Custody of the State (30 page)

Now, seeing the Purdy mansion as he sat in his idling car, Will felt old, powerful feelings emerge. He had not thought about Audra for quite some time. Fiona had totally eclipsed those memories, it seemed.

Until now. It was odd, he thought, how merely seeing this house could suddenly sweep the ghosts back into his head.

Reminding himself that he was there for Mary Sue Fellows, he pulled the car into the circle drive in front of the carved-oak double doors at the front of the mansion.

After parking, he strode up to the entrance and rapped the brass door knocker.

After a moment, Will could hear someone approaching. Footsteps were echoing and getting louder within the massive entranceway on the other side of the door.

44

T
HE IMMENSE DOUBLE DOOR OPENED
. At first, Will was unable to see who was there.

He stepped into the vast marble-floored foyer. Two spiral staircases, one at each side, led to a second-story balcony. In the middle, there was a round, velvet settee with a stone figurine in the center that looked vaguely Roman.

Suddenly, from behind one of the doors, a figure stepped out.

Will had to keep himself from gasping. In front of him was a smiling young woman—pretty, blond, with crystal-blue eyes. She was laughing almost the same kind of quirky laugh that Will's wife, Audra, would when she would tease him.

Though this young woman was not a complete likeness, her similarities to Audra were remarkable.

“I'm Suzanne Purdy Black. I'm Uncle Jason's niece.” With that she thrust a slender hand into Will's. Laying her other hand on Will's other arm, she began gently leading him toward the end of the foyer.

“Won't you come with me, Mr. Chambers? Uncle Jason's going to be a couple of minutes—he's been exercising. I'm just going to entertain you for a few moments out here in the sunroom, if that's alright.”

Will was taken aback—and slightly embarrassed—by her forward approach, but he dutifully followed her to a large glass-enclosed sunroom that lay through several arched doorways, at the end of the house.

She seated Will on a padded rattan chair, still holding his hands.

Suzanne leaned close to his face and smiled. “Now I've got some iced tea over on the table and I'm going to fix you a glass right now. My, my, what happened to you? Your eyes are both black and you've got a nasty old bump on your nose. Did you get your nose broken, Mr. Chambers?”

Will tried to lean back in his chair and release her grip.

“Yes, I had a run-in with some bad folks.”

“Well, I'm sure they got the worst of it—you look like a man who can take care of himself.”

“Actually, I'm happy just to be conscious right now. But thanks for asking.”

“Well,” Suzanne said flirtatiously, “then that must have been a very, very unfair fight!” And with that she laughed, stood up straight, and tossed her hair back.

“Do you live here with your uncle?”

“Yes, off and on,” she said as she poured a glass of iced tea from a crystal pitcher on a glass table. “I dabble in art, and I come and go. Uncle Jason is sort of a replacement father for me. There's always a place for me here in the mansion.”

“Did you say you were an artist?”

“Yes,” Suzanne said, flashing a wide smile, “do you like art?”

“I used to,” Will replied, staring at Suzanne's pretty face and trying to shake the feeling that there was a connection, somehow, between his life and Suzanne's.

He took a few sips from his glass and then asked, “Is your uncle going to be long?”

“Oh, with Uncle Jason you never can tell! Why—don't you like talking with me?”

“It's just that I have some business with your uncle.”

“
Everyone
has business with Uncle Jason! And now that he's going to be the newest senator from the state of Georgia…well, I'm sure he's going to be busier than ever!”

“You must be very proud of your uncle.”

“Of course, but do you know what he told me this morning?”

“No, what did he say?” Will asked.

“Mr. Chambers—may I call you Will? Well, Uncle Jason said I don't look like I'm twenty-five years old. Do you think I look twenty-five years old? Uncle Jason is always joking and saying that I look like I'm much younger than that. But I don't want to look younger than that! I'm a grown woman. What do you think?”

“I've never been very good at guessing ages.”

“You know what—neither am I!” Suzanne said with a laugh. “Now take you for example, Will—I suppose you are older than me by several years but I've always said that age really doesn't matter. Besides, sometimes a man your age is so much more attractive—so much more mature and together, you know what I mean—so much more appealing than these boys I have to run around with. Particularly back here in Georgia when I visit Uncle Jason. By the way that reminds me of something—guess what?”

“What,” Will said, feeling increasingly embarrassed and wanting to extricate himself from Suzanne's flirtations.

“There's a wonderful party at the country club tonight—and I have absolutely no one to go there with. It's for couples only—this is a very silly question to ask you, I really shouldn't…”

“Then maybe you shouldn't—”

“If you are absolutely doing nothing and are bored out of your mind, and if you would like to have a good time at the country club tonight, I would love to have a chaperone,” Suzanne said smiling.

“You said you were an artist?” Will asked, something having suddenly occurred to him.

“Well, I certainly did, and you asked me that already.”

“What is your medium?”

Suzanne gave a somewhat listless smile and cocked her head, “My what?”

“My wife was an artist. I'm just wondering what your medium is. Oil—acrylics—sculpture? What is it?” he went on.

“Oh, just about everything. I dabble in everything,” she replied.

“It sounds to me like you'd love the paintings of Stravinsky,” Will suggested.

“Oh, yes. I absolutely adore them!”

“On the other hand, I love listening to classical music as well,” Will said. “Cézanne is one of my favorite composers. How about you?”

“I can't say that I've heard of him. But I'm sure his music is beautiful.”

There was an awkward silence as Suzanne struggled to continue her engaging smile.

“Suzanne, tell me something. Why did your Uncle Jason have
you
meet me at the door? I'm sure he's got butlers and servants all over this mansion.”

After a few more moments of silence and a smile that was beginning to tighten around the corners of her mouth, she replied, “Well, some of the staff is off today. Besides, I thought it might be nice to meet you.”

“In other words, Uncle Jason thought it might be a nice idea for you to meet me.”

“I don't know what you are talking about,” Suzanne said, dropping her smile at last and throwing Will a concerned look.

That was when Jason Bell Purdy stepped into the room, slightly short of breath. He was in jogging shorts, jogging shoes, and a Princeton jersey with the sleeves cut off. A vintage Atlanta Braves baseball cap was on his head. He was sweating and smiling confidently.

“Hey there, Will Chambers. I'm Jason Bell Purdy—it's great to meet you.” He approached Will quickly and gave him a strong handshake. “Forgive the exercise outfit, but I like to be informal when I'm holding meetings in my house. What do you think of the place? I just love this old mansion. I prefer to conduct meetings here whenever I can, rather than in downtown Atlanta.”

“It's a beautiful place.” Will remarked. “Now if we could talk about a few things, then I'll let you get on with your other business.”

Purdy smiled and agreed, and he dismissed Suzanne with a “Run along now.”

As she turned to leave, Will called to her. She whirled around quickly.

“It was good to meet you,” Will said. “And I thought you should know—Stravinsky's not a painter, he's a composer. And Cézanne is not a composer, he's a world-famous painter.”

Suzanne Purdy Black flashed a final, flustered smile and then quickly exited the room.

Jason Bell Purdy led Will into a wood-paneled library. The two sat down across from each other in overstuffed chairs, and Will quickly got down to business.

“Mr. Purdy, I represent Mary Sue Fellows. I think you know something about her and her case.”

“Yes, I certainly do. Mary Sue and I go back a long way. As you probably know, I dated her for a while. She was the one that got away. Too bad. She's a beautiful person and a very charming lady. Joe Fellows is a very lucky man.”

“And you found out about her case? And had a conversation with Dr. Parker, the pathologist at the Delphi hospital, about her legal situation?”

“Yes,” Purdy confirmed. “I learned about the problems that she was having with Social Services regarding Joshua. They seem to involve Joshua's declining health. Social Services sounded very suspicious, and it sounded to me like they were not being very helpful to Mary Sue. So I thought I'd talk to Dr. Parker, who I knew had evaluated some of Joshua's tests at the hospital.”

“How did you find out about Mary Sue's ongoing dispute with Social Services?”

“Hey—I'm surprised she didn't tell you, being your client and all. I learned it directly from her. She and I talked about it. In fact, she called me up and asked for my help.”

Will was thunderstruck. Mary Sue had never indicated that she'd talked about her case to anyone else, and certainly not Jason Bell Purdy. As Will tried to hide his surprise, the other man continued filling in the blanks.

“That family doctor had called Social Services because he said that Mary Sue was not following his orders and that she had made some comments that sounded strange to him. He was worried about Joshua's health. I knew that she was just the best mother in the world, so I thought maybe, with my influence, I could help straighten things out before they got out of control. That's why I talked to Dr. Parker.”

“And what did he say to you?”

“I'll tell you something, Mr. Chambers, by the time I talked to Dr. Parker, the cement was already dry on this deal. He told me that Social Services had talked to him and that he had evaluated the blood samples and had come to the conclusion there was some kind of poison in Joshua's blood that only would have been there if someone had given it to him. I told him I thought Mary Sue was as pure as the driven snow—but he told me there was nothing they could do. He said they'd put together some evidence that made it look pretty clear Mary Sue had been poisoning her son, and they were going to go after her. I have to tell you, Mr. Chambers, that just broke my heart. It really did.”

“Do you know anything about the identity of the person who called in a report to Social Services accusing Mary Sue? You don't know the name, do you?”

“Mr. Chambers, I haven't the faintest idea what her name is or who she is.”

Will paused a minute, keeping his eyes riveted on Jason Bell Purdy.

“Who said it was a woman?”

“I thought you said it was a woman—but never mind, I simply haven't got any information about that. Look, Mr. Chambers,” and with that Purdy leaned forward and pointed his finger directly at the attorney. “I have never doubted that Mary Sue
Fellows is innocent, not once. And I have never done anything against her, but only tried to help her in this thing. And that is the absolute truth.”

Then Purdy narrowed his eyes and studied Will. “Why? What has she told you about me? I'm sure she will vouch for exactly what I just told you, right?”

“Sorry,” Will said, “what my client tells me is confidential. I can't share that with you.”

“Hey, I can relate to that. You lawyers are all the same. I have a whole army of lawyers working for me—they drive me crazy! But I can respect that—attorney–client privilege, and all that.”

“Now that you mention your lawyers,” Will went on, “tell me, how long has Stanley Kennelworth been doing work for you?”

“Oh, just recently. You know I like to make sure I use local professionals from the Delphi area. I believe in giving back to a community that has given me so much. So I don't just hire the big guns from Atlanta. Every once in a while I'll put a guy like Stanley Kennelworth on retainer.”

“He must be doing quite a bit of work for you,” Will remarked.

“Oh, odds and ends. You know Stanley. Maybe you don't. He does a little bit of this and a little bit of that.”

“Well, the little bit of this and little bit of that must be very expensive, because I hear Kennelworth got a new Jaguar out of his relationship with you.”

“Exactly what are you getting at, Mr. Chambers?” Purdy demanded, his voice now becoming emphatic.