Page 75 of The 1 Lawyer

“I don’t know.” He handed her the envelope.

Someone had written Personal and confidential on it, and it had a Biloxi postmark. There was no return address. She gave the pastor an inquiring look. “May I open it?”

He nodded, and she slid the contents of the envelope onto the desk. The time-and-date-stamped photos were black-and-white stills that appeared to have been taken from a home-security camera. With a jolt, Jenny recognized the date: the day of the jury verdict in the Daniel Caro trial.

That night, Detective Sweeney had woken her with the news that Stafford Lee and Carrie Ann were dead.

He’d been only half right.

She bent over the first photo, which showed a residential street and part of a house. She pointed at the house and asked Gates, “You’re aware that’s Stafford Lee Penney’s home?”

Soberly, he nodded. “You see that car? Parked on the same side of the street as your friend’s house, closer to the camera?”

There were several vehicles in the shot. “Which one?”

“The SUV. You can’t tell from the picture, but it’s a gray 2014 Toyota. My cousin Benjamin’s car.”

She squinted at the fuzzy image. The home-security camera that had taken it was not sophisticated. “Are you sure, Pastor? How can you tell?”

“Because he’s sitting inside it.” Gates reached across the desk and pointed at a blurry figure in the driver’s seat who arguably resembled Benjamin Gates.

“Okay, I see what you’re looking at,” Jenny said. “This places your cousin near Stafford Lee’s house at an exact time and date. But why the secrecy, the anonymous delivery? This isn’t explosive information. Pastor, you know your cousin was at Stafford Lee’s house that night. He was found dead on the floor of the bedroom in the early hours of the next morning.” She placed the print back on the desk. “This doesn’t tell us anything new.”

“Look closer.” Gates gave her a heavy magnifying glass with a brass handle. “Look inside the car.”

Feeling like a twenty-first-century Sherlock Holmes, Jenny bent over the picture and inspected it through the magnifying glass. “It’s hard to make out any detail. What am I looking for?”

“I’d have thought your young eyes would be sharper than mine. Let’s get more light in here.” Gates snapped on a desk lamp and aimed it toward the photo. When the bright light fell on the page, the shadowy outline of another figure appeared in the car, a barely discernible profile of someone sitting in the passenger seat.

Jenny looked up. When she met Gates’s eyes, he said, “Well, Jenny? What do you think?”

She said, “There are two people in the car.”

Pastor Gates leaned back in his leather chair. His face was dour when he said, “That’s what I think. Benjamin wasn’t alone that night.”

CHAPTER 58

ON A gray September afternoon, I sat in my lifeguard chair on the beach listening to the pounding waves and the cries of seagulls. Despite strong ocean currents, I’d had an easy shift so far. With school back in session, no kids were playing on my stretch of sand. Cloudy skies overhead had discouraged sun worshippers, and swimming wasn’t allowed since I’d raised the red warning flag indicating dangerous surf conditions. A lone middle-aged woman wearing a white cover-up over her swimsuit picked her way along the water’s edge.

The deserted beach signaled the end of high season. They would be laying off most of the lifeguards soon. I was ready to hang up my sunglasses and lifeguard whistle. My law practice had picked up in recent weeks, and it was becoming a challenge to set court appearances around my lifeguard schedule. It was time for me to focus on people’s problems, to work on resolving their disputes.

But I would miss my time in the high beachside perch. There was something therapeutic about listening to the waves lapping the shore.

My reverie was interrupted by a voice. “Hey! Stafford Lee!”

My new intern ran across the sand and stopped directly in front of me. Looking up, she crossed her arms over her chest. “Why aren’t you answering your cell phone?”

Wondering what I’d missed, I unearthed the phone from my backpack. “It’s turned off. Rue, I don’t sit up here and take calls. I’m on the job, protecting the people in the water.”

She turned around and gazed at the deserted beach. When she looked back at me, she said in a wry voice, “Tough job, very important. Stafford Lee, there’s not a soul out today.”

I couldn’t argue with that.

“Come down and talk to me. I don’t want to shout over those screeching birds.”

While I climbed down, Rue sat cross-legged on the sand and fanned herself with a file folder. As soon as I joined her, she said, “You never told me you turn off your phone when you come out here. When Jenny said she couldn’t reach you, I was afraid you’d drowned or something.”

I kept my eyes trained on the beach. “What was Jenny calling about?”

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