The Sleeping Beauty Killer Part 19

"Mark was your brother's close friend, correct? It seems like he would have been a natural successor in leading the foundation. But instead, he resigned just a few years after your brother was killed. Were there problems?"

"No."

Ryan paused, waiting for further explanation, but Andrew remained silent.

"Have you stayed in touch with him?" Ryan asked.

Andrew smiled politely, but his usual charisma was gone. "He was more Hunter's friend than mine."

"How about your father? Is he on good terms with Mark Templeton?"

"Why are you asking so much about Mark?" When he began to reach for the microphone clipped to his shirt collar, Ryan effortlessly shifted gears back to Andrew's favorite memories of his brother.

Good job, Laurie thought. We weren't going to get any more information out of him, and you kept him in his seat. Ryan was finding his sea legs.

Once the interview had wrapped, Ryan immediately asked Andrew if he could show Jerry and a camera team around the property. "We want viewers to see why your brother considered this his home."

When Andrew and Jerry walked out the back door, it was 12:17. General Raleigh's "PTA," as his son had called it, was in thirteen minutes. Just as they'd planned, Andrew's tour of the grounds should keep him from notifying his father that they'd been asking about Mark Templeton.

But then twelve-thirty became twelve-forty and then twelve-fifty. Laurie's phone rang shortly before one o'clock.

"This is Laurie."

"Ms. Moran, this is Mary Jane Finder calling for General Raleigh. I'm afraid the General won't be able to make it to Connecticut today."

"We thought you'd already left the city. We're already filming."

"I understand that. I'm afraid time got away from us. But Andrew is there. He should be able to get you whatever you need in terms of access to the house."

"We need more than access to the property. Both you and the General agreed to tell us whatever you know about the night Hunter was killed."

"Frankly, Ms. Moran, the evidence speaks for itself, doesn't it? Not that you asked my opinion, but I'd say Ms. Carter has cost the Raleigh family enough without wasting their time with this futile reality show." She said the words reality show as if they were dirty.

"I was under the impression that General Raleigh still believes strongly that Casey Carter is guilty. We thought he'd want an opportunity to express his beliefs. You found a reason not to sit down with us on camera yesterday. Did you persuade your employer to stand us up today?"

"You underestimate General Raleigh if you think anyone pulls his strings. Please, Ms. Moran, I'm sure your show craves drama, but there's no conspiracy here: he is on a very tight writing schedule right now for his memoirs, which, with all due respect, are a better venue for his thoughts than your program. You're free to do whatever you want with your production, but General Raleigh won't be able to partic.i.p.ate in the coming days."

"And you? You're also a witness to the events of that night."

"I'll be busy helping General Raleigh with his book."

"Speaking of the General's book, that's for Holly Bloom at Arden Publishing, correct? We'll be reporting Holly's role in publishing Jason Gardner's tell-all book about Casey, not to mention her a.s.sistance in securing a job for the Raleigh Foundation's former chief financial officer, Mark Templeton. Does the General know that we'll be reporting these connections, Ms. Finder?"

"Have a good afternoon."

Mary Jane didn't need to acknowledge Laurie's question. The answer was already clear. Of course General Raleigh knew the information they were reporting. That's exactly why Laurie was looking at an empty chair in the living room.

50.

Forty-five miles from New Canaan, in his Manhattan townhouse, General James Raleigh watched his a.s.sistant hang up the phone on his desk. He had only heard Mary Jane's side of the conversation.

"She thinks you're pulling my strings, does she?" he said with a wry smile.

"Pity the person who would try such a thing."

"How did she handle the news that I would not be coming up to Connecticut?"

"Not well. As you predicted, she tried fear tactics. And I'm afraid I need to apologize. I realize that when I first called her a.s.sistant, Grace, I mentioned the name of your publisher. She's connected it to Jason Gardner's book."

The General waved off the apology as unnecessary. "I'm actually surprised no one realized earlier that Jason's agent and editor were both friends of mine. I see nothing wrong with the fact that I encouraged a man who knew that woman's dark side to tell the truth about her."

"She also mentioned Mark Templeton."

The General steepled his fingers. "I knew when she first mentioned his name to Andrew in the library that she'd be going down that road."

The General and Mary Jane had been on their way to Connecticut when Andrew sent Mary Jane a text message, warning them that Ryan Nichols had been asking extensive questions about the foundation and Mark Templeton. The General had immediately ordered the driver to turn around.

"Do you think she knows the truth about the foundation?" Mary Jane asked.

He shook his head. He had spoken to Mark Templeton personally. He could not imagine that Mark would be stupid enough to cross him.

"She still wanted to interview me, too," Mary Jane said. "Apparently Casey told her that Hunter despised me and was determined to have me fired. Is that true? Did Hunter dislike me?"

The General smiled. One of the reasons he trusted Mary Jane was because, like him, she never let emotions get in her way. She, too, came across to others as cold as steel. But, also like him, she did have feelings. He had never told her how much Hunter distrusted her, because he knew she would be hurt.

"Of course not," he said briskly. "Hunter liked you."

He could tell she wasn't completely satisfied with his answer. "Did he know about my last job?" she asked.

"No," he a.s.sured her. "Regardless, I would never fire you, Mary Jane. What would I do without you?"

51.

At six o'clock that evening, Laurie's office was so covered in boxes, notebooks, and loose paper that she longed for the relative cleanliness of her own apartment, Timmy's clutter and all. She had just balled up a page of sc.r.a.p paper and scored another two points in her recycling bucket when she heard a knock on her office door.

"Come in."

She was surprised to see Jerry and Ryan. They had stayed in Connecticut with the camera crew to finish up footage outside the police station and courthouse, and were supposed to go home directly from there. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We could ask the same of you. Seemed like a team effort might be needed," Ryan said.

"Grace offered to come, too," Jerry said. "But tonight was her monthly dinner with her G.o.dmother. I told her you wouldn't want her to cancel."

"You read my mind, Jerry."

Ryan began picking up b.a.l.l.s of paper from around her recycling bucket. "Not sure you're ready for the Knicks based on these." Once the floor was clean, he plopped down in one of the chairs across from her desk. Jerry did the same. "I'm sorry today didn't go better."

"Not your fault," she said.

"Not yours, either," Ryan said.

"For what it's worth," Jerry added, "I was watching Andrew like a hawk after his interview with Ryan, but he did go to the bathroom at one point. I suppose he could have contacted his father then."

Laurie held up a palm. "Trust me, Jerry, short of going into the bathroom with him, there's no way you could have stopped him from contacting the General. Andrew wasn't our problem. If I had to guess, the General was Jason Gardner's first phone call from Cipriani, and Gabrielle Lawson ran straight to Mindy Sampson, who also tipped him off. And I blew it by losing my patience with his keeper, Mary Jane, yesterday." She also found herself wondering what role Alex may have played in the General's decision to stand them up.

"So I'm not sure how this works," Ryan said, "but should we talk about where we go from here?"

She opened the top drawer of her desk and pulled out Ryan's baseball. "Think fast," she said. He caught it with one hand. He had done good work the last two days. He was never going to be Alex, but at least he had gone more than twenty-four hours without being a jerk. As she had said to Jerry, they were taking baby steps.

Laurie looked around at all the doc.u.ments she'd been scouring for hours and felt less alone. "Let's make two lists: what we know, and what we suspect."

The "suspect" list was much longer than the "know." Laurie accepted the fact that her show might not always reach a definitive conclusion, but she had hoped they'd at least be able to show that Casey was deprived of a fair trial. Between her bad defense lawyer, the anonymous online trolling, Mindy Sampson's column, and General Raleigh's involvement in Jason Gardner's book, the deck had been stacked against her.

But now they were almost done with production, and Laurie felt as if they'd accomplished nothing.

"Let's take another tack," Ryan suggested. "If you had to bet your entire life savings, what's your gut?"

Jerry volunteered to go first. "My life savings is about two hundred and seventeen dollars, but I'd go with Mark Templeton. I think the General-or Mary Jane at his behest-drugged Casey so she'd make a fool of herself that night. And then Mark, knowing that Hunter was about to expose him for embezzlement, saw an opportunity. He left the gala, went straight to Connecticut, killed Hunter, and framed Casey."

"So why won't General Raleigh help our show at this point?" Ryan asked.

"You already made me bet my life savings. Now you're hauling out the Socratic method? Okay, my guess is that General Raleigh is still convinced that Casey's guilty. That's the only reason he would've tried to manipulate this entire process. In his mind, whatever happened at the foundation with Mark is separate, and in some way he is protecting Hunter's legacy by keeping it quiet."

It was a good theory, Laurie thought, the one she'd been working on herself. "How about you, Ryan? What's your bet?"

"You sure you want to hear it?" he asked. "We're finally getting along. I don't want to find myself back in your doghouse."

"Stop it. Consider yourself initiated. What's your theory?"

"Honestly? I think Casey's guilty. I thought it from the beginning, and I think it still. And before you say I'm just sticking to my guns, I've kept an open mind. But the simplest explanation is that Casey did it."

"Occam's Razor," she said.

"Exactly. The simplest explanation is that Casey is guilty. Okay, Laurie, your turn."

"I honestly don't know."

Jerry and Ryan both groaned. "No fair," Ryan said. "We both went out on a limb. Tell us what you think."

Jerry jumped to the rescue. "That's not how Laurie works. She jumps from theory to theory, pulling her hair out, vowing to remain neutral. And then-BAM!-she's like an oracle: out comes the truth!"

"Bam?! An oracle? This is what you think of my work process, Jerry?"

They were still laughing, and Ryan was opening the scotch, when there was a knock at the door.

"I wonder who else is working late," she said. "Come in!"

It was Alex. She recognized the man next to him as Mark Templeton. "Can we talk?"

As they sat astonished at the presence of the two visitors, Alex explained, "Laurie, I called your home and Leo said you were working late. I took a chance that you'd still be here."

Jerry hurried to pull two chairs up.

"The extra chairs won't be necessary, Jerry," Alex said. "The conversation we are about to have is for Laurie's ears only."

Ryan and Jerry looked at Laurie, who nodded toward the door. "We'll be in my office," Ryan said.

As the door closed behind them, Laurie studied Mark Templeton. She had never seen him in person, but she recognized an older version of the man she'd viewed in numerous photographs, almost always next to his close friend Hunter Raleigh. Tonight, he was attired in a suit nearly identical to Alex's: dark gray with a white shirt and conservative tie. She knew that it was the exact wardrobe that Alex recommended for both trial lawyers and their clients for court appearances. It was a uniform. Just like Coco Chanel believed it was about the woman, not the clothes, Alex believed that it was about the evidence, not the man.

"Mr. Templeton, you've made it clear a number of times that you have no interest in speaking with me," she said.

"No, I made it clear that I wouldn't be partic.i.p.ating in your show. And I won't be changing my mind about that, for reasons I hope you'll understand. But Alex told me that you're likely to present me as an alternative suspect in the murder of my friend Hunter Raleigh, and I can't let that stand."

"Then I can arrange for you to be interviewed on camera tomorrow morning," Laurie said.

Mark shook his head vigorously. "No, no, no. All I want is for you to hear me out."

Alex spoke for the first time since they sat down. "Please, Laurie. I understand you're determined not to do me any special favors, but I know how you work. You care about the truth. You should at least listen to what Mark has to say."

"No promises, but please, go ahead."

Mark looked to Alex for rea.s.surance. Alex nodded.

"A little more than three years after Hunter was killed," Mark explained, "the board of directors suddenly realized that the foundation's a.s.sets were nowhere near the targets Hunter had set in his five-year plan for fundraising. Because he wasn't there to raise our profile and market the foundation, I didn't think it was a surprise to anyone. But there was enough of a shortfall that the board decided to hire a consultant to do a full-scale study of the foundation from top to bottom-strategic mission, publications, investments, the works."

It sounded sensible so far. She nodded for him to continue.

"When they looked at the books, they saw not only that our fundraising was down, but that I had approved a significant number of bad investments and questionable expenditures, including large withdrawals in cash. I walked into what I thought was a routine board meeting, and James Raleigh cornered me, demanding explanations for each individual expense."

"Wouldn't that be something the CFO would be expected to have?" she asked.