“Let’s not let that happen.”
“Oh, but it will, if you can’t wrap up the case tonight. You either expedite the hearing and the case goes to the jury this afternoon, or your replacement takes a dive tomorrow morning, which would be embarrassing for us both. I don’t like to be embarrassed, Mr. Fisher, I like it when things go smoothly.” Taperelli smiled. “Are you sure you won’t have that drink?”
“I really can’t,” Herbie said. “But you’ve certainly given me a lot to think about.”
“Oh, don’t think, Mr. Fisher. Just do it.” Taperelli chuckled.
Herbie smiled at Taperelli. “No problem.”
Herbie couldn’t help looking around for goons as he walked into court. Mookie, in his usual spot in the back row, seemed a good bet. He wasn’t one of the goons who’d dragged him off to Taperelli, still, he had that look. The other goons didn’t appear to be there, but that didn’t matter, all it took was one to report on what he did or didn’t do.
David Ross was bright-eyed and eager at the defense table. He jumped up when Herbie came in. “You’re here. I take it James Glick isn’t coming.”
“I doubt it.”
“Good. I won’t have to argue with him. I don’t need a lawyer selling me out.” David frowned. “What’s the matter? You don’t look well.”
“I’m fine,” Herbie said, but it wasn’t true. Taperelli’s threat was real and immediate. Herbie knew that, just as the reason for James Glick’s absence was now readily apparent. The young man wasn’t dead — he had spoken to Herbie, very much alive — but the odds of him actually being in the hospital had dropped to zero, and the odds of Herbie winding up there had escalated astronomically.
Herbie was tempted to call a recess and speak to the judge. Unfortunately, Judge Buckingham was not likely to listen. The man was so hostile, Herbie couldn’t rule out the idea that he was in bed with Taperelli.
There was no telling where Herbie’s actions would leave David Ross. For his first criminal trial, things could not have gone worse. Herbie didn’t know much about procedure in such cases. He knew just one thing. He had a duty to protect his client.
At ten o’clock sharp Judge Buckingham called in the jury and returned Detective Kelly to the stand.
“Detective, I remind you that you are still under oath. Mr. Fisher, you may proceed.”
Herbie stood up. All he had to do was say, “No further questions.” It was not as if there was anything momentous he had to bring out. His bombshell had been Taperelli, and that had fizzled what with the detective’s denial and the judge ruling against further questions. The prosecution had other witnesses — the female narc, the lab technician, and the fingerprint expert. Herbie could dismiss Kelly and take his chances with them.
Herbie grimaced.
It wasn’t his chances.
It was David Ross’s.
Herbie stepped up to the witness stand.
He cleared his throat.
“Well, Detective Kelly,” he said, “let’s go over this again.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Herbie could see Mookie get up and go out the back door.
36
Detective Kelly looked very much at ease on the witness stand. He leaned back and regarded the defense attorney with disdain.
Herbie took a breath. “Now, Detective, you said you observed the defendant selling drugs at the party?”
“That’s right.”
“What exactly did you observe that led you to believe he was selling drugs?”
“A student would come up and talk to him, and they would leave the room together.”
“Did you tag along?”
“Of course not. Then he would know we were on to him.”
“You were going to bust him anyway. Why would you care if he knew?”
“I didn’t want him to suspect before we were sure.”
“When did you become sure?”
“The scene I described happened more than once. When it happened again, he became a more likely suspect.”
“But you still weren’t sure?”
“Not a hundred percent.”
“What percent were you sure?”
“That’s an expression, Counselor. You know what it means, and I know what it means, and I’m sure the jurors know what it means, too.” Detective Kelly smiled at the jury. One or two of the jurors returned his smile.
“When did you become sure?”
“I would say after the third time we observed the behavior.”
“Shortly after?”
“That’s right.”
“That’s interesting, Detective. Shortly after is also an expression. What did you mean by it?”
“I can’t give it to you much better than that.”
“Well, let’s put it this way. You say you moved in shortly after the third time. Was there a fourth time?”
Detective Kelly hesitated.
“You’re not sure?”
“I do not have the answers at my fingertips because these are not the questions I expected to be asked.”
“What were the questions you expected to be asked?”
“Objection.”
“Sustained.”
“If I understand your testimony, Detective, you moved in shortly after the third or fourth time you observed the defendant leave the room with another student.”
“That’s right.”
“And did you arrest the person you believed he was selling to at the time?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Why not?”
“We were after the seller, not the buyer.”
“And if you wanted to prove sale, wouldn’t the best way to do it be to catch the buyer with the packet of cocaine that the defendant had just sold?”
“In a perfect world.”
“And this was not a perfect world, Detective?”
“Of course not.”
“But was it not a world you created, a world entirely of your own making, a world in which you yourself played a part?”
“So?”
“Why didn’t you arrest the buyer?”
“Objection. Already asked and answered.”
“It’s been asked, but it wasn’t answered.”
“Overruled.”
“Why didn’t you arrest the buyer?”
“I explained that.”
“No, you have not. Instead, you made some remark about a perfect world.”
Herbie was asking questions on automatic pilot. His attention was distracted by the activity in the back of the room. While the detective was testifying, two goons came in, conferred with the goon who’d slipped out, presumably to make a phone call, and returned, and took up positions in the back row on either side of the aisle, effectively blocking the exit.
Clearly Herbie wasn’t going to enjoy lunch.
37
Councilman Ross and his son invited Herbie out to lunch with them, but he courteously declined.
“I’m not hungry, and I’ve got work to do.” Herbie smiled. “Hard as it may be to believe, this is not really my case.”
Herbie didn’t mention the real reason, that if he left the building for lunch there was a strong possibility he wouldn’t be back.
After David and his father left, Herbie called Mike Freeman, the head of Strategic Services. Herbie knew Mike well. Aside from setting up the corporate structure of Strategic Defenses, Herbie had often hired Mike’s firm to provide security for his clients.
“Hi, Mike. Herb Fisher.”
“Herbie. What can I do for you?”