Hour Game

He sat mulling this over. There was something… If only he could remember what it was. He finally turned back to his list, which showed the people Junior Deaver had done work for in the recent past. He figured that if someone had set up Junior for the burglary, they'd have to have had access to his trailer and personal items. He further deduced that the person who'd committed the burglary had probably killed Bobby Battle. This act had not only stolen his glory but ruined everything he'd worked for. For that sin only the ultimate punishment would do.

Michelle and King were huddled in their office.

"Okay, Sean, no more glib responses, no more bullshit answers. I'm tired of being kept in the dark. You said we had to give this guy our best punch and hope it's a knockout. I want to know everything you know. And I want to know it right now."

"Michelle-"

"Everything now, Sean, or you can look for another partner!"

King sat back and sighed heavily. "Okay, I know who killed Bobby Battle. I spoke to a bunch of doctors, did my antique shopping, made some other inquiries and figured out some pieces of the puzzle, and it all holds up."

"Who is it!"

"Let me just say first that you're not going to believe it."

"Fine, I won't believe it."

King fiddled with a paper clip on his desk. "Harry Carrick killed Bobby Battle."

"Are you out of your mind? What possible motivation could Harry-"

King broke in. "The oldest possible one. He's in love with Remmy. Has been for decades."

"But are you saying he burglarized the Battles' house too?"

"Yes. Remember, he's old friends with the Battles. It would be relatively easy for him to get a key to their house and also obtain the pass code to the security system. Then he just busts the window and makes it look like a break-in. Harry said Junior had done work for him. You saw Junior's truck. It was full of tools, clothes. Harry could have taken whatever he needed from there to incriminate Junior. And on top of that he was a prosecutor and circuit judge for years, so he's no neophyte around fingerprints. He could have lifted one of Junior's and planted it at the Battles'."

"But why would he steal from the Battles?"

"I believe Bobby had incriminating evidence of their affair in his closet's secret cache. If so, he'd likely make it look as though Remmy's secret cupboard was the real target while he was really after what was in Bobby's."

"What sort of incriminating evidence would Bobby have had?"

In answer King opened his drawer and pulled out a photo. He turned it around and pointed to the back.

"Kc-pa? Ko-pa? Why don't we try Kodak paper?"

Michelle slowly reached out and took the photo. She ran her fingers over the words "Kodak paper" imprinted across the back. "And it partially leached off onto the drawer." King nodded. "So he had a photo of Remmy and Harry in some compromising position?"

"It must be. That's why Harry brought up his theory of a stolen will from Bobby's closet, to throw us off the track. The way I see it Harry and Remmy must've been in on this together. They had to get the photo back but make it look like a burglary in which Remmy's things were all that were taken. Under that theory, Remmy would have given Harry the key and the pass code. What they probably didn't realize was that the security system has an archives feature. Without Remmy knowing I checked that log. At one-thirty in the morning when the burglary took place, the security system was turned off by someone inputting the access code. No one had ever checked that before because everyone assumed it was a burglary."

"So they get the photo."

"And then there's only one more thing to do."

"Kill Battle," said Michelle, and her voice broke. "I can't believe this, Sean, I can't. Not Harry."

"Look at it from Harry's point of view. The woman he loved was married to a monster. Remember he was at the hospital the morning Bobby died. He told us the hospital had called him in because he's their general counsel."

"You mean he's not!"

"No, he is, but they didn't call him. He came in on his own. He arranged to meet us as we were leaving. He told us he was an old friend of Bobby's. He asked if we'd seen Remmy. All things to throw off any suspicion we might ever have about him."

"So the night Battle was killed?"

"Remmy left the hospital at ten or so. She signaled to Harry, who was waiting in the parking lot probably dressed in hospital scrubs. He's the hospital's general counsel. He knows its shift change time. He goes in, moves the camera, shoots the stuff in the bag, drops the false clues and leaves."

"But Remmy's being there incriminates her. Why would they have done it that way? Why have Remmy anywhere near there?"

"That's why they planted the evidence that it was the serial killer's doing. I checked: Remmy was already rich, even without Bobby's leaving her property in the will. So there was no motive there. And because Remmy was there, people will actually believe she might have been set up. They might initially suspect her, but over time they'd start to think like you did: if she really did do it, there'd be no way she'd be near that room on the night Battle died."

"And what were she and Harry going to do? Wait a bit and get married?"

"No, I suspect that after a discreet interval Remmy would move away. Then a little while later Harry would do the same. Next stop, maybe a private island in Greece."

Michelle drew a long breath and slowly let it out. "So now what do we do?"

"We're having di

"What! Are you kidding?"

"No, we're having di

"Does Todd or Bailey know about this?"

"No, just us. I'll never approve of what Harry and Remmy did, but I thought they deserved to have this handled as discreetly and with as much dignity as possible."

"When?" she asked.

"Tomorrow night at seven. Harry's out of town until tomorrow afternoon. It'll just be the four of us there. Once they realize we know the truth and have the evidence, I have no doubt they'll confess and come with us very quietly. Then we'll turn them over to Todd."

"I have a bad feeling about this, Sean. A really bad feeling."

"Do you think I like it? Harry was a Virginia Supreme Court justice; he's been a good friend of mine for years."

"I know, but-"

"However much you like Harry, you have to put that aside. Bobby Battle was an awful person in many ways. I also learned that he probably was suffering from a chronic disease he may have transmitted to Remmy."

"Oh, my God!"

"But regardless," King continued, "he didn't deserve to be murdered." He looked at her and said quietly, "There, I've told you all I know." A pause, then, "Are you with me on this, Michelle?"

"I'm with you," she answered quietly.