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“What is it, Mr. Speers?”
“If Grissom is still disoriented, how was he able to call his attorneys?”
“Evidently Grissom’s son, Ryman, called them. He and his sister, Melissa Kay, were there at their father’s bedside. I asked them to leave the room, which they did with ill grace. As to his abduction, Mr. Grissom claims he’d just arrived home from a charity fundraiser and exited his car when his attacker came up behind him, pulled something over his head, and jabbed a needle into his neck. Grissom said he fought back but his attacker was strong and trained, kicked and hit him in his stomach and kidneys until he fell, hit his head, and passed out. His attacker never said a word.”
Kirra said, “Sir, I was told by the attending physician at Concord General there was no indication Mr. Grissom had been struck in the stomach or kidneys, no sign he’d struck his head.”
Hailstock said with the exaggerated patience you’d use speaking to a child, “I didn’t say what Mr. Grissom said was true, Ms. Mandarian, only that it is what he claimed. May I continue?”
“Yes, sir, excuse me.”
“Thank you. Chief of Police Pershing asked Grissom who might have beaten him and turned him over to the police in such a humiliating way. He said he didn’t know, but probably someone he knew who wanted to destroy him and take over what he had. I asked him why he believed he hadn’t been killed instead. Grissom said his assailant was probably too afraid to kill him because Grissom had friends, also his son and daughter, who would hunt him down. He said if Chief Pershing didn’t find his attacker, Grissom and his son and daughter would.
“Of course his lawyers knew they weren’t entitled to see the contents of the envelope yet because Grissom hasn’t been charged. Regardless, I know they will claim the documents are forgeries, the recordings are fraudulent, manufactured, and that Grissom is a law-abiding victim, a pillar of the community, he and his wife both active in myriad charities.”
Hailstock waved the sheaf of papers, said in an acid voice, “I wouldn’t be surprised if these pages make their way online for the world to see since you, Mandarian, gave copies out like candy. Mr. Speers, you will reiterate to your attorneys they are not to comment to the press or share this information with anyone outside this office. I don’t want this situation to explode in our faces if I can help it.
“Now, any drug distribution charges would be federal, not our responsibility. The most serious of the potential state charges against Mr. Grissom are the allegations he was involved in a conspiracy to murder the thirteen-year-old paper delivery boy, Josh Atwood, the boy the local police said was unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time six weeks ago, somewhere near Mr. Grissom’s lake house.”
Kirra raised her hand. Hailstock gave her the stink eye, but nodded.
“The cover letter says Josh Atwood wasn’t there by chance. He’d been there before, he’d heard something, and he went back hoping to find out more. He was spotted and murdered. I think he was a brave boy trying to do the right thing and Grissom ordered him killed. The papers in the envelope show two payments of $5,000 to Bellison’s Chief of Police Jacobs’s wife, Sandra Jacobs, which could clearly be seen as a bribe.”
Hailstock frowned and continued. “Regardless of your theory and your feelings, Mr. Grissom wasn’t even a person of interest at the time, and there was no reason for him to be. The two payments add weight, but still, the evidence is circumstantial, and there’s no definite link to the murder of Josh Atwood, only an email reconstructed from memory supposedly written by the murdered boy to an FBI agent, Dillon Savich, at the Hoover. It appears this email was neither sent nor did it make it into the hands of Bellison’s police chief, Jacobs, who denied it was on the boy’s computer.”
Kirra said, “Sir, the evidence linking Grissom to Josh Atwood’s murder is preliminary, granted, especially with the boy’s mother now dead. We could remove Josh’s computer from Chief of Police Harlan Jacobs, have it examined forensically since it’s obvious Jacobs didn’t do it. You know it’s impossible to delete emails.”
“I agree,” Alec said before Hailstock could blast her. “I believe the murder charge is worth pursuing. Conspiracy to commit murder would send Grissom away for life, no parole. Our attorneys discussed this and agree the best way to proceed would be to use the other evidence in the envelope as the foundation—the drugs, their distribution, which are federal, but still, there’s the embezzlement of the retirement funds through Grissom’s investment firm, the recorded conversations of Mr. Grissom and his associates, known criminals, discussing drug distribution routes. We could easily show Grissom had ample motivation to kill the boy if he overheard any of Grisson’s conversations. And his financial records point directly to embezzlement and money laundering. We probably have enough to charge him for those crimes now.”
Hailstock picked up his coffee mug that said CHIEF on the side, took a refined sip, set it down. Giving himself time to think, Kirra knew. Hailstock said finally, “The recordings relating to federal crimes are for the federal prosecutors to pursue. As for the boy’s murder, we have a few bits of circumstantial evidence to look into, but not nearly enough to bring charges. As for any alleged financial crimes, we’ll have to have these documents examined by the forensic accountants in Richmond.”
Kirra could only stare at him. Circumstantial? This collection of solid evidence he considered circumstantial?
Alec said, “Chief of Police Harlan Jacobs of Bellison is on the hook here as well. He and his wife need to be questioned about those two five-thousand-dollar payments. Is he in Grissom’s pocket? It seems very possible.”
“Perhaps,” Hailstock said as he gathered the papers in front of him, lined them up smoothly, and paper-clipped them together. He nodded to Alec, gave Kirra a dismissive look. He wasn’t pleased. He wanted his attorneys to do what he told them to do, not stray out on their own outside the box, like Mandarian. If she didn’t fall into line, he’d get her out. She was always deferential, but he sensed she disapproved of him. Was it because he was careful to keep his cases moving through the court system? Well, her parents had been murdered, and the killers never caught, and he’d cut her some slack, but still, he was tired of it.
He walked out of the conference room without a backward glance.
