Parnell Hall - The Anonymous Client

“I don’t think so.”

“I know you don’t. So I’m going to spell it out for you. Then you can throw me out of your office, and we’ll be even, and you’ll feel you’ve had a good day.”

“You’re trying my patience, Winslow. Why don’t you cut the commercial and get on with it.”

“Fine. Here’s the situation. You and I have to sit here and figure out which way the cat’s gonna jump. The cat is Dirkson. He’s gonna have Douglas Kemper indicted for murder. Now, is he gonna have him indicted as a codefendant in this action, or is he gonna try him separately later on?”

“He’ll try him separately, of course.”

“Of course. I heard Marilyn Harding’s indictment… acting alone, or in concert with others, did feloniously cause …” etc., etc. Dirkson doesn’t need Douglas Kemper as a codefendant. He has the criminal conspiracy element already in the charge. He can show Marilyn Harding and Douglas Kemper were acting in concert. That’s why he’s not concerned that the witness Millburn says she heard a man arguing with Bradshaw. As far as Dirkson’s concerned, he couldn’t care less whether it was Marilyn Harding or Douglas Kemper who struck the actual blow. Both of them were being blackmailed together. He’s got criminal conspiracy, he’s trying Marilyn on the charge, and some of it’s gonna stick.

“And the thing is, Dirkson doesn’t even care how much, because as soon as he nails her on anything, he’s gonna turn around and try her for killing her father. And when he does that, if he’s got any conviction at all in this case, she is gonna have the chance of the proverbial snowball in hell.”

“Tell me something I don’t already know.”

“All right, I will. Your client hasn’t talked. Mine has.”

Fitzpatrick seemed interested for the first time. “He’s told his story?”

“Yes, he has.”

“And?”

“And it doesn’t help us a bit. Kemper would like to make a case for Marilyn being innocent without actually implicating himself. Marilyn, if she were willing to talk, would probably do the same for him.” Steve shrugged. “Big deal. In the first place, nobody’s gonna believe either one of them. Which leaves you with the basic toss-up situation. One of them must have done it. Pick a client, any client. She’s your client, and he’s mine. You could probably make a fairly strong argument for the fact he must have done it, and I could probably make a fairly strong argument for the fact she must have done it. But the thing is, we’d be slitting our own throats. Because of the criminal conspiracy bit.”

“That’s elemental. So you’re saying because of that we should work together. Well, I don’t buy it.”

Steve grinned. “I know you don’t. That because that’s not your plan. You don’t want to push it on Kemper. You want to prove some third party committed the crime. And I happen to be the third party. The problem is, it won’t work.”

“Is that so?” Fitzpatrick grinned. “You’re an attorney, Winslow. Think about it. I don’t have to prove you killed Bradshaw. All I have to do is raise reasonable doubt. You’ve been in court. You heard what happened. You tell me. Do I have reasonable doubt?”

Steve shook his head. “You did, but you don’t now. I told you, you haven’t thought it over, Fitzpatrick. You may be a good attorney, but you’re a bit of a slow take. I’m Douglas Kemper’s attorney. Anything I’ve done reflects on him. I was acting for my client. You want to put me at the scene of the crime, it doesn’t implicate me anymore, it implicates him. And if he and Marilyn were acting in concert, it implicates her. So all this good work you’ve done creating reasonable doubt just went down the tubes. Worse than that, it’s all backfiring in your face, ’cause the mud you throw at me sticks to her.”

Fitzpatrick frowned.

“Now look,” Steve said. “We are in a mess. I say we, and I mean we. It’s you and me, kid. Semper fidelis. Now if you still wanna throw me out of your office, feel free. But if not, let’s sit down, put our heads together, and see what we can do to get out of this mess.”

Marilyn Harding had been crying. This time, she had done nothing to conceal the fact, not that it would have done her any good. Her eyes were red, and her cheeks were caked with tears.

She was sitting in a chair in Fitzpatrick’s office. Fitzpatrick had lead her in and sat her down. She had come docilely, mechanically, without life or spirit. Now she sat, staring blankly ahead of her, as if she’d lost all will of her own, as if she were an automaton, just waiting to be told what to do next.

“Marilyn,” Fitzpatrick said. “This is Steve Winslow. Douglas Kemper’s lawyer. The lawyer who spoke with you at your house. I’ve just had a long talk with him, and I think he can help us. Frankly, we need help.”

Marilyn gave no sign of comprehension.

Fitzpatrick leaned forward. “Do you hear what I’m saying? Do you understand?”

Marilyn’s head nodded slightly. She said, softly, “Yes.”

“Good,” Fitzpatrick said. “Mr. Winslow has just had a talk with Douglas Kemper. Now he needs to have a talk with you. I’m going to leave the two of you alone now. I want you to listen to him carefully and hear what he has to say.”

Fitzpatrick didn’t push it by waiting for another response. He just nodded to Steve Winslow and eased himself out the door.

Steve stood looking down at Marilyn Harding. This was it. This was his shot. He had to get her talking now, if he was going to do any good at all.

The prospects didn’t look good. Despite Marilyn’s outward appearance of defeat, her jawline was still set firmly, her face was still hard, stubborn, defiant. Steve Winslow read it all in that set jaw. How could he get her talking? What could he say?

Steve Winslow pulled up a chair, sat down, stretched, yawned, crossed his legs, leaned back, and said, “Douglas Kemper’s a jerk.”

Marilyn Harding’s head snapped up. She stared at him, defiantly.

“Yeah, I know,” Steve said. “I shouldn’t be saying things like that about my own client. But what the hell. You gotta call a spade a spade. The man’s a complete jerk. You know what he’s done?”

Marilyn Harding just glared at him.

Steve Winslow sat calmly and waited.

Finally, Marilyn said, “What?”

Bingo, Steve thought. He’d done it. He got her to say one word. Not a particularly illuminating one by any stretch of the imagination, but still a word. The next ones would come easier.

“He’s talked,” Steve said. “He’s told his story. Don’t worry. Not to the press, not to the public. Just to me. Believe me, it’s going no further. I promise you that. There isn’t a lawyer alive that would let that story go any further.”

There was another pause, then Marilyn said, “Why?”

“If you heard it, you’d know. But you haven’t heard it, have you? No. Douglas hasn’t had a chance to lay that one on you. No, he’s had his own problems. Right now he’s facing a charge of perjury, but that’s the least of it. When I left him a little while ago, back in the lockup, his wife Phyllis was there posting his bail. Some woman, huh? Cold, practical, determined. Gonna get her husband out of the cooler. Stand by her man.” Winslow shook his head. “Poor Douglas. If I were him, I’d rather stay in jail. The talk I had with him was nothing. Imagine the interrogation he’s going through now.”

Marilyn’s lower lip trembled. She controlled it.

Steve Winslow sat, said nothing.

Marilyn looked at him. “His story.”

“What?” Steve said.

“His story. He told you his story.”

Steve shook his head. “Yeah. Bad news.”