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“Finley,” she suggested as she settled into one of the leather chairs. He lowered into his own.
The office was fairly large, with an inspiring downtown view. Comfortable seating. Sophisticated, uncluttered decor. Like the man, she decided. He wore a stylish, high-end suit, a crisp white shirt with a couple of buttons open at the throat. Thick white hair worn in a trendy slicked-back style. Classically handsome face. Tall. Wide shoulders. Lean build. He looked strong, capable. The perfect draw for clients. Frankly, he should update his professional photo. He looked far more distinguished now.
“Finley,” he acknowledged with a nod.
“Metro PD is reopening the Lucy Cagle case.”
He nodded. “I heard.”
Of course he had. “They’ve found new evidence they feel will provide the break they failed to discover thirteen years ago.”
His clasped hands rested on his desk; his expression and bearing gave away nothing of his feelings on the matter. “It’s a shame it took so long.”
“It is.” She nodded her agreement. “Only a few weeks after the murder, Lucy’s mother hired you to look into the case,” Finley went on. “I hoped you could provide any insights you discovered during your investigation.”
“You know,” he leaned deeper into his chair, dropped his hands to the arms. “I’m quite fond of Ruth. She’s a good judge and a fine person. We don’t always see eye to eye on cases and politics, but she has earned my respect. These days I generally leave my office by four, but since you are her daughter, I stuck around to make time for you.”
Finley recognized a new tension in him and braced for evasive tactics. His words warned that he’d already decided how he intended to approach her questions. “I do appreciate your time.”
Jerry Bauer wasn’t just well respected; he was considered the best of the best in Tennessee. He might be nearing seventy, but one would never know it based on his appearance or his status in the business. His time was valuable.
He flashed another smile, and the tension she’d sensed slipped away. “As you mentioned, Louise hired me after Lucy’s murder, the very day after her husband passed, in fact. His sudden death devastated her all over again, and she needed someone to help. No matter how many friends one has—or even family—it’s easy to feel alone during a time like that.”
No question. Finley had been there. She relaxed, decided he had opted to talk to her rather than to give her some reason he could not. The only question now was how much of what he knew he would tell her.
“I’m not sure if you know this or if it matters with regards to what you’re looking for, but Louise treasured her family. Lucy was her only child, and she adored her. When Louise began her career, she made the decision to use her husband’s first name—Scott—as her surname rather than using Cagle. She hoped this would provide a layer of protection for her personal life. For the most part, I believe it did. Those who tookthe time, obviously, figured out she was Louise Cagle, but for most of her audience she was just Louise—or Lou, as some called her—Scott.”
“Except you can’t protect someone who won’t let you,” Finley suggested. “Lucy had ideas of her own about what she wanted to do with her life.”
He cocked his head ever so slightly. “You’ve been talking to your father.”
“I have.” She reminded herself to breathe. Any personal aspect to a case, especially when it hit this close to home, was disturbing on some level. One would think she would be accustomed by now to having her personal life dragged into cases. Evidently that particular discomfort never got easier.
“I gave Bart a hard time back then. I regretted it to some degree later, but it was necessary. Louise was desperate to find the truth about what happened to her daughter—as any parent would be. He knew things he felt were better left untold, and I had a problem with that. We worked it out in the end. He and Louise came to a sort of compromise they could both live with, as I recall.”
“How did you feel about your discoveries related to Lucy and my father?” She preferred that Bauer provide his version of what happened thirteen years ago. Giving away too much of what she knew would only hold him back.
“It wasn’t about how I felt,” he countered. “I can tell you how Louise felt. She very much wanted Lucy to go into medicine, like her father.” He gave his head a little shake. “But Lucy had other ideas. She was a very bright young woman and quite ambitious as well. More than anything, she admired her mother. She adored her father, mind you, but she saw in her mother what the fans saw—a sort of magic that charmed them. The magic, of course, was nothing more than hard work and incredible tenacity.” He paused for a moment, seeming lost in thought. “Along with a good deal of brilliance. Lucy was enthralledwith her mother’s work. Certainly, more than she would have dared to let on. You know how teenagers can be.”
“A teenager being inspired by a parent has never been cool,” Finley agreed.
So far, so good. His story lined up with her father’s. She waited for him to go on, hoping for more corroboration.
“She overheard Louise discussing how she intended to dig into the possibility of human trafficking in Nashville,” Bauer continued. “Thirteen years ago, no one would have thought that such a thing existed in our town, but they would have been wrong. Lucy covertly used her mother’s notes to do some digging of her own. She also chose a route her mother had not yet considered, and that’s where your father came in. The idea that children in the foster care system might be lower on the police’s radar, thus making them more vulnerable. Turns out she heard about a student at another school who’d gone missing two years before. She did some research and discovered this young girl disappeared from her foster parents’ home and wasn’t even reported missing for more than a week. This was why she sought out your father. Bart was helping her with that scenario. The idea made the story she sought more her own, she told him.”
“Did she find a particular lead or a source that may have put her in a precarious situation?”
Finley knew that place well. Sources, leads, evidence: those were all things that could be dangerous to the inexperienced when burrowing into the evil that men could do. Some people would do anything to keep their secrets buried.
For a long moment, Finley wondered if Bauer intended to answer her question. His hesitation, she decided, wasn’t about her. It was about something else ... something he wasn’t prepared to share, she suspected.
“What did your father tell you?”
And there it was. At least part of the thing that held him back.
“He preferred not to talk about those aspects of his interactions with Lucy.”
Bauer nodded. “I see.” He studied her for a moment. “Tell me, Finley, in what capacity are you here? News travels quickly in certain circles. I’m aware your firm is representing Junior—my not-so-kind nickname for Ray Johnson. He’s not one of my favorite people, but that’s irrelevant. What is relevant to me is if you believe what I know might help you support your client’s claim of innocence?”
