Rather than argue, the Judge executed an about-face and walked out. Finley watched from the window until she was gone. She rushed to her bedroom and changed into jeans, sneakers, and her fav old Vandy tee.
She grabbed a bottle of water, her bag, and her keys. She had some follow-up work to do. If her estimation was correct, the timing would be perfect.
23
8:45 p.m.
Legard Residence
Lealand Lane
Nashville
Finley had had to remind herself to slow down as she’d blown out of her driveway. It never ceased to amaze her how very angry the Judge could make her. Even after all this time and the many, many occasions they had squared off, Finley still could not prevent the gush of outrage. Never mind that trickle of disappointment or hurt or some stupid emotion or the other that never failed to make a thready appearance.
“You will never learn,” she muttered as she entered the code to the gate Olivia had given her and waited for it to open. She rolled through and parked in front of the Legard mansion. The lack of blood around the vic kept nagging at her, so she’d decided to come back and prod whatever info she could from whomever remained at the scene.
The crime scene investigators were still at it. She had known they would be. The van sat next to a police cruiser. A house this large would take some time. They wouldn’t want to risk missing anything useful in the way of evidence. One or more uniformed officers would be around here somewhere. She was surprised one hadn’t hustled out already to send her packing. But then she supposed they hadn’t expected anyone to get beyond the gate.
On the way over she’d come up with several scenarios to explain why she had to return to the house.
She made it all the way into the entry hall before she was caught.
“Excuse me, ma’am—you can’t be in here.”
She turned toward the dining room to face the man who’d spoken.
A smile tugged at her lips. Lady Luck was on her side.
Tommy Hanes.
Finley said, “Hey, I didn’t know you were working CSI now.” Tommy was a former beat cop. He had been the first on the scene when Derrick was murdered. She didn’t remember him there since she’d been unconscious, but he’d visited her in the hospital a few days later.
A big grin flashed across his face. “Hey yourself.” His arms swung ever so slightly as if he had to resist the urge to walk over and hug her.
She’d received a lot of unexpected hugs after what had happened. Southerners were huggers.
“I’m the investigator for the firm representing the family. I just stopped by to make sure the place gets locked up after your team is done. With all that’s happened, someone needed to.”
“Sure thing. I’ll personally see to it.” He glanced around, pretended to ignore the fact that she wasn’t wearing gloves or shoe covers. “We’ll probably be here for a while.”
“Now that I know you’re here, I’m not worried at all.” She looked around the vast hall. “The place is huge. Every time I’m here I’m stunned all over again at just how big it is.”
“You’ve been here before, then?” He visibly relaxed at the news.
“Oh yes. I was here today when the victim was discovered.”
“It’s pretty bizarre. What happened, I mean,” he clarified.
“It really is. I found it particularly strange there was so little blood. I suppose it may have been beneath the victim.” She held up a hand. “Despite my curiosity, I knew better than to touch anything.”
He looked around again. Listened for the sound of his colleagues moving around in other rooms. “Between you and me, I don’t think there was enough blood for the stabbing to have been the cause of death.” He shrugged. “The ME will be the final word on that, of course.”
“I totally agree. Something doesn’t fit here.” She shrugged. “I’m sure the ME will run all the usual tox screens.”
He scoffed. “Oh, count on it. Janzen is the best. And he’s fast. The chief put a priority on this one.”
“That’s good to know.” She had a contact in Janzen’s office.
“This is an odd family,” he said. “No offense, but I don’t envy you figuring this one out.”
“No kidding.” She backed toward the door. “I should get out of your way. Thank you for taking care of the place. We should catch up sometime.”
A blush swept across his face. “Sure thing.”
It was good and dark when Finley walked out the door and to her car. That had been a lot easier than she’d anticipated. Now, the big questions were these: If the knife didn’t kill Sophia Legard, what did? And, if that was the case, what was the point of the big knife?