Free Murder in the Supreme Court (Capital Crimes Series Book 3) by Margaret Truman

think?” he asked after their drinks and sandwich platters had been served.
    “I don’t know yet, I haven’t tasted it.”
    “I mean the place. Nice atmosphere, huh?”
    “Yes, it’s—”
    “What’s the matter?”
    “It’s sort of sad, seeing people in a singles bar—”
    “Singles bar? This isn’t a singles bar. If it were I wouldn’t come here.”
    “Don’t be touchy. It’s just that I wish those women sitting around the piano bar were
with
someone…”
    “But that’s what’s nice about Club Julie, Susanna. It’s
like
a club, no hassles like in real singles bars. Women can come here and feel safe.”
    “I suppose you’re right. Funny, but it makes me think of Dr. Sutherland’s secretary… Vera Jones.”
    Teller sliced into his steak and took a bite. “Good. Don’t let it get cold.”
    “Do you think she’s ever been married?”
    “Vera Jones? Most people have been, although she does come off like one of those who hasn’t. But I don’t figure her for the singles’-bar scene. Not her style—”
    “What is her style?”
    “Quiet, a one-on-one type, maybe a twenty-year affair with a married man.”
    “Dr. Sutherland?”
    “Not likely, but you never know. I do think she’s loyal and discreet enough to be a twenty-year mistress, don’t you?”
    “Yes. Do you find her attractive?”
    “Yes, in a cold sort of way.”
    “Hidden passion, as they say in the purple romances?”
    “Could be.”
    “A legitimate suspect?”
    “Everybody is at this point.”
    “Including the nine justices?”
    “Including the nine justices. Do you know who interests me?”
    “I’m afraid to ask.”
    He grinned. “That court clerk, Laurie Rawls. She was at the funeral and bawled all through it. I figure there was more to her relationship with Sutherland than just a coworker.”
    “Cherchez la femme…”
    “Huh?”
    “Justice Childs’s advice to me. Look for the woman. Have you interviewed Laurie Rawls?”
    “One of my people did. Uneventful. She said she liked Clarence, enjoyed working with him. Her alibi is shaky, but so are a lot of other people’s.”
    “If you’d like, I’ll talk to her. She might open up to another woman.”
    “Could be. I understand she’s been temporarily assigned to the Chief Justice. She’d worked for the old man, Conover.”
    “I’ll call her Monday morning.”
    Julie, the owner, came to the table and asked Teller if he wanted to sing. Teller shook his head, but Susanna insisted. “I’ve never heard a singing detective before.”
    “You still won’t have,” he said as he went to the bandstand, and picked up a microphone while Julie played an introduction to “As Time Goes By.”
    “You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss,
    A sigh is just a sigh.
    The fundamental things apply, as time goes by.”
    He smiled at Susanna as he ventured into the second stanza. She nodded her approval and leaned her chair back against the wall, her thoughts divided between attention to his resonant voice and the thing that had led them to spend the evening together—Clarence Sutherland’s murder. She felt overwhelmed. The number of suspects and the complicationof it having happened in the United States Supreme Court.
    The smell of garlic filled her nostrils, and chatter at adjoining tables deafened her. She closed her eyes against a pain that had started at the back of her neck and was now creeping up over her head and toward her forehead. She opened her eyes and saw a blurry Martin Teller.
    “…the world will always welcome lovers,
    As time goes by.”
    He held the last note and Julie rolled off a rich chord. Applause, applause. Teller put the microphone on top of the piano and made his way to the table.
    “I warned you.”
    “It was terrific.”
    He sat down and looked at her closely. “You don’t look so good, do you feel sick?”
    “I… it’s a migraine coming on, damn it. I get them once in a while.”
    “I’m sorry. Let’s go, I’ll take you