Robert Crais - Sunset Express

Rossi said, 'What in hell does that mean?' She stood. 'We're giving it to you on a plate, and you're saying it's not enough?'

Bidwell crossed his arms and rocked.

Anna Sherman looked at the third guy. He hadn't said anything, and now he was staring at her. She stood and said, 'It's not the best, but I want to move on this. I am confident that these people are telling the truth, and that Jonathan Green is guilty of these crimes.'

Rossi said, 'Truly said something else, too.'

Everyone looked at her.

'He said that Theodore Martin admitted killing his wife.'

Anna Sherman smiled again, and Bidwell leaned forward.

'That's why the agreement was amended. Teddy said that he'd pay anything for Green to save him, and Green went for everything. Teddy put almost all of his personal and corporate holdings into escrow as payment to Green.'

Bidwell snatched up the pages and flipped through them again.

I said, 'There's also a second amendment that releases several million dollars in holdings back to Teddy Martin. I figure it's because Teddy thought he could get bail, and if he got it he was planning to skip.'

Rossi said, 'Truly confirmed that.'

Anna Sherman leaned forward just like Bidwell now, but she wasn't smiling anymore. 'Truly said Teddy was planning to skip?'

Rossi and I answered at the same time. 'Yes.'

Bidwell ran out of the room. The third guy angrily slapped his hands and said, 'Sonofabitch!'

I said, 'What?'

Anna Sherman slumped back in her chair and looked terribly tired. 'Theodore Martin was granted bail this morning at ten o'clock.'

Theodore 'Teddy' Martin was granted bail in the amount of five hundred thousand dollars at ten that morning under a nine-nine-five motion made by Jonathan Green on the defendant's behalf in the Los Angeles Superior Court. The nine-nine-five was granted, according to the presiding judge, due to the revelation of 'evidence consistent with innocence.' Namely, the evidence found by one Elvis Cole linking Pritzik and Richards to the kidnapping of Susan Martin. The same evidence that Elliot Truly declared to have falsified as he bled to death in a maintenance shed in the Baldwin Hills.

Lincoln Gibbs and Anna Sherman got on the phones in a mad scramble to ascertain Teddy's whereabouts. Calls were made to Green's office, Teddy's business manager, and Teddy's home. Radio cars were sent to all three locations. Both Green's office and the business manager denied any knowledge of Teddy's whereabouts, and there was no answer at his home. The radio car reported that his home appeared empty, and that a Hispanic housekeeper had responded to their knock and said that 'Mr Teddy' was not and had not been home. Sherman grew so angry that she slammed her phone and cursed, and Mrs Earle said, 'What's going on?' I said, 'Teddy jumped bail.' Sherman snapped, 'We don't know that.' I picked up the amended retainer agreement and flipped to the list of Teddy's personal and corporate possessions. Teddy Jay Enterprises owned a Cessna Citation jet aircraft. It was listed among the properties transferred to Jonathan Green's control, but what does that matter when you're running for your life? Stealing jets isn't much when you compare it to killing people.

Anna Sherman was yelling into the phone at someone in Jonathan Green's office when I held the amendment in front of her with my finger pointing to the jet. She saw the listing, then said, 'Call you back,' and hung up. 'Where does he keep it?'

'I don't know.'

Sherman called Green's business manager again and demanded to know where Teddy housed the jet. She was yelling, and the business manager probably got his nose out of joint because of it, and he probably made the mistake of asking if she had a court order. Sherman went ballistic. Her face turned purple and a webwork of veins stood out on her forehead, and Gibbs said, 'Lord, Anna. You'll have a stroke.'

Anna Sherman shouted into the phone that if the business manager didn't cooperate she would have him arrested within the hour for accessory after the fact and conspiracy. It worked. The business manager told her, and Anna Sherman repeated the information as he gave it. 'Van Nuys airport. Skyway Aviation.' She also repeated a phone number, which Dan Tomsic copied.

Gibbs, Tomsic, Rossi, and I watched Anna Sherman dial Skyway, identify herself, and ask to speak with whoever was in charge. Mrs Earle was watching, too, but you could tell that it wasn't as important to her. Bidwell was arranging a ride back to the hospital for her. The Skyway manager came on the line, and Anna Sherman identified herself again. She asked as to the status of Theodore Martin's Citation jet, then asked several follow-up questions. We knew the answers from her expression. Lincoln Gibbs yelled, 'That sonofabitch!' and kicked the couch. Tomsic sat and put his face in his hands, as if he'd played a long, close game and given it everything and lost in the end. After maybe six minutes Anna Sherman hung up and looked at us with an ashen, strained face. 'Theodore Martin boarded his airplane at approximately eleven-forty this morning, and the jet departed at exactly eleven-fifty-five. His pilot filed a typical IFR flight plan to Rio de Janeiro.' Anna Sherman sat in her chair with her hands in her lap and put her head back. 'He's gone.'

Mrs Louise Earle looked as if she was about to cry. 'Did I do something wrong?'

Angela Rossi stared at her for a moment, then put her arm around Mrs Earle's shoulders. 'No, ma'am. No, you didn't. He just left. It happens all the time.'

Sherman took a deep breath, then sat forward and picked up the phone again. Only this time there wasn't any urgency to it. 'I'll notify the FBI and ask them to speak to the State Department. He's still in the air. Maybe we can work something out with the Brazilians.'

Bidwell said, 'We don't have reciprocal extradition with Brazil.'

Sherman snapped, 'Maybe we can work something out.'

I said, 'You going to do anything about Green?'

Anna Sherman stared at me for maybe six seconds, then she put down the phone. 'Oh, yes. Yes, I'm definitely going to do something about Mr Green.'

Bidwell said, 'You want to file an arrest warrant?'

Anna Sherman was looking at Angela Rossi. 'Yes, we'll file an arrest warrant. I saw Judge Kelton downstairs. Look him up and have it signed.' Arrest warrants had to be signed by a judge.

Bidwell started toward the door. 'I'll call Green's office and set it up. How much time do you want to give him to turn himself in?' Often in cases like this, the attorney is notified that a warrant has been issued and is allowed to turn himself in.

Anna Sherman shook her head, still looking at Angela Rossi. 'To hell with that. We're going to go over there and arrest his ass.'

Angela Rossi smiled. So did everyone else.

I said, 'You guys mind if I tag along?'

Lincoln Gibbs was pacing now. Grinning and anxious to take action, sort of like a leopard sensing that a hunt was on. 'No sweat.'

Rossi wanted to come, too, but Lincoln Gibbs told her no. She was still suspended, and an administrative action could be taken against her for violating her suspension.

Sherman and Bidwell made their calls and drafted their documents, and one hour and ten minutes later they were ready to pay a visit to Mr Jonathan Green, Attorney to the Stars. Mrs Louise Earle had already been returned to the hospital. Rossi walked out with us, but in the lobby she had to go one way and we another. A radio car was going to take her home.

Rossi put out her hand and we shook. 'I want to thank you.'

'No problem.'

'No, I mean it.'

'I understand.'

'I'll call Joe.'

I said, 'So long, Rossi.'

We smiled at each other and then she walked away.

Gibbs and Tomsic and I crowded into Anna Sherman's car and drove to Jonathan Green's office on Sunset Boulevard. A couple of uniforms in a radio car followed us. A district attorney almost never accompanied the police on an arrest, but then neither did freelance private eyes. I guess this was just too good to pass up.