Capitol Murder by Phillip Margolin

business, and she told the jailer she was Clarence Little’s attorney. Moments later, the elevator took her up to the jail. She waited in a narrow hall for a guard to escort her into a room similar to the noncontact visiting room at the prison. Glass separated her from Clarence. At Clarence’s insistence, Millie had gotten a judge to order that Clarence be allowed to wear a suit and tie to court appearances.
    “You look more like a lawyer than I do,” Millie joked to ease the tension that threatened to paralyze her.
    Clarence smiled. “And you look beautiful.”
    “Thank you,” Millie answered nervously.
    “Is everything okay?”
    “Yes.”
    As they spoke, Millie hiked up her dress. She took the miniature gun out of her panties and palmed it.
    Millie and Clarence engaged in small talk while they anxiously waited for a jailer to end the meeting so Clarence could be escorted to court. Millie felt faint when the jailer unlocked the door behind Clarence and led him out. She opened her door and waited. Two guards handcuffed Clarence and walked him to the elevator. They made no objection when Millie asked to ride down to the fifth floor with her client. The elevator door opened and Clarence stepped to the rear. Millie pressed against him and passed him the gun. One guard stood facing the door. The other stood next to Clarence but slightly in front of him. As soon as the elevator door closed, Clarence raised his hands and shot the nearest guard in the back of the head.
    The tiny gun made a popping sound that would not have attracted much attention in a large room but sounded hard and horribly loud in the confined space. Millie gasped as the jailer slid down the wall. The other guard turned. Clarence pressed the gun between his eyes and squeezed the trigger. There was no room to fall and the guard lurched against Millie. She screamed.
    “What have you done?” Millie asked.
    “The key,” Clarence commanded. “Quick, Millie. We only have a few moments.”
    Millie had seen the guard put the handcuff keys in his front pocket after he handcuffed Clarence. The guard was pressed against her. She fought back a strong urge to throw up as she groped in his pocket. Blood was flowing from the wound between his eyes and she had to contort her body to keep it from getting on her dress.
    “Good girl,” Clarence said when Millie unlocked his cuffs. The elevator shuddered to a stop on the fifth floor. Clarence found the button that kept the elevator door shut and jammed it in. Millie stared at the dead men.
    “You said no one would get hurt,” she said, her voice breaking.
    “It was us or them, Millie, and I chose us. It was the only way we could be together. Now we have to move fast. Where is your car?”
    Millie was horrified by what she’d just seen, and she didn’t trust herself to speak. So she took the map with the location and the license plate number out of her attaché case and held it out to Clarence with a trembling hand.
    “Did you put my change of clothes in the trunk?” Clarence asked. Millie nodded.
    “Give me your car keys.”
    Millie handed Clarence the keys, and he put the keys and the gun in his pocket. He looked sad. “Here comes the hard part. Come to me.”
    Millie turned her back to Clarence. She was shaking.
    “We’ll be together soon,” he said.
    “Will it hurt?”
    “No, dearest. I’ll be gentle. It will be quick, and you’ll just pass out. I have to do this so they don’t suspect you helped me.”
    Millie closed her eyes and felt Clarence’s arm encircle her throat. She was frightened. Then Clarence kissed her ear and said, “I love you, Millie.”
    She tried to smile, but she was too tense. Then she remembered that they were going to be together forever. She imagined palm trees, a warm, gentle breeze, a pearl white beach, and a sea so blue that the scene looked like a picture postcard. Then the choke hold tightened and she panicked.
    Millie tried to speak but her larynx was being crushed.