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“It isn’t.”
“You were fired amonth ago. Now two of your former clients are dead,” Simon said.
Anderson didn’tlook surprised by that, but then, he would presumably have seen it on the news.He would know about the deaths of his clients.
Francesca jumpedin then. “You have to see how bad this looks, Mr. Anderson. You’re a lawyer.You know the kind of story that we’re telling ourselves right now. About alawyer who got angry at being fired. One who blamed his clients. One whodecided to get revenge for that by killing them.”
“You think I killedThomas Jackson and Emily Chen?” Anderson asked, his tone making it clear howpreposterous he found the idea.
“Give us a reasonnot to think that,” Simon said. It was obvious that he was just using thepossibility of Anderson being the murderer as a way to get more information.
Anderson’s eyesdarted around the room once more as he considered his options. Finally, he letout a deep breath and sat back in his chair, defeated.
“I didn’t killthem,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “I swear it. I had nothing todo with it.”
“Then why were youfired?” Amber asked, trying to keep her voice neutral.
He still lookeduncomfortable about the possibility of talking, but finally, Anderson nodded,then looked down at his hands.
“Have you heardabout the lawsuit against the Westford-Myer Motor Company?”
Francesca nodded. “Theyhad to issue a product recall for one of their cars, after it had been outthere for years, right?”
“Which cost them alot of money, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. They… they paid me tolie about the details, so that it wouldn’t hurt their stock prices any morethan it had to. It meant that people didn’t get the damages they might havebeen looking for. When my firm found out, I was fired.”
To Amber, thatsounded like a reason for Anderson to be angry. It made him a better suspect,not a worse one. Especially since he seemed to be so happy to admit somethingthat probably amounted to perjury.
“Thomas Jacksonwas involved in this?” Amber asked.
Anderson nodded. “Thecar came out of his division.”
“And Emily Chen?”Simon asked.
“She helped withthe marketing campaign designed to push the car and convince everyone it wasstill safe. I was advising her on her position regarding the court case.”
“Do you have analibi for yesterday, between three and four?” Francesca asked. “That’s whenEmily was snatched.”
“Yes,” Andersonsaid. “I was in court. I’ve had to start taking on smaller and smaller casesjust to keep making a living. I had a hearing that went on until five.”
So there was noway that he could be the killer. Yet Amber couldn’t feel disappointed, becauseit felt as though he’d given them a crucial piece of information. They knew nowwhat the connection between Emily Chen and Thomas Jackson was.
“Mr. Anderson,”Francesca said, “my people are going to want to talk to you when this is done.”
Anderson sighed. “IfI’m still alive for you to talk to me, I’ll count myself lucky.”
It was obviousthat he’d decided this was all about the Westford-Myer case. Right then, Ambercouldn’t disagree.
There was onepiece of good news that came from this conversation. They now had more thanenough to get the warrant they needed to look into the Westford-Myer MotorCompany’s affairs.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The first thingthey did was to go to the local courthouse to get a warrant. The courthouse wasan old building that looked as though someone had originally tried to make itas classically grand as possible, but which was now a little run-down, some ofits paint peeling and its woodwork a little cracked.
To Amber, thecourthouse smelled like dust and old paper, a little musty, but not unpleasant.Amber could see plenty of people moving through it, obviously arriving forcourt dates.
“It’s better ifyou two wait here,” Francesca said as they entered the foyer. “I know one ofthe local judges. He’ll give us what we need, but having the FBI in there withme might complicate things.”
Amber wasn’tentirely happy to leave that to the detective, but it seemed that Simon wasmore enthusiastic.
