Don't Slay the Dragon (The Chronicles of Elizabeth Marshall Book 1) (26 page)

Chapter Forty-Nine

“The dinner napkin, I’d almost forgotten it.” We sat at a table for two looking out over the twinkling lights of the city below, enjoying a wonderful Brazilian Grill. I had eaten enough to last me a week, no ladylike appetite with food like this. Logan seemed to be having a great time trying to keep up with me. We were nibbling on the grilled pineapple and fried bananas for dessert while I continued going over the reports.

“When we had first looked
over the crime scene, we hadn’t given the napkin much thought. It was slightly under her body, so we didn’t think it was very important.” I was looking at several pictures of the napkin, showing where it was found at the scene and then pictures of it from both sides. “The blood splatter on it didn’t make sense down at the lab. It wasn’t until I mentioned to them about your suspicions about what hand Elizabeth used that they looked at it from another angle.”

The next picture showed a latex-gloved hand holding the napkin-covered knife.
It was probably a CSI technician doing a demonstration. The napkin was folded to cover both the knife and most of the hand holding it. Then the next photo showed the napkin spread out flat. You could almost make out from the blood splatter where someone had used the napkin to hold the knife. Was it to preserve the fingerprints already on the knife? Lisbeth’s fingerprints?

“They actually sent the napkin out to a state
lab because they didn’t have the technology to find latent fingerprints on the napkin,” he explained. “The knife had very little cast off blood on it for being the murder weapon. The only fingerprints on the napkin belonged to Barbara. Between the blood splatter and the fingerprints, it’s easy to see how Barbara used the napkin perhaps to protect Elizabeth’s fingerprints on the knife and then use it to stab herself.”

What an awful picture it was creating in my mind. How insane or desperate would you have to be to stab you
rself thirteen times like that? And to make your only child the suspect in your own “murder”.  It was almost more than I could take in.

“What do you think, Logan?” I asked, trusting his judgment like few other people. “Do you really think Barbara planned all this and killed herself?” I couldn’t keep the skepticism
out of my voice or the vivid pictures out of my mind from the evidence before me.

“Well, I have to admit, it’s a pretty elaborate way to commit suicide. She had access to enough drugs to make a
n overdose an easy out.” He pointed to the earlier toxicology reports.

“I know. It was as though she wasn’t just trying to kill herself, it was as though she was deliberately framing Lisbeth for her death.” I glanced again at the papers spread over the table. “Why do you think she would do that? What motive could she possibly have to do such a heinous thing to her own daughter?” My head was starting to hurt just by trying to sort all this out.

“I don’t know. I didn’t know her. You were one of the few people who did. Can you think of anything?”

“They didn’t get along the best, I’ll admit, but I always thought that Barbara’s love for Lisbeth
would outweigh anything else.” Something seemed to be nagging at me, some tiny clue at the back of my mind that I seemed to be missing.  “There would have had to be weeks, maybe months of planning that went into this. Even all that medication. It almost seems like over-kill, using so many different prescriptions and for so long. Besides, Barbara had nothing to gain from her own death. Isn’t that what a motive is all about?”

“In a normal situation, yes.”
He agreed. “But I’m beginning to think there’s been nothing normal about this case from the moment I first started to investigate it.”

“And what about the Black Dragon and Atrus Dracona?
What was that all about?” I was trying to mentally scan over all the evidence we had discovered since the beginning of the investigation.

“It’s hard to say. I’m not sure I really believe in demons and exorcisms and all that. It could be true, or Barbara could have just been deteriorating into the depths of insanity for years. With her gone and Elizabeth the way she is, we may never know the answers.” He shrugged.

“I hate to say it, but I almost wish Dr. Ross hadn’t tried that new drug on Lisbeth yet.” I’d filled Logan in on my last visit with Lisbeth and what Dr. Ross had been trying to accomplish. “There still could have been more to discover from the family members.”

“Do you really think that drug worked on her?”  He questioned.
“You said before that she was very skilled at making the doctors believe she was integrated.”

“I know. I’m still really worried about that. I need to get back down and visit with her again. I have to see for myself if she really has improved or it it’s just the best performance I’ve seen from her to date.”  

“Would you mind if I came with you next time?” His question surprised me. I had always considered this work I was doing with and for Lisbeth to be something I needed to bear alone. I had never had anyone actually volunteer to go with me. Not even my family.

My first gut instinct was to go into protective mode where Logan was concerned. I
t seemed ridiculous for me, a tiny little thing, to be protecting this big, muscular, armed police detective. But I had experience with Lisbeth and the family members. I knew, mostly, what they were capable of. Logan really didn’t know first-hand what it was like. He would be fresh meat.

Besides, I didn’t even kn
ow if Dr. Ross would allow it. He was so strict about who had access to her and who didn’t. Of course, if the medication had worked as he had claimed and she really was integrated, what better way to prove it than to invite in an unknown.

But did I want to take that risk with Logan? I’d been worried enough about him during the
shootout he’d been involved in. This time, I would be responsible for walking him into danger. I was so torn yet grateful for his offer.

“It might be a good idea,” I reluctantly agreed. “If the drug worked, you should be fine, and I’m sure Dr. Ross would love having one more bit of proof that he has succeeded. But if he’s wrong, if Lisbeth or Sophie is really lying to us all, your presence might just tip her over the edge. I don’t know….” I was hesitant again, not sure I wanted to risk
Logan, “if one of the others is there, Vesper, Slayer, Myst, the danger you could be in….”

I couldn’t finish.

“Why don’t you try to get Dr. Ross’ clearance first,” he seemed to understand my hesitation and was careful enough not to push me any further.

“Ok,” I smiled in relief, “but you do know that automatic weapons aren’t allowed in the State Mental hospital, don’t you?”

He patted the holster under his leather jacket and smiled in return.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a folded piece of lined yellow legal paper. “
Do you remember my friend Jessica down at the county?”

I nodded.
Jessica was trying to examine the first picture of the Black Dragon we had found in Barbara’s closet. That seemed so long ago now.

“She had found words hidden in the wings and body of the dragon,” he reminded me. He slipped the paper across the table towards me. Several words were written out in his bold handwriting. “Well, she called me today. She’s been working overtime on processing the scene of the shootout, but
she’s managed to squeeze in a little time to keep working on the Dragon. Honestly, I think she’s intrigued. She’s managed to make out a few more words.”

The first three words were ones I already knew about.

Look. Under. Answers.

Below that were a few more.

Metal. Find. Safe. Help.

“I know it’s not much. Does it bring anything to mind?” He encouraged.

“Not really,” I said in confusion. “It’s almost as though she’s trying to say something, like she’s leaving clues for someone.” I read through the words again, hoping something would click, but it didn’t.

“Don’t worry. Jessica’s husband just retired as the Deputy Sherriff and I think he’s driving her crazy with
his boredom. She’ll keep working on it, if just to give her something to keep her busy if nothing else.” Logan gathered the papers back into the folder.

It was getting late. Logan had mentioned he had an early day tomorrow. He was helping the local high school resource officer with a presentation at the school in the morning. My first class started at eight, so I needed to be going too.  I was just reaching for my purse when my cell phone rang.  Normally, I would just let it go to voicemail. I almost did until I saw who was calling.

“Sorry, Logan, I should check this.” I apologized as I hit the “answer” button. He nodded that he didn’t mind.

“Hello, Ms. Stewart? This is Mark Jacobs.”

        
 
Chapter Fifty

He always did that, announcing himself as though I didn’t have caller ID and wouldn’t recognize his voice. He charged forward without giving me a chance to reply. The excitement was evident in his voice.

“I hope you don’t mind me calling so late. I just wanted to be the first to tell you.  I just got the results from the county forensics lab today.” So did I, I thought, but it probably wouldn’t be wise to let him know I had other sources. “And I really think we have
some good evidence to help Elizabeth Marshall.”

“You do?” I asked, trying to sound surprised.
I couldn’t help wondering just how much Mark really knew and what his take might be on our latest theory.

Logan had paid the bill and we had taken the elevator to the ground level. I continued listening to the attorney as we
walked through the lobby of the building and stood at the street curb waiting for the parking valet to bring Logan’s car around. 

“Yes.
” Mark sounded slightly out of breath and in a rush to share what information he had with me. “The investigators are still trying to piece together what really happened, but it seems as though they’re disproving most the circumstantial evidence against Elizabeth.”

That seemed about right.
I wondered what more he knew or suspected.

“What do they think really happened then?” I asked, wanting to see his take on the situation.

“Well, they have some pretty strange theories,” I heard the hesitation in his voice. I didn’t blame him. I probably knew more about the evidence than he did and I was still having a hard time believing what direction it was all pointing.

“Like what?” I encouraged.
As I spoke to Mark, Logan and I climbed into his car and he started working his way through the busy city, around the TRAX trains and heading for the freeway entrance.

“I
know it sounds crazy, but some of the evidence almost seems to point towards Barbara possibly killing herself.” His disbelief at the notion was obvious in his voice. “I really don’t know if that’s even possible. She was stabbed thirteen times after all.” I knew what he meant. It would seem so improbable if I hadn’t just seen most of the evidence suggesting that first hand.

“That does seem pretty extreme,” I tried to sympathize. “But if the evidence is suggesting that Elizabeth might not have killed her, then what’s the next step?”

I was almost afraid to ask, mentally bracing myself for the months, perhaps years of legal red tape it might take to get the right people in the right places to believe Lisbeth was completely innocent. I had heard of countless cases that were tied up in the legal system for years trying to prove the innocence of a person that was at first thought guilty.

“Well, first of all, I need to put all of this together and make some sense of it. Then I need to prepare a brief that
proves her case.” He suddenly sounded exhausted by the thought of all that work. “Then we’ll see where I need to go from there.”

Some of the misgivings I’d had about him when I first met him were starting to come back. Did he even know the process he needed to go through to have the charges against her re-examined?
If he had been this inexperienced at trying a murder case, how could I possibly trust him to take this new evidence and get it to the right people in the legal system to matter?

I was beginning to feel a sense of hopelessness at the thought of this dragging on for years.

“It all has to be done very carefully. If I don’t-“ he paused and I heard a small beep in the phone. “Ms. Stewart, could you please hold for one moment. I have another call coming in.”

“Of course,” I had hardly answered when I heard him switch to the other call.

Logan looked at me in question.

“
I’m on hold. He had another call,” I explained. Logan seemed to be following along with our conversation.

“It sounds as though we still have a long road ahead,”
I tried not to sound pessimistic but the process before us felt daunting. 

“Ok, Ms. Stewart, I’m back.” Mark announced at the other end. His tone was more up-beat, as though he had more purpose now. “I apologize for that but it was a very important call. I have some
great news,” he paused for a moment to catch his breath. “That was my boss, the county attorney. He just got the forensic results too, and he’s ready to move on it.”

“Move on it?” I asked, confused, what did that mean?

“
We have an appointment with the DA tomorrow morning at 11 o’clock. She’s agreed to review the case.”