youâd rather have it taken care of some other way, we could get him declared incompetent and make you and your sister his guardians. It would at least be a start.â
âDid they tell you that heâd been accused of this before?â Elizabeth asked.
âYes,â Russ said. âYes, they did. And that makes it even stickier yet.â
âThat was when the murder victim was our maid,â Elizabeth said, âConchita Estevez. She came from somewhere in South America; I donât remember where. Isnât that terrible? When I do things like that I remind myself of Margaret, and then I just get crazy. Anyway, the body was found in the service alleyjust in the back of here. But he wasnât found standing over it. And he wasnât found covered in blood. Which is what happened this time.â
âSort of,â Russ said. âThe blood part is right, but heâd actually left the alley when somebody saw him with blood all over him and screamed, and that brought the police, and they went into the alley people had seen him come out of, and that was the ball game. But it doesnât have to be. It really doesnât. With competent counselââ
âAre you competent counsel?â
âIâm very competent counsel, Mrs. Woodville. But Iâm not personally known to you or to your sisterââ
âAre you personally known to Henry?â
âNot before this evening, no.â
âBut he likes you, I take it. Heâs willing to talk to you. He cooperates with you.â
âHeâs willing to talk to me. I canât tell if heâs cooperating or not. He seems to like calling me his lawyer. You know, telling people things like, âIf you want to know my birth date, youâll have to ask my lawyer.â That kind of thing. Personally, I think it was because he couldnât remember his birth date. He has, uh, gaps in his memory like that.â
Elizabeth tilted her head back and let it rest for a moment on the wall behind her. The alcove was tiny, tinier than any closet in the house. She thought of Henry being brought home from the hospital and all the fuss and bother that his mother was capable of, dressed in three kinds of lace and carried in a custom-made Moses basket by the butler, right through the front door and upstairs to the nursery. Elizabeth had hated that butler. Sheâd hated the very idea of butlers. She was ecstatic beyond belief that Margaret could no longer afford to hire one.
âMrs. Woodville?â
âYes, Iâm here. Itâs just that I was thinking, if Henry likes you, and if heâs willing to cooperate with you, why should he have to change? Youâve probably heard something of the way he feels about us. About Margaret and me, I mean. Would it really help him if we threw you off the case and sent in one of our own attorneys, whom heâs unlikely to like any better than he likes us?â
âThatâs true enough,â Russ said.
âIf itâs a question of the money, we can handle that,â Elizabeth said. âYou said you were with Didrickson and Marsh, isnât that right? Youâre not full time on the payroll of the Public Defenderâs Office?â
âNo, no Iâm not. I just do some pro bono work when Iâm asked. Iââ
âWell, then,â Elizabeth said, âwe can just hire you privately, if it comes to that. We wouldnât even have to let Henry know, in case he objected to it.Which he probably would. If you tell me how much of a retainer you require in a case like this, I can have a check at your office in the morning.â
âMrs. WoodvilleââRuss Donahue sounded breathlessââitâs not the money. If Henry isnât declared incompetent, your willingness to pay would be beside the point. If he had assets of his ownââ
âHe does have, some. Not as much as Margaret and I do, but
Sharon Kleve, Jennifer Conner, Danica Winters, Casey Dawes