Стюарт Вудс - Barely Legal

“You were mistaken when you said that you were acting on intel that David Ross would be selling drugs at the party?”

“That’s right.”

“You realize you were under oath?”

“I wasn’t lying. I misspoke.”

“Are you claiming you accidentally committed perjury?”

Detective Kelly was unruffled. “It’s only perjury if you make a false statement knowing it to be false. When I made that statement I thought it was true. It was only after I was asked to research it that I realized I was mistaken.”

Stone smiled. “So you studied up on the laws of perjury. I thought you might have.”

“Objection, Your Honor,” ADA Grover said.

“Sustained.”

“And what other portions of your testimony are you hazy about?”

“Objection.”

“Overruled.”

“I’m not hazy about any of it. I misremembered one thing I’d been told. I am absolutely certain about what I saw and did.”

“Uh-huh,” Stone said. “Then I hate to ask you about what you were told, but who told you there would be drugs at the party?”

“The duty officer.”

“And who would that be?”

“Sergeant O’Hara.”

“Sergeant O’Hara told you there would be drugs at the party?”

“That’s right.”

“How did he know?”

“Objection. Hearsay.”

“Sustained.”

“No further questions,” Stone said, and sat down.

There was a stunned silence in the courtroom. A spectator giggled. A juror nearly applauded.

The witness, clearly prepared with a litany of answers, looked like a student who had crammed all night only to have the teacher cut him off before he could dazzle the girls in class with his knowledge.

Judge Buckingham recovered first. He turned to the prosecutor. “Mr. Grover. Any redirect for this witness?”

The ADA clearly didn’t know. He hesitated a moment, suspecting a trap, then said, “No questions, Your Honor.”

“The witness is excused,” Judge Buckingham said. “Call your next witness.”

“The prosecution calls Julie Parker.”

Ms. Parker was an attractive young woman dressed in loose-fitting business attire that tended to deemphasize her figure. Dressed as a hip young college student, Stone figured, she would be enticing indeed.

ADA Grover asked a few preliminary questions establishing that she was an undercover narcotics agent, Stone stipulated her qualifications, and they were off to the races.

As the direct examination started, Mookie slipped out and made the call.

Taperelli was not pleased. “That’s not good.”

“Mr. Fisher is doing what you asked,” Mookie said.

“Yeah, but he’s not there.”

“No, but Stone Barrington is, and he’s taking a dive. He let the detective go.”

“What’s his game?”

“No game. He’s throwing in the towel.”

“I don’t like it.”

“What’s not to like? It’s exactly what you wanted.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t expect to get it. Not that easily. And we don’t know where Mr. Fisher is.”

“I wasn’t tailing him this morning. There was no need. He had to be in court.”

“But he’s not there.”

“No.”

“So there was a need.”

“Maybe. We don’t know why.”

“That’s why you should have been tailing him like I’d asked. I need to know what he’s up to. I have people asking me who want to know why he’s not in court. What am I supposed to tell them? That we lost track of him because Mookie didn’t think there was a need to keep tabs?”

“So what do you want me to do?”

“Stay in court. If he shows up, let me know. This case needs to be wrapped up today.”

Dino didn’t know there’d been a kidnapping. He was just a man with a murder case to solve.

The David Ross case was another matter entirely. It still looked like a frame-up, engineered by a crooked detective and a mob boss, but it had nothing to do with the murder.

There was also the intimidation and corruption of defense attorney James Glick. Dino had a finger on that pulse, even if it wasn’t top priority. James Glick, though a victim, was also an accomplice. If he’d conspired with Tommy Taperelli to thwart justice by fleeing the jurisdiction of the court, the fact that he’d been coerced into such action would be a matter for his attorneys to raise should the case ever come to trial. But Dino had him on the books as a fugitive, and Dino was keeping track. When last sighted, James Glick was headed southwest and would be reaching Texas soon.

Where he went from there was anybody’s guess. The man was running scared.

Would bringing him back help Herbie? That was the question. The answer was probably not. He could take over the court case, but right now the court case was the only thing Herbie had to focus on.

The intercom buzzed.

“Yes?” Dino said.

“Stone Barrington on line two.”

Dino clicked it on. “Hi, Stone, how’s it going?”

“Not great. Herbie didn’t show up for court.”

“Again? What’s he done now?”

“This time he’s not arrested. At least I think he isn’t. He called, told me he wasn’t coming, asked me to carry on.”

“Did he say why?”

“He said he was busy.”

“Well, that’s broad enough to cover everything in the penal code. When did you speak to him?”

“He called on my way to court. He seemed casual enough. It sounded like he was in a car, only he said he wasn’t.”

“He’s lying to us again?”

“Hey, he tried to marry a hooker and got arrested. Can lying be far behind?”

“Have you tried calling him?”

“It went to voice mail. If I thought it was Taperelli who killed his girlfriend, I’d be scared.”

“Could that be why he’s ducking the case? I find that hard to believe. He stood up in court and took on the world.”

“Until this morning.”

“What about this morning?”

“He told me to let Detective Kelly go. We had him on the run. Herbie stumped him with a question, and Kelly asked for an adjournment to consult his notes. Herbie told me to let him report what he found and just quit.”

“Did you do that?”

“I did. He’s off the stand.”

“So the prosecution is done?”

“No, they called a corroborating witness, an undercover agent who was there at the party.”

“Would that be a woman?”

“Yes.”

“Attractive?”

“She would be in undercover attire.”

“Are you going to ask her anything?”

“I might have one or two questions.”

“Have fun, Stone. Let me know if Herbie resurfaces.”

Dino hung up the phone thinking hard. It didn’t add up. Dino could understand Herbie’s behavior if Taperelli was leaning on him, if he’d been the one to kill Yvette and was now threatening Herbie. But the evidence pointing to Yvette’s killer was clear. They had his fingerprints, his face on videotape, and the identification of the doorman. Plus the corroborating evidence of the prisoner he’d ratted out, who’d picked Yvette’s picture out of a lineup.

The intercom buzzed.

“Yes?”

“Detective Brogan to see you.”

“Send him in.”

Brogan entered, his expression sheepish.

“What’s up, Detective?”

“There’s something else we overlooked, sir.”

Dino smiled. “Are you sure that’s how you want to lead off, Detective?”

“Yeah, it is. Because it’s true, and I should take responsibility.”

“Just what are you taking responsibility for?”

“The surveillance video in the building.”

“We have the video of the perpetrator delivering the pizza.”

“Yes, sir. That’s not the video I’m referring to. You see, no one paid too much attention to the surveillance video because initially the suspect was discovered at the scene of the crime with the murder weapon in his hand. And when the second suspect emerged, he could be seen quite clearly in the video from the lobby camera, as well as the camera in the elevator, in which he could be seen both going up to and down from the apartment. So there was little reason to look for anyone else.”