Phillip Margolin - The Associate

An hour later a deputy brought Daniel and his comatose cellmate a brown-bag breakfast. The tattooed man continued to sleep. Daniel opened his bag and took out a baloney sandwich on pasty white bread, an orange, and a small carton of milk. He had no appetite and the sandwich looked repulsive, but Daniel knew he had to eat to keep up his strength. He finished his meal shortly before a guard handcuffed him and led him out of the holding cell. The jail had a receipt for Daniel’s possessions, which included his wallet. For a dollar fifty he was allowed to purchase a hygiene kit containing shampoo, toothpaste, and a toothbrush. The guard took Daniel upstairs to the seventh floor.

After a short walk from the elevator, Daniel was led through a sally port into a two-story-high, open area. At one end of the floor was a glassed-in rec room with a television. Along the walls were two tiers of cells. Daniel was told to strip. The guard took his Tyvex suit and gave him plastic shower slippers, a set of pink dyed underwear and socks, a pair of blue cotton pants with an elastic waist, and a blue, pullover, V-neck shirt. Then the guard told him to enter cell 7C. The cell had a two-tiered bunk bed. A muscular Hispanic was stretched out on the lower bunk. He turned on his side and stared at Daniel with little interest. Along the wall was a concrete slab. Daniel saw that his cellmate’s toiletries were at one end of the slab and he placed his on the other end. Behind the bunk was a narrow window that stretched the length of the cell and looked out at the new federal courthouse. As soon as the guard closed the door, Daniel addressed his cellmate. “How you doin’?” “Okay,” the man answered. Then he asked, “Whatchoo in for?” in a thick accent. “Nothing much.” Daniel knew better than to talk about his case. Every cellmate was a potential state’s witness. “Me, too,” the man answered with a sly smile. “Name’s Pedro.” “Daniel. I’m gonna sack out.” “Yeah sure.” Daniel remembered something he had learned the last time he was in jail. He grabbed his toothbrush before climbing into his upper bunk. He did not sleep, but he did spend several hours using the concrete wall to sharpen the end of the toothbrush into a sharp point in case his cellmate turned out to be less friendly than he seemed.

“Ames, your attorney’s here.” Daniel was still groggy from a sleepless night and it took him a minute to process the fact that the guard was talking to him. “What attorney?” he asked. “How should I know? Get a move on.” As Daniel climbed down from his bunk he wondered if the court had already assigned him a public defender. The guard led him into the common area and through the sally port into a long corridor lined with noncontact visiting rooms where prisoners and visitors sat on either side of a thick glass window and conversed by telephone. A metal door at the end of the corridor led into a shorter hallway. On one side were two contact visiting rooms. Daniel could see into the closest room through a window that took up half the wall. It was furnished with a round table that was bolted to the floor and two molded plastic chairs. An attractive woman with shoulder-length black hair was seated in one of the chairs. When Daniel stepped into the room the guard closed the door and the woman stood up. Daniel was five eleven. The woman was almost as tall and had the broad shoulders and solid build of an athlete. She wore a conservative business suit. “Hi, Daniel,” she said, extending her hand. “I’m Amanda Jaffe.” Daniel colored. His jail-issue clothes were a size too big, his hair was uncombed, and he had a day’s growth of beard. He also smelled. Amanda smiled. “I bet this wasn’t what you expected when you called for a job interview.” “What are you doing here?” “Kate Ross phoned me after she tracked you to the jail. Why don’t we sit down,” Amanda said as she returned to her seat. Daniel remained standing. “Look, Ms. Jaffe …” “Amanda,” she corrected. “I can’t afford to hire you. Kate must have told you that I just lost my job, my savings probably won’t cover the cost of this consultation, and my job prospects have just plummeted to minus zero.” “Don’t worry about the fee.” “I’ve got to worry about it. No matter what you charge, there’s no way I can pay it.” “Daniel, please sit down. I’m getting a crick in my neck.” Daniel sat reluctantly on the other chair. “Kate thinks very highly of you.

She doesn’t believe that you murdered Arthur Briggs.” “I didn’t.”

“Good. Then try to relax so I can get the information I need to get you out of here.” “But your money…” “I’m taking the case pro bono and Kate is covering my expenses.” “I can’t let you two do that.”

Amanda’s smile disappeared and she looked deadly serious. “You’re in big trouble, Daniel. You’ve been charged with murder. If you’re convicted you’re looking at life in prison or a death sentence. This is not the time to be proud. Accept our help. You need it.” Amanda’s words had a sobering effect. Life in prison or execution. What was happening to him? “Before coming here, I talked to Mike Greene, the prosecutor who’s handling your case. He claims to have a witness who saw you running from the crime scene. She also says that she heard you have an angry argument with Arthur Briggs on Friday.” “Who’s the witness?” “Dr. April Fairweather.” “Fairweather! Are you kidding?”

“You know her?” “She’s a Reed, Briggs client, but she had nothing to do with the Insufort litigation.” “The lawsuit involving the pregnancy pill? What’s that got to do with Arthur Briggs’s murder?” “That’s why I was at the cottage. Briggs left a message on my answering machine telling me there was a new development in the case. He said he needed my help, which surprised the hell out of me since he’d just fired me for screwing up the case.” “I’m not following this. Maybe you should start at the beginning.” Daniel explained the Geller Pharmaceuticals case, the discovery of Dr. Sergey Kaidanov’s letter, his search of Kaidanov’s house, the discovery of the murdered man at the lab, and the leak of the study to the press. Then he told Amanda about being fired, his argument with Briggs, and what happened at the cottage.

“Now I know how the police figured out that I was there so fast,”

Daniel concluded. “Dr. Fairweather was in Mr. Briggs’s waiting area when he fired me. She saw us argue. What I can’t figure out is what she was doing at the cottage. Her case had nothing to do with the Geller case. It doesn’t make sense that Briggs would have wanted her there if he was going to talk about Insufort.” Amanda was quiet for a moment. Daniel thought that she looked worried and he began to get nervous. Then she brightened and Daniel leaned forward expectantly.

“You have a motive to murder Briggs because Briggs fired you and threatened you, but the message on your answering machine shows that he changed his opinion about you for some reason. There’s a chance I might be able to persuade Mike to hold off on an indictment if he hears the tape.” Daniel’s face fell. “I erased it.” “What?” “I panicked and I erased the answering machine tape just before the police came. It was proof that I was at Starlight Road when the murder occurred.” Amanda failed to conceal her disappointment and Daniel knew he’d screwed up. “How long do I have to stay in jail?” he asked nervously. “You’re not going to get out quickly. Bail isn’t automatic in a murder charge. I have to ask for a bail hearing and they’re hard to win. If you had to stay in jail for a week or more, do you think you could handle it?” Daniel felt sick, but he nodded. “I’ve been in jail before.” Amanda tensed. “Tell me about that.” Daniel looked down at the tabletop. “My… my home life wasn’t good. When I was a kid I ran away a lot.” He shrugged. “When you’re living on the streets there are a lot of opportunities to get in trouble.” “What kind of trouble were you in?” “Burglary, assault. The cases never stuck, but I was arrested twice and I stayed in jail both times.” Daniel told her the approximate dates of his arrests and Amanda made some notes on her pad. Then she asked him several other background questions. When she was finished, she put her pad in her attache case. “I’m going back to my office to meet with my investigator. You’ll make your first appearance in court at two this afternoon and I’ll be there. This appearance will be over quickly. The judge will read the formal charges against you and make sure you have counsel. I’ll ask him to set a date for a bail hearing and we’ll request a preliminary hearing.