- Margolin - The Last Innocent Man

“A man married to a good-looking woman might seek the services of a prostitute if he and his wife were having difficulties with their marriage.”

Stafford continued to smile. He nodded his head to acknowledge the point.

“If. But there’s no ’if about Jenny and me.”

“No difficulties at all? No arguments, no sexual difficulties or money problems? You’d better be straight with me on this, Larry, because putting you and Jenny on the stand will open the door for the district attorney, and if there’s dirt, you can bet she’ll find it.”

David thought about his evening with Jenny as he waited for Stafford to answer. A mental image of her, naked and in his bed, appeared, and he fought to erase it.

“We have spats. Who doesn’t?” Stafford paused. “Look, I’m going to level with you. Jenny and I have had our problems. What marriage doesn’t? And you know what they say about the first year being the toughest.”

David thought back to his first year of marriage. It had not been pleasant for either of them. Vicious words, said for the sole purpose of hurting. Slammed doors and backs turned in anger.

“Hell, it was both our faults. I’m not an easy guy to live with sometimes. I didn’t make partner last year and it really hurt me. Two other guys who were hired the same year I was made the grade, and I was pretty depressed for a long time. I don’t suppose that was easy for Jenny to take.”

“How are you two sexually?”

Stafford reddened slightly. The question seemed to make him uneasy.

“I don’t know. I’d say we do okay. I’m maybe more demanding than some guys. You might say I dig sex a little more than Jenny. She’s more conventional in her, uh, tastes. Nothing I’d call a, uh, problem though.”

Stafford hesitated. He looked upset.

“Will…will they be asking about that at the trial? Our sex life, I mean?”

“It could come up. Why?”

“I don’t know. It’s just embarrassing, I guess. I don’t mind talking to you. You’re my lawyer and I trust you. It would be different in front of all those people.”

David glanced at his watch. The bail hearing was set for two and it was ten of.

“It’s almost time to go to court,” he said, “so I’m going to stop now. But I want to ask you one more question. You remember how surprised I was that the district attorney’s office opposed bail at the arraignment? Well, I talked with Monica Powers after court, and she acted very peculiar. She hinted that they had some kind of surprise evidence I didn’t know about. Do you have any idea what that might be, Larry?”

“Surprise evidence,” Stafford repeated. “I can’t think of…” He stopped for a moment, and David got the distinct impression that something was troubling his client.

“Look, I didn’t do it, so what could they have? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“You do some thinking on this, okay, Larry? I don’t like surprises, and it looks like Monica is planning one. Remember what I told you about being straight with me. If you’ve done something that can hurt us, I want to know right now.”

“Dave, I have been one hundred percent square with you. There’s nothing.”

“You’re sure?”

“Absolutely. Say, how do my chances look today?” Stafford asked anxiously.

“I don’t know. It depends on what kind of showing the State makes. One point for our side is that Jerry Miles is the presiding criminal judge this month.”

Stafford brightened. “He’s pretty liberal, isn’t he?”

“He’s good and he’s fair. Keep your fingers crossed. I hope you’ll be out of here by this evening.”

They shook hands and David buzzed the guard. Stafford was still waiting in front of the door when the guard let David out. On the elevator ride up to the courtroom, David tried to analyze his feelings about his client. He felt uncomfortable around Stafford. The man appeared to be open and honest, but David could not help feeling that Larry was using the same technique on him that David used on a jury. Or did he just want to feel that way? He had to face one very unpleasant fact: he wanted Jenny, and Larry Stafford was his rival for Jenny’s affections.

David tried to stand back from his problem and be objective. Was Stafford lying to him? Was he really guilty? Were his uneasy feelings about Stafford generated by his emotional involvement with Jenny? He had given Larry a chance to lie today, and Stafford had not taken it. Although reticent at first to discuss his private life, Larry had eventually been candid about his marital problems, and he had told David about his failure to make partner. And then there was Jenny. She swore she was with Larry on the night of the murder. She would not lie to him.

By the time the elevator doors opened, David was starting to feel better about his case. Jenny would make a good witness, and there was Grimes’s testimony about the hair. The jury might not be totally convinced of the accuracy of the motel clerk’s observations, but his testimony, combined with other evidence, could create the reasonable doubt needed for an acquittal. Now all David had to do was find those other pieces of evidence. He hoped some of them would be provided by the testimony at the bail hearing.

PRESIDING CRIMINAL COURTwas at the far end of the corridor from the bank of elevators David had used. He was halfway to the courtroom when he saw Thomas Gault grinning at him from a bench near the courtroom doorway.

“You’re just the man I wanted to see,” Gault said. David stopped and looked at his watch. Court would start in a moment, and he really did not want to talk to Gault anyway. Ever since Gault had shaken him with his false confession, David had gone out of his way to avoid the writer.

“I’m sorry, Tom, but I’m due in court.”

“The Stafford bail hearing, right?”

“Right.”

“That’s what I want to talk about. I’m covering the case forNewsweek.”

“The magazine?” David asked incredulously.

“The same. They gave a lot of coverage to my trial, so I convinced them that it would be a neat gimmick to have someone who was just acquitted of murder cover a murder case. Hell, I’m their murderer-in-residence now. Besides, I did those articles on Cambodia and the article on the mercenaries for them.

“So what do you say? Is Stafford guilty? Come on. I need a scoop to beat out the local yokels.”

David couldn’t help laughing. Gault was a leprechaun when he wanted to be, and his humor could be infectious.

“No scoops and no comment. How would you have liked it if I’d blabbed to reporters about your case?”

“But, Dave, I had nothing to hide. Can you say the same for Stafford? If I don’t get facts from you, I’ll have to make something up. I’ve got deadlines.”

“No comment,” David repeated. Gault shrugged.

“Suit yourself. I’m only trying to make you famous.”

“And I appreciate the effort, but I really do have to go.”

“At least say something memorable, old buddy. I’ve gotta have some snappy copy.”

David shook his head and laughed again. He opened the door and entered the courtroom. Gault followed him and took a seat in the back of the room where he would not be noticed.

“THIS IS THEtime set for the bail hearing in State versus Lawrence Dean Stafford, case number C94-07-850. The State is represented by Monica Powers,” Monica said, “and the defendant is present with his attorney, David Nash.”

“Are you prepared to proceed, Mr. Nash?” Judge Autley asked.

“Ready, Your Honor,” David answered stiffly. Clement Autley was the worst judge they could have gotten. Almost seventy, Autley was so erratic that many attorneys filed affidavits of prejudice against him rather than risk his unpredictable rulings at trial and subject themselves and their clients to his very predictable temper tantrums. Autley was not supposed to be on the bench today. Jerome Miles was. But Miles had the flu, and Autley had been shipped upstairs for the week.