Page 41 of Lawman’s Witness

“Drive to your bank.” He swiveled his head in her direction, his expression surprised, but he didn’t say anything. “You’re going to make a withdrawal.” She saw his jaw tense, his lips forming a straight line across his handsome face. “I’ve been trying to decide how much my ex-husband’s life was worth. You’re lucky, it wasn’t worth all that much. How much did he try to blackmail you for?” When he didn’t answer, she said, “Doesn’t matter. Tell you what. Make it fifty thousand.”

“I can’t get that much out without raising suspicion.”

“Oh, please. You’re such a smooth talker, and fifty grand is nothing for you. That wouldn’t even buy one of the cheaper cars on your lot. I’m sure you can convince your banker to give you the money. By the way, I know where you bank. I’ll wait in the car—on the phone with your wife.” He tensed but kept driving.

“She always wanted a house, you know,” she said. He looked confused, as if he didn’t know who she was talking about. “Whitney. She was really excited about you buying her a house.”

“How do I know you won’t be back next week for more money?” he asked as he pulled into the parking lot at the bank.

“You don’t, but I’m not greedy like Robert. He would have bled you dry. I’m sure that’s why you killed him.” When Jack said nothing, she realized that he must have thought she was recording this for the police. “I’m not recording you. I just want the money before you go to jail.”

Liz saw the way he was gripping the wheel and chuckled. “I don’t think you can afford to kill me or anyone else right now. Eventually your friends at the police department aren’t going to be able to protect you if one more person goes missing or ends up dead.”

He parked and started to get out. “Don’t take too long,” she warned. “I wouldn’t want to run out of things to say to your wife, Christine.”

When Russ walked into the department, the chief stepped out of his office and motioned for him. He’d known this was coming. Marshall probably picked up his phone and called the chief the moment Russ left his house. His only hope was that Milt would listen to the evidence he’d found.

“Sounds like you’ve stepped in it now,” his partner said as he passed his desk. “You are one hardheaded SOB, you know that, Tate?”

“I am when it comes to getting justice,” he said as he kept walking.

“I’d say you’re about to get more than you bargained for,” Hanson said.

“Don’t bother to sit down,” the chief said as Russ walked through the open office door. “You won’t be staying that long.” Milt wagged his head as if confused by the detective. “Jack Marshall is threatening to file a harassment suit against the department because of you. He said you came to his house this morning and accused him of killing some man on the rims last night. Have you lost your mind?”

“No, sir. The man who was killed last night was blackmailing Marshall. Robert Baker had found out that Marshall had been having an affair with a woman named Whitney Clark. Clark is missing and has been since the night of the murder at the construction site. Our eyewitness has identified Clark as the woman she saw that night with Marshall.”

The chief leaned back as if trying to distance himself from what Russ was saying. “Missing? So no proof the woman is even dead, right?”

“Except an eyewitness saw her killed by Marshall,” Russ said.

“How is it that the eyewitness now can identify this Clark woman as the one she allegedly saw murdered?” Milt demanded.

“She’s been doing some investigating on her own.”

The chief shook his head. “Clearly she is out to get Jack Marshall.”

“I believe she’s merely determined to get some justice for the dead woman. If you open an investigation, I can get the proof needed for an arrest. But I need warrants for how Marshall flew back and forth from Great Falls that night. I suspect he buried the body at the construction site. It might be too late to get a cadaver dog in there but—”

“Stop right there.” Milt’s eyes narrowed as he leaned forward. “It’s bad enough that this alleged eyewitness is obsessed with seeing Jack Marshall behind bars, but now you’re just as bad. Do you really believe that Jack Marshall killed some man up on the rims last night?”

“I do,” Russ said. “Just as I believe he killed Whitney Clark, the woman he was having an affair with. No one is above the law, not even Jack Marshall. If he didn’t do it, then open the investigation and let me prove that he didn’t. Unless you’re afraid of the truth.”

The chief was shaking his head. “You’re talking about Jack Marshall, one of the most powerful businessmen in the state, hell, the Northwest. He and Christine raise money every year to help this city, this county, this department.”

“The man isn’t who you want to believe he is. Imagine what that’s going to do to the department when it comes out. You can’t protect him anymore,” Russ said as he stepped forward to lean on the desk toward the chief. “And it’s going to come out. Your good friend Jack is a murderer. Imagine what will happen to you when it comes out that you repeatedly tried to stop me from investigating him. Here, I want you to have this.” He tossed the paperwork on the man’s desk.

“What’s this?” the chief demanded picking it up. “Your resignation?”

“No, it’s a copy of my sworn affidavit outlining the evidence I found against Jack Marshall following the eyewitness showing up at the police station after seeing him murder a woman,” Russ said. “It’s all there, including Liz Baker’s ex-husband’s attempt to blackmail Marshall and his untimely death later that night.”

Breathing hard, Milt took the papers into his two fists and tore them in half and then again into fourths before pitching them into the trash beside his desk.

“That won’t make the evidence go away,” Russ said. “My fear is that he’s going to kill again.”

The chief was shaking his head. “Jack Marshall?” he said as if it was inconceivable. He looked as if he might explode. “I warned you. You have disregarded my orders for the last time. You’re suspended. It’s time for you to go back to the ranch. You don’t belong here.”

Russ nodded. “I’d tell you that you’re making a mistake, but you’re right,” he said as he removed his gun and badge and laid them on the chief’s desk. “I don’t belong in a department where a man like Jack Marshall gets away with murder. But then neither do you.”