Perri O'Shaughnessy - Presumption Of Death

“How so?”

“The type who gets belligerent and shoots his mouth off when he gets drunk. The type who dies in a bar fight.”

“What were he and Danny talking about?”

“The score.”

“The score?”

“That’s what they called it.”

“They were going to make some money?”

“Danny hired Coyote for some job. A big job.”

“What else, Britta?”

“I don’t want to say.”

Nina apologized to Paul, Jaime, and all authority figures in her mind, then said, “You know, Britta, Coyote has disappeared. He may have killed the Cat Lady. And he has made some threats.”

“Against who?”

“Some children. We don’t know yet whose children.”

“I’ll be sure to take mine out of town.” But her mouth trembled. “So he’s the man you were talking about at Debbie’s house.”

“If you know anything about Coyote that might help, you shouldn’t keep it a secret, no matter how much you don’t want to go to court.”

“You think he’d come after me?”

Nina shrugged. “What do you know?” she said.

Britta stubbed out her cigarette under her sandal. “You told me something,” she said, “so I’ll tell you something. Your client’s guilty.”

Nina closed her eyes and took that in. “Why do you say that?”

“Because Danny was in on the fires. With Coyote. They had this Tahoe connection, Washoe Indians or something. And your client, he’s another Washoe, right? He went up the mountain, right?”

“How do you know?”

“Alma’s. We’re sitting at the bar and they’re talking, and Coyote says something about laying in enough kerosene. And Danny says shut your mouth, and shoves him right off the bar stool. Coyote lies there for a while and then he gets up and shoves Danny back. Danny gives him this look and Coyote sits back down like a good boy. That’s it.”

“Was anyone else there who could have heard that statement?”

“I was drinking too. The room was turning into a carousel. But let me think. Yes. A cute guy with a gray beard. Paint all over his clothes. I think he knew both of them.”

The paranoid artist spent a lot of time at Alma’s. What had Cowboy Two said? Something about him doing drugs.

“I met him,” Nina said.

“He didn’t talk much, he just listened. And stared at me. I managed to slip him my phone number. He called and a couple of days later I went to his place.”

“I don’t need to know that-” Nina started, but Britta held up her hand.

“Danny and Coyote were just leaving when I got there, and I didn’t want Danny to see me, so I left and came back later. Donnelly-Donnelly was a dud. Wait. I won’t make your ears burn. But he told me that the two guys had been drinking with him, then he got a little scared of them. They were asking for a loan and he said no.”

“Thank you, Britta.” Stay calm, Nina told herself, and began analyzing this information, deciding how it impacted Wish’s case.

“Maybe it’s my ass on the line now. Or my kids. I think I better go home and deal with this.”

“Just one more question. At any time-did Coyote or Danny ever use my client’s name? Wish or Willis?”

Britta said, “I never heard of your client. He came out of the blue. Maybe Danny hired him later on.”

“Okay,” Nina said.

“But if you subpoena me, I’m gonna hurt you.”

“I see that you might.”

“Good.” She smoked calmly. She was quite beautiful, shiny with her polished nails and lip gloss on her plump mouth.

“Britta? I still don’t understand. About your marriage. About you.”

“And I’m not going to enlighten you. I’ll tell you just one thing. David and I will be together until the end of time.”

“Just a suggestion,” Nina said. “You might want to double-check your husband’s bank accounts to see if he’s the one who paid Coyote. Just to be sure. About that end-of-time thing.” She left Britta on the sunny patio, looking thoughtful.

“Hello, Sandy,” Nina said into the cell phone. “So you have a cell phone too now.”

“I got right in there with the twenty-first century. It does come in handy. Have you got Willis out of jail yet?”

“Not yet.” Nina updated Sandy, then said, “I’m afraid it’s going to go into a prelim.”

“Well, you’re pretty good at those. You’re gonna put up a defense, aren’t you?”

The preliminary hearing in California had only two purposes-to determine if there was probable cause to believe that a crime had been committed, and that the defendant was the person who had committed the crime. If so, the defendant would be bound over for trial.

At this early stage, the defense usually assumed probable cause would be found to exist, and let the D.A. present its minimal evidence for that purpose. Though the defense might cross-examine, in general the defense did not put on its own witnesses.

Nina did not agree with this traditional strategy of defense attorneys. With current discovery rules, the defense often knew as much as the police at the time of the prelim, and with hard and fast work could put on a sort of minitrial. Since a defendant might be incarcerated for months before finally going to trial, it made sense to fight hard every step of the way.

So Nina said, “Yes, I’ll call witnesses. Time is of the essence, though.”

“What are you doing for an office?”

“Using Paul’s. He’s got a spare iBook for pounding out paperwork, and a fax and all that.”

“What about a legal secretary?”

“I called a temp service. I’m interviewing a woman at two tomorrow at Paul’s office.”

“You won’t get anybody who knows law.”

“I’ll choose carefully. Don’t worry, Sandy. I’ll do a good job for Wish. But-but if Wish is bound over for trial-I can’t commit to handling a full-fledged murder trial, you know that.”

Sandy said, “Then win the prelim.”

“Right.”

“I talked to Susie Johnson. Robert Johnson’s mother. She’s not close but I know her. She says Robert hasn’t been in touch. She’s telling the truth.”

“Okay.” So Coyote hadn’t called home. Where would he go? Deeper into the forest?

“Social Services for Monterey County called Susie about Nate. They say he’s almost ready to leave. She’s not sure she can take care of him. Did Dr. Cervenka go see him yet?”

“No. I think he’s making the trip down from San Francisco in a day or two. He’ll help. Tell Susie he has to talk to Nate first.”

“Okay. Robert Johnson and Danny Cervantes, they both had Washoe mothers. I checked around. Those boys went to high school together in Minden.”

“What’s their connection to Wish?”

“He and Danny were friends when they were in elementary school, and they stayed in touch. Danny’s family moved from Markleeville down to Minden for a while. His father worked construction down there. Then when Wish came to Monterey County this summer, he looked Danny up. Danny was the only soul he knew, other than you and Paul, when he came down here.”

“Does Wish know Coyote? Robert Johnson?”

“Ask him. But I don’t think he ever went to school with him. I don’t think he knew him from Tahoe.”

“Okay,” Nina said.

Sandy said, “Willis’s father is a tad worried.”

“I’ll call Joseph.”

“That’s all right. We talk every night.”

“Do you miss Tahoe, Sandy?”

“This Washington trip’ll be over whenever I say it’s over. But good things are happening. The Washoe tribe is going to get twelve acres on Lake Tahoe at Skunk Harbor. That’s one of the tribe’s summer spots.”

“Fantastic, Sandy!” The Washoe tribe had summered at Tahoe for ten thousand years, until the previous century, when logging and silver mining interests took it over. Ever since, the tribe had been trying to get recognized and get some land back. “That’s historic,” Nina went on.