Page 58 of Shadow of Justice
“Maybe not,” I said. “Maybe today was the first crack. I’d like to talk to George Luke alone. But I don’t want to approach him. Maybe he’ll come to me.”
“He’s slammed the door,” Sam said. “Gus tried to go over there several times. The grip Simmons has over that family is tight.”
“Until today,” I said. “George was alone. I can’t imagine Simmons wanted him in that courtroom today.”
My desk phone rang. Sam and I exchanged a look. Nobody knew we were here. It was well past business hours.
I answered it, putting the caller on speaker. “This is Mara Brent.”
“Ms. Brent,” a female voice said. “I’m so glad you’re in your office. I didn’t think I’d catch you.”
I looked at the caller ID. It was a 313 area code. That was near Detroit.
“Well, you caught me. But I was just leaving. What can I do for you?”
“I was … I’ve been reading online about your trial. About that cold case murder? Ellie Luke?”
Sam rolled his eyes. The office took plenty of crackpot calls during high-profile trials. But most of those went to the main line. Whoever this was dialed into my extension.
“May I ask who’s calling?”
The woman on the other end of the phone hesitated. “I debated calling at all. I didn’t want to get involved. I have reasons to … well … stay far away. But my husband encouraged me. My name is Deena Landon. Well, it used to be Deena Price.”
Sam looked puzzled. Neither name rang bells for either of us. I slid a legal pad closer to me and gestured to Sam. The cup I usually kept pens in was empty. They had a way of walking off by themselves. Sam took a pen out of his breast pocket and handed it to me.
“Ms. Landon,” I said. “Forgive me. But it’s pretty late. If you’ve been following the trial, then you know I’ve had a long day. If …”
“I know Jamie Simmons,” Deena blurted. “That is … a long time ago … we dated. It’s been twenty-five years. We went to community college together for a year. Washtenaw County. Then he transferred to UT. We … Ms. Brent, he was violent.”
I jotted down her name and the number from the caller ID. Still, I was skeptical. As she’d said, the case had made its way into the news. Crackpot was still a possibility.
“Ms. Landon,” I said. “I’m going to need specifics.”
“I know,” she said. “I would have come forward a long time ago. I had no idea Jamie would be involved in anything like this. But … he’s not a nice guy. I know that firsthand. He was sweet at first. Attentive. My parents liked him. But then he just got really possessive. Didn’t want me hanging around my friends. He was isolating. Controlling. It got suffocating. He … he got physically aggressive then. I tried to break things off and he hit me. Kicked me in the stomach.”
“When was this?” I asked. “Did you go to a doctor?”
“Twenty-five years ago,” she said. “And yes. I ended up in the ER with a couple of cracked ribs. I broke things off then. I didn’t press charges but there was a cop who came and talked to me. I don’t think there’s a record of it.”
Sam shook his head. He grabbed another legal pad and quickly wrote, “SIMMONS = NO CRIMINAL RECORD AT ALL.”
“Okay,” I said. “When’s the last time you saw Jamie?”
“I left school after that. I was really afraid of Jamie. For a while, I was agoraphobic. I blocked Jamie’s number. A few weeks went by and I reconnected with Doug. He was my brother’s friend and he’d always kind of had a thing for me. Doug was a Marine at the time. We started dating. I wanna say it was about two or three months after I left WCCC. I was getting ready to re-enroll. Jamie showed up again out of the blue at my mom’s house. He threatened me. Doug was there. He beat the living crap out of Jamie. I thought he was going to kill him.”
“Were the police called then?” I asked.
“No. That was the end of it. Jamie was terrified. He left. I never saw him again. I’ve always felt like Doug saved my life that day. We got married about a year later.”
“I’m glad he was there for you,” I said.
“Me too. But … I just … I thought you should know. I didn’t know that other girl, Ellie Luke. Whatever happened with her sounds like it was a couple of years after I last saw Jamie. God. Maybe if I’d pursued things with the police. I should have. I don’t know.”
“You can’t blame yourself for any of it,” I said.
“But he killed her? Were they dating? Did he …”
“I can’t discuss the particulars. I hope you can understand. But do you think you and Doug would be willing to come down to Waynetown and talk to me in more detail?”
