Breach Of Promise

“I understand on the first vote of the original jury, eight people supported her.”

“That’s right. Then Cliff brought out his presents and threats…”

“Threats?”

“Oh, yes. I believe he threatened So

“Maribel craved attention, and he gave it to her. Ignacio, well that was a shame. He’s a good person with good instincts, but not someone who is used to argument on the level Cliff inhabited. Cliff dumped him in a maze and walked circles around him, all the time posing as the logician.

“Grace just needed some sympathy and he came along, the Good Samaritan giving her what she needed.”

“So Frank, Bob, and Kevin already favored Mike,” Paul said.

“Yes. They didn’t allow anything as messy as logic to sway them. They had picked a position and stuck with it, by God,” she said, with a tinge of sarcasm. “All Cliff had to do was ensure they knew how welcome they were in the anti-Lindy club with him.”

“You didn’t like Cliff Wright.”

“I have nothing but contempt for men like him. I despised his manipulations of weaker per- sonalities.”

“Why do you think he was so opposed to Lindy?”

“I think Diane had that figured out. It had to be personal. He said he had recently separated from his wife. Maybe he was really suffering, who knows with a man like that? But he was so underhanded and angry, and so persuasive and determined in there. I’m guessing that Mrs. Markov looked like his worst nightmare come true, a woman ruining a man’s bright future because of a breakup.”

“I guess you’re glad things happened the way they did.”

She stared at him. “You mean, Cliff dying?”

“Well, with the alternate installed, the jury came back around to Lindy, didn’t they?”

“That’s true.”

“I understand most of the jurors brought snacks along during the deliberations,” he said.

“Yes.”

“Anybody eat peanuts?”

“Not that I noticed.”

“Anything with peanuts? Candy?”

She began to laugh. “Snickers. Butterfingers. Nutty granola bars. Peanut M &M’s. Mr. Van Wagoner, is this a joke? Are you implying that someone, that I-”

“Look, I’m just saying things worked out the way you wanted them to.”

“I wish my husband could hear you. He thinks I’m not aggressive enough. And here you are suggesting I… correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t you suggesting that I planted a peanut butter cup in his eggroll because I was so mad at him?”

“Stranger things have happened, Mrs. Lim. Did you or anyone else leave the room before lunch was served that day?”

“There were a few minutes before the lunch was brought in. Most of us left the room. I made a phone call. Some smoked, some stretched, some used the bathrooms.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Everyone was really looking forward to that lunch. I even saw Diane lifting the aluminum foil and peeking at the cartons.”

The implication of what she had said struck her so forcefully, her cheeks flamed. “The food smelled very good. We all thought so,” she said, trying to regain her composure.

He persisted with her, but after that, she refused to answer another question.

Back in his van, Paul looked around feeling discontented. Things were looking shabby in the old vehicle. Somehow, the leopard-skin cover in back had picked up some mildew, probably from sitting in airport parking lots for days. Like it or not, his car was an extension of himself, and it was dying of neglect. He started the engine up. The people in Washington were after him for a final decision by next week. He didn’t know what to say.

He had to finish up this investigation. He needed to think about Nina.

34

Promptly at noon, Paul arrived at Bizzbees on the highway. He and Wish were ready to swap notes on their interviews. Paul found himself instead being beaten to a pulp at darts.

“So Kevin Dowd and Frank Lister stuck by Mike from the begi

“What did she think of Cliff Wright?”

“ ‘Charming,’ she called him. And Maribel what’s-her-name…”

“Grzegorek.”

“She was at work over at Mikasa, but they were having a slow day. She told me she had liked Cliff, but got disappointed in him at some point.”

“Oh?” Paul said, interested, taking his turn.

“Yeah. She’s a real fun person. Said Kris Schmidt had already snapped him up by the time she noticed how handsome he was. Kevin told me she asked him out and he turned her down.”

“So her disappointment had more to do with romance than the case.” Paul tossed his last dart to the outside.

“Yep.”

“You didn’t tell me you were league champ at the rec center when you challenged me to a game,” said Paul. “You’ve got an unfair advantage here.”

“That’s why,” said Wish, selecting another dart, eyeing it closely for shape, whipping around and tossing it lightly to land beside the one already stuck in the board, “I only bet you ten bucks.”

His third dart flew to keep close company with the other two.

“I don’t want to play anymore,” said Paul. “I came here to talk.”

“Oh, come on,” said Wish. “Don’t be a sore loser.”

With a deep breath, Paul positioned himself, dart in hand. The bull’s-eye, so close from some angles, suddenly appeared quite far away. He threw. “Twenty,” said Wish, marking a chalkboard beside the dartboard. “That’s nice.”

Paul gritted his teeth, aimed, and threw dart number two.

“On the line,” pronounced Wish. He examined the board. “On the two side. Sorry.”

“Thanks one whole helluva lot,” said Paul. Here was one game he couldn’t win. Might as well quit now. Without aiming, just to get the throw over, he hurled his last dart.

“Bull’s-eye!” marveled Wish. He wiped Paul out with a few more well-placed darts, then said, “Okay, game two. Let’s up it to twenty.”

But Paul refused. He ordered another soda. Wish, who was on his lunch break, ate a sub. They settled near the pool table, where a slender man and a large woman were locked in combat and the room had the hush of church over it.

“Okay, let’s go over what we’ve found out,” said Paul, keeping his voice low.

They hashed out what they had heard about the events leading up to Wright’s death. “Just to be thorough, I looked into some other possibilities besides the jurors,” Paul said. “Rachel’s ex, Harry. He might want to sabotage Mike. But Harry was at a photo shoot at an automobile dealership all that morning according to his coworkers, and anyway would have trouble getting into that hall without a hassle from Deputy Kimura. Then there’s this other guy, George Demetrios, apparently a loyal fan of Lindy’s. Same problems except for a slightly weaker alibi provided by his brother.

“Then I looked at Alice, Lindy’s friend. Her alibi checked out, but again, we’re talking an employee. Nobody’s alibi is airtight. But with all three of these people, we return to a central problem: how could these people know what was going on in the jury room? How could they get to the food? Alice used the hall occasionally during the trial. Kimura said he’d seen her in there. But she would have no business there while the jury was deliberating. Someone would have noticed her that day.”

He took a long drink. “Here’s a thought,” he said. “The three women jurors were in cahoots. They spiked his food together.”