Page 26 of Pro Bono

“What did you think?”

“So far we all think it was a lot better than getting a ransom demand and then having to go see a body, which is how I was afraid this one might go.” He paused. “We’ve got some officers on the way to her house to bring her in for an interview.”

“I guess I jumped to the wrong conclusions after she disappeared, and my mind fitted everything else I learned into that story, so it’s my fault.”

McHargue said, “But you weren’t wrong that something was off. You picked that up right away, and you were right to call.”

“Right now, I’m embarrassed, but I’m mostly relieved that I was wrong. And there’s a lot more to be relieved about. She was lucky nothing happened to her while she was wandering around in that state and ending up unconscious on a beach at night. Anything could have happened.”

“True,” McHargue said.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

“You’re coming to the station?”

“I’m the only lawyer she has, so it’s my job.”

Warren left for police headquarters as soon as the call ended. This was supposed to be an unthreatening police interview of a woman who had been assumed to be a crime victim, but had just revealed she wasn’t. The cops were aware she was probably in a vulnerable mental and emotional state. But he knew that, because of the deception, this interview could easily turn into something else.

When he arrived at police headquarters, Vesper Ellis was already there. He was directed to an interview room where Detective McHargue was sitting with her.

McHargue looked up when he came in, and said, “Ah, Mr. Warren. Do we proceed or do we call it off?”

Warren said, “What do you think, Mrs. Ellis? Are you physically and mentally up to answering questions about your experience?”

“I’m okay,” she said.

McHargue said, “Good. You’ve told Mr. Warren you don’t remember any kidnappers. Does that mean that you weren’t kidnapped, or you just don’t know?”

She hesitated. “I don’t remember anything about kidnappers. There are some other things I also don’t remember—how I got from one place to another, why I wanted to, what happened to my car and my phone.”

“When you dropped out of sight, police did a welfare check at your home, and your cell phone was seen through your dining room window. Since nobody who knew you thought that it was normal for you to leave without it, a search warrant was obtained and served to your attorney.Your car had been found at the Los Angeles airport, so it was towed and searched for evidence of foul play.”

“I’m so sorry to put everybody to so much trouble, and waste your time.” To Warren, she seemed genuinely sorry.

Only a couple times did he advise his client that she didn’t have to answer questions. Once was when McHargue asked her to explain the effect of the prescription drugs. This was the bit of information he and she most wanted on the record, and she looked good answering it. She said that she thought she must have had a bad drug interaction, because she’d had one years before with the same two prescriptions for antidepressants and sleeping pills. It had happened right after her husband died. She said she had been anxious and unable to sleep again last week when she’d discovered money had been disappearing from her investment accounts. The discovery had brought back some of the depression of losing her husband. The money that they’d saved and invested together felt like one of the last vestiges of him. She had been careful not to take as much medicine as she had years ago, but the reaction felt about the same.

McHargue said, “I know you must have thought you’d driven to Santa Barbara, but you couldn’t have. Do you remember the trip now?”

“No.”

“How did you get back?”

“I took the train.”

“Do you remember the number, or the time, or anything?”

She lifted her purse from the floor and set it on the table in front of her. “I don’t, really, but it should be on the ticket.” She rummaged around in the purse for a few seconds. “Yes. Here it is.” She held the ticket up and said, “It says—”

McHargue reached out. “Mind if I have a look?”

She handed it to him. He examined it and said, “Do you need it for anything?”

“I don’t think so,” she said. He put it into his notebook like a bookmark.

“And how about the two medicines you took?” he said. “Do you remember their names?”

“I always pronounce the names wrong, but you can read them off the bottles.” She dug into the purse again and brought out two pill bottles, one of them clear brown plastic with a white childproof top and the other opaque white with a blue childproof top. Both had the same doctor’s name and the same prescription date three years ago.

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