Chapter 18
Paula Waters
Paula didn’t believe in her gut that Ben Benito was the killer but she had no choice but to scrutinize him closely because of the strong motive he had to put a competitor out of business and the bad blood between them following their breakup. Unfortunately when Paula called him to set up an interview he refused to talk to her. Her options at that point were to take his deposition, at which time he would be forced to testify or take the fifth amendment. If he took the fifth that would be perfect because there would be a presumption in the minds of the jurors that he was involved somehow in the murders. ADA Rutledge realized this too and objected when Paula called him to schedule a deposition.
“I have already interviewed him and he’s got an alibi.”
“So, why won’t he talk to me then?” Paula asked.
“I don’t know. I guess he feels helping you is helping Emilio.”
“Emilio is not on trial for murder.”
“I know.”
“I have a right to take his deposition.”
“Let me talk to him. I’ll explain that to him. Maybe he’ll feel better if we interview him together. He’s just scared.”
“Well, unless he’s involved in the murders he has nothing to fear.”
“Let me talk to him and I’ll get back with you.”
Paula agreed and hung up. She didn’t have a problem with a joint interview because it would be a lot cheaper than a formal deposition and she doubted Ben would admit to anything anyway. As she was thinking about this Maria advised her that Detective Besch was on the line.
“I’ve got good news for you, counselor,” Besch said.
“I could use some good news,” Paula replied.
“One of the unidentified fingerprints on the shoe box found under Ricardo’s bed belongs to Tom Wilkinson.”
Paula’s mouth dropped open. “What? Are you serious?”
“Yes. It’s definitely a match. Tom Wilkinson at some point in time handled that shoe box.”
“It’s hard to believe that he would be so stupid as to plant something at Ricardo’s apartment that had his fingerprints on it.”
“That’s for sure, but somehow it got there.”
“Wow. That’s great, detective. So, have you told Rutledge yet?”
“I’ve informed my supervisor, so I’m sure he’ll pass the news on to Rutledge.”
“You’ve made my day, detective. Thanks so much.”
“No problem. I’ve also suggested he might want to get a search warrant for his home and office to see if there is any other evidence to tie him to the murders.”
“You should include his associates Ben Jamison and Chris Hunt. Ben Jamison was at the restaurant on the night of the murders and Chris Hunt was seen around Ricardo’s apartment.”
“I didn’t know that.”
Paula gave him more details about Jamison and Hunt’s involvement and told him how he could corroborate the information. She thanked him, hung up and then went into Stan’s office to give him the good news.
“That’s beautiful,” Stan said. “It’s going to be hard for the jury to convict Ricardo when there is so much evidence pointing to Wilkinson and his organization setting him up.”
“I bet Chris Hunt put the poison in the bowl of cheese at his table and then switched them,” Paula said.
“That wouldn’t have been hard to do.”
“Too bad we don’t know the identity of the woman who was with Hunt. She would have seen him make the switch.”
“Maybe Jodie will have some ideas on how to find that out.”
Paula nodded. “Yeah, but I hate to get her involved any further.”
“That’s true.”
“Well, I have to get ready to interview Clyde Morrow.”
“Who’s he?” Stan asked.
“Another person who lost a bundle investing in one of Richmond’s dry holes.”
“Oh, right. Well, good luck with that.”
Paula left Stan’s office, grabbed her purse from her office and then left to go to the interview. Clyde Morrow had agreed to meet her for lunch at Red Lobster. When she got there she looked around to see if he had arrived yet. He had told her he was tall, thin and would be wearing a Panama Fedora. She spotted him immediately and went over to him.
“Mr. Morrow?”
He turned, smiled and tipped his hat. “Ms. Waters.”
“Yes. Thanks for meeting me.”
“Oh, it’s a pleasure. I have been one of your admirers over the years.”
“Really? That’s good to hear.”
“Yes. I was amazed how you proved the Ice Pick Widow wasn’t a murderer after all. That was brilliant.”
Paula chuckled. “Well, my partner helped a lot on that one.”
“Modest too. I like that.”
“So, is our table ready?”
“Let’s check,” Clyde said.
They went up to the hostess and told her they were ready to be seated. She looked at her chart, grabbed two menus and then escorted them to a table.
“Would you like a drink or some wine?” the waitress asked.
“A glass of white wine,” Paula replied.
“Give me a beer,” Clyde said.
The hostess nodded and left.
“So, you said you want to talk to me about the late John Richmond.”
“Yes. I understand you invested in his dry hole.”
Clyde shook his head. “Sadly, you are correct.”
“How much did you lose?”
“A hundred thousand dollars. Unfortunately, the Princess Prospect wasn’t the only well that turned out to be a bust. I’ve lost over a half million dollars on Richmond wells.”
“Have any of their wells been successful?”
“Yes, the first well they dug was a gusher. I had a small piece of it, so I thought I’d better get into the next round of wells they were digging.”
“But they were all dry holes?”
“Yes. Five in a row, can you believe my luck?”
“Wow. It’s amazing that Richmond Oil & Gas is still around.”
Clyde shook his head. “No, it’s not amazing at all. You figure they got a ten percent commission for finding the investors and then another twenty percent for drilling the well, hell, they made a nice profit even on a dry hole.”
“Oh, I see. So it didn’t really matter all that much to them if the well turned out to be a dry hole.”
“That’s right. They made out like a bandit no matter what.”
“Except if they drilled too many dry holes they wouldn’t be able to get new investors.”
“Right. So, lucky for them their seventh well was successful. Unfortunately, neither I or the other investors in wells two through six, were in it.”
“You must have been very upset?”
“Livid is more like it. I think they knew the wells I invested in were poor prospects but they needed the commissions and operating revenue to survive, so they went ahead with them.”
“Do you have any evidence to prove that?”
“No. They are slick operators and don’t put anything in writing except the contract and disclosure statements. But nobody pays attention to disclosure statements. If they did they would never be able to sell out a well.”
“So, apparently Walter Satterwhite tried to get you to join his lawsuit.”
Clyde smiled and nodded. “I knew there was no way in hell he’d be able to get an attorney to take the case on a contingent fee basis and I sure as hell wasn’t going to commit to pumping money into a bunch of attorney’s pockets.”
“So, did you kill him?”
Clyde sighed deeply. “Oh, is that what this is about? You think I killed John Richmond and the rest of the dinner party was collateral damage?”
Paula shrugged. “Well, it’s a possibility I have an obligation to explore.”
“Well, I may be a bit ruthless at times when it comes to business, but I’m not a murderer. I respect my adversaries and value my freedom
.”
“Then what did you mean when you said you had other ways to get even with Richmond?”
“Oh, that was just talk.”
“Satterwhite didn’t think it was just talk. He was sure you had something up your sleeve.”
“Well. I knew he was having an affair. It was pure luck that I found out. I had a layover in Atlanta and saw him with another woman in one of the bars. So, when I got back to Dallas I hired a private detective to follow him. Clyde laughed. “The PI got some great pictures, so I mailed them to his wife.”
“You didn’t?” Paula said shaking her head.
“Yes, I did.
“But nothing happened? No divorce?”
Clyde shrugged. “Yeah, well. Some wives are forgiving, I guess. But I’m sure it caused him a lot of grief.”
“I’m sure it did,” Paula agreed. “Who was the woman?”
Satterwhite frowned. “I’d rather not say. There’s no reason to involve her now since John is dead.”
The waitress came with their drinks and asked them what they wanted to eat. Paula ordered a shrimp platter and Clyde ordered steak and lobster.
“I was in the process of gathering evidence against him to turn over to the IRS but now it’s a moot point.”
“What kind of evidence did you have?”
“Under the investment contract I had a right to audit the records of the well. It’s expensive to do it but I figured being the crook that Richmond was my accountants would find something and they did.”
“What did they find?” Paula asked.
“That half the expenses they claimed on the well were bogus. That means they were committing tax fraud.”
“Wow. So are you still going to turn them over to the IRS?”
“I will if they don’t pay me back some of my investment losses.”
“Well, be careful. If you threaten criminal prosecution if they don’t pay you, that could be considered extortion.”
“What? You’ve got to be kidding.”
“No. Your best bet is to apply for the IRS reward for turning in tax evaders. That could be pretty substantial.”
“Well, thanks for the advice. I’ll consider that.”
Paula was a little disappointed with her meeting with Clyde Morrow even though she had never considered him a viable suspect. When she got back to the office Maria told her Stan wanted to talk to her. She went into his office.
“Besch called. They’ve arrested Tom Wilkinson and Chris Hunt. Wilkinson because they found his prints on the shoe box and Hunt because he was at Emilio’s on the night of the murders.”
“Wow that’s great,” Paula said. “I’m sure they will lawyer-up. The question is whether the DA will want to try them with Ricardo.”
“How do you feel about that?” Stan asked.
“I think it’s okay. We’ll still have the same burden to prove that Ricardo knew nothing about the poison or the money under his bed.”
“Right. I still can’t believe Wilkinson left a fingerprint on the box.”
Paula nodded. “Me either but it won’t be the first time that a criminal did something stupid. Anyway, the fact that Wilkinson’s fingerprint was on it, but Ricardo’s wasn’t, helps prove our theory that it was planted.”
“That’s true,” Stan agreed.
When Paula got back to her office she called Bart to see if she could get some inside info on what was happening. When he came on the line his mood was grim.
“You’re not going to like this,” Bart said.
“Oh really? What’s going on?”
“They’re going to charge Tom Wilkinson and Chris Hunt with the murders.”
“So I heard. So, what’s wrong with that?” Paula asked.
“They’re not going to let Ricardo off the hook. They think Wilkinson hired Ricardo to put the rat poison in the cheese and that’s why his prints are on the shoe box full of money.”
“They might believe that but the jury won’t buy it. They didn’t need Ricardo to poison the cheese. Hunt could have easily done it himself.”
“I know. I’m just passing on the facts as they see it.”
“It makes no sense to involve Ricardo. He wasn’t a professional and it would be foolish to bring him in on the deal.”
“I agree. He would be a weak link and I’m sure Wilkinson is smarter than that, but Rutledge believes he has to follow the evidence. The only way he’ll let Ricardo off the hook is if he rolls over on Wilkinson and his gang.”
“That would require him to lie since he had nothing to do with the murders,” Paula replied. “And, I can’t advise him to do that even if it might be in his best interest.”
“You wouldn’t know whether it was a lie or not.”
“In my heart I would know. Unless Ricardo suddenly confesses to me that he was a willing participant in the crimes, I couldn’t advise him to accept Rutledge’s offer.”
“And what if he is convicted? Could you live with yourself for not letting him take the easy way out?”
“Well, they haven’t made that offer yet. So far, all I have heard is they’d take the death penalty off the table if he confessed and implicated the others. Anyway, I’ll sleep just fine because I’m going to get him off by proving him innocent.”
“Okay. Just brain-storming with you.”
“I know and what you’re saying makes sense logically but not ethically. Plus Ricardo’s life would be ruined if everyone knew he was the murderer who was now walking the streets because he sold out his accomplices.”
“We could probably get him into witness protection. He’d get a fresh start. They’d have to let him take Sonia with him too, if they got married before the trial.”
“I’ll discuss it with him. I have an obligation to do that, but I hope he doesn’t take the deal.”
Paula hung up and went back into Stan’s office and told him what Bart had said. Stan agreed with Paula that it was a bad idea and that they should just proceed to trial. But they agreed the decision was ultimately up to Ricardo.
“Since this deal came from Bart is it official or are they just feeling us out?”
“It’s not official until Rutledge lays it out to me, but I’m sure if I tell Bart we like the offer Rutledge would call in a heartbeat.”
“What I’m thinking,” Stan said, “is that they don’t think they have enough evidence to convict Wilkinson and Hunt without Ricardo’s testimony.”
“You’re probably right.”
“So that’s why they are reaching out to us.”
“Of course, they’d like us to hand them two high profile convictions on a silver platter.”
Paula went back to her office to see if she could get in contact with Ricardo. There was a large envelope that had been delivered by courier. She saw that it was from the District Attorney’s office. She opened it and read the heading on the pleading: Motion to Consolidate. She took a deep breath and took it into Stan’s office. He looked up when she came in.
“Well, it’s official. The DA wants to try all the defendants at the same time.”
“So, are you going to oppose it?”
Paula shook her head. “No. It’s usually just better to get these things over with. I’ve thought about the downside and can’t see anything other than the complexity of the trial. Honestly though, I think it will end up being to our advantage. If the other defendants weren’t there in court the jury would wonder about them. I kind of like having their smug faces there for the jury to look at.”
“I agree. I think our client stacks up very well against the likes of Wilkinson, Hunt and Jamison.”
“Well, I better find our client and give him the news.”
Stan nodded and Paula went back to her office to call her client. It was time for her to find out if Ricardo was holding back anything. She had to know the truth in order to give him good advice. She just hoped he’d understand that and would come clean.