“Yeah, but you’re talking about when he talked to the cops.”
“So?”
“So, maybe he knew then.”
“How?”
“From his grandson. His grandson meets the girl last night, learns her name and address. Assuming she didn’t kill him-and that’s a big if-after she leaves he calls grandpa and gives him the dope.”
“But she didn’t tell him.”
“So she says. She’s said a lot of things. Some of them are not noted for being true.”
“I like that theory.”
“Why?”
“It leaves David Castleton alive after she left.”
“Yeah, well don’t go on my say-so. The way I see it, it works as well if she excused herself to use the bathroom and David picks up the phone and says, ‘Got it, Grandpa, her name’s Kelly Wilder and here’s the address.’”
“Then she comes out of the bathroom and plugs him with a thirty-two?”
“Why not?”
Steve thought a moment. “One thing against it.”
“What is that?”
“As far as you know, the cops haven’t put together the fact her brother is Herbert Clay, right?”
“If they have, I haven’t got it.”
“Then they probably haven’t. Because that’s the type of fact they wouldn’t sit on. It don’t hurt Castleton none, and it’s front page news. Now David didn’t know Herbert Clay was her brother, but he knew that was what she was after.
“But apparently Castleton didn’t. Or the name Herbert Clay would have come up. And once it did, it wouldn’t take the police long to make the connection. If they haven’t, it means it didn’t.”
Taylor shook his head. “Again, you’re going by what the girl told you. I don’t think you can take any of it at face value.”
“Maybe not, but the point is, we still got a big, unanswered question-how did the cops get a line on the girl?”
“I don’t know.”
“Great. So what else have you got?”
“That’s it. But I got stuff coming in all the time. Can I get back to my office now?”
“Won’t they ring you here?”
“Not if it’s routine. They’re just collecting data. They won’t call down unless it’s something hot.”
The phone rang.
Steve looked at Taylor. Grinned. “A movie moment. Wanna bet that’s for you?” He turned to Tracy, who had scooped the phone. “Is it for him?”
“You called it,” Tracy said. She passed over the receiver.
Taylor took it, listened for some time, said, “Okay, thanks,” and hung up the phone.
“Well,” Steve said.
“A major kick in the chops, Steve. Your client’s the biggest liar in seventeen counties. No real surprise there. But I got the answer to your question-how did the cops get a line on the girl? She told you she didn’t give him her address, right? Well, she did. He had it written down on a piece of paper in his pants pocket.”
“You’re kidding.”
Taylor shook his head. “Not at all. And that’s the least of it. I’m begging you. Steve. Bail out of this, let me go to the cops and give ’em everything I know.”
“I can’t do it, Mark. I took the case. Sink or swim, I’m in it now.”
“That’s what I thought you’d say. Well, tell me how you’re gonna deal with this. The cops traced the gun.”
“And?”
“Speculation was with the gun left there, it’d be a cold piece- either stolen, unlicensed, unregistered, impossible to trace, or it would turn out to belong to David Castleton himself.”
“And it didn’t?”
“Hell, no. I don’t know if the cops have put it together yet, but they’re bound to, and when they do, you’re sunk. For your information, the murder weapon was duly licensed and registered to one Herbert Clay.”
20
“It isn’t true.”
Steve Winslow frowned at Kelly Wilder through the wire mesh screen. “What isn’t true?”
“Any of it. It’s not true.”
“So you say.”
“You don’t believe me?”
“We have a small problem here. The cops have evidence. You don’t have anything.”
“I’m telling you the truth.”
“That would be a refreshing change.”
“Damn it, I-”
“Hold on,” Steve said. “The facts are the facts. The cops found your address in David Castleton’s pocket.”
“I didn’t give it to him.”
“Then where did he get it?”
“How the hell should I know?”
Steve took a breath. “Look. We got a problem here. Every time you tell me something it turns out not to be true. Your first story, you admit, was a lie. Now you’re in a jam, you tell another story. When I start checking it out, all I get are contradictions.”
“That’s not my fault.”
“It’s not mine either. But guess what? I’m not in jail charged with murder. You are. If you wanna get out, you gotta help me.”
“I’m trying to help you.”
“Fine. Then how did David Castleton get your address? And don’t say how the hell should I know. We’re trying to think this out together. ’Cause if we can’t, you’re sunk. So give me some help here. How could he have got your address?”
Kelly looked at him. Blinked. She took a breath. Blinked again. Her face contorted and her eyes filled with tears. “Damn it,” she said. “You think I don’t want to help you? I don’t know. The simple fact is, I don’t know. This is like a nightmare. Things keep happening to me and they don’t make any sense. You want me to make sense out of them, well how the hell can I?”
She took a breath, rubbed her eyes and looked straight at Steve. “I didn’t give David Castleton my address. That’s the bottom line. You wanna figure out how he got it, well, you help me figure it out, because my brain is Jell-O.”
“Okay,” Steve said. “When you were up in his apartment. Did you have a purse?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Did you have your wallet in it? With your real identification? Your name and address and all that?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Fine. Now is there any time he could have looked in your purse? Like maybe you went to the bathroom, left your purse on the desk next to the computer.”
Kelly thought, shook her head. “No. I remember. I went in the bathroom once, but I took my purse with me.”
“That’s the only time? Maybe you went in the kitchen for a moment?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“How about in the restaurant?”
“What?”
“During dinner. Did you maybe go to the ladies’ room, or the telephone or something, leave your purse at the table?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
“That’s no help.”
“I can’t help that. It’s the truth. You want me to say I did if I didn’t?”
“No.”
She looked at him closely. “Some attorneys do that, don’t they? They look at the facts of the case and then tell their clients what they have to say to account for them. Is that what you want me to do?”
“No, it isn’t. And we’re not talking about what story you’re gonna tell. We’re talking about what actually happened.
“And get this. I’m not going to put you on the stand and have you tell a lie. If that’s the kind of defense you want, get another lawyer.”
Kelly frowned. “Are you telling me you wouldn’t argue to the jury that David Castleton must have learned my address some other way?”
“Of course not,” Steve said. “I don’t care what you’re telling me now. I’ll go in front of a jury and argue that David Castleton must have looked in your purse during dinner while you were in the bathroom. I’ll do everything I can to raise the inference that that must have happened. I got no problem there.”
He pointed his finger at her. “What I won’t do is put you on the stand and have you swear to it.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Big difference. One way I’m making a perfectly legitimate legal argument. The other way I’m suborning perjury on the one hand and laying my client wide open to be ripped apart and caught in a lie on cross-examination on the other.”
Kelly frowned. “I see.”
“But that’s not your concern,” Steve said. “Never mind the legal ramifications. That’s my job. We’re not in court now, it’s just between you and me and we wanna know what the hell happened. Now, you say the idea he got a peek in your purse is out. Fine. But I still want you to think about it, see if there’s any way that could have happened. But for the time being, say it didn’t. All right then, what about the phone calls?”