett is telling you what you want to hear. I am taking the position that when Billy left home with his father that weekend, he fully intended to kill him at the farm, which means the crime originated in Cook County. Henry can tie this case up for a year or more with motions for a change of venue and motions to have Billy’s confession thrown out, but in the end I’ll win, and you will stand trial with Billy as his accomplice. During that time, the media will have a feeding frenzy, digging up every skeleton this family has buried and hidden for the past one hundred years.”
Cecil’s face was expressionless, but his thin fingers were clenching and unclenching on the desk.
you do Henry a favor by dying before the case finally goes to trial, Henry can—and probably would—advise Billy to change his story and claim thatyou murdered William and persuaded that poor young boy to take the rap for it. After all, you’d be dead, and Billy would be paying Henry’s fees, so why would Henry want to protect your reputation any longer?” Finished, he waited for Cecil to react, watching the little pendulum on the antique desk clock swing back and forth.
are you suggesting as an alternative?”
won’t charge you as an accomplice, and you will let the Cook County justice system deal fairly with Billy. He’s a juvenile, so he’s already going to get off lighter than he should.”
will not let him stand trial without the best defense we can provide.”
’m not asking you to forgo that. I’m asking you to let him face up to what he’s done, now, not two years from now.”
Cecil hesitated again, and then he finally nodded.
more thing,” Gray said as he stood up. did Edward die? He called you an hour before he went off the balcony. You said you talked about a meeting that you were both supposed to attend the next morning. But that’s not what happened, or you’d have wondered if Mitchell ‘helped’ him over the railing.”
Standing up, Cecil put an end to the unpleasant confrontation. was drunk, as usual, and he told me he wanted to say good-bye, that he couldn’t bear his life another day. I told him what I always said when he called me like that. I told him to get a grip on himself. I didn’t know he was serious this time. I’d been listening to his disgusting whining for so long I’d ceased paying attention to it.”
Chapter Thirty-seven
KATE PUT TWOmugs of steaming hot chocolate on a tray beside a huge bowl of liberally buttered popcorn—the traditional fare for the winter movie nights she and Holly enjoyed a couple of times each month.
Carrying the tray, Kate sidled around Max, who was lying on the living room floor in front of the coffee table. Holly looked up from the cabinet next to the television, where she was flipping through the selection of chick flicks that were the staple of their movie nights. Holding up her favorite movie, she said brightly, aboutAn Affair to Remember ?”