“Yes,” he finally said, “I get it.”
“Good, then remember it. Now, let’s go back in there and see if we can avoid giving away your right to appeal if you happen to get convicted because I fucked up by being unprepared for trial.”
“That won’t happen. I have faith in you.”
“I appreciate that, Walter. But the truth is, you have no basis for that faith. And whether you do or don’t, it doesn’t mean we have to give anything away. Let’s go back in now, and let me do the talking. That’s why I get the big bucks, right?”
I clapped him on the shoulder. We went in and sat back down. And Walter didn’t say another word. I argued that he shouldn’t have to give away his right to appellate review just because he wanted the speedy trial he was entitled to. But Judge Stanton sided with Golantz, ruling that if Elliot declined the offer to delay the trial, he couldn’t come complaining after a conviction that his attorney hadn’t had enough time to prepare. Faced with the ruling, Elliot stuck to his guns and declined the delay, as I knew he would. That was okay with me. Under the Byzantine rules of law, almost nothing was safe from appeal. I knew that if necessary, Elliot would still be able to appeal the ruling the judge had just made.
We moved on to what the judge called housekeeping after that. The first order of business was to have both sides sign off on a motion from Court TV to be allowed to broadcast segments of the trial live on its daily programming. Neither I nor Golantz objected. After all, it was free advertising – me for new clients, Golantz to further his political aspirations. And as far as Walter Elliot was concerned, he whispered to me that he wanted the cameras there to record his not-guilty verdict.
Next the judge outlined the schedule for submitting final discovery and witness lists. He gave us until Monday on the discovery materials and the witness lists were due the day after that.
“No exceptions, gentlemen,” he said. “I look dimly on surprise additions after deadline.”
This was not going to be a problem from the defense’s side of the aisle. Vincent had already made two previous discovery filings and there was very little new since then for me to share with the prosecution. Cisco Wojciechowski was doing a good job of keeping me in the dark as to what he was finding out about Rilz. And what I didn’t know I couldn’t put in the discovery file.
When it comes to witnesses, my plan was to give Golantz the usual runaround. I would be submitting a list of potential witnesses, naming every law officer and forensic tech mentioned in the sheriff’s reports. That was standard operating procedure. Golantz would have to puzzle over who I really would call to testify and who was important to the defense’s case.
“All right, guys, I’ve probably got a courtroom full of lawyers out there waiting for me,” Stanton finally said. “Are we clear on everything?”
Golantz and I nodded our heads. I couldn’t help but wonder if either the judge or the prosecutor was the recipient of the bribe. Was I sitting with the man who would turn the case my client’s way? If so, he had done nothing to give himself away. I finished the meeting thinking that Bosch had it all wrong. There was no bribe. There was a hundred-thousand-dollar boat somewhere in a harbor in San Diego or Cabo and it had Jerry Vincent’s name on the title.
“Okay, then,” the judge said. “We’ll get this going next week. We can talk about ground rules Thursday morning. But I want to make it clear right now, I’m going to run this trial like a well-oiled machine. No surprises, no shenanigans, no funny stuff. Again, are we clear?”
Golantz and I both agreed once more that we were clear. But the judge swiveled his chair and looked directly at me. He squinted his eyes in suspicion.
“I’m going to hold you to that,” he said.
It seemed to be a message intended only for me, a message that would never show on the stenographer’s record.
How come, I wondered, it’s always the defense attorney who gets the judicial squint?
Twenty-five
I got to Joanne Giorgetti’s office shortly before the noon break. I knew that getting there a minute after twelve would be too late. The DA’s Offices literally empty during the lunch hour, the inhabitants seeking sunlight, fresh air and sustenance outside the CCB. I told the receptionist I had an appointment with Giorgetti and she made a call. Then she buzzed the door lock and told me to go back.
Giorgetti had a small, windowless office with most of the floor space taken up by cardboard file boxes. It was the same way in every prosecutor’s office I had ever been in, big or small. She was at her desk but was hidden behind a wall of stacked motions and files. I carefully reached over the wall to shake her hand.
“How’s it going, Joanne?”
“Not bad, Mickey. How about you?”
“I’m doing okay.”
“You just got a lot of cases, I hear.”
“Yeah, quite a few.”
The conversation was stilted. I knew she and Maggie were tight, and there was no telling whether my ex-wife had opened up to her about my difficulties in the past year.
“So you’re here for Wyms?”
“That’s right. I didn’t even know I had the case till this morning.”
She handed me a file with an inch-thick stack of documents in it.
“What do you think happened to Jerry’s file?” she asked.
“I think maybe the killer took it.”
She made a cringing face.
“Weird. Why would the killer take this file?”
“Probably unintended. The file was in Jerry’s briefcase along with his laptop, and the killer just took the whole thing.”
“Hmmm.”
“Well, is there anything unusual about this case? Anything that would have made Jerry a target?”
“I don’t think so. Just your usual everyday crazy-with-a-gun sort of thing.”
I nodded.
“Have you heard anything about a federal grand jury taking a look at the state courts?”
She knitted her eyebrows.
“Why would they be looking at this case?”
“I’m not saying they were. I’ve been out of the loop for a while. I was wondering what you’ve heard.”
She shrugged.
“Just the usual rumors on the gossip circuit. Seems like there’s always a federal investigation of something.”
“Yeah.”
I said nothing else, hoping she would fill me in on the rumor. But she didn’t and it was time to move on.
“The hearing today is to set a trial date?” I asked.
“Yes, but I assume you’ll want a continuance so you can get up to speed.”
“Well, let me go look at the file during lunch and I’ll let you know if that’s what the plan is.”
“Okay, Mickey. But just so you know. I won’t oppose a continuance, considering what happened with Jerry.”
“Thanks, CoJo.”
She smiled as I used the name her young basketball players called her by at the Y.
“You seen Maggie lately?” she asked.
“Saw her last night when I went to pick up Hayley. She seems to be doing okay. Have you seen her?”
“Just at basketball practice. But she usually sits there with her nose in a file. We used to go out after with the girls to Hamburger Hamlet but Maggie’s been too busy.”
I nodded. She and Maggie had been foxhole buddies since day one, coming up through the ranks of the prosecutor’s office. Competitors but not competitive with each other. But time goes by and distances work their way into any relationship.
“Well, I’ll take this and look it all over,” I said. “The hearing’s with Friedman at two, right?”
“Yeah, two. I’ll see you then.”
“Thanks for doing this, Joanne.”
“No problem.”
I left the DA’s Office and waited ten minutes to get on an elevator with the lunch crowd. The last one on, I rode down with my face two inches from the door. I hated the elevators more than anything else in the entire Criminal Courts Building.