Inside the brown leather wallet I found four one-hundred-dollar bills, two twenties and a five-spot. The usual array of credit and debit cards. There were membership cards for a gym, loyalty cards for different stores and a business card that read ‘Discretion Supplies.’ As business cards went, it looked expensive and well designed. The ‘D’ and the ‘S’ were large and in an ornate spidery font. The card itself was textured and plastic. There was no phone number and no website on the card. On the back there was a barcode for a smart phone. I put the card in my pocket, then closed the wallet and tossed it a few feet to the floor, beneath the table.
I raised my head, Levy was still in full flow, pointing a finger at Dreyer who looked on with composed distance.
‘Mr. Levy—’ said Dreyer.
‘I’m not finished, not by a long way, the Mayor will hear about this abuse of—’
‘Mr. Levy, you are finished. This meeting is over …’ said Dreyer, inching back his chair.
‘Wait, Levy, shut the hell up for a second,’ I said.
The look on Levy’s face amused Dreyer enough to keep him in his seat. I saw Levy’s lackey, Scott, furrow his brows in a scowl vaguely aimed at me. Kate bit her lip, suppressing a satisfied smile.
With Levy still catching flies in his open mouth, I got down to the main reason I came here.
‘Whatever offer you’ve made won’t have any weight in court if you don’t share some more of the prosecution evidence. The accused have a right to know the case against them. Let us see what you’ve got – that way our clients can make an informed choice.’
‘Agreed,’ said Dreyer, simply, and got up. He left the room, but only for a few seconds. When he opened the door he revealed half a dozen Assistant District Attorneys gathered in the corridor outside. They must have heard Levy’s rant and come to listen. They quickly dispersed when Dreyer came out, except one of them who handed Dreyer two thick brown envelopes. He thanked the assistant, then stepped back through the open door and gave an envelope to me and one to Levy. Without another word, he left.
I left the table and said, ‘Someone’s wallet is under the conference table. Better pick it up. There isn’t an honest man in this building who would hand it in. I’ll see you folks later. I’ll give you a call, Theo. One word of advice – if you want something, ask for it. It’s a lot easier than pounding your little fists on a desk.’
He began to say something, but I was already out of the room. I wanted Theo in fighting mode. As long as a lawyer’s blood was up, they weren’t thinking, they were raging. I needed time to think. Theo didn’t look like a trial lawyer. He looked to me like a pleader. He would put the deal in front of his client and tell her it was good.
I wanted to see Sofia’s reaction to the deal. I needed to know for sure Sofia was not involved in her father’s death. On a deep level I felt she was innocent, but there was always a small flame of doubt in some cases. I wanted her to blow out that candle.
This trial had nightmare written all over it. Dreyer was having some problems though – he had a missing witness. He hadn’t tracked down Mike Modine, Frank’s lawyer. When he said he didn’t have that statement I had detected something in his voice, a wrinkle of frustration. Modine, whoever he was, wouldn’t want to get involved as a witness in a murder trial and he was probably giving the DA’s office the runaround. And there was no doubt this was a bad case to be involved in.
The worst cases all come down to who is telling the truth.
A polygraph test was a hand grenade in a case like this. It was going to blow up in someone’s face. Either Sofia, or Alexandra. No matter which way you cut it – one of them was a killer. I just hoped it wasn’t Sofia.
I had an idea I was about to find out.
NINE
KATE
On the sidewalk outside Hogan Place, Levy hitched up his pants and said, ‘What the hell were you thinking in there, Kate?’
Kate felt the blood rush to her cheeks.
‘I do the talking in the DA’s office. You’re a junior associate. You should know better. You embarrassed me in there, you know that? You undermined me. If you ever do that again, you’ll be out on your ass. Do you understand me, little lady? Or do you want me to talk slower?’
The shock of Levy’s statement hitting her caused all kinds of emotions to erupt. For a long time Kate had wondered if she simply wasn’t good enough for the job. Levy’s little digs at her work automatically made her feel inferior. Recently, she was coming around to the view that this wasn’t about her performance – at least not all of it. This mouthful though, this had a lot of venom. She looked at Scott, who hung his head and began stepping away. She felt like a child being chastised by a parent, not knowing exactly what they had done wrong. Her mouth opened but no words followed. She blinked rapidly, stuttered and then closed her lips tight when the next feeling flooded her system – anger. She wanted to talk. She wanted to tell Levy exactly what he could do with this job. That he was a condescending, misogynistic a-hole. Her teeth ground together, her mouth went dry. Passers-by on the street could see what was happening, and they rubbernecked as they strode past the three of them, standing silently, with Levy waiting for a reaction.
Kate shook her head.
‘If you’re going to stay on this case then be more like Scott. We’re going back to the office, but I suggest you take the rest of the morning to think things over. Get with the program, Kate. Come in after lunch, prepared, with your head in the game. If you’re not up for this then maybe you should transfer departments. Wallace is always looking for junior associates in probate. Come on, Scott, we’ll take my car.’
And with that, they walked away. Kate was getting used to this, and the hollow feeling in her chest grew. She wanted to be popular with Levy. He was a good lawyer. He was her boss. He could give her a great career. He also wanted to sleep with her. Of that, Kate was certain. And the more she had rebuffed his advances the more aggressive he became in his dealings with her. In the first month, Levy had offered her a ride back to her apartment and she felt then that she had no choice but to accept. He’s the boss. In the car, outside her building, he began an awkward conversation.
‘Nice building,’ said Levy.
‘It was almost condemned last year,’ said Kate.
‘Really, you could never tell. It looks so … historic,’ he said, struggling to say something complimentary. ‘I used to live in a place like this when I first moved to the city. All these apartments are the same around here. It would be great to take a look, relive my youth,’ he said, smiling with his little black eyes.
‘It’s a mess, Theo, sorry. I can’t have visitors to an untidy apartment,’ said Kate, gripping the door handle.
‘No need to be embarrassed. We know each other. We’re colleagues. We should probably get to know one another a lot better.’
Kate pulled the door handle, got out swiftly, turned and said, ‘Thanks for the ride,’ and shut the car door. She threw her bag on her shoulder and walked into the building as fast as she could, listening for the sound of the engine in Levy’s car – willing it to rev and for him to drive away – far away from her. The only sound in her ears was the beating of her heart and the idle chug of Levy’s car as it sat there, motionless.