“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Mrs. Morgan, do you believe that you have had enough time to discuss this case with your client? Have you discussed his rights, defenses, and the possible consequences of his plea with him? Are you satisfied your client understands these things?” Judge Dionne asks.
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Mr. Morgan, are you prepared to enter your plea?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Mr. Morgan, you are charged with double homicide in the first degree. To that charge, what is your plea?”
Adam stands. “Not guilty, Your Honor,” he says with all the confidence in the world.
“The court accepts the defendant’s plea of not guilty. Court is scheduled to begin two weeks from today, Monday, November 2nd. Bail is set at $500,000.”
“Your Honor, the state recommends that Adam Morgan be held without bail,” D.A. Peters says.
“Your Honor, that’s ridiculous.” I stand.
“Adam Morgan is facing the death penalty. He has the means to flee. We believe he is a flight risk, Your Honor,” D.A. Peters argues.
“This is his first criminal charge of any crime whatsoever. My client has been cooperative throughout this process,” I argue.
“I’ve heard both sides. Bail is set at $500,000, and Adam Morgan will be put on house arrest for the duration of the trial,” Judge Dionne rules.
“Thank you, Your Honor,” I say.
“Court dismissed.” Judge Dionne smacks his gavel.
“Well done.” D.A. Peters shakes my hand. “But don’t count on that kind of luck throughout the trial.”
“It’s not luck. It’s talent,” I say as he walks away.
“What happens now?” Adam looks at me.
“I’ll get the money pulled together right away, and you should be fitted for an ankle bracelet and discharged this afternoon. You will need to remain at the lake house during the trial. Sheriff Stevens cleared it yesterday, so it’s no longer an active crime scene. You’ll only be able to leave the house for set court dates. If you violate the terms of bail by either missing a court date or leaving the lake house, you’ll be thrown back in jail. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” He holds up his hands for the guard to cuff him.
“I’m going to go to talk to Sheriff Stevens. I’ll meet you at the lake house this afternoon. An officer will bring you home.”
“Okay. Thank you, Sarah.”
Anne packs up our stuff and follows me. As I pass Eleanor, she nods and gives me a pleased smile. It’s the first time I’ve ever received one from her. I return a tight smile of my own.
Sheriff Stevens is waiting at the back of the courtroom, holding a couple of file folders stuffed with papers.
“Hey, Sarah,” he says, doing his best James Dean impression from Rebel Without A Cause. He is leaning up against the wall, head slightly cocked, eyes slightly squinted.
“Sheriff Stevens, this is my assistant Anne. Anne, Sheriff Stevens.” They shake hands and exchange greetings.
“The test results on that scotch came back. They did find Rohypnol in it, and we tested the blood draw we took from Adam the night of his arrest. There wasn’t any Rohypnol in his system.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. If he was drinking the scotch too, he must have had Rohypnol in his system,” I say.
“Maybe he wasn’t drinking from the decanter,” Sheriff Stevens suggests. “Sorry, I don’t have better news for you.”
“What about that third set of DNA? Did you guys get a match in the criminal database?”
“Unfortunately, not. We’re still looking into it. We did get the phone records back.” He hands me the file folders. “Her texts are printed out as well.”
I hand the folders off to Anne who sticks them away in her tote bag. “Did you have a chance to read through them? Anything unusual?”
“The texts from the number that appear to be from the other man she was seeing are from an unregistered number.”
“Like a burner phone?”
“Exactly. Whoever he is, he didn’t want anyone to know he was in contact with Kelly. Maybe he’s the one that did this or perhaps he’s married himself,” he offers.
“Can we find out anything about that number?”
“As of now, it’s a dead end. Going through the texts more closely might give us some sort of clue as to who he is, but there’s not many text messages between them anyway. However, since a formal charge has been entered in the court, this case is closed for us. I can get you any information you need that we already have, but I can’t put any more man-hours into this case.”
“What about Scott? Did you look into him?”
“We did. He has an alibi for the night of Kelly’s murder.”
“Who?”
“Deputy Marcus Hudson,” Sheriff Stevens says.
“Were they both working that night?” I tap my foot in annoyance at the information coming my way.
“Nope, just two buddies hanging out at Scott’s house.”
“Right…” I say sarcastically. “What about the photo with the threatening note?”
“We pulled fingerprints and ran them through a criminal database. No match. So, all that means is the person who sent it isn’t a criminal… yet.” Sheriff Stevens raises an eyebrow.
Anne’s tote bag falls to the floor with a loud thud, and nearly everything spills out of it. She quickly bends down and gathers her items. “Sorry,” she says as Sheriff Stevens and I bend down to help.
Something isn’t adding up. Something’s fishy. Adam didn’t have Rohypnol in his system, but it was in the decanter, and the police forget to even check for that. Deputy Hudson is Scott’s alibi, and they were just hanging out at Scott’s home all night with no other witnesses. Is this sloppy police work or is there something more sinister going on? I’ll have to get to the bottom of it because I’m clearly not getting any help from the Prince William County Sheriff’s Department.
We stand up, while Anne finishes packing her tote bag.
“Holler at me if you need anything. I’ll be bringing Adam to the lake house this afternoon. Maybe I’ll see you there,” he says.
“Yeah, maybe.”
He walks out the courtroom doors. I turn to Anne just as she gets her bag back up on her shoulder.
“We’re on our own now?” she asks.
“Looks that way.”
“Do you want me to hire a private investigator for the case then?”
“No, I think we can handle this. We have two weeks to prepare for preliminary trial. I need you to go back to the office and start going through those texts. Compare them to what Matthew sends over to make sure they match up. I’ll be back in tomorrow morning. Please call me if you find anything.”
“You got it.” She nods and marches out the door.
I can’t hire a private detective just yet. I have to put up the half mil for Adam’s bail, and I can’t use the firm’s resources to hire a detective. It’s too big of an expense, and it’ll get flagged. I’m sure Eleanor would put up the money, but I don’t even want to give her that small victory. She’s already involved herself too much and she’s going to end up compromising the case. I’ll just have to handle it myself.