“Dangerous thing to say. That you’d kill them.”
“I realize that now.”
“But now you say you didn’t. Kill them.”
“That’s right.”
“Any idea who might have killed them?”
“No.”
“You didn’t hire someone to kill them, did you?”
“No.”
“Or ask anyone — out of friendship, or debt, or for whatever possible reason — to kill them for you?”
“No. I had nothing to do with killing them.”
“You’re sure about that, are you?”
“Positive.”
“Tell me where you were on Monday night. The night of the murders.”
“At home. With my wife.”
“Anyone else there? Besides the two of you?”
“No. Why? Won’t her word be good enough?”
“She’s your wife,” Matthew said simply.
Studying the man. Trying to find innocence or guilt in those blue eyes of his. He would not represent him if he thought he was guilty. As simple as that. In this world, there were enough lawyers willing to represent murderers and thieves. Matthew Hope was not one of them. Nor would he ever be.
“You realize how this looks, don’t you?” he said.
“Yes.”
“Your wallet is found at the scene of the crime…”
“I don’t know how it got there.”
“But it’s unmistakably yours, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Your driver’s license is in it…”
“Yes.”
“Your credit cards…”
“Yes.”
“Unmistakably yours. The State Attorney could make a case on that alone. Your wallet found on the floor in a room where three men accused of raping your wife…”
“I wasn’t anywhere near…”
“… and later acquitted…”
“But they did it.”
“Not according to the jury.”
“The jury was wrong. They raped her.”
“Whether they did or not is academic. Last Friday, all three of them were acquitted. And last Friday, you jumped to your feet and threatened to kill them, in the presence of hundreds of witnesses. And Monday night, they were, in fact, killed. And your wallet was found at the scene.”
“Yes.”
“So why should I defend you?”
“Because I’m innocent,” Leeds said.
Eyes as clear as still water. Sitting on the edge of his narrow cot, looking up into Matthew’s face. Matthew standing opposite him, against the white wall of the cell covered with graffiti left by the army of prisoners who’d been here before Leeds. Innocent or guilty? Decide. Because once you agreed to take it on, you were committed to it, you owed.
“Any idea how your wallet got in that room?”
“No.”
“Had you missed your wallet at any time Monday?”
“No.”
“When’s the last time you saw it?”
“I don’t remember.”
“When’s the last time you used money that day? Or a credit card?”
“I guess… while I was renting the video.”
“When was that?”
“On my way home to the farm. I’m a farmer.”
An understatement. Leeds had inherited three thousand acres of rich farmland on Timucuan Point Road from his father, Osgood, who’d died six years ago. He was the grandson of Roger Leeds, who — as one of the first settlers here in southwest Florida — had bought up hundreds of thousands of acres when land was still going for peanuts. The family still owned trailer parks in Tampa and choice sections of real estate in downtown Calusa.
“I was visiting my broker,” Leeds said. “He has an office on Lime.”
“Small world,” Matthew said, and smiled. “So do I.”
“I go there every day.”
“Yes, so do I.”
“For an hour or so,” Leeds added.
Explaining the meaning of the word rich.
Matthew got back to why he was here.
“What time did you see your broker on Monday?” he asked.
“Around three. Jessie asked me to pick up a movie on the way home…”
Jessica Leeds. Who had called Matthew late yesterday, after the grand jury had brought in a true bill and the judge had denied bail. Telling him she’d heard he was the best criminal lawyer in Calusa — a premise Benny Weiss may have hotly contested — and asking if he would defend her husband. Which was why he was here this morning.
“So I stopped by at the video store…”
“Which one?”
“Video Town? Video World? They all sound the same to me. It’s on the Trail, near Lloyd. Just before the cutoff to the Whisper Key Bridge.”
“Which video did you rent?”
“Casablanca. Jessie loves those old movies. We watched it together that night. After dinner.”
“Did you leave the house at any time that night?”
“No.”
“What time did you go to bed that night?”
“Around eight-thirty.”
“Isn’t that early?”
“We got into bed to watch the movie.”
“You didn’t sleep in your clothes, did you?”
“No. My clothes? Of course not. My clothes?”
“You undressed before you went to bed, isn’t that right?”
“Yes, of course.”
“What’d you do with your wallet?”
“Well, I… I suppose I…”
Matthew watched him. Sudden uncertainty. A simple act someone performs every day of the week. Uncertain about it now because his life might depend upon what had happened to that wallet. In the state of Florida, the penalty for first-degree murder was death in the electric chair. Matthew waited.
“I normally put it on the dresser,” Leeds said. “With my keys and my change. I guess I did the same thing that night.”
“But you’re not sure.”
“Well, actually, I’m not. Because…”
Again, a slight hesitation. Then:
“I was out on the boat that afternoon, and I may have left it there.”
“The boat?”
“Yes, I own a thirty-nine-foot Med. I took it out for a spin before dinner that night.”
“And you think you may have left the wallet on the boat?”
“Possibly.”
“Have you done that before?”
“I sometimes stow it below. So it won’t accidentally fall in the water.”
“But have you ever left it on the boat before?”
“Only on one other occasion.”
“You forgot your wallet on the boat?”
“Yes.”
“And you think you may have done that Monday night?”
“Well, yes. And someone probably took it from the boat. Otherwise, how could it have…?”
“When did you discover it was missing?”
“Tuesday morning. When the police showed it to me. When they came to the house.”
“What time was that?”
“At about nine. They showed me the wallet and asked me if it was mine, and when I said it was they asked me to come downtown with them.”
“Which you did, of course.”
“Yes.”
“Without any resistance.”
“Yes.”
“Mr. Leeds, are you familiar with the area of Calusa known as Little Asia?”
“I am.”
“Have you ever been there?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“When they were arrested.”
“Who?”
“The three men who raped Jessie.”
“Do you know where 1211 Tango Avenue is?”
“Yes.”
“Is that where you went when these men were arrested?”
“Yes.”
“So you’re familiar with the address.”
“Yes.”
“Familiar with the house.”
“Yes.”
“Have you ever been inside that house?”