James Sheehan - The Mayor of Lexington Avenue

At that moment Clay Evans wanted to strangle Jimmy. He had argued until he was blue in the face against putting Jack Tobin on the stand.

“This guy will eat you for breakfast, Jimmy.”

“No he won’t. I can handle him.” In the end, Jimmy had been too forceful. Clay had relented. Now, as he sat in the courtroom listening to Jack, he knew what a serious mistake he had made. One question and Jack had summarized the case against him and Brume.

Jimmy ignored Jack’s answer.

“Isn’t it true that you took the state attorney’s job for the sole purpose of prosecuting these two public servants?” Jimmy motioned to the two rather hunched figures glowering at him from the defense table.

“No, and if I could explain, Your Honor?”

The judge practically chuckled. “Go ahead, Mr. Tobin.”

“I had spoken to Maria Lopez before I took the job and she had told me about the 1988 letter from the Del Rio police so I knew they had hidden something and I planned to investigate that when I took office. I hadn’t spoken to Cruz before I became the state attorney and I did not have his DNA sample, so I did not know that he was the killer until after I became the state attorney. Would I have taken the job if Rudy had been released? Probably not. I will admit I was obsessed with finding out all the facts about why an innocent young man was killed by the state and prosecuting those who were responsible. I planned to do that.”

“And you didn’t tell the governor about those plans, did you?”

“No.”

“And that was the primary reason you took the state attorney’s job?”

“Yes.”

“Was it the sole reason?”

“I’d say so. I’d already agreed to take the position before I even knew about Rudy, but after Rudy’s death I only took this job to investigate what happened to him and, if it was criminal, to prosecute those responsible.”

“No further questions.” Jimmy shot Clay a look of vindication. He’d told him his goal was to show that Jack had taken the state attorney’s position under false pretenses, and Jack had said pretty much what Jimmy had predicted he would, among other things. It was the effect of those other things -the fact that Jack was searching for justice for an innocent man-that Jimmy didn’t quite understand and that Clay saw written all over the jurors’ faces. He glared back at Jimmy, who at this point he wanted to kill.

“Call your next witness,” the judge told Jimmy.

“The defense calls Wesley Brume.”

Jimmy steered away from any questions about how Rudy’s confession was obtained. He had Wesley tell the jury how many years he had been a faithful servant for the Bass Creek police department and the many positions he’d held, then he went right to the point.

“Do you recall ever receiving a letter from the Del Rio police department?”

“No, sir. I didn’t know there was a Del Rio until I heard the name in this courtroom.”

“If you had received a letter from the Del Rio police department mentioning a person named Geronimo in 1988, would you remember it?”

“Yes, I would.”

“So what you’re saying is-the ‘facts’ that Maria Lopez testified to never happened?”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“No further questions.”

“Your witness,” the judge said, looking like he was ready to grab a bag of popcorn and enjoy the show.

Jack had been waiting for this moment for quite some time. For some reason, as he walked up to the podium, a memory from his younger years popped into his head. He had been the victim then and his friends had confronted the slime that had tried to violate his life. He remembered Mikey’s older brother Danny leaning over assistant scoutmaster Daly, a hunting knife at his throat, and telling him, “And now you’re going to disappear.” He looked at the pudgy detective sitting in the witness box and he remembered what this man alone had done to Rudy. It was time to make Wesley Brume disappear.

He started by reminding the jury of the Grunt’s past credibility problems.

“Mr. Brume, you were present when Bill Yates testified that he told you not to talk to Rudy without his mother being present?”

“Yes, I recall that.”

“Do you still maintain that he didn’t tell you that?”

“Yes.”

“And you heard Mr. Dragone testify that you threatened him with the health department?”

“Yes.”

“Do you still maintain that you didn’t do that?”

“Yes.”

“And you heard Ms. Lopez testify that Rudy’s mother, Elena, came to the police station to stop your interrogation of her son at 3:16 p.m. on January 24, 1986. It’s in her notes, she wrote the time down. Do you remember her testimony?”

“Yes, I heard her testify to that.”

“And your notes from your own records reveal that you began your interrogation at 3:18 p.m., is that accurate?”

“Yes.”

“Do you still maintain that when Elena arrived at the station, you were almost done with your interrogation of Rudy?”

“When I knew she was there-yes.”

“I’m not sure I understand your answer.”

“She may have been there and I didn’t know about it.”

“So you dispute Ms. Lopez’s testimony that she called back immediately to let you know Elena was there?”

“I dispute everything Ms. Lopez says.”

“Now, you said something on direct which I found very interesting-you said you would have remembered a letter in 1988 if it had mentioned a person named Geronimo, is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“Is that because a person named Geronimo was a witness in the Rudy Kelly case and had disappeared?”

“Yes.”

“And what would you have done if you had seen a letter from Del Rio identifying a Geronimo from Bass Creek as a rapist and a murderer? Would you have contacted the Del Rio police department?”

“Absolutely.”

“Would you have contacted Mr. Evans?”

“Either him or somebody in his office. I can’t say I positively would have contacted him.”

“But you never received this 1988 letter?”

“No.”

“No further questions.”

Jimmy DiCarlo finished his sterling defense with Philip Sheridan, a police sergeant with the Del Rio police department.

“What was your position in the police department in 1988, Sergeant?”

“I was in charge of records.”

“If an inquiry letter to another department was sent by your department in 1988 inquiring about a suspect, who would have sent that letter?”

“I would have.”

“Do you have any record of an inquiry letter being sent to the Bass Creek police department in 1988?”

“No. And I searched our records thoroughly.”

“And do you have any personal recollection of sending a letter to the Bass Creek police department?”

“No, I don’t.”

“No further questions.”

“Cross, Mr. Tobin?”

“No, Judge, but I would request that this witness stick around. I may want to call him on rebuttal.”

“Very well. Mr. Sheridan, if you could wait in the witness room, we may be calling you momentarily. It won’t be long. Any more witnesses, Mr. DiCarlo?”

Jimmy checked with Clay Evans one last time, hoping Clay would relent and take the stand. But Clay shook him off. There was no way he was subjecting himself to cross-examination by Jack Tobin.

“No more witnesses, Your Honor. The defense rests.”

“Any rebuttal, Mr. Tobin?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“Call your first rebuttal witness.”

“The state calls Del Shorter.”

Clay Evans could feel the Grunt squirming next to him. He at least felt somewhat vindicated because he knew the Grunt had lied to him. Somewhere along the way, Brume had learned that Del Shorter was working against them but he had kept that from Clay. Jack Tobin had been waiting for both of them to testify so he could bring Del Shorter out to crucify them. Clay had saved himself from the humiliation of being torn apart by Jack on the stand, but from little else. This trial had been a nightmare. Jimmy DiCarlo’s defense had been the worst he had ever seen and now Jack was bringing Del Shorter out as the coup de grace. Clay thought of his decision to hire Jimmy DiCarlo and pay him $200,000 and his second decision to pay $250,000 to assassinate Jack. Never has anybody paid so much for so little. .