Scott Turow: Presumed innocent

"Oh, no," he says. "You fellas aren't angry with me, are you, for what I've been saying? Because I believe that. I believe that effective law enforcement starts right at the top. I believe that's true. Raymond's soft. He's tired. He doesn't have it left to be tough."

I met Nico a dozen years ago, on my first day as a deputy P.A., when we were assigned to share an office. Eleven years later I was the chief deputy and he was head of the Homicide Section and I fired him. By then he had begun overtly attempting to run Raymond out of office. There was a black physician, an abortionist, whom Nico wanted to prosecute for murder. His position made no sense as a matter of law, but it excited the passions of various interest groups whose support he sought. Nico planted news stories about his disagreements with Raymond; he made jury arguments-for which abundant press coverage always was arranged-that were little more than campaign speeches. Raymond left the final act to me. One morning I went to Kmart and bought the cheapest pair of running shoes they had. I centered them on Nico's desk with a note: "Goodbye. Good luck. Rusty."

I always knew campaigning was going to suit him. He looks good. Nico Della Guardia is about forty now, a man of medium height, fastidiously trim. He has been concerned about his weight, eating red meat, things like that, as long as I've known him. Although his skin is bad and his coloring peculiar-red hair and olive skin and light eyes-he has the sort of face whose imperfections are not detected by a camera or even across a courtroom and he is uniformly regarded as handsome. Certainly he has always dressed the part. Even in the days when it required half his paycheck, his suits were tailor-made.

But far beyond good looks, Nico's most arresting aspect has always been the brassy and indiscriminate sincerity he is displaying here, reciting the elements of his platform while conversing, in the midst of a funeral, with his opponent's chief assistant. After twelve years, including two in which we shared an office, I have learned that Delay can always summon up that kind of overeager and unreflective faith in himself. The morning that I fired him nine months ago, he strolled past my office on his way out, bright as a new penny, and said simply, I'll be back.

I try to let Nico down easy now.

"It's too late, Delay. I've promised my vote to Raymond Horgan."

He is slow to get the joke, and when he does, he will not give the subject up. We go on playing a sort of lawyer's Dozens, dwelling on weaknesses. Nico admits his campaign is short of money but claims that the archbishop's unspoken support lends him "moral capital."

"That's where we're strong," he says. "Really. That's where we'll pick up votes. People have forgotten why they ever wanted to vote for Civil Rights Raymond. He's just a blur to them. A blob. I have a strong, clear message." Nico's confidence is radiant, as ever, when he speaks about himself. "You know what worried me?" Nico asks. "You know who would have been hard to beat?" He has crept a foot closer and lowered his voice. "You."

I laugh out loud, but Nico goes on: "I was relieved. I'm telling you the truth. I was relieved when Raymond announced. I'd seen it coming: Horgan holds a big press conference, says he's hanging it up, but he's asked his top assistant to carry on. Media is going to love Rusty Sabich. A non-political guy. A professional prosecutor. Stable. Mature. Somebody everyone can depend on. The man who broke up the Night Saints. They play all that stuff and Raymond brings Bolcarro in behind you. You'd've been tough, very tough."

"Ridiculous," I say, manfully pretending that like scenarios have not described themselves to my imagination on a hundred occasions in the last year. "You're really something, Delay," I tell him. "Divide and conquer. You'll just never stop."

"Hey listen, my friend," he says, "I am one of your true admirers. I mean that. There are no hard feelings here." He touches his shirt above the vest. "That is one of the few things that's going to stay the same when I get there. You'll still be in the chief deputy's office."

I tell him, affably, that's a bunch of crap.

"You'll never be P.A.," I say, "and if you were, Tommy Molto would be your guy. Everybody knows you have Tommy in the woodshed now."

Tommy Molto is Nico's best friend, his former second-in-command in the Homicide Section. Molto has been a no-show in the office for three days. He hasn't called in and his desk is clean. The common belief is that when the furor over Carolyn's death abates a bit next week, Nico will stage another media occasion and announce that Tommy has joined his campaign. It will provoke a few more headlines. DISAPPOINTED HORGAN DEPUTY BACKS NICO. Delay handles these things well. Raymond has a fit whenever he hears Tommy's name. "Molto?" Nico asks me now. His look of innocence is entirely unconvincing, but I do not get the chance to respond. At the lectern, the reverend has asked the mourners to assume their seats. Instead, I smile at Della Guardia's smirk, in fact-as we are parting, and begin buffeting my way toward the front of the chapel, where Raymond and I are supposed to sit as office representatives. But as I go, making restrained gestures of acknowledgment to the people that I know, the heat of all of Nico's forceful confidence is still upon me. It is like having come in out of the blazing sun: the skin tingles and remains tender to the touch. And it strikes me then abruptly, as I gain my first clear view of the pewter-colored casket, that Nico Della Guardia actually may win. This prophecy is announced by a small voice somewhere in my interior reaches, only loud enough, like some whining conscience, to tell me what I do not want to hear. Undeserving as Nico is, unqualified, a pygmy in his soul, something may be propelling him toward triumph. Here, in this region of the dead, I cannot help but recognize the carnal appeal of his vitality and how far it is bound to take him.

In keeping with the character of this public occasion, two rows of folding chairs have been positioned next to Carolyn's coffin. They are occupied, for the most part, by the dignitaries you would expect. The only unfamiliar figure is a boy in his late teens who is seated beside the mayor, directly at the foot of the bier. This young man has a poorly barbered tangle of blondish hair and a necktie drawn too tight, so that the collar points on his rayon shirt are lifted in the air. A cousin, I decide, perhaps a nephew, but definitely-and surprisingly-family. Carolyn's people, as I understood it, were all back East, where she meant to leave them long ago. Beside him in the front row, there are more of the mayor's people than there should be, and no room is left for me. As I pass in the row behind Horgan, Raymond leans back. He has apparently observed my talk with Della Guardia.

"What did Delay have to say for himself?"

"Nothing. Bullshit. He's running out of money."

"Who isn't?" Raymond asks.

I inquire about the meeting with the mayor, and Horgan rolls his eyes. "He wanted to give me some advice, just in confidence, me and him, because he doesn't want to appear to be taking sides. He thinks it would help my chances a lot if we arrested Carolyn's murderer before Election Day. Can you believe that jagoff. And he said it with a straight face, too, so I couldn't walk out on him. He's having a great time." Raymond points. "Look at him up there. The chief mourner." Raymond as usual cannot contain himself about Bolcarro. I look around, hoping we have not been overheard. I chuck my face toward the young man seated beside the mayor.

"Who is the kid?" I ask.

I do not think I have understood Horgan's answer, and I lean closer. Raymond brings his face right to my ear. "Her son," he says again.

I stand up straight.

"Grew up with his father in New Jersey," Raymond says, "then came out here for college. He's over at the U."