Chapter 15

Monday, June 28, 10:20 a.m.

"Good morning. I'm Samuel Wicks. I have an appointment with Charles Breckinridge and Susan Hatfield."

"Yes, Mr. Wicks! Just follow me, please." Sam followed the dignified, splendidly dressed silver-haired woman through the spacious foyer and into the interior of the grand old mansion that now quartered Twin Rivers' finest law firm, Stevens, Breckinridge and Shelton. Sam wondered whether Messrs. Stevens and Shelton were just old dead guys with their names on the letterhead, or were they living, breathing lawyers. Breckinridge, he must assume, was among the living.

He was ushered into a small conference room and invited to seat himself at an elegant, marble-covered oblong table that dominated the room. "Mr. Breckinridge will be along in a moment," the woman said. "Would you like some coffee?" Sam thought he heard a trace of an elegant, understated British accent. Perhaps she'd come over on the Mayflower.

"Please," he said.

"Cream and sugar?"

"No cream. The blue stuff, if you have it. Otherwise, just some sugar, please." Sam knew they'd have the little blue packets of Aspertame sweetener. He judged restaurants by that standard. Good restaurants always had the blue stuff. Why not fancy law firms?

"Chief Deputy Wicks? I'm Charles Breckinridge. I've asked Ms. Hatfield to join us in just a few minutes."

"I'm pleased to meet you, Mr. Breckinridge. Am I correct that you know about Emma Majeski?" Sam scanned the attorney's $1500 suit, wondering if anyone ever called him "Chuck".

"Yes. I'm afraid the entire staff knows about it, since this morning. I received a call late yesterday afternoon from Ms. Hatfield, after she had spoken with Douglas Ferguson. This is a shock to the firm. Emma was a fine young woman, and truly a most excellent employee. Prentice Stevens and I had spoken to her about

the possibility of her going to law school."

"Because of our investigation, we've tried to keep news of Ms. Majeski's murder quiet, but clearly, that's not going to be possible beyond today. Has anyone from the press contacted your firm?"

"Not yet. Susan and I agreed immediately, upon arriving here this morning, that for the moment we would simply tell the rest of the people here -- other than my partners -- that Emma died over the weekend and that the circumstances are not yet clear. With your permission, I'll clarify that message for everyone as soon as possible -- especially if you're going to need to talk to a lot of the people here."

"I want to talk to Ms. Hatfield -- at length, I suspect. After that, I'll probably need to talk to some of the other people. I'll try not to disrupt your routine any more than necessary."

"This is not a high-pressure organization, Mr. Wicks. I've arranged for you to use this room all day, if necessary, and everyone here will be asked to cooperate with you fully."

The elegant gray-haired woman reappeared with the coffee. It was in an insulated silver container. On a silver tray, along with fragile-looking cups and saucers, there were little blue envelopes, all in a row in their own little form-fitting cut-glass dish.

"This is Mrs. Lancaster." Breckinridge said. "Mrs. Lancaster is our office manager. Her office is directly across the hallway. If you will give her the name of any employee or partner to whom you wish to speak, she will see that he or she is brought here directly."

Mrs. Lancaster smiled warmly and departed. Sam wondered whether Breckinridge and Lancaster might both be British.

When Susan Hatfield arrived moments later, Breckinridge excused himself after making clear that he, too, regarded himself as entirely at Sam's disposal.

Susan Hatfield was a pretty woman of just-under medium height. She was somewhat overweight. She wore a plain navy blue dress and a distressed expression. She looked as if she had slept little the previous night.

"Ms. Hatfield," Sam began, "Doug Ferguson tells me that you were Emma's best friend in Twin Rivers."

She sat down and, ignoring the several china cups on the tray, poured coffee into a styrofoam container she'd brought with her. "Officer -- Deputy. Yes. Emma and I have been close almost since she first arrived in Twin Rivers seven years ago. I met her at the health club. She helped me get a job here, about four years ago, after I'd gone to paralegal school in Greenville. We were very close friends."

"Later today, perhaps after work, Doug Ferguson -- you know him? -- is going to take me to Emma's house, to look around. I'd like you to go there with us, if it's at all possible."

"I can do that -- anytime you say. Emma's mother is arriving by plane this afternoon at 3:30. I was going to go with Doug to pick her up at the airport."

"Is she planning to stay in Emma's house?"

"No. Doug is putting her up."

"Good. Please discourage her from going by Emma's home until at least tomorrow. Ms. Hatfield..."

"Susan... please."

"Susan, do you have any idea who could have done this?"

"No. It's not possible. Everybody loved Emma. She was a great person, Deputy! She was smart, and hard-working, and funny, and thoughtful. God, I don't know how I'm going to keep on going without her."

"We know Doug wasn't directly involved in her death, Susan. Could he possibly have been involved --indirectly?"

"Absolutely not! Doug was head over heels. He was crazy in love with her."

"Other men she went out with?"

"There hasn't been anybody recently -- except Doug. She just met him this year, 'couple months ago, but there's nobody else in the picture. Before that, she wasn't dating anyone at all for several months -- well into last year. Earlier, she dated a teacher from the junior college, and she last year she was involved for a little while with a professional baseball player from the Kinston Indians. Those guys weren't serious love affairs or anything -- just casual. Both of them are out of the picture. The teacher guy moved to Connecticut almost a year ago now. The ballplayer's moving up -- Triple A this year. Richmond. The Indians traded him to Atlanta."

"Richmond's not that far away."

"No, but it was over, before he even left Kinston. I think it was pretty casual, Deputy. They parted friends. He was a sweet guy, but he was several years younger than Emma. It really wasn't a serious thing."

"How about the men here in the law firm? Anyone show any interest in Emma?"

"Interest? Yes. There's a young associate -- he's younger than Emma, too, actually -- who would have been interested. But Emma stiffed him. I mean, she was real sweet about it, but she thought it was tacky to date at the office, and besides, he was like -- a kid, y'know? Four-five years younger than Emma, and it showed. 'Funny. The ballplayer -- he was really a kid -- but he seemed older than the lawyer."

"None of the partners?"