Best Kept Secrets(17)
lawyers who wore white shirts and worsted wool, not
chic, short-skirted suits and fur. Viable members of the bar
should emanate the faint smell of cigar smoke and leather-bound
tomes, not a delicate perfume.
"Has District Attorney Chastain briefed you on why I'm.
here?"
"Yes. This morning. But I heard from Angus last night."
She tilted her head, as though to say that that information
was interesting and worth storing away for future consideration.
He could have kicked himself for volunteering it.
The truth was, he was rather dazzled. Angus Minton had
been right. Alexandra Gaither was better looking than her
mother.
When she moved her head, a shaft of sunlight coming
through the window blinds set her dark hair afire. The collar
of her fur coat brushed her cheek, giving her complexion a
glow as fresh and delectable as ripe apricots. Stacey had a
similar coat, but it turned her complexion the color of cold
ashes.
"Could I have a moment with you in your chambers, Judge
Wallace?" she asked politely.
Needlessly, he consulted his wristwatch. "I'm afraid that's
out of the question. Actually, I just stopped by to pick up
my messages. I've got an appointment out of the office for
the rest of the afternoon." Mrs. Lipscomb started with surprise,
a dead giveaway that he was lying.
Alex pondered the toes of her shoes for a moment. "I hate
to insist, but I must. This is very important, and I'm anxious
to get the investigation underway as soon as possible. Before
I can move forward, I need to verify some facts with you. It
won't take very long." The corners of her mouth turned up
into a smile. "I'm certain your cooperation will be appreciated
by my office in Austin."
Judge Wallace wasn't stupid; neither was Alex. She
couldn't very well pull rank on him, but she could make him
look bad with the Travis County D.A., who hobnobbed with
the powers that be in the capital.
"Very well, please come in." He shrugged off his overcoat,
asked Mrs. Lipscomb to hold his calls, then followed
Alex into his chambers. "Have a seat."
"Thank you."
His stomach was burning in the center of his gut like a
crashed meteor. He'd drunk two swallows of antacid on his
way back to the courthouse, but he could stand another kick.
Alex didn't appear the least bit rattled. She sat down across
the desk from him and gracefully shrugged out of her coat.
"Let's get to it, Miss Gaither," he said imperiously.
"What do you want to know?"
Alex opened her briefcase and withdrew a sheaf of papers.
Inwardly, the judge groaned. ' 'I've read the transcript of Bud
Hicks's hearing, and I have some questions about it."
"Such as?"
"What was your rush?"
"I beg your pardon?"
' 'Bud Hicks was arraigned on a charge of first-degree murder
and held without bail in the Purcell County jail. His
competency hearing was held three days later."
"So?"
"Isn't that a rather brief period of time in which to weigh
a man's future?"
The judge leaned back in his cordovan leather chair, which
had been a gift from his daughter, hoping to impress the
young attorney with his composure. "Maybe the docket was
loaded and I was trying to clear it out. Or maybe it was a
slack time and I was able to act quickly. I don't remember.
It was twenty-five years ago."
She lowered her eyes to the notepad resting on her lap.
"You had only two psychiatrists examine Mr. Hicks."
"His retardation was obvious, Miss Gaither."
"I'm not questioning that."
"He was, to put it unkindly, the town idiot. I don't mean
to sound cruel, but that's what he was. He was tolerated.
People saw him, but looked through him, if you know what
I mean. He was a harmless fixture--"
"Harmless?"
Again the judge could have bitten his tongue. "Until the
night he killed your mother."
"No jury convicted him of that, Judge."
Judge Wallace wet his lips, chagrined. "Of course." He
tried to avoid her level gaze so he could collect his thoughts.
"I felt that two psychiatric analyses would be adequate, in
this particular case."
"No doubt I would agree with you, if the analyses hadn't
been so divergent."
"Or, if your mother hadn't been the victim of the crime,"
the judge said, getting in a shot.
She bristled. "I'm going to disregard that, Judge Wallace."
"Well, isn't that what this is all about? Or do you, for
some reason unknown to me, want to question my integrity
and undermine a judgment I made twenty-five years ago?"