Page 45 of Zero Divergence
“You take all the time you need, Kendall. I know how much Vivian meant to you.”
Blakemore nodded. “You don’t have to stay,” he told Elderwood. “I have nothing to hide from the detectives.”
The senior partner’s left brow shot up toward his hairline. “Are you sure, Kendall?”
“I am, sir. I’ll request your presence if things head in a direction I don’t like.”
Elderwood ping-ponged his gaze between Sawyer, Royce, and Blakemore. “I don’t advise it, but I will respect your wishes. You know where to find me.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir,” he said, offering Elderwood a weak smile.
Sawyer doubted the rest of the interviewees would be as cooperative, so he wasted no time diving into questions. “Can you tell us about angry clients or anyone mad enough at Ms. Gross to send her threats. Mr. Elderwood said you’d be in the best position to know.”
Blakemore flinched. “Not to sound crass but dealing with hostile people was an everyday thing.”
“I know your head probably isn’t fully engaged in the interview, and your heart surely isn’t. We’re not trying to overwhelm you,” Royce said kindly. “We just need a place to start. Can you give us the ones who were the angriest, starting with the most recent threats? You can always call either one of us if something else occurs to you.”
“Yeah,” he said, nodding jerkily. “I want to help you find who killed Vivian.”
“We know you do, Kendall,” Sawyer said, using his first name for a softer approach, even though he was eager to compare Blakemore’s list to the one he made.
“Mickey Hendrix comes to mind,” Blakemore said.
“Without breaking confidentiality, can you tell us why you think he’s mad enough to harm Ms. Gross?”
Mickey Hendrix was in prison for life after murdering his long-time business partner, so he couldn’t have personally committed the crime. He had plenty of connections and money to hire it done though.
“He recently lost his appeal and blamed her.”
“Can you tell us why he formed that opinion?” Royce asked.
Blakemore hesitated for a few seconds. “He claimed she was ill-prepared and no longer cared about him since she’d already made the bulk of her money on his first trial.” He closed his eyes and took a calming breath. “He also accused her of having an affair with Humphries and referenced the photographs taken outside the county jail when he was released as proof.” The ones Felix took of Humphries embracing Gross had been picked up by The Associated Press.
“Could there be any truth to his allegations?” Sawyer asked.
Stiffening, Blakemore asked, “Which part? The alleged ineffective counsel or the reasons he said were behind it?”
Blakemore’s rigid posture and defensive tone meant they’d need to tread lightly. If both Sawyer and Royce were playing nice cop during this interview, one of them would need to be the nicer cop. Sawyer was up to bat.
“Look,” he said gently. “Neither of us is looking to victim shame anyone, Kendall. All we want to do is find out who killed Vivian. We can’t do our job if you’re withholding crucial information to protect your friend’s image.”
Blakemore closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. After a brief pause, he reopened them and relaxed his posture. His pale blue eyes looked sad instead of wary. “She was my friend.”
“Then help us get justice for her,” Royce implored. “Don’t restrict your answers only to the things you saw or heard. We want to know how you felt about situations too. If someone gave you a bad vibe, then we want to know about it. Leave it to us to sort out the facts from feelings with follow-up questions and investigating, okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” the young guy agreed.
“Could there have been truth inanyof Mr. Hendrix’s accusations?” Royce tried again.
“Over the past few weeks, Vivian seemed distracted and maybe a little more distant than usual. She either forgot about appointments or showed up late to them. She nearly missed filing deadlines with the courts in a few cases, which was so out of character for her. I knew something was going on, so when I found out about the marriage…” His eyes took on a dazed expression as he let his words trail off. He blinked after a few seconds, and his eyes zeroed in on Sawyer. “Did you talk to Vincenzo?”
“We did,” Royce replied.
“And?”
“We can’t share the details of the interview with you,” Sawyer said. They knew when the affair between Vincenzo and Gross began, according to the senator at least, but not when Vivian first became aware their marriage was still intact or when Kendall first learned about the situation. Sawyer posed those two questions to him now. He’d have a chance to compare the answers to Vincenzo’s later.
Blakemore tilted his head slightly to the right, and he tapped a finger against his lips. “From what I recall, Vincenzo’s attorney reached out to Vivian about three months ago.”