Phillip Margolin - Ties That Bind

Ben Dodson was in a good mood when he arrived at his office on Monday morning. He had a full schedule of patients, but his secretary told him that his four o'clock had canceled, which meant he'd be able to go home early. As Ben went to his filing cabinet to find the file for his first patient of the day, he noticed a slip of paper that was half hidden under his desk. He picked it up and discovered that it was a note that he had scribbled to himself about Amanda Jaffe during one of their sessions. Dodson frowned. The note should have been in Amanda's file. What was it doing on the floor?

Dodson found Amanda's file and opened it. Everything looked in order. He put the paper back in the file and replaced the folder in its proper place. He took out the file for his nine o'clock and sat down to review it. After a few minutes, he paused, distracted by thoughts of the slip of paper from Amanda's file. In his mind's eye, Dodson could see himself placing the slip in the file and replacing the file after Amanda's session. He buzzed his secretary and asked her if she had taken the file from the cabinet. She had not.

Dodson was certain that he had not reviewed Amanda's file since their last appointment, which was when he'd written the note. Amanda had come to see him on Friday. Was it possible that the paper had lain unseen under his desk all day? That had to be what happened because the only other explanation would involve someone breaking into his office.

* * *

As soon as she was at her desk on Monday, Amanda phoned the Portland Police Bureau's police report requests number. A recording told her that all requests for police reports had to be in writing, but it gave her a phone number for Records. A woman answered the phone.

"I'm Amanda Jaffe, an attorney, and I'm trying to get my hands on some old police reports from the early nineteen seventies."

"Gee, we only keep records for twenty-five years. I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have them."

"Even in a homicide case?"

"Oh, that's different. Those we don't destroy, because there's no statute of limitations."

"So, I can get them?"

"You might be able to, but I couldn't give them to you. Those reports are in a locked cabinet in a locked room. The only people who can get them are Records techs."

"Can I talk to one of them?" Amanda asked.

"You could, but they won't give you the reports. They have to be authorized to get them."

"Who can do that?"

"The detectives who handled the case."

"They're probably retired, don't you think?"

"Yeah."

"So?"

"Any homicide detective can authorize the request if the original detective isn't available."

"Thanks."

Amanda dialed Homicide and asked for Sean McCarthy.

"How's my favorite mouthpiece?" McCarthy asked.

"Hanging in there."

"Is this call about Mr. Dupre?"

"Sherlock Holmes has nothing on you, Sean."

McCarthy laughed. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm trying to get my hands on some police reports from the early nineteen seventies. Records won't give them to me without the authorization of the detective who worked the case or, if he's not available, another homicide detective."

"Are the reports connected to Dupre's case?"

"They might be. I have to read them to be certain."

"What do you think you'll find?"

"I'd rather not say until I'm certain I'm going to use them."

"Then I can't help you."

"I'll just file a discovery motion. Why make me go through that?"

"Kerrigan is running this case. He's the one you should talk to. If he tells me it's okay to authorize the release, I'll make sure you get the reports, but I'm going to let him make the decision."

Amanda had hoped that Sean would give her the reports without asking for her reason for wanting them, but she had expected him to refuse. Nothing was ever easy.

Chapter Thirty-five.

The weekend had been hell for Tim Kerrigan. Every moment that he was home he worried about getting a call from Ally Bennett. When he wasn't worrying about Ally's call he was tortured by the choice he would soon have to make.

On Sunday, Tim and Cindy took Megan to the zoo. Tim was grateful for the outing. His absorption in Megan's antics helped him to forget his problems. As soon as Megan was in bed, Tim went into his study on the pretext of doing work. By the time he went to bed, he had decided what he would do. That night, he made love to Cindy with incredible passion.

When Kerrigan arrived at his office on Monday, he was exhausted from lack of sleep. One of the few tasks he could handle was reviewing his mail. There was a report from the crime lab on the old blood that had been discovered in Harold Travis's A-frame. The blood was the same type as Lori Andrews's blood. DNA testing would show conclusively whether or not the dead call girl had bled in the senator's cabin. If it turned out that Senator Travis had murdered the escort during rough sex, it would be unethical for Tim to use evidence of Andrews's murder to convince a jury that Dupre had killed her. It also made no sense from the standpoint of strategy to argue that Dupre had killed Travis to avenge Andrews. That would only create sympathy for Dupre and make the jurors hate Travis. Kerrigan was still trying to decide what to do with the evidence of the senator's perversion, when his intercom buzzed.

"Amanda Jaffe is here to see you," the receptionist said. Tim was in no mood to talk to Jon Dupre's attorney but it would look odd if he refused to see her, and it was essential that he act naturally now that he had made his decision.

"Amanda," Kerrigan said as soon as she was shown in, "to what do I owe this pleasure?"

Tim was usually neat and well dressed. Today, his eyes were glassy and there were dark circles under them. His hair looked like he'd run a comb through it without concern for the results, and the top of his white shirt showed because the knot in his tie had not been pulled tight. Amanda also noticed an uncharacteristic quaver in his voice.

"I heard that you weren't busy enough," she joked to conceal her surprise, "and I don't want you to get laid off, so I brought you something to do."

Kerrigan forced a laugh. "Gee, thanks."

Amanda handed him a motion for discovery that she'd worked on as soon as she'd finished talking to Sean McCarthy. Kerrigan thumbed through it. There was a general request for discovery of all evidence uncovered in the investigation that would tend to prove that Jon Dupre was innocent. Kerrigan wondered if he had a statutory or constitutional duty to disclose the lab report to Amanda. Did it exculpate? Finding Lori Andrews's blood in Travis's cabin would be evidence Amanda Jaffe could use to argue that Dupre did not murder Lori Andrews, but did it have any tendency to disprove the cases against Dupre for the Travis and Hayes murders?

Under the general request was a series of specific requests, which he skimmed because he was anxious to be by himself. His eye passed down the list and was almost to the bottom when something in the middle of the demands made him go back. Amanda was requesting production of a set of police reports from the 1970s. Kerrigan was tempted to ask Amanda how they could possibly be relevant to Dupre's case, but he held his tongue.

"I'll review your motions and get back to you if there's a problem."

"Great." Amanda looked closely at Kerrigan. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I think I might be coming down with something," he answered, faking a smile.

As soon as Amanda left, Kerrigan buzzed Maria Lopez and asked her to come to his office. When she walked in, he handed her Amanda's motions.

"Amanda Jaffe filed these. I have two assignments for you. One is going to upset you a little."

Maria looked puzzled.

"Jon Dupre may not be responsible for the murder of Lori Andrews," Kerrigan said.