Murder Deja Vu

surgery as we speak. That’s all I know.”
    “Will you tell me as soon as you know something?” the cop said.
    “It might be awhile. If I find out anything before I go off duty, I’ll let you know. For now, you can wait over there.” She pointed to a half-filled bank of chairs lining the waiting room wall.
    “Thanks.” The cop turned and noticed Clarence.
    “Sorry,” Clarence said. “I couldn’t help eavesdrop. She wouldn’t tell me anything.”
    He nodded. “Not much to tell right now. Didn’t I see you at the crime scene? The officer outside said you work for Reece Daughtry’s attorney, right?”
    “Correct. Clarence Wright. I’m a retired cop. Detroit.” He offered his hand. “Are you the detective who interviewed Carl Daughtry?”
    The cop gripped Clarence’s hand. “No, but I was in there. Dennis Tobey.” Tobey directed Clarence away from the admittance desk. “Carl and I have a history. I only observed.”
    Clarence didn’t know what Tobey meant by history and made a mental note to pursue it later. Now he wanted to know about Reece. “Did Reece have a gun?”
    “Not that we’ve found. Forensics is still at the scene. We’ll know more when they finish.” Tobey pointed to two men drinking from Styrofoam cups. “Let’s ask the paramedics. They know more about Reece’s condition than anyone right now.”
    Clarence followed Tobey to the two men huddled in conversation in the waiting room. The young guy looked like he’d just graduated from high school, the other like he’d been around the block a few times. Probably a military medic, Clarence guessed. They both looked up.
    “What’s the story, Matt?” Tobey asked the older one.
    “I don’t know. We had him stabilized when we brought him in. I can tell you one thing, if he didn’t have this in his shirt pocket, he’d’ve been dead for sure, even from a .22.” He extracted a mangled piece of silver metal from his pocket and handed it to the detective. “I’ve been waiting to give this to you. We ripped his shirt open in the office, then this fell to the floor in the ambulance.”
    Tobey took the twisted fragment and turned it in his hand. Clarence looked at it more closely. In spite of the damage, he knew what it was. Elated and disheartened at the same time, Clarence realized that Reece had done exactly what he should have—record his conversation with Carl. Except the recorder wouldn’t tell the story of what went on between the Daughtry brothers. Clarence hoped at least the recorder saved Reece’s life.
    “What else did Carl Daughtry say, Detective?” Clarence asked.
    “You know I can’t talk about that.”
    “Reece Daughtry’s future is at stake. If he lives.”
    The cop twisted his mouth into an unreadable expression. “I went to school with Reece. None of this makes sense. It didn’t make sense twenty years ago.”
    “Come on, Detective. I need to keep Reece from taking another fall. Help me out here.”
    Tobey pulled Clarence aside. “Carl said Reece told him he went crazy and killed those women in North Carolina. Reece wanted Carl to help him get to Canada. When Carl refused, Reece went for the gun their father kept in the desk drawer, and it accidentally went off while they wrestled for it.”
    “That’s bullshit,” Clarence said under his breath. “That twisted piece of metal you have in your hand?” Clarence pointed to the digital recorder. “Reece went to his brother’s office to get him to confess to killing not only the girl in North Carolina but the woman in Boston. My guess is Reece got it all on this recorder. Once Carl confessed, he couldn’t let Reece leave, so he shot him in cold blood.”
    “That’s a lot of guessing, Mr. Wright,” Tobey said. “Even if Reece pulls through, it’s his word against his brother’s. Carl has a lot of friends in Portland, and with Reece’s history, whatever he says will be suspect.”
    Clarence couldn’t argue. That’s probably how it would play out. “Shit.” He wondered what made Reece zero in on Carl to buy the recorder in the first place. After Reece spoke to both Cabrini and Yarrow, he’d obviously eliminated them, but Jordan Kraus still remained a possibility.
    So what did he learn and from whom did he learn it? Only one answer made sense. Thom Daughtry. He was the old anger Reece wanted to rid from his heart. Clarence knew the patriarch had suffered a major heart attack and had been moved to a private nursing home. He checked his