Veteran judges like Meyer referred to handing out enormous sentences as “pulling the trigger,” but it didn’t really count unless the judge opened fire on a defendant who really didn’t deserve it, like the desperate and the destitute, and Gage knew Brandon Meyer always charged into his courtroom with his safety off.
“Why’d the other judges let you off the hook?” Gage asked.
“I’m not, completely. I still have to deal with white-collar crime, mostly high-tech, but the bulk of my calendar is civil.” Meyer lowered his voice as though he might be heard in the hallway. “You know a lot of the judges around here. They don’t like to work too hard, and those big civil firm lawyers file lots of motions.”
Meyer was as smooth and as deceptive as a chameleon. He and Gage both knew he didn’t read briefs, or at least nothing he ever did in court suggested he had. He relied on law clerks to give him summaries as he walked from his chambers into the courtroom. In any case, Meyer didn’t decide motions based on their legal merits, but rather on who he wanted to win the case.
A client in Japan had taught Gage the word for Meyer’s game: tatemae. It meant saying aloud what both parties knew wasn’t true-and Meyer was the master. Nearly everyone who entered the Federal Building played tatemae with judges, cushioning their egos and swaddling their insecurities, because almost everybody wanted something, and judges were the only ones who had it.
Gage didn’t want anything.
“What did you want to talk about?” Gage asked.
Meyer took another sip from his highball glass, then set it down on a marble coaster and leaned back in his chair. Gage imagined his shoes dangling four inches above the carpet.
“I understand Socorro told you about the mugging,” Meyer said.
Gage nodded.
“I don’t expect you to follow up on it. It’s low-end work. I’m sure it’s been decades since you searched a dumpster. But I’d prefer you didn’t tell anyone about it.”
“There’s no reason to. But if anybody calls in response to Charlie’s posters, I’ll have one of my people follow up on-”
Brandon raised his palm. “No need for you to do that. Just pass on any names or phone numbers. I’ll take care of it.”
“I don’t expect to hear anything,” Gage said. “It’s been a couple of months.”
“You’re right. I think it’s a dead issue.”
Meyer rose again, signaling the end of the meeting.
Not quite.
Gage remained in his seat.
“A man with a brother running for president should be more careful about where he goes walking at night.” Gage smiled. “Remember what happened to Reiman in Oakland last month.”
A news photographer, responding to a West Oakland car fire, took photos of San Francisco judge Hal Reiman slipping into Rocky’s Adult Videos and strolling out a few minutes later with an Asian teenage boy. The photographer followed them to a grimy stucco motel a block away. The photographer’s final shot caught the judge and the kid walking into a second floor room.
“The difference, my friend, is that I was just passing through,” Meyer said.
Gage stood up. “But a photo might make it seem like you’d reached your destination.”
Chapter 9
A ex Z’s head bobbed and his shoulders rocked to his band’s newly recorded tracks in his second floor office in Gage’s building as he probed the copies he’d made of Charlie Palmer’s hard drives.
Gage tore off a page from his yellow legal pad, folded it into an airplane, wrote Ready? on a wing, and sent it flying over Alex Z’s head. The multitattooed data analyst glanced up as it bounced off the wall and onto his keyboard, then lowered the volume and turned toward Gage. Mid-twenties. Shaggy hair. Earrings both numerous and, on this day, mythological.
“I didn’t want to scare you by yelling,” Gage said.
“Thanks.” Alex Z held up a finger. “And you gave me an idea for a song.”
“Glad to help.” Gage pointed at Alex Z’s earlobes. “What’s with the Greek mythology theme?”
“I’m thinking of changing the name of the band from Cheezwiz to Zeus’s Deuces. Some lawyer at Kraft sent a letter to our manager. They didn’t like our ‘Smoking Velveeta’ song.”
“Maybe they didn’t understand it.”
Alex Z laughed. “I’m sure they didn’t. It was complete nonsense. I was just searching for a rhyme for ‘toking chiquita.’ ”
“Was that supposed to make sense?”
“Not that I could tell. But with the kind of music we play, nobody can hear the words anyway.”
“Except lawyers.”
Alex Z hunched his shoulders and spread his hands. “Who would’ve thought? I always picture them as having big mouths, not big ears.”
Gage pulled up a chair, then gestured at one of the twin twenty-inch monitors on Alex Z’s desk. “What did you find?”
“A lot of encrypted files. Some of the ones on the desktop were accessed early in the morning on the day Charlie got shot and some on the laptop and server right after he got back from the hospital.”
“Did the burglar get into them on the day of the funeral?”
“He tried, but couldn’t open any. The encryption system Charlie used kept a log of failed attempts.”
“Is there any way to tell if he copied any of the files?”
Alex Z shook his head.
Gage scanned the dozen boxes of Charlie’s software stacked next to the brick wall. “What program did he use?”
“FileLock. Pretty sophisticated.”
“So you can’t break in?”
“Nope.”
“Viz’ll talk to Socorro and get some ideas of the passwords he might have used.”
Gage skimmed the directory on Alex Z’s monitor.
“What about a calendar?”
“No entries on the day he was shot.”
“Billing records?”
“Nothing that day either, probably because he never made it back to the office. He went from the hospital to rehab to his bedroom.”
Gage thought for a moment, feeling as blocked as the burglar and looking for a back way into what Charlie was working on that prompted the break-in.
“Can you get into his timekeeping program and get me his records for the last six months he worked?”
“I can’t get into the program anymore, but I exported all the data before we shut things down at his house.”
As Alex Z opened the database, he said, “Tansy told me he called you. You know what he wanted?”
“I’m not sure, but I know it wasn’t to tidy up his practice. We don’t do his kind of work around here. And he knew it.”
Alex Z’s fingers tapped his keyboard, and Palmer’s records began emerging from the printer. He then pointed at the second monitor.
“You want me to keep working on the antitrust case or pass it off and focus on this?”
Gage glanced over at an unoccupied desk. “How’s Shakir working out?”
“He’s like a bat. He seems to do his best work at night. I can see why he didn’t stay with the Federal Trade Commission. They want nine-to-fivers.” Alex Z nodded toward Shakir’s computer. “I’ve already got him working on the e-mail traffic during the conspiracy. He knows a helluva lot about price fixing and bid rigging. We’re lucky you snagged him.”
“Then turn the whole antitrust case over to him. Make Charlie’s files your priority. We’ve got to figure out what he was up to.”
Alex Z took in a long breath and exhaled, then shook his head. “Getting shot must’ve really rocked his world.”
“Maybe. Maybe it got rocked before that.” Gage reached for Charlie’s time logs. “And we owe it to Viz to make sure it doesn’t rock Socorro’s.”
Chapter 10
Tansy Amaro was waiting outside Gage’s office when he arrived upstairs.
“Can I speak to you for a minute?” Tansy asked.
Gage directed her toward one of two wooden, straight-backed chairs facing his desk, and then asked, “What’s on your mind?”
“Charlie Palmer.” Tansy hesitated, eyes searching Gage’s. “Well
… maybe it’s really about you.”