“A line you could use in a novel,” Lucas said.
“Yeah, and I probably will, sad to say.”
31
A month after the big meeting, all of the investigative material was turned over to Dick Roller, a Dakota County assistant county attorney who either would, or wouldn’t, present the material to a grand jury.
Two weeks later, he called Lucas and said, “We’ll send you some paper, but I wanted to notify you and Virgil that you’ll be called to testify before the grand jury next week.”
“You gonna indict her?” Lucas asked.
“That would be up to the jury…”
“C’mon, man, the jury does what you tell it to do,” Lucas said.
“They do tend to follow my advice,” Roller said. “Finding Schmidt’s body made things easier.”
“So are you going to indict her?”
“It’ll take a couple of sessions to get through it all, but, yeah, we’llarrest her sometime during the week after next. I gotta get my boss to sign off on it, but he will.”
“I will see you next week,” Lucas said.
—
The jury metfor four days, in the evenings. Lucas and Virgil testified on the same evening, went out for beer when they were done.
“What happened with the search at Bee? Knife-sharpening marks?”
“Not that anyone could find, but they might be there somewhere,” Lucas said. “The problem is, the whole floor where her office used to be was remodeled ten years ago. There’s drywall where there used to be brick, and nobody can pinpoint exactly where her office was. So…we’d have to demolish the place. That won’t happen.”
Virgil went on south, and Lucas turned north to home.
And they waited.
—
A week afterthey testified, Roller called: “We’re going to arrest her this afternoon. First-degree murder in the case of Doris Grandfelt. Ramsey County sheriffs will serve the warrant and haul her butt to the jail. We’ll hold her until she makes bail. You want to be there for the bust?”
“Sure.”
“Why don’t you call Virgil and tell him? If he’s in Mankato, he’d have enough time to make it up here. If he wants to.”
Lucas called Virgil, who said, “I’ll be out of here in ten minutes. Don’t let them do it without me.”
“We don’t have a precise time, yet,” Lucas said. “I don’t think you have to hurry.”
“I’ll hurry anyway. I don’t want to miss it.”
“Come to my house. Her place is only ten minutes away. Maybe fifteen. We can wait until Roller calls.”
“On my way.”
—
The arrest attracteda crowd. Roller, a tall, too-thin man with an extra-high forehead, thin black hair, rounded shoulders, and a small, firm pot-gut, stood on the curb and watched, with Lucas and Virgil. Fisk answered the door, invited the sheriff’s deputies inside: they were close enough to hear her ask if she could call her attorney before they took her to the jail.
The deputies looked back at Roller, who nodded, and the deputies and Fisk disappeared inside.
