“Yes, thanks for getting back to me. She’s been arrested on murder charges and has requested an attorney from your firm to represent her.”

After a long pause, he said, “I’m afraid that won’t be possible. Mrs. Jestings has an outstanding balance on her account that exceeds fifty thousand dollars. We’re unable to do any more work for her until the balance is settled.”

Sam tried to imagine how this news would go over with Elle and couldn’t help but smile. “I’ll let her know. Thank you for returning my call.”

“No problem.”

Sam got up and went straight to the room where Elle was being held. “I just got off the phone with Tim Russo.”

“He’s on his way?”

“I’m afraid not. He said your account with his firm is in arrears to the tune of fifty thousand dollars, and until you’ve settled up with them, they’re unavailable to do any more work for you.”

“You can’t be serious,” she said, her face flushing with rage. “They were my father’s attorneys for forty years! They wouldn’t dare say no to me!”

“I believe they just did. Shall I call the public defender’s office for you?”

In that moment it seemed to occur to Elle that she was screwed. As she dropped into a chair, her silk dress billowed out around her before collapsing against her legs. “If it’s that or nothing, make the call.”

“Very good.”

“You don’t need to enjoy this so much.”

“I don’t enjoy anything about murder, except for catching the scumbags who did it and sending them away for life. That part I enjoy very much. You may as well get comfortable, Mrs. Jestings. You’re going to be here a while.”

* * *

By the time they got the DNA results back from the lab as well as the report on the knife that confirmed the presence of Willie’s blood and Horace’s fingerprints, as well as Boris’s fingerprints on the steering wheel of Willie’s car, it was after four in the morning. Sam, Hill and Cruz spent the next three hours typing up their reports and filing them.

At eight o’clock, Sam placed calls to Carmen Vasquez and Carla Lind to let them know arrests had been made in their husbands’ murders. While it might have been cowardly on her part, she refrained from informing them that their husbands had been unfaithful. Both were still dealing with the grief of their sudden losses, and giving them the rest of the story at this time would’ve been piling on. They’d find out soon enough.