Chapter Twenty-Six

Jacoby and the new Assistant U.S. Attorney were in the middle of a heated discussion.

“How can you expect me to release her? We found her standing over a dead body with the murder weapon in her hand. Her arm was cut from breaking into the shop. She has no explanation for being at the scene of the crime other than this convenient amnesia story.” Jacoby paused to catch his breath. “I sure picked the wrong week to quit smoking.”

Felton Chambers straightened his tie and sat down on the corner of Jacoby’s desk. Jacoby didn’t like anyone sitting on his desk, especially a wet-behind-the-ears, smart-alecky, thirty year old Assistant U.S. Attorney who was intent on making his job harder than it needed to be.

“Point number one,” he began “the forensics tell us that the time of death was somewhere between 2:30 and 4:30 PM. Mrs. Britt was apprehended, standing over the body sometime after 11:30 PM. Are you suggesting that your suspect stabbed Mrs. Petulengro and remained there, holding the murder weapon for seven hours?” He didn’t wait for Jacoby to answer.

“Point number two. We know that sometime between 8:30 and 10:30 PM, coincidentally, a second tattoo artist was murdered, in precisely the same manner, some sixty miles away from the where your suspect was discovered standing over Mrs. Petulengro. Interesting, is it not?”

“Point number three,” Chambers continued. Jacoby was losing his patience but he decided to let the pompous little asshole continue. The sooner he finished, the sooner Jacoby could kick him out of his office.

“You have not been able to connect Mrs. Britt with the deceased in any way nor have you been able to suggest any motive she might have had for killing Mrs. Petulengro.”

“Finally, and I find this most intriguing. Based on the statement of…” Chambers paused to consult his notes. “Based on what Mosby Ellis told you just an hour ago, you may have another suspect who had a very good reason to want to silence Mrs. Petulengro.”

“You can’t be serious, Chambers. You are about to have the shortest career on record. Are you seriously asking me to investigate a United States Senator for the murder of a Gypsy tattoo artist?”

“That’s exactly what I’m asking you to do. At least talk to him. See how he responds. Talk to his associates. See if any of them have seen him with a young woman matching the description of the Virginia victim.”

“That corpse is Fairfax County’s problem, not mine.”

“Jaffe is a married man who is facing a tough re-election battle in less than six weeks. If he knew that girl and if he had anything to do with her death, I would suggest he had ample motive to silence anyone who could tie the two of them together. Just talk to him, okay? And while you’re at it, maybe you should check him for tattoos.”