“That's what Marcus told me to tell you.”
“Are you serious?”
“That's what I asked him.” Janise was enjoying this a little too much. But she knew impact was important if she was going to make her point.
“What did he say?”
“He said that he hadn't decided yet. Then he said never mind, Janise. I'll handle it myself.” Trying her best to sound like Marcus.
“Did he say why?”
“No. But I can tell you why. That is, if you really wanna know?”
“Of course I want to know. At least I'll be prepared, Janise. Tell me.”
Janise looked around the office and motioned for Tiffanie to come closer. “You need to stay out of Marcus and Randa's business.”
Tiffanie didn't think Marcus would fire her. But she c
ouldn't be sure. As of today Randa was cut off from any more information about Marcus. She had no doubt that Marcus would fire her if it happened again. Keeping Randa up on what color tie Marcus was wearing with which suit wasn't worth her future. Like everybody else, Tiffanie saw the possibilities that would open up as a result of the Ferguson case. She knew she was a good lawyer and was glad to hear Marcus that he thought so too.
The wait wasn't long before Garrett came in the office all smiles and walked straight up to Carmen. He reached for her hand, bowed at the waist, and kissed it. Marcus shook his head and laughed quietly.
“Ms. Taylor, my name is Garrett Mason. It is an honor to meet such a beautiful woman. I'm just sorry that it has to be under these circumstances.”
Carmen accepted the gesture in stride, but looking at Marcus through the corner of her eye the entire time. “Well, thank you Mr. Mason, it's a pleasure to meet you as well.”
Garrett kissed her hand again.
“You two want me to leave and give you some time alone?” Marcus asked.
“No.” Carmen said quickly and louder then she needed to. Carmen eased her hand out of Garrett's. “That won't be necessary.”
“Well in that case, Garrett, what you got for us?”
“Suzanne Collins, real estate agent, dealt exclusively in the residential properties starting at five hundred thousand. She worked out of a small office in Dunwoody. Just her and a secretary. According to the secretary, she left Suzanne working and when she came in the next morning, she found her, naked.”
“Naked?” Marcus asked, unbuttoning his top shirt button and loosening his tie.
“That's what I said, naked, bent over, face down at her desk. There were bruises all over her upper torso. And there was quite a bit of internal bleeding,” Garrett stated glancing at his notes.
“Was she raped?” Marcus asked.
“There was evidence of,” he paused and looked at Carmen. “of vaginal penetration, but there was no trauma associated with it, so they believe the sex was consensual. Rough sex that went too far, maybe.”
“What was the because of death?” Marcus asked.
“The internal bleeding.”
“Wait a minute,” Carmen said. “Her sister-in-law told us that they hadn't assigned a because of death. That's supposedly was the reason Frank killed himself, because he was frustrated with the lack of progress in his wife's death.”
“The reason the investigation was going so slow was that her husband, Frank wouldn't allow her body to be autopsied. After he died, her family gave the police permission to exhume the body and perform an autopsy. They're not calling it murder because there isn't enough physical evidence to support it. No sign of forced entry. No sign of a struggle, no skin under her hairs or abrasions on her hands. Her clothes were folded neatly on a chair near the desk. So she was down for whatever was going on, at least the sex. They had no suspects, except Frank. They thought maybe Frank did it and that's why he wouldn't let them autopsy the body.”
“What about him? What's his story?” Marcus asked.
“He was the interesting one. Old Frank worked for Hudson Financial Corporation as an account manager. The only other thing I can tell you was that they found his body laid out across his wife's grave with a thirty eight slug on his head. And that it was ruled a suicide.”
“What makes that so interesting Garrett?” Marcus asked. He felt Carmen's eyes on him, but she looked away quickly when he turned to look at her.