47. Bring In The Big Guns

Brampton sat back, echoing her posture. The two women watched him. Finally he spoke. “Madeline, have you heard of the senior at Jackson Jackson and Kesley, Charles Montgomery Peter Jackson?”

“Absolutely. I deal with Jeb Stone, but I have met Charles Jackson senior, and Charles Jackson junior. Jackson Senior has been generous with his time, giving advice on our case.” That didn’t surprise Brampton. Jackson Senior had more money than God and was interested in David and Goliath cases.

“I think we can find a solution. May I call Charles on your behalf?”

She agreed.

“Hello Mr. Jackson,” he said loudly into the phone. “No golf today? Yes, yes, of course I remember you beat me by one stroke at the charity game and, no, I’m not paying you ten bucks. No, Chuck, listen to me. I paid it, check your pockets.” Kathy rolled her eyes at Madeline. “I’m here with Madeline Saunders and we want to release her house to her but you guys have taught her well. She’s not signing anything without you or Jeb’s input. I’ll put you on speaker phone.”

He touched the speakerphone connection, then nodded encouragingly at Madeline who leaned close to the phone. “Hello Mr. Jackson.”

“Hello Madeline, how are you doing my dear?”

“Pretty good, considering,” she replied. “They’re recording this so you have to speak up.”

The elderly man chuckled. “Yes, ma’am.” He adopted a booming, courtroom voice. “For the record I am Charles Montgomery Peter Jackson, and I am a representative of Madeline Saunders for her legal matters.”

Madeline nodded and Kathy gave her a thumbs up.

“I have standard property release form 107-8566 in front of me on my screen, Sandy, I assume it’s the 09/17 version?” Jackson Senior walked them through each paragraph of the document, translating complex language where necessary. Before turning a page, he asked Madeline to confirm her understanding of what she had read and sign at the bottom right. Each time, Kathy signed on the left as a witness.

After fifteen minutes they were done.

“Thank you so much, Mr. Jackson,” Madeline said, “what do I owe you?”

A soft chuckle came from the speaker. “That will be $100 please. Not our standard fee, but it’s also not that silly TV stuff where you give me a dollar and I take your case. If you could get Bampton to cough up ten bucks I’ll drop it to ninety.”

Madeline was satisfied. Brampton clipped the pages together, they said their goodbyes to the speakerphone, then sat for a moment in silence.

Brampton was first to speak, for the benefit of the recording machine.

“This concludes the discussion with Madeline Saunders, Kathy Chatsworth, and Detective Sergeant Sandy Brampton in the Shaye Alderson case. It included signing of legal documents to release property being held in evidence to Mrs. Saunders.” He hit the button and they all exhaled, as if they’d been holding their breath for an hour.

“Just relax here and I’ll walk this down to the clerk.” He pushed his chair back, stood and stretched his legs. He understood the psychology hard chairs in interrogation rooms, but he didn’t like it. “They can process it right away and provide the release document. We can email a copy to your lawyers and you can have the original.” He smiled then, “along with the house keys. Won’t be long.”

Madeline looked like she was going to cry, and Kathy thought back to their meeting at the cafe when she was dazed after meeting with lawyers. There was something numbing about the archaic language used in legal documents.

“Works for me,” said Madeline. “My neighbour is sitting with John, and I wanted to stay in town long enough to get into the house, water the plants, let in some fresh air. Now I can do it without a policeman watching me.”

Brampton took the folder and left the room. Kathy stood and stretched her arms above her head with a little sigh. “This took longer than we expected, can I get you a coffee, tea, glass of water?” She could have murdered a glass of wine.

“Water, thank you,” Madeline said sweetly.

With two paper cups of water in front of them, they made small talk for ten minutes. Madeline made it clear she didn’t want to talk about her husband’s lawsuit and when they fell silent for a minute or two it felt fine. Only the chairs were uncomfortable.

Brampton returned with the envelope and keys with a large red evidence tag attached.

“This is the release form. You can’t move in until probate of the will is finalized, but you’re free to visit the house on your own,” he handed everything to her. “No policemen.”

Now the tears began to flow and Madeline wiped them with her sleeve before Kathy could hand her a tissue.

She dabbed her eyes then suddenly stood. “Right! That’s one thing resolved.” No-nonsense Madeline was back.

“Make that two things,” Kathy smiled and looked at Brampton enquiringly. He placed his hand on Madeline’s shoulder.

“Maddy, you are no longer a suspect in the murder of Shaye Alderson,” he said.

“My sister,” Madeline said, fixing him with a steely look.

“Your sister,” he agreed.