Phillip Margolin - Lost Lake

“When you talked about Dan on TV, it sounded as though you cared for him.”

“I do like Dan, but I’ve only known him for a short time.”

“He’s a very good man, Mrs. Vergano, but he’s been wounded emotionally. He needs our help. I know how to help him, but I have to see him first.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t help you, Ms. Kohler.”

Vanessa took a check for $25,000 out of her pocket and laid it on the blotter. Ami stared at the check longingly. How she could use $25,000.

“I must see Dan before it’s too late,” Vanessa said. She sounded desperate. “You have no idea how important this is. If you care about him at all, you’ll help me. His life is in danger.”

“From who?”

Vanessa shook her head. “You have to trust me on this. They may know that Dan is here already. If they don’t, they’ll know soon. Then it will be too late.”

Vanessa Kohler made Ami very uncomfortable, but the money…it could be the beginning of a college fund for Ryan. She could use it to pay down some of her debt. And what if Morelli really was in some danger more serious than his legal problems? That was hard to believe, but so was what had happened on the baseball diamond. For a moment, Ami thought about taking the $25,000, but her conscience would not let her.

“You’re asking me to put my livelihood at risk for a man I don’t really know. You’re going to have to give me more if I’m going to take this type of risk.”

“I don’t know what I can say. I thought you’d help because you knew him.”

“The man I thought I knew was a gentle person. I’m having trouble reconciling that with what I saw.”

“From what I can tell, he was protecting your son’s coach from a beating.”

“Yes, but there are limits. He stabbed Barney Lutz in the throat. He almost killed him. And what about what he did to the policeman?”

“The policeman came at him from behind. Dan didn’t know who he was.”

“He’s a violent, dangerous man, Ms. Kohler, and my son was around him a lot. God knows what he might have done to him.”

Vanessa stared hard at Ami. “You know in your heart that he would never hurt your boy. You know he’s not like that.”

“You said yourself that you knew him last in the mid-eighties. People change. The man I saw two days ago is a killer.”

Vanessa was on the edge of her chair, leaning forward like a runner at the start of a race. She gripped Ami’s desk so tightly that her knuckles turned white and her eyes bored into Ami’s with such intensity that Ami wondered if her visitor was dangerous.

“If Dan is a killer, I know who made him like that. This man is ruthless. Once he learns that Dan is in Portland, he won’t stop until Dan is dead. The only way to keep him alive is to make a deal with the authorities. I can convince Dan to do that, but I have to meet with him face to face.”

Ami tried to sort out her feelings. What if Kohler was telling the truth? Morelli was an enigma. What Dan had done had shocked and upset her because the Daniel Morelli who had lived at her house and had been so kind to her son was nothing like the man who had acted with such brutal efficiency at Ryan’s game. She liked and respected the artist who had stayed with her, but the violent man who had almost killed Barney Lutz terrified her. Which one was the real Morelli? She decided to take a chance and try to help the man she thought of as a friend.

“Look, Ms. Kohler, I’ll try to visit Dan. I’ll give him a message from you. I’m not going to charge you $25,000, though, because I can’t take the case. Write a check for a $1,500 nonrefundable retainer and I’ll charge you by the hour. If you want help finding a real criminal lawyer, I’ll do that, too.”

Vanessa’s shoulders sagged with relief. She smiled for the first time.

“Thank you, and let’s make the retainer $5,000. I can afford it. There is one thing, though. I don’t want anyone except Dan to know that I’ve retained you. Is that understood? No one can know that I’m in Portland or that I hired you. Can you promise me confidentiality?”

“I’ll keep you out of it,” Ami said. But as Vanessa ripped up her first check and began to write another, Ami thought about what she had just agreed to do and wondered what she had gotten herself into.

As soon as the door closed behind her new client, Ami regretted her decision to visit Morelli. Her fear and doubt increased as she drove to the county hospital and peaked when she opened the door to the office of Dr. Leroy Ganett, the physician in charge of Morelli’s case.

Ganett was a tall, angular man with unruly brown hair who sat with his back to the room’s only window. His office was furnished with a dull gray metal desk and an old wooden bookshelf. Ami introduced herself, and Ganett waved her into a seat in front of a wall covered by his degrees and a picture of him in shorts and a T-shirt standing on a dock beside a gigantic marlin.

“What can I do for you, Mrs. Vergano?”

“Daniel Morelli is my client. I want to meet with him.”

“No one told me that the court appointed a lawyer.”

“I’m not court-appointed. I’ve been hired to represent Mr. Morelli.”

Ganett frowned. “I don’t know if I can let you see Morelli without the DA’s approval.”

Ami was afraid that Dr. Ganett would say something like this. She honestly had no idea whether the district attorney could prevent her from seeing Dan. She wasn’t kidding when she told Vanessa Kohler that she knew next to nothing about criminal law. She did remember something that she’d seen on a TV lawyer show, though.

“Dr. Ganett, everyone in America has a right to counsel. It’s guaranteed by the Constitution. The district attorney has no power to keep Daniel Morelli from his attorney. Neither does this hospital.”

Dr. Ganett looked unsure of himself. Ami smiled and addressed him in her most reasonable tone.

“Look, doctor, I don’t have any desire to make a federal case out of this visit, and I’m sure you don’t want to have the hospital dragged into court over an issue it can’t win.”

Ami half hoped that Ganett would refuse to let her see Dan. It was an easy way out. But Ganett shrugged.

“There’s a policeman on duty. If he doesn’t object, I won’t.”

“Thanks. How is Mr. Morelli doing?”

“He’s depressed and withdrawn. He hasn’t said a word to anyone since he got here. But I’d be surprised if he wasn’t depressed. He’s been shot; he’s facing criminal charges. Depression would be normal under these circumstances.”

“What’s his physical condition?”

“He was a mess when we got him. One bullet penetrated the spleen and grazed the left kidney. We had to remove the spleen. Then there was blood loss. He’s on antibiotics and analgesics for the pain, and we’re running some tests because he’s spiking a fever, but considering everything, he’s doing fine.”

Ganett handed Ami a medical report. “Here. You can keep that. It’s a copy.”

Ami scanned the report, and Dr. Ganett translated the medical terminology that Ami did not understand. Morelli’s white count showed a mild leukocytosis with a shift to the left. There were some old scars and evidence of plastic surgery and a flat plate of the abdomen showed metal fragments posterior to the right iliac crest compatible with shrapnel. The hematocrit was stable at 31.

“You wrote that the incision is healing,” Ami asked. “What does that mean in terms of how long Mr. Morelli will be in the hospital?”

“I’m not releasing him to the jail tomorrow, if that’s what you want to know. He still needs to be hospitalized. But he’s pulling through nicely, so he may not be here long.”