The Judge’s List

Автор: Гришэм Джон
Серия: Lacy Stoltz #2
Год: 2021
Язык: английский
Год: Doubleday/Random House
ISBN: 978-0-385-54602-7
Жанр: Триллеры

Электронная книга - «The Judge’s List». Краткое содержание книги:

In The Whistler, Lacy Stoltz investigated a corrupt judge who was taking millions in bribes from a crime syndicate. She put the criminals away, but only after being attacked and nearly killed. Three years later, and approaching forty, she is tired of her work for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct and ready for a change.
Then she meets a mysterious woman who is so frightened she uses a number of aliases. Jeri Crosby’s father was murdered twenty years earlier in a case that remains unsolved and that has grown stone cold. But Jeri has a suspect whom she has become obsessed with and has stalked for two decades. Along the way, she has discovered other victims.
Suspicions are easy enough, but proof seems impossible. The man is brilliant, patient, and always one step ahead of law enforcement. He is the most cunning of all serial killers. He knows forensics, police procedure, and most important: he knows the law.
He is a judge, in Florida — under Lacy’s jurisdiction.
He has a list, with the names of his victims and targets, all unsuspecting people unlucky enough to have crossed his path and wronged him in some way. How can Lacy pursue him, without becoming the next name on his list?
The Judge’s List is by any measure John Grisham’s most surprising, chilling novel yet.

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Her hands were shaking as she ripped off the tab and removed one of his office envelopes. Inside were four sheets of letter-sized paper. The first was a letter to her. It read:

Dear Diana. When you read this I’ll be dead. Sorry to do this to you but there’s no one else. Please call Dr. Joseph Kassabian at the Pecos Mountain Lodge near Santa Fe and inform him that you are my secretary, my executrix, and my sole heir. As directed in the attached Last Will and Testament, you are directed to have my body cremated immediately and my ashes scattered over the Pecos Mountains here in New Mexico. Do not, under any circumstances, have my body returned to the State of Florida, and do not permit an autopsy. Tomorrow, send the Press Release to Jane Kemper at the Pensacola Ledger. Please delay notifying the police as long as possible.

Ross.

She gasped, muffled a shriek, and dropped the papers. She was crying when she picked them up. The second sheet was a “Press Release,” and it read:

Circuit Court Judge Ross Bannick died this morning at a facility near Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he was undergoing treatment for colon cancer. He was 49. Judge Bannick proudly served the people of the Twenty-Second Judicial District for the past ten years. A native of Pensacola, he resided in the town of Cullman. A graduate of the University of Florida and the University of Miami Law School, he was in private practice in Pensacola for almost fifteen years before being elected to the bench in 2004. A lifelong bachelor, he was predeceased by his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Herbert Bannick, and is survived by a sister, Ms. Katherine LaMott of Savannah, Georgia. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the American Cancer Society. There will be no memorial service.

The third sheet of paper was titled: “Last Will and Testament of Ross L. Bannick.” It read:

I, Ross L. Bannick, being of sound and disposing mind and memory, do hereby make and declare this to be my last will and testament, expressly revoking all prior wills. This instrument is prepared solely by me and for all intents and purposes is to be considered my final, holographic will.

1. I appoint my faithful friend, Diana Zhang, as my executrix and direct her to probate this will as soon as possible. I waive bond and accounting.

2. I instruct my executrix to immediately have my remains cremated and my ashes scattered over the Pecos Mountains outside of Santa Fe.

3. I give, devise, and bequeath all of my assets to Diana Zhang.

4. Other than the usual monthly bills, there are no liabilities. Attached hereto is a list of assets.

Signed, Ross L. Bannick.

Stapled to the will was the fourth sheet. It listed eight bank accounts with their approximate balances; his home in Cullman, valued at $700,000; a beach bungalow worth $550,000; two shopping centers owned by corporations; and a stock portfolio valued at $240,000.

For a long time she was too stunned to move or to think clearly. Any interest in his assets was negated by the horror of the moment.

She managed to go online and found the website for the Pecos Mountain Lodge. An addiction facility? Nothing made sense. She called the number and was informed that Dr. Kassabian was not available. She would not take no for an answer and pressed on with the urgent matter. When he finally took her call, she explained who she was and so on. He confirmed the death, said it appeared to be an overdose, and could she call back later? No, she could not. He settled down and they had a conversation, one that ended with the arrival of the coroner.

She found the business card for Special Agent Neff, and called the FBI.

The lodge was a pleasant getaway where damaged people began their new lives, not a place where people went to die. Dr. Kassabian had never dealt with the death of a patient, and he wasn’t sure what to do. The last thing he wanted was for such a traumatic event to rattle the other patients. In his second conversation with Ms. Zhang, she mentioned the request for cremation and explained that she had clear directions from the deceased about what to do with his remains. Common sense, though, dictated the preservation of the corpse and the room until higher authorities were on the scene. When two FBI agents from the Santa Fe office arrived, he was not happy about their presence, but he was relieved that someone else would make the next few decisions. When they informed him that Judge Bannick was wanted on kidnapping charges, he quipped, “Well, I think you’re too late.”

They stepped into the room and stared at Bannick.

The first agent said, “We have technicians on the way and we need to fingerprint him.”

“That might be a problem.” Dr. Kassabian slowly reached down, took a corner of a sheet, and pulled it back. Bannick’s hands were swollen grotesquely, his fingers were black from corrosion, and his nails had melted and popped off. A rust-colored liquid stained his gown and the sheets under him.

“Looks like he knew you were coming,” Dr. Kassabian said.

“Okay,” said the second agent. “Don’t touch anything.”

“Don’t worry.”

They were finishing lunch at a downtown café when an urgent call came from Clay Vidovich. They hurried to the FBI office in the federal building and waited in the conference room. Vidovich and Agents Neff and Suarez entered in a rush and it was obvious they had news.

Without sitting, Vidovich announced, “Ross Bannick is dead. An apparent overdose at a rehab clinic near Santa Fe.”

Jeri collapsed and buried her face in her hands. Lacy was too stunned to say anything.

Vidovich went on, “He checked himself in early yesterday morning and they found him dead in his room about three hours ago. Our agents there have confirmed everything.”

Allie asked, “What about prints?”

“Not so sure. I just got a video from one of our agents there. Do you want to see it?”

“Of what?” Lacy asked.

“Our man in rehab. There’s one part that’s pretty graphic.”

Jeri wiped her eyes, bit a lip, said, “I want to see it.”

Agent Murray pressed some buttons on a tablet and the video began on a big screen behind Vidovich. He moved out of the way as they gawked at the image taken with a smartphone. Bannick had not been moved and was lying face-up, eyes closed, unshaven, mouth half open, a white liquid leaking from one corner, dead as a doornail. The camera moved slowly down his body and stopped at his hands, which had been placed next to each other over his crotch.

Vidovich narrated, “Probably dipped his fingers in an acid right before he died.”

Allie mumbled just loud enough to be heard, “That sonofabitch.”

The camera zoomed in close on the fingers and Lacy looked away.

Vidovich said, “You asked about prints. We may have a problem. The damage is obviously substantial and the wounds will not heal, not now anyway. Looks like he knew exactly what he was doing.”

Lacy asked, “Can you stop it right there?”

Agent Suarez froze the video. Lacy said, “So, let’s go slow here. He apparently tried to mutilate his fingers to avoid getting printed, which I assume is possible even after death.”

Agent Neff said, “Yes, it happens all the time, assuming the hands and fingers are in decent shape.”

“Okay. So, assuming he wanted to destroy his prints, and assuming that he had already altered them in some way — wouldn’t it be reasonable to assume he knew about the partial thumb print?”

Vidovich smiled and said, “Exactly. Somehow Bannick knew we had a print.”

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