David Rosenfelt - Dog Tags

We get right to the case at hand, and within five minutes I’m holding up the sketch of M. “There’s no sense mincing words on this, Larry. This is the man that we think is the real killer, and this is not the only murder he is guilty of. I don’t know his name, but he goes by the initial ‘M.’”

“That’s a pretty strong statement to make,” Larry says, probably surprised, since strong, controversial statements are not exactly a staple of the show.

“Yes, it is. And if I held your picture up on national television and called you a murderer, you’d be suing me within the hour. If this man wants to come forward and take me to court, I would welcome it, but he won’t.”

“So what do you expect him to do?”

“To stay in the shadows and continue killing. That’s why I am asking your viewers, if they have seen this man or know anything about him, to contact me or law enforcement. But please be careful: He is armed and very, very dangerous.”

Larry then proceeds to ask me some semi-specific questions about Billy’s trial, most of which I deflect, citing some vague confidentiality concerns. Finally I feign exasperation, and say what I’ve planned to say all along. “Larry, this case is about far more than a murder on an Edgewater street. It began when a young girl was sent in to blow up herself and a lot of innocent people, one of whom was my client.”

“So what is your theory of the case?” he asks.

“That will all come out where it should, in front of the jury. But this is much bigger than one murder; it has huge national security implications. And my client has been an unfortunate, innocent bystander through all of it.”

Before I leave, I show pictures of Jeremy Iverson, Jason Greer, and Raymond Santiago, the three soldiers we have been unable to locate at all. I realize that they may already be murder victims, though I don’t mention this. Instead I call on the public to contact me if they have any knowledge about their whereabouts.

“I am not accusing them of anything. In fact, it’s possible that they may already be victims. But if they are alive and well, I have reason to believe that they have information crucial to our case.” My expectation is that the media, including CNN’s own reporters, will pick this up and run with it. All of America will learn that the people I’ve mentioned are soldiers who were there that day in Iraq, and that were subsequently discharged.

Larry thanks me for coming, and obligingly gives me a chance to show the sketch of M again. I’ve accomplished my goals, which were to get these pictures out to the public, and also to reveal that we have an intriguing theory of the case. It’s been worth half an hour of my time, even if it felt like a month.

When I get home, I have to delay getting into bed with Laurie in order to have a trust session with Milo. Suffice it to say that I’m not pleased.

After he and Tara chomp down a few treats, I ask Milo, “You starting to trust me yet?”

He just looks at me, noncommittal.

“You know, I could be upstairs in bed with Laurie, but instead I’m down here with you. Isn’t that worth anything?”

Again no answer, and when I look over at Tara, she looks away. She doesn’t seem inclined to get into the middle of this.

“Tara, talk to him, will you? Put in a good word for me.”

I guess my walk the other night with Tara didn’t get me as many points as I’d hoped, because she’s sticking with her new friend.

“Milo, if Laurie’s asleep when I get up there, I’m not going to be pleased, and I’m going to blame you.”

I swear, I think he shrugs his lack of concern.

“Just remember, pal, you may be neutered, but I’m not.”

CHAPTER 56

IT WAS A SURREAL MOMENT FOR RAYMOND SANTIAGO. For weeks he had been holed up in a motel room just outside Detroit, spending all his time watching television, venturing out only long enough to get food and newspapers. Ever since he heard about the Erskine killing, he had behaved like a man on the run, because running was what he believed necessary to survive.

It wasn’t just Erskine’s death that sent him into a panic. Erskine was an asshole; the kind of guy at whom many people would want to take a shot. And Greer had mentioned that Erskine might try a new scheme of his own as a way to get rich. What was more disconcerting to Santiago was his inability to reach the others, Lawson, Chambers, Iverson, and Greer.

They had agreed to keep in contact, so they could better monitor the situation. The army could not prove anything other than negligence in Iraq, and their subsequent discharge actually did them a favor. With the kind of money each of them received for their efforts, the last place they wanted to be was the army.

But Santiago was a man who trusted his gut instincts, and the combination of Erskine’s murder and his inability to reach the others filled that gut with certainty and dread. So he went to Detroit, where he had no connections whatsoever, paid cash to stay in a dive of a motel, and almost never went out. There was no way anyone could find him.

That all changed the night that a stunned Raymond Santiago watched that lawyer show his picture and say his name on national television. Raymond was keenly aware that in that moment, his future was drastically altered. Now there were a million people, maybe more, looking for him. Now the supermarket cashier, the motel chambermaid, the guy selling newspaper on the corner… they were all enemies.

Raymond was going to be found, maybe by someone sent to kill him, but more likely by the public. They would locate him for the lawyer, and then his cover would be blown. He had no fear of the law at this point; he wasn’t even charged with anything. He was afraid of exposure, because that could lead to the same fate for him that it had likely brought to his friends.

Staying underground was no longer an option for Raymond. He was going to come out of hiding, and was willing to reveal all that he knew, in return for ironclad immunity and protections. The only question was whether to go to the authorities or that Carpenter guy.

He couldn’t be sure what would happen to him if he went to the authorities. He knew how high up the corruption went; in a way he would be walking into the enemy camp, and might never be heard from again.

Carpenter was another story. He only cared about getting his client off the hook on the Erskine murder. Raymond was a key to that, and Carpenter would want to protect him. And he obviously had the public visibility to expose anyone who got in his way.

Raymond was again going to trust his instincts. Carpenter was the way to go.

M watched the Larry King interview as well, hoping Carpenter would inadvertently say something he could use. His hope came to fruition, though it was a decidedly mixed bag.

He was not particularly concerned that the sketch of him was shown. It was far from an exact likeness when it was done, and he looked considerably different now. Then he had a mustache and small beard; now he was clean-shaven. He had also changed his hair color, and the overall effect was to make him unlikely to be recognized by the average citizen. Since law enforcement had been in possession of the sketch for a while, there was little about the televised release that was particularly threatening.

More concerning was that Carpenter had only shown photos of Greer, Iverson, and Santiago, and not Lawson or Chambers. Since he clearly was looking for them because of their potential involvement in the Iraqi explosion, the fact that he was not looking for the other two was a sign that he already knew their fate. That was unfortunate, but increased his level of respect for Carpenter as an adversary.

But outweighing all of this was M’s pleasure that Carpenter had revealed Santiago’s photograph to the world. He knew that Santiago was not particularly good under pressure, and this would likely panic him and draw him out. And when he came out, he would be committing suicide.