The trials of max q, p.38
The Trials of Max Q, page 38
“Which means that escaping was the only way he could be with her. It also made him look guiltier than sin, which protected her from any future scrutiny. But he really was just playing into her plan,” Shep adds.
I nod. Luckily they had a crazed prosecutor to help them out.
“Now I understand his motivation, but I’m still not clear as to why she was willing to risk it all on an escape. After Maxon’s testimony, she was in the clear from future scrutiny, just as she planned. And with Drew in jail, she and Lansdale could have run off together. It seems her objectives were already met,” Shep says.
“Drew spending life in prison was going to be an obstacle to her new life. If she stopped being the supportive wife or sought a divorce, he might stop protecting her. Her goal is security, and he would still have control over her from prison.”
The way I see it, shortly after his release, “depressed” over his sullied reputation and fall from grace, Drew would have taken his own life. At least Marissa would have made it look that way. The grieving widow would run to the arms of James Lansdale for comfort. Drew and Lansdale symbolized the men who tore down her father’s store—the gatekeepers to the kingdom of perfection. Only when Drew and Lansdale are out of the way, will the kingdom be hers. Then nobody will be able to take it away from her, and destiny will finally be in her hands.
“But after Maxon foiled the plan, she needed to find a new way to get rid of him. She’s going to kill Drew, and if I’m Lansdale, I’m not making any long term plans,” Shep adds.
I can’t summon any sadness for Lansdale. His quest to acquire the best toys at any cost led him to Marissa, but this trophy will likely be very costly. The big game hunter was now the hunted, and was likely too blind and arrogant to see it. As for Drew, I would bet he’s already dead.
“And we can’t do a damn thing about it. Laney Bang’s murderer will be recorded in the history books as Drew Anderson, a fugitive who will never be seen again.”
“The only persons left who witnessed tonight’s escape are you and me, and if we ever voice the truth, either nobody will believe us, or we’ll be the ones who end up in jail,” Shep bemoans.
I remain on the damp straw of the stable floor. I try to come to grips with the fact that I just sent a man to his death. And Shep’s right—who was I going to tell? I turned Drew Anderson into a fugitive from the law, and played right into the hands of his killer.
I begin to tremble, remembering that Andy Kass was baggage on the getaway flight. I begin to dry-heave.
Kerri knew that Drew was taking the fall for his wife—she was trying to protect him from her, and why she feared for his life when he was in prison. Kerri likely wanted to have her fried for the murder, but her stubborn client wouldn’t allow it. That is why she desperately pushed me to keep Marissa out of the escape plan. I thought it was because she was jealous. She thinks I was saving him from Marissa last night, when I actually led him right to his demise.
Marissa’s words fill my head again. What I would do to just feel that sense of safety for one day, Jack. That feeling that things can’t be ripped away from me.
Shep puts her gun away. She kneels down and wraps her arms around me, trying to console the inconsolable.
“I killed him.”
She pulls me tighter.
Jordan Kelly continues stroking the snout of his beloved horse, oblivious to the scene before him.
Chapter 105
The day following Thanksgiving is referred to as Black Friday. Never has the term been so appropriate. Reality has begun to sink in—I sentenced an innocent man to death and there is no appeal process.
I have made my way to Manhattan. The city is bursting at the seams with hordes of shoppers on what is the biggest shopping day of the year in the United States.
Shep and I grilled Jordan Kelly for another hour earlier this morning. We learned nothing of note. He was positive that Lansdale would meet up with Drew and Marissa, but had no idea where or when. I had left their route up to Drew—I thought it would be best for them if I had no knowledge of it. It turned out to be best for Marissa. And like everything else in this case, I doubt it was a coincidence.
We did learn that Jordan’s tattoo of the ‘J’ and ‘M’ next to the cross stood-for Jordan and Marissa. The cross represented his belief that she was his savior. We also learned that the strange passive/aggressive behavior of threatening us, yet also providing us valuable evidence, was because Marissa drilled him over and over about keeping people off balance. Which is why they hit us from both sides—providing us evidence against Drew, but also running us off the road in support of him. It was a tactic she was a master at. As was her killing tactic with the knife, taught to her by her former Special Forces husband, for self-defense purposes.
In the end, arresting Jordan Kelly would accomplish nothing. Even if we gave him immunity, Marissa is long gone, so the only person he would put away would be yours truly. His story also lacks credibility, due to his intense anger toward his father. We eventually left Jordan, who only seemed interested in his horse, and I’m not completely sure he noticed that we’d gone.
I walk into Nellie’s, a sports bar on the Upper West Side. It’s the place I first met Reyanne. I need all the help I can get today.
Crowds are gathered around assorted television sets, watching college football rivalry games that are traditionally played during the extended Thanksgiving weekend. The biggest crowd is viewing the game between Notre Dame and USC.
I arrive at a table in the back and sit down across from Kerri. She looks different, dressed in a baseball cap, jeans, and a light blue Columbia University sweatshirt that she wears over a white turtleneck. Her expression is also different. I’ve always wanted to wipe the smug expression off her face, but it looks as if somebody has beaten me to it.
“How are you?” I ask.
I expect a sharp reply about wasting her valuable time, dragging her to some bar when she could be billing some client a couple grand an hour. But I get the opposite.
“What are you going to do now?” I ask.
“I’m going to take a leave of absence from LB&G. I need some time to think. Re-evaluate things.”
“Be careful about those leave of absences, they can become permanent,” I reply and try to smile.
“I’m not going to move to Sticksville and become a prosecutor, Jack, if that’s what you are getting at.”
A much more Kerri-like answer, which gives the conversation a sense of normalcy.
“Is he gone?” she asks.
“Yes,” I reply, but leave out the sordid details.
A sense of relief comes over Kerri’s face. “Thank God.”
“I did my part, Kerri, now it’s your turn. We talked to Jordan Kelly this morning, so I have a pretty good idea of what happened, but I still need a few blanks to be filled in.”
“Jordan Kelly,” she says, and takes a sip of water. “That’s a good place to start, because it’s where this whole mess began.”
Chapter 106
“When Marissa pursued a relationship with Jordan Kelly, it set her plan in motion, whether she knew it or not at the time,” Kerri begins.
“Marissa told me that it was Drew who pushed her into the relationship with Jordan,” I interrupt, knowing now that I was completely manipulated.
It might just be coincidence that Jordan Kelly also happened to be the son of billionaire James Lansdale, who would become such an intricate part of the Anderson’s life. But I’ve learned that Marissa leaves nothing to chance. I can picture her “innocently” trading cases with a co-worker to be able to defend Lansdale’s son.
Kerri looks like she wants to reach across the table and slap some sense into me. “A little charisma and a lot of skin—it works for her with a jury, and with slobbering men like you, Jack. If you haven’t figured it out by now, she tends to sway from the truth when it benefits her. Not only did Drew not push the relationship with Jordan, he was devastated by it.”
Just like when I first witnessed Marissa in court, her nature was to take control, and this situation was no different.
That’s not to say that I think Marissa entered her union with Drew to have extramarital affairs and plot murders. Just the opposite. I think she was searching for a utopian existence in which the things she valued couldn’t be taken from her, and thought she had been rescued by her prince. And her refusal to sign any pre-nup was based on idealism, not calculation. But she found out that Drew was the gatekeeper of her dream, and could take it away at any moment. She was just as vulnerable as when they took away her father’s store. He owned her security.
She made a pledge to fight for those who fought against such machines—the ones that could steal away people’s safe lives—and she found herself to be one of those she vowed to protect. By bringing Jordan Kelly into their lives, she showed Drew that she was now the one who could take away his perfect life.
Kerri continues, “He would never leave her, and she knew that. But he feared that she might leave him, especially when the financial problems began to pile up.”
“He brought in Tony Rivotti, the forger, and made the gamble with James Lansdale for control of the business,” I add.
She nods. “Drew was desperate. His life was on the line—company, image, and most importantly to him, Marissa. Lansdale is always there to lend a helping hand when it benefits him.”
My insides wrench, remembering how Marissa convinced me to bring Lansdale into the escape plan, going against my instincts. “It sounds like you were also there to lend Drew a hand, among other things, during his time of need.”
“I’m not ashamed to say that I fell in love with him, but like I told you, I held no illusions that he felt the same about me. I provided him warmth and comfort when all he was getting from her was rejection.”
“Was he going for warmth and comfort with Laney Bang? I sensed in the video that other needs were being met in that relationship.”
“If I provided comfort, then Laney restored his male ego. Which we both know is the most powerful drug when it comes to men. So much so, that he even drew up divorce papers at one point. But like I said, he wasn’t thinking straight—the drug was in control of him.
“Of course Marissa responded to the Laney affair by opening her arms to him again, and he came running like the obsessed, lovesick kid he was. He broke it off with both Laney and myself, and he and Marissa seemed to be in as much love as ever—spending every waking minute together and planning for happily ever after. She was back in control.”
Which brings me to the night of July 23.
Chapter 107
I think I’ve figured out how the night unfolded, but I need to hear it from Kerri.
“No matter how coldly he ended things with me, I still loved Drew. And I don’t think I’ve ever been as excited as the day I got the text from him last spring that said he had made a mistake going back to Marissa, and that he wanted me to meet him in Cooperstown.”
“But it wasn’t from him, was it?”
“Marissa was the one who sent it. But not just to me. Laney was also there, having received the same message. Marissa ambushed us, accusing us of sleeping with her husband.”
“Wasn’t the affair with Laney what drove Drew and her back together? She knew about the relationship.”
“Of course she did, but you have to remember that the things I mentioned to you earlier were based on hindsight. Drew and I went to great lengths to keep our relationship secret. And because I was Laney’s secret business manager, I read the manuscript of her memoir—Drew was practically the only member of the male race that she didn’t name in there. So I assumed it was possible that Marissa didn’t know at that point, and was just a pissed off wife who wanted to give her husband a little payback.”
“Okay, she’s got you there. Now what happens?”
“There was a lot of shouting and name calling at first. But when the dust cleared, the one thing that stood out was that Drew had hurt each of us. Marissa appeared to be the victim of infidelity, and I had been kicked to the curb after being used as a crying shoulder. But most surprising to me was the vitriol that Laney showed toward him.”
“Her anger was not an act. It actually went back to that incident in college. She had been waiting for the right opportunity, and Marissa provided her the platform for revenge.”
“I was unaware of that at the time, and if Marissa hadn’t sent you to PE Albertson, we still wouldn’t know. Laney was the one who suggested we join forces to get revenge on Drew, and was the driving force behind the strategy to do so. Little did she know that she was doing Marissa’s dirty work for her, and unwittingly plotting her own murder.”
“So how did Laney plan to take down Mr. Perfect after all these years?”
“Even though Drew had gone cold turkey from the Laney drug at the time, she knew if they crossed paths again it would be like a recovering alcoholic walking into a bar. With Maxon’s help, we were able to set up the meeting.”
“Was Maxon involved in the revenge plot?”
“No, but he’d do anything for Laney and she took advantage. She convinced him that she and Drew had mutual business interests, and he moved heaven and earth to make the meeting happen.”
“I assume Drew succumbed to his addiction.”
“It was like child’s play for Laney. Once the others left the meeting, and it was just the two of them, the deal was sealed. She could also push his buttons and get him to threaten her on film, which was a big part of the plan.”
I finally had the answer to who the third person was—the one who filmed it without Drew’s knowledge. “It was a Marissa production, wasn’t it?”
“Marissa knew the place inside and out, and didn’t need to force entry. And if her prints were lifted, it’s her house, so it wouldn’t cause suspicion. Plus, she had knowledge of how Drew and Maxon had made their films over the years. Using a hole in the wall, she could remain undetected.”
A loud noise arises from the other side of the bar, as Notre Dame has scored in the midst of a furious comeback, momentarily interrupting us.
When the cheering dies down, I pick up, “The next step is when he leaves for his usual run the next morning. The way I see it, Laney calls 911, so that the police will be waiting for Drew upon his return.”
“When they arrived, she would accuse him of assault. And she would look the part—it was Laney’s idea for Marissa to beat up her face for authenticity.”
“That’s why there was no resistance.”
“It’s also why the threats on the tape were so important. Laney figured that the police would never believe her word against Drew, even with the bruises. She could have simply embarrassed him by leaking the video … but she had grander plans.”
“When the police witnessed the threats, combined with the bruises on Laney’s face, they would have no choice but to make an arrest.”
She somberly nods her head.
I now know everybody’s role in this, but one. “I’m still not sure what your job was, Kerri.”
Her expression fills with regret. “As his lawyer, I was going to use the system to make sure he got his public flogging in court, but ensure that he got off in the end. I was supposed to control the trial. of course, it was supposed to be an assault and battery trail … not murder.”
She learned the lesson we’ve all learned the hard way—the only one controlling the strings was Marissa. She was the true puppeteer. “But things didn’t go as planned, did they?”
“It was going fine up until that point—Laney had made the 911 call and it was time for Marissa to approach her and apply the bruising and abrasions to her face. But instead of bruises, Marissa stabbed her to death.”
Just like that. Kerri looks devastated, which makes me wonder. “How do you know this? You weren’t there, were you?”
“I got it from an eyewitness.”
“There was an eyewitness?”
Chapter 108
“The witness was Drew himself. He unexpectedly returned early from his jog. And what he saw was his beloved wife stabbing to death his mistress. He believed it was a crime of passion, resulting from their affair.”
He did change his routine that morning.
Kerri shakes her head like she still couldn’t grasp what happened. “It was typical Drew. A combination of chivalry, naïve loyalty, and self-flattery. He actually blamed himself for Marissa killing Laney. He refused to even consider any other possibility.”
“She can be quite convincing.”
“Oh, she was. She lied to him that she was willing to take responsibility and turn herself into the police. He actually bought her act, and sent her to safety on one of his motorboats. On her way, she dropped the murder weapon to the bottom of Otsego Lake.”
“Then Drew does what he always does when he gets himself in to trouble over the years—he calls Maxon.”
“Correct. He arrives by boat shortly thereafter, and Drew makes up that hard-to-believe story about a jealous lover showing up and attacking Laney, in which he was forced to stab the woman in self-defense, as he fended her off. He convinced Maxon that Laney was unharmed, and he’d gotten her to a safe location. But he needed Maxon to hide the knife that Drew had stabbed the attacker with, fearing a media frenzy that would harm the Max Q reputation, especially when he had to answer questions about why Laney Bang had spent the night at his estate.”
“Because Marissa still wasn’t completely in the clear. He needed to ensure her protection.”
Kerri nods. “Drew had taken another knife from the kitchen and dipped it into Laney’s blood, which there was no shortage of. He wanted the second knife hidden, so that if the story about Marissa came to the surface, he would be able to use it to protect her by framing himself for the murder. That’s the knife he gave Maxon, with instructions to hide it at the construction site for the new high school.”
