David Baldacci - True Blue

“And you’re trying to tell me that he just asked to talk with you?”

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” Mona turned to the Captain and patted his hand gently. “Go on, Lou, you can talk to them.”

“Lou? He’s my client!” shouted Roy. “Not yours!”

Mace noticed that the poor Captain’s gaze was locked on the lovely prosecutor’s body. Mona’s skirt was short and her blouse open just enough to show some cleavage.

“Now don’t be mean to hon, Roy,” said the Captain. He gave Mona’s hand a squeeze before she quickly removed it from his reach.

“She’s not hon ,” explained Roy. “She’s the lady who’s trying to put you in prison for the rest of your life, Lou.”

“She brought me Twinkies.”

“He asked for them,” Mona said quickly. “And then told my people that he wanted to talk to us.”

“Did you, Captain?” Mace asked him.

“I think so, yeah. Twinkie’s damn good. These ain’t stale, Roy, not like them others.”

Mona stood, as did the two detectives. She said, “Well, I think that wraps it up for now. I’ll give you some alone time with him.”

“I’m entitled to it by the law, so don’t pretend you’re doing me any favors.” He eyed her full legal pad. “And I’m still filing a motion to suppress anything he might’ve told you. And I’m going to demand a full investigation on this whole damn thing ’cause it stinks, Supreme Court decision or not.”

“I am curious about one thing,” Mona said imperturbably.

“What’s that?”

“Since I’m listing you as a material witness in this case-you did find the body after all and may still be considered a person of interest-how is it that you’re going to represent Mr. Dockery in this matter with such a blatant conflict?”

Roy looked like someone had just gutted him with a hatchet.

Mona’s smile deepened. “I can see from your poker face that you really hadn’t thought about that. I tell you what, Roy , I’ll waive any objection I might have to this little point of legal ethics, and if the judge agrees, you can be Mr. Dockery’s lawyer.”

“And why would you do that?” said Roy cautiously.

“Oh, you mean the quid pro quo? Well, let’s put it this way, I hate defense counsel’s motions to suppress. And I also hate demands for investigations. I think what we need here is a blank slate.” She stared up at him expectantly, her look about as condescending and triumphant as one face could achieve.

“So in other words I forget the stunt you just pulled and you’ll let me represent my client?”

“I didn’t pull any stunt. I’m perfectly within my rights.”

“I can seek a waiver from the court.”

“Not over my objections you can’t.”

“So let me try to understand this. If you’re maintaining you did nothing wrong here, why offer me a deal that lets me rep my client?”

“Because I want you to stay on as Lou’s attorney.”

“Why?”

Mona leaned forward and spoke in a low voice so that only Roy and Mace could hear her. “Because if you get disqualified, then they might appoint a real attorney, and that just makes my job harder. There’re a ton of highly qualified public defenders just salivating to take this case, and they all know what they’re doing. Why play against the varsity when the j.v. is available?” She picked up her briefcase and stuffed her legal pad in it. “See you in court tomorrow.” She turned to the Captain. “Oh, Lou, before I forget.” She pulled another Twinkie out of her jacket pocket and tossed it to him, like throwing a bone to a dog. The next moment she and the detectives were gone, leaving the Captain to eagerly devour the fresh offering of creamy cake.

ROY HUDDLED in a corner of the room with Mace while the Captain sat staring vacantly at the wall and wiping goo off his mouth.

Roy said, “Maybe she’s right. Maybe I am j.v.”

Mace punched him in the arm. “Let’s get one rule down, Mona is never right.”

“The Captain deserves the best representation, Mace. I didn’t even focus on the material witness issue. And it was big enough to drive a truck through. I would’ve gone in tomorrow and gotten my head handed to me. By Mona and the judge.”

“The Captain wants you .”

“Come on, he doesn’t know what he wants. Other than Twinkies.”

“You can do this, Roy. You might be a little rusty on some of the case law, and you didn’t focus on the material witness angle because you knew you were innocent and you wanted to help the Captain.”

“You can’t rep a defendant charged with murder in the first with any rust, Mace. There’s no room for error. Especially against Mona. I know you hate the woman and I do too, but she’s sharp.”

“And she’s totally unethical. She basically bribed the Captain with junk food and cleavage.”

“But that makes her even more dangerous.”

“The point is, Roy, you made the decision to rep him. Your firm canned your ass over it. So do you want to go crawling to them begging for your big-dollar job back? And let a homeless vet be assigned some Perry Mason wannabe who could give a shit if the guy spends the rest of his life in the can? Is that what you want?”

“Of course not,” Roy said hotly.

“Then what’s the problem? Mona just laid down the challenge. She’s gonna kick your ass. Okay, fine. But I don’t see a guy who’s so competitive that he has as his computer password the last score of his college basketball career just turning the other cheek on this. But this time it’s not just a game. And the Captain needs you. He needs you, Roy.”

Roy looked at Mace, then at the Captain, then back at Mace. “Okay, but I’ll need help to dig up some useful stuff.”

“Consider it done.”

“You? But you’re going to Newark tomorrow to run down this Meldon lead.”

“This Meldon lead may point us to whoever killed Diane.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“I don’t know what to believe right now. But I can’t afford to cut corners on this.”

“Fair enough.”

“So you’re good to go on this?”

“I am.”

“Then I guess I can tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

“Beth had Lowell Cassell call me on my way over here.”

“And?”

“And there was no yolk buffer in the sperm found in Diane. It didn’t come from Potomac Cryobank.”

He glanced over at the Captain, who was picking something out of his teeth.

“Okay, gut check time. Do you think he did it?”

Mace looked over at the old soldier too. “I talked to Beth about that. She said she agreed there was some strange stuff going on with Diane and your law firm. But she also said her murder could be entirely unrelated to all of it. That it could have just been a crime of opportunity.”

“So you think he did it?”

“No, Roy, I don’t.”

“Then how the hell does all this make sense?”

“It makes perfect sense. We just have to figure out how.”

THEY SPENT another hour trying get some answers from the Captain. The conversation was often one-sided, however, as the vet lost interest, snoozed, went off on multiple and irrelevant tangents, or asked for more Twinkies. He couldn’t adequately describe the man who’d met him on the street and asked if he wanted to make a quick two hundred bucks. He was variously big, short, fat, thin, bald but with hair. He hadn’t gone in the front door of the place; he didn’t recall the sign. He did say that he’d rummaged in big green trash cans while the man got things ready. Mace made a note to check the back of Potomac Cryobank for those types of receptacles. He did remember going inside a dark, small room. He’d been given a cup, and a “girlie” magazine. It had taken him a long while, but he’d delivered the requested sample and then gotten his money.