A Reasonable Doubt Read online

“Yeah. I remember you two. Why are you here?”

  “David Turner was arrested for killing Robert Chesterfield. He swears he’s innocent, and he’s hired Robin to help him. I wanted to ask you what you saw during the Chamber of Death illusion.”

  “I already told the cops everything I know.”

  “I read the report of your interview, but there were some things the police didn’t cover.”

  “Ask away.”

  “Thanks. Did you work with Mr. Chesterfield in Las Vegas?”

  “No. Bobby hired me through my agent when he was developing the Chamber of Death at the coast. Since I live in Portland and knew how the illusion worked, Bobby called me when he got the engagement at the Imperial.”

  “Did Sheila Monroe and Nancy Porter work the rehearsal at the coast? I don’t remember seeing them there.”

  “No, just me. The other girls from the coast rehearsal don’t live in Portland anymore.”

  “Okay, that’s helpful. Now that you’ve had some time to think about what happened at the theater, have you remembered anything that might help us figure out who killed Mr. Chesterfield?”

  “Honestly, no, and I’ve thought about it a lot. I assumed Nancy was onstage with us, but now I know she wasn’t. With that hood up, I never saw the face of the person who stabbed Bobby.”

  “What about the person’s hands? When the killer stabbed Mr. Chesterfield, it’s possible that his arm or hand would have been exposed.”

  “Yeah, but Sheila and I were looking toward the back of the stage, so we wouldn’t have seen the killer’s arms or hand.”

  “It was just an idea I had.”

  “Sorry.”

  “That’s okay. One other thing, do you know where I can find Miriam Ross? She was Chesterfield’s personal assistant when he had the rehearsal at the coast.”

  “Why do you want to talk to Miriam?”

  “She was at the Imperial when Mr. Chesterfield was murdered. I couldn’t find a police report with a record of her statement. I thought she might have seen something that could help clear Mr. Turner’s name.”

  “She was at the show?”

  “You sound surprised.”

  “I am. She was really upset when Bobby disappeared at the coast. I think they had a thing going and she felt like he dumped her.”

  “They were having an affair?”

  Maria smirked. “We were all bunking at Bobby’s house, and he came on to every one of us. Me and the two other girls in the act turned him down, but Miriam … I never caught them going at it, but she put out a vibe, if you know what I mean. And she was furious when he pulled that disappearing act.” Maria shook her head. “I guess she never got over it.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “She showed up at the theater during a rehearsal, and they got into an argument. I don’t know what it was about, but she walked by me on the way out, and she didn’t look happy.”

  “Do you know where I can find Miss Ross?”

  “I might. Let me get my phone.” Maria was gone for five minutes. She had a smile on her face when she came back. “When we were working at the coast, she gave her phone number to us in case we needed something. If she kept it, you can get in touch.”

  “Thanks.”

  “So you don’t think Turner killed Bobby? I remember how mad he was at the rehearsal.”

  “Oh, he was mad, all right, but a lot of people were mad at Mr. Chesterfield.”

  “How many of them are master magicians?”

  * * *

  Miriam Ross agreed to meet Jeff at a coffee shop near the downtown building where she worked as an office manager for an engineering firm. Jeff spotted her as soon as she walked in.

  “I remember you,” Ross said when Jeff handed her the soy latte he’d offered as a bribe if she would meet with him. “You were with the blond lawyer at Bobby’s rehearsal.”

  “I was.”

  Ross looked sad. “It was terrible what happened to Bobby.”

  “You sound like you really cared for him.”

  “I did once.”

  “Were you close?”

  Ross smiled. “You don’t have to be diplomatic. If you got my number from Maria, I’m sure she told you that Bobby and I had a fling at the coast. He and Claire were a couple in name only, so I never felt guilty.”

  “Did you get angry when he took off after the rehearsal?”

  “Yeah, but I got over it pretty quickly. Sex with Bobby was good, but I knew it wouldn’t last. Bobby had only one true love—himself—and I knew that from the start.”

  “So the affair was just a way to kill time at the coast?”

  Again, Ross smiled. “That’s one way to put it.”

  “If you disliked Mr. Chesterfield, why did you go to his show?”

  “Good question, but there’s a simple answer: After seeing the rehearsals so many times at the coast, I wanted to see if the Chamber of Death worked in front of a real audience.”

  “I heard you two got into it at the Imperial during one of the rehearsals.”

  Ross raised an eyebrow. “So Maria did gossip. She was always jealous that Bobby was visiting my room at night and not hers.”

  “What happened at the Imperial?” Jeff prodded.

  “It wasn’t a big deal. When Bobby disappeared, he owed me two thousand dollars in back pay. When I found out he wasn’t dead, I went to the theater for my money. He tried to talk me out of it. When I wouldn’t budge, he got upset and threatened me. So I gave him a piece of my mind and stormed out. But if you think I was mad enough to kill him, think again. Bobby was an asshole, but I got over him about a week after he took off, and I’m not going to murder someone over a few thousand dollars.”

  “When you were watching the performance, did you see anything that might help us figure out who killed Mr. Chesterfield?”

  “No, and that’s why I left the theater so quickly. I knew I couldn’t help the police, and I didn’t want to stay at the theater all night.”

  “I can’t think of anything else to ask you. Thanks for the help.”

  Ross raised her latte. “Thanks for the drink.”

  Jeff smiled as he handed Ross his card. “If you think of anything that might help Mr. Turner, give me a call.”

  “What if I want to get together and it has nothing to do with David Turner?”

  “I’m flattered, but I’m in a serious relationship.”

  Ross grinned. “Oh well. You can’t blame a girl for trying.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  David Turner’s bail hearing was held in the courtroom of the Honorable LaVerne Washington on the fifth floor of the Multnomah County Courthouse. There were trucks with the logos of local television stations at the curb, and Robin had several microphones thrust in her face as soon as the reporters spotted her. With Jeff blocking, Robin managed to fight her way into the elevator without incurring a major injury.

  Claire Madison was waiting for Robin in the hallway on the fourth floor, just below Judge Washington’s courtroom, so they could avoid the reporters and thrill seekers who were lurking outside the courtroom.

  “When we get upstairs, the mob will descend on you. So keep your head down, don’t answer any questions, and keeping moving until we are safely inside the courtroom,” Robin said.

  “Don’t worry about me,” Claire assured her. “I’m used to the paparazzi. Don’t forget, I was television’s flavor of the week for a while.”

  Robin smiled. “I did forget. Shall we?”

  “Let’s rock and roll.”

  “So,” Claire asked as they headed down the hall, “will David get out today?”

  “I’m going to be brutally frank with you. Getting bail in a murder case is a long shot if the State has any kind of case. I’m going to try my best, but I’ve read the police reports, and the DA has a very good chance of convincing the judge to hold David without bail.”

  “Thanks for your honesty.”

  Robin led Claire up a back stairway so they would
come toward the courtroom from an unexpected direction. They almost made it to the courtroom door before someone spotted them and the mob descended. Robin repeated, “No comment,” until she had hustled Claire into the courtroom.

  “This is a circus,” Madison said.

  “Welcome to my world,” Robin answered as she led Claire to a seat in the front row of the spectator section that the judge’s bailiff had reserved for her. When Claire was seated, Robin pushed through the low gate that separated the spectators from the area where the judge, jury, and lawyers worked.

  Peter Ragland was already at his counsel table. He flashed a confident smile at Robin just as the guards led David Turner out of the holding area.

  “Am I going to get out?” Turner asked nervously when Robin took the seat next to him at the counsel table.

  “To hold you without bail, the State has to convince Judge Washington that the proof is evident or the presumption is strong that you killed Chesterfield. That’s not like proof beyond a reasonable doubt, the standard in a criminal trial. It’s a lot lower.”

  “Can they meet the burden?” Turner asked.

  “Probably. I’ve gone through the discovery, and Ragland has a good circumstantial case.”

  “Won’t you be able to cross-examine the witnesses to cast doubt on the State’s case?”

  “When the case is tried in front of a jury, Ragland has to call witnesses I can cross-examine, but he doesn’t have to call his witnesses at a bail hearing. Instead, he’s allowed to have a detective summarize the State’s case.”

  Before Turner could ask another question, the bailiff rapped his gavel and LaVerne Washington took her place on the dais. Judge Washington, a former public defender, was a hefty, fifty-year-old African American. Most of the time, she was even-tempered, but she had a reputation for having a short fuse when attorneys were unprepared.

  “Morning, Mr. Ragland, Miss Lockwood. This is the time set for the bail hearing in State of Oregon versus David Earl Turner. Are the parties ready to proceed?”

  Ragland stood. “The State is ready.”

  “Mr. Turner is ready,” Robin said.

  “You want to keep Mr. Turner in jail without bail, Mr. Ragland, so the ball is in your court.”

  Ragland nodded. “We’re going to have Detective Carrie Anders summarize our case, Your Honor.”

  Anders lumbered up the aisle, took the oath to tell the truth, and settled in the witness chair. Robin stood when Ragland began questioning her about her qualifications.

  “It won’t be necessary for Mr. Ragland to qualify Detective Anders. For purposes of this hearing, Mr. Turner will stipulate that she is a homicide detective who is competent to tell the court about the facts of this case.”

  “Mr. Ragland, I see no reason for you to proceed with the preliminary questions. Detective Anders has appeared before me on numerous occasions.”

  “Very well, Your Honor. The State accepts the stipulation. Detective, please tell the court the evidence that justified arresting the defendant for the murder of Robert Chesterfield.”

  Anders turned toward Judge Washington. “Our witnesses will testify that the finale of Robert Chesterfield’s magic show is an illusion called the Chamber of Death. In that trick, three magician’s assistants lock the magician in a sarcophagus and put snakes and scorpions in with him. When the sarcophagus is unlocked, the magician is supposed to have disappeared. Then he’s supposed to reappear at the back of the theater.

  “When Mr. Chesterfield got in the sarcophagus, two of the assistants were holding up the lid, and it looked like the third assistant pushed Mr. Chesterfield down into it. When the assistant appears to push Chesterfield down, she is blocking the view of the audience. When that happened, Mr. Chesterfield was supposed to roll over the edge of the sarcophagus, get off the stage, and go to the back of the theater. But on this occasion, the person who appears to push Mr. Chesterfield down stabbed him in the heart and killed him.

  “Nancy Porter is the assistant who had the job of appearing to push Mr. Chesterfield into the coffin. After that, she was supposed to move the dolly that was used to get the sarcophagus onto the stage into the wings. Then she was supposed to return to the stage for the finale. But the third assistant never came back. When we searched the theater, Miss Porter was found in the assistants’ dressing room, unconscious, and her robe was found near one of the theater’s exits.

  “The robe used by the assistants during the Chamber of Death illusion is very roomy. We have established that a man or woman wearing it would be completely concealed from the audience and the other assistants.

  “Miss Porter will testify that she has asthma and always has an inhaler with her. She had used it earlier in the show and placed it on her dressing table. While she and the other assistants changed for the Chamber of Death, Miss Porter looked for the inhaler, but she couldn’t find it. She continued to look for the inhaler when the other assistants left the dressing room. While she was alone, her assailant rendered her unconscious so he could conceal himself in her robe and kill Mr. Chesterfield.”

  “Why did you arrest the defendant for the murder of Mr. Chesterfield?” Ragland asked.

  “We decided that the killer had to have learned how the Chamber of Death trick was performed in order to accomplish the murder. We also decided that he must have been in the Imperial Theater during rehearsals so he could learn about the inhaler and Miss Porter’s routine.

  “Titus Atkinson was in the seat directly behind the defendant during the show. He will testify that Mr. Turner left his seat while Mr. Chesterfield was performing card tricks onstage in the part of the act that precedes the Chamber of Death illusion. He will also testify that the defendant did not return to his seat until after Mr. Chesterfield was murdered. The defendant denied ever leaving his seat during the performance.

  “The defendant also denied being in the theater during rehearsals. A security guard will testify that he saw Mr. Turner inside the Imperial during a rehearsal.

  “Figuring out how to murder a person in front of an audience during a magic illusion is something that a magician would know how to do. The defendant is a master magician who performs a magic act regularly in a Las Vegas casino, so he would have been able to figure out how the illusion was done.”

  “Did the defendant have a motive for killing Mr. Chesterfield?”

  “He had several. First, he is living with the deceased’s wife, who was being sued by Mr. Chesterfield for divorce. If the couple divorced, Ms. Madison would have to have given Mr. Chesterfield a lot of her money and maybe some of her property. With Mr. Chesterfield dead, that’s no longer a problem.

  “Furthermore, the defendant hated Mr. Chesterfield for revealing the secret to his Las Vegas casino finale on television several years ago. This almost killed the defendant’s career.

  “In summation, Your Honor, the defendant had several motives to kill Mr. Chesterfield, the means and skills to accomplish the task, and the opportunity to commit the murder. He also lied about being in his seat during the performance of the Chamber of Death and not being in the Imperial during a rehearsal. We concluded that this provided probable cause to arrest.”

  “I have no further questions, Your Honor,” Ragland said.

  “Do you have any questions for Detective Anders?” the judge asked Robin.

  Jeff was sitting in the spectator section directly behind Robin. While Detective Anders was testifying, Stanley Cloud moved beside him and whispered in Jeff’s ear. Jeff reached over the bar of the court and tapped Robin on the shoulder.

  “Ask for a recess,” he said when she turned around. “Stanley has something important to show you.”

  “Miss Lockwood?” the judge asked.

  “Can we take a brief recess, Your Honor?” Robin asked.

  Judge Washington didn’t like taking a recess so early in the proceedings, but she had recognized Stanley Cloud. “Will fifteen minutes be sufficient?” the judge asked.

  “It should be.”

/>   Robin hurried into the hall as soon as the judge left the bench. She found Stanley waiting for her at the end of the corridor that ran in front of the courtroom.

  “What’s so important?”

  Stanley handed Robin the police report that set out Titus Atkinson’s statement. A yellow Post-it was glued to it. The message on the Post-it read: NO TIME!!!

  “What does this mean?” Robin asked.

  “I asked Regina. She wrote it when she was reading the discovery, but she can’t remember why. She’s very upset because she obviously thought it was very important. She reread the report but drew a blank.”

  Robin concentrated on Atkinson’s statement, but she couldn’t see anything important enough to warrant three exclamation points. Had Regina’s dementia made her see something that wasn’t there?

  “Did you read this?” she asked Stanley.

  “I didn’t see anything.”

  “Okay. I’ve got to—” Robin stopped dead and reread the interview. Then she broke into a grin. “The boss is still the Sorceress. You tell her that for me,” Robin said before racing back to the courtroom.

  * * *

  “Detective Anders, before the Chamber of Death finale, wasn’t Mr. Chesterfield onstage by himself performing card tricks?”

  “Yes.”

  “And before the card tricks, Mr. Chesterfield made Sheila Monroe, one of his assistants, levitate and float above the stage?”

  “Yes.”

  “During that illusion, Nancy Porter and Maria Rodriguez, the other assistants, were also onstage, weren’t they?”

  “Yes.”

  “And all three assistants were dressed in costumes that they did not wear during the finale?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did Miss Porter tell you that she put the inhaler on her dressing table before going onstage for the levitation act?”

  “Yes.”

  “But she couldn’t find it when she came back during the card trick routine to change for the Chamber of Death?”

  “Yes.”

  “So the killer must have moved the inhaler during the levitation illusion?”