Page 57 of Justice for Daesha

“Under whose authority?”

“The authority of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, office of the attorney general, and supervisor of the KDCI field office in Elizabethtown.”

“Just a minute.” After several seconds, the big steel gate began to roll to the right and when it cleared the stone columns on that side, he drove the Jeep through and straight to the house.

And what a house it was. He’d never seen anything so amazing. Castle-like. That’s how he would’ve described it. He rang the doorbell and waited. When the door opened, a woman in her late sixties in an ermine-trimmed robe stood there. “Hello. May I see some credentials, please?” Amos flashed his badge and ID, and after scrutinizing both, the woman opened the door wider to let him in. “He’s in his study. I’ll take you.” Amos looked around. Was she some kind of house help? In that robe? No. This had to be the wife.

They reached a dark wood door and she rapped lightly. “Yes?” a male voice called softly.

“Marshall, there’s an AgentFletcher from KDCI here to talk to you.”

“Show him in. Please.” She swung the door open and Amos almost gasped.

Those shots on TV of a study, all dark wood, brass, and filled with books? That was where he found himself standing. It smelled of leather and cigar tobacco, and Amos stood there and drew in a deep breath to capture it. There was even one of those lamps on the desk, the kind with the emerald green glass shade that was white underneath. A magazine picture couldn’t have been more perfect, right down to the picture of the stodgy old rich guy over the mantel. A man stood and came toward him, and in his face Amos could see Ainsley’s features. That’s when he realized who the woman reminded him of?Benson and Chance. She was obviously their mother. “Good morning! Pleasure to meet you, AgentFletcher. I’m MarshallKelso. How may I help you?” The man extended his hand, which Amos shook. He was pretty sure the bookshelves on the back wall spun to reveal a secret passageway, and he hoped if he disappeared, somebody found it so they could rescue him.

“Pleasure to meet you as well, sir. Daesha has nothing but good things to say about you.”

“You know Daesha? What a lovely girl. I’ve known her since she was born.”

Amos wanted to scream,Oh, cut the crap! You threatened her and told her to keep me away!Instead, he smiled and nodded. “She is. Very. I’ve grown to love her. So I’d really like to ask you some questions, if you’ve got a few minutes.”

“Certainly. I?”

“Darling, remember, you have that meeting,” the woman said from behind Amos.

“That’s not until this afternoon, and I can surely sit for a few minutes and talk with this young man.” The two of them stood and stared at each other for an awkward minute before the woman finally turned and left. Marshall leaned toward Amos and whispered conspiratorially, “Women. Always trying to manage our time. They mean well, but sometimes we’ve just got to go rogue!” Then he laughed.

“Yes, sir. I think that’s right.”

“Have a seat. Would you like anything?”

“Oh, no thank you, sir.” Amos dropped into one of the leather armchairs. “I wanted to talk to you about DorindaBlackmon.”

Marshall sat down and almost disappeared into the big desk chair. “Of course, when I think of her, I think Wilkerson. That’s how I knew her most of her life.”

“Yes, sir. So I’ve talked to your sons and?”

“My sons.” Marshall sighed deeply. “I suppose they told you I killed her.”

“They’ve certainly suggested that, sir.”

“After all this time, they’re still so grief-stricken that they can’t believe it wasn’t me, but it wasn’t, AgentFletcher. I didn’t kill Dorinda.”

Time to drop the bomb, Amos told himself. “Not even to hide her relationship with your sons?”

He wasn’t sure what reaction he’d expected, but it wasn’t the one he got. “Yes, her relationship with my sons. A thing most people would have a hard time with. What about you, AgentFletcher? How did it strike you?”

Amos shrugged. “I dabbled in three-ways when I was in college. Rather enjoyed it, as I recall. I’m not one to judge.”

“Neither am I, although I can say I’ve never done that. Lucy is the only woman with whom I’ve ever been intimate. I know that’s hard to believe, but it’s true. And when I found out that my three boys were sharing the same woman, that was hard to believe, but I could tell they were the happiest they’d ever been in their entire lives. And I knew Dorinda loved them. In some ways, I was relieved, I suppose. I’d always thought Ainsley was gay. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I just mean, it finally clarified that for me.”

“But I’m sure that would ruin you politically, if people found out your sons were all sleeping with the same woman, at the same time,” Amos pointed out.

“Do you know how old I am, young man?”

“No sir.”

“I’m eighty-five. At the time Dorinda died, I was seventy-one. At that time, I’d been a senator since I was thirty-one. My wife raised our sons mostly on her own. Many of their firsts, from walking, to talking, to dances, and driving a car, and fishing and hunting? I missed it all. I serve my constituents proudly, AgentFletcher, but honestly, if people decide they shouldn’t vote for me because of my sons, it’s time for me to go. I don’t care anymore. I’m tired. I was ready to retire when I turned sixty-five, but politics doesn’t work that way. I’d hoped the businesses I funded for them would make enough money that I didn’t have to worry about that part anymore, but two of them went into specialty markets that are more focused on quality than price. The only one who really turns a profit is K-Fabuleuse, and that’s only because of Ainsley playing the odd creative metrosexual, bless his heart. I don’t want one of my sons to go to jail, AgentFletcher, but whoever killed Dorinda needs to be apprehended, and if that ruins my political career, well, fuck it.”

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