Reid’s maiden name. She was married to somebody named Whitehall but kept her family name. She started the Foundation, which her daughter and son manage, during Reid’s first term as congressman. His speaking fees went into the Foundation. The options in Merlin too. The options were bought before he announced his run for the Senate.”
“Covering her tracks, looks like,” Carter observed.
“Most likely Merlin has some kind of contingency agreement on the options. If Reid loses, the options are forfeited,” Matt said.
Carter added, “And, if he wins, I bet a hell of a lot more will go into the Foundation.”
Matt asked him to make an anonymous call to Traynor’s headquarters and leave the information about Reid’s connections to the Larson Foundation.
“They should have enough political savvy to deduce that Reid is being bought and paid for by Merlin. You might also mention
that Reid hasn’t filed suit against the guy who spoke against Reid
in Poway. I assume you can block your caller ID?” Matt asked.
Carter said, “I could show you how to do yours, but I’m glad to make the call. What do you think Traynor’s bunch will do about it? The stock info has to be confidential. If we bring up the lawsuit, Reid may be stampeded into filing.”
“Could be, but Traynor needs something to move the voters,” Matt said. “I jarred them once, now they need another jar to make them think twice about voting for Reid. If Reid files suit against me, I’ll try to play the recording you made in San Francisco when I go to court. The judge will have to hold a hearing to decide whether to enjoin me. That’s when I’d like to play it. I’ll alert the press. They may be able to slip in. Hmm, maybe I can play it for the press it before the hearing.”
Carter said, “I think the shit’ll hit the fan but I’ll enjoy
watching it.” He folded the sheet of paper and shoved it into his shirt pocket.
“How are you doing for money?” Matt asked.
“Well, to tell you the truth, I’m about out. But, if you’re short, I can make it.”
Matt gave him a check for a thousand dollars.
Chapter 30
Matt called Denise to catch her up on all that had been happening since they last talked.
She gasped. “Is that legal? Bugging your house?”
“Probably not, but they know you’ve been helping me. So,
do not go back down to the campaign headquarters. No way can you bluff your way out of this.”
She agreed.
“Let me know what happens, Matt.” she said.
“I will. I’d like for you to get a Pulitzer out of this.”
“Right now, I’d like for you to stay alive, Matt. Allister’s going to call you. He said he has somebody who can help you.”
Carter called that afternoon to say that he’d made contact with the Traynor campaign. “Somebody took my message, a woman. She gave her name but I didn’t catch it. She said she’d pass it on.”
“I’ll watch the late news tonight.”
“I wouldn’t expect much tonight. Traynor’s bunch’s gotta digest what I said, maybe consult their attorney. Politicians are worried about getting set up.”
“Reid’ll come up with a story, but the damage will still be done if Traynor uses it,” Matt said.
“What’re you going to do if Warner tips off Stone that we’re investigating him?”
“If Stone brings it up,” Matt said. “I’ll give him some bullshit story about following up Sarah’s story because I promised her
mother. Or, I’ll play ignorant. Weak, but plausible.”
*****
Early the next morning, Allister called to say, “I talked to somebody who can do what you asked. It’ll cost you eleven hundred dollars in cash, paid in advance. And, just so you know, a hundred of that is my fee. It’s our protocol. A kind of a finder’s fee.”
“That is steep, but I’ll do it. Your fee is okay.”
“There’s more than one person involved, Mr. Dawson. The money gets split up. They have to do some technical things to keep the hack job from being traced back to them. They are very careful. I think they’re going to hijack the computer of a small pharmacy and use the pharmacy’s CURES number to log on to the state computer and find out what you want. A small pharmacy is less likely to have complex safeguards.”
“Sounds clever. How do I go about paying the money and letting them know what I want them to look for? I could give it to you,” Matt said.
“I’ve never seen them as far as I know. I just know of them. They have an invisible network. They do their riskier hack jobs from Tijuana. We all know each other by our Internet names. Your contact calls himself or herself, I don’t know, Sam Spade.”
“The detective. I guess that fits,” Matt suggested.
“I suppose. They’re good at it. Here’s what you have to do.”
Allister then gave Matt explicit instructions for paying and for leaving the questions he wanted answered. Matt was to take the money in hundred dollar bills and his questions to the Starbucks on La Jolla Boulevard on Thursday.
“This coming Thursday?” Matt asked.
“Yes. Is that a problem?”
“No.”
Allister told him to wear something green. At ten exactly he was to go into the bathroom and leave an envelope with the money and his questions on top of the commode, under a stack of
Starbuck’s napkins. After doing that, he was to go to his car and leave immediately.
Matt agreed.
Matt printed out his questions. He wanted to know how many prescriptions for Adderall Dr. Larson had written over the past three years and the names of each patient she’d written them for. He also wanted to know how many prescriptions for Adderall, Clint Reid and Jeff Warner had received over the same period.
I wonder if the doctor wrote prescriptions for herself using her married name. She’s still practicing under her maiden name.
He added her married name to Reid’s and Warner’s.
Damn, her daughter and son run the Larson Foundation. Could they be getting prescriptions? If so, her mother would be writing them, so I’ll be okay getting a list of the prescriptions she’s written.
*****
Matt withdrew the money from the bank and put it and his questions in an envelope with the name “Sam Spade” written on the outside. It was Wednesday.
He called Allister and told him he was ready to go. Then, he
went for a jog, as much to relieve the tension as anything else, but a brisk jog did make him feel better. He came back, showered and had a late morning cup of coffee on the back porch. He and Cat watched the fun-lovers running up and down, laughing and carrying on, dodging the surf rolling onto the white beach sand.
*****
The next day a few minutes before ten, Matt walked into the Starbucks Allister had named. The envelope was in a black computer case. He wore a green pullover and warm up togs with tennis shoes. He ordered a cup of coffee and sipped it until exactly ten. At that time, he left the envelope on top of the commode as instructed and covered it with a stack of napkins. I hope Sam isn’t late or I’m out eleven hundred dollars.
He left immediately, as instructed, got into his car and drove away. As he did, he saw a woman get up and head into the bathroom; too far away to see anything but her hair, dark and long enough to be tied behind her back in a long ponytail.
I wonder if she’s Sam.
He turned his radio to an all-news station and caught the end of a story from Traynor’s campaign headquarters. Traynor was being interviewed.
“I can’t say that Reid has used his position in Congress to show favoritism to a campaign supporter, Merlin, but my grandmother used to say, ‘Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.’ Well, I see plenty of smoke coming from Reid’s campaign headquarters.”
The radio reporter said, “That was State Senator, Justice
Traynor. We recorded that bit of news earlier so we could bring you Congressman Reid’s resp
onse live. Congressman.”
“Thank you,” Reid said. “I can tell you another expression about smoke. My grandmother didn’t use it, but Traynor did. He’s
the one with the smoke and he’s blowing it up the voter’s you know what. I won’t use the word. Nothing he said has any basis in fact. I’m surprised that a man of his experience would stoop so low as to use obvious lies to further his campaign. First of all, let me address Merlin. I’m pleased that Jeff Warren agreed to be my campaign manager. He’s done a great job. I don’t know what arrangement he made with Merlin, but I’m grateful. I know nothing about the stock options Jeff owns.”
The reporter said, “The anonymous caller to Senator Traynor’s headquarters said that your wife had also benefited from your position in Congress. Specifically, she bought stock options in Merlin before a lucrative contract was awarded to them for a software overhaul of computer programs used by the Department of Transportation. ”
“My wife has told me her trust has made investments in many companies. I’m not surprised she invested in Merlin. I understand Merlin is one of the leaders in the field of innovative software. However, and I want to make this clear, all contracts
awarded out of Washington are awarded on the basis of competitive bidding to the best qualified bidder. If Merlin was awarded a contract or contracts, as Traynor suggests, you can bet they were awarded because they had to have the best bid.”
The reporter continued. “Your wife’s foundation bought the options prior to the award, Congressman. Our staff members did research on the award and determined that she bought the options
two weeks before the contract award was announced.”
“You’ll have to ask her about that. I try to stay out of her business affairs. What she does has nothing to do with my campaign. I can say however, that I knew nothing about that contract and I know my wife and I never discussed.it. End of story.”
The reporter accepted his answer and asked, “Congressman, do you have any comment on the report that the use of Mr. Warner’s security company to provide security services to your campaign has the appearance of a conflict of interest?”
“Absolutely not! I asked him to make sure we were well- secured. He told me he could hire friends of his and I told him that was okay with me.”
“Do you have any comment on the claim that a man claiming to work for Mr. Warner’s company, attacked attorney Matt Dawson? Dawson is the man at your Poway who claimed you had an affair with Sarah Bush, the ANN reporter working undercover with your campaign. She was murdered, as I’m sure you know.”
“Matt Dawson had a nervous breakdown after a most difficult trial some years ago. I’m sorry for the man and hope he
recovers. He obviously has some guilt feelings about Miss Bush’s death. She was living with him at the time of her death. For some
reason, I’m not qualified to comment on, he chose to take those
feelings out on me. There’s no truth to anything he’s been saying. I welcome anybody to investigate this man’s claims. You will find, as we did, that there is not a word of truth to any of them. I’ve chosen not to subject the poor man to any more trouble than he’s already had. He probably needs psychiatric care.”
“Thank you Congressman. Now, we’ll go back to State Senator Traynor for the last word.”
”This is Mike Kramer on the road with Senator Traynor. Senator, I know you were listening to Congressman Reid. Do you have a comment?”
“I do. When my campaign received the anonymous phone calls, I immediately asked my campaign manager to investigate them. I have supporters all over the state and all responded to his request for help. He reported this to me: During Congressman Reid’s second term, Merlin received a contract to overhaul the software that manages the real estate empire left to Dr. Larson, the congressman’s wife, by her late father. To date, she has not paid one cent to Merlin. That smacks of buying favoritism. As to the congressman’s claim that all contracts are awarded on merit to the most qualified bidder, I’ll say this. We all know about the good old boy network in Washington. You scratch my back today and I’ll scratch yours tomorrow. I’ll let the voters decide. I know what I think.”
The reporter said, “Thank you Senator Traynor. We all have a lot to think about. Until next time, this is Mike Kramer, on the campaign road.”
Matt called Denise to see if she had anything to add. Hearing Traynor’s rebuttal to Reid’s rebuttal pretty much gave him the complete story. Carter had done well. He had stirred the political pot and all sorts of smells had come out.
“When I heard the story, I thought of you and Carter. Did you have anything to do with the anonymous phone calls, Senator
Traynor talked about?”
“I don’t think I’ll comment.”
“You sound political.”
He laughed.
“We’re going to put together a story for the evening news. Our camera crews are already setting up for live interviews. Guess who’s going to be on camera?”
“Congratulations! Well done,” Matt said.
“For some reason, I suspect you deserve some support for all you’ve been doing. I’ll have to figure out a way to repay you.”
“You already have.”
She swallowed a laugh. “By the way, Sarah’s mother just
called me. She said there’s absolutely nothing wrong with you. Sarah spoke highly of you and she does too. We’re going to use that in our story. Allister’s helping me write the script now. He’s a dear.”
Good to hear.
Denise continued. “We’re going to try and get a poll reading to see what impact the story is having on voters.”
“The popular belief is that most politicians are crooks,” Matt said. “The question is: which one of the candidates can the voters believe? You’re a voter. Who do you believe?”
“I’m biased because of you. I believe Traynor because of what happened to you and Sarah,” she said.
“One more drop on the forehead and Reid may find himself handling divorces again.”
“We’re looking for a voter willing to say that. It’ll make good press for the final comment to the story,” Denise replied.
“Good idea,” Matt said.
*****
Carter called to say he had interviewed, John Walker, the owner of Big John’s Guns, the shop where Jennifer had bought the automatic used to kill her husband. It was near Stone’s law offices. On a hunch, Carter had brought a picture of Stone for the man to look at. Walker remembered that Stone had been with Jennifer when she bought the automatic. Stone had also come in earlier without Jennifer.
After Jennifer bought the automatic, Walker referred Stone and Jennifer to a shooting range. Carter interviewed the operator of the range, with pictures. He also remembered Jennifer and Stone. Jennifer was a very poor shot but Stone was better.
“The automatic came in a red and black box which Stone’s ex-file clerk said he kept locked in his desk,” Carter said.
“Why didn’t the shop owner say anything about Stone at the time of the trial?”
“He said nobody asked him until the young woman from ANN did,” Carter said.
“Sarah?”
“That’s right. And, she also brought pictures of Stone and Jennifer.”
“She was on the scent,” Matt said.
“She was. By the way, Walker wanted to talk to you, but I told him you were tied up,” Carter said.
“Good man,” Matt said. “We can assume that Stone brought the gun to Jennifer the night Aaron was killed. That fits with both of them being in the house.”
“Mos’ likely true,” Carter said. “She missed the first shot, so Stone took the gun and finished him off.”
“Unfortunately, none of that rises to the level of proof.
However, on the practical side, I might dangle it in front of Jennifer to get them to pay my damn bill. I’m thinking about re-opening an office. I need some working capital.”
Carter said he had
to go, but Matt stopped him to say, “Listen, old buddy, the shit may be about to hit the fan. Your Traynor
anonymous call has sent it flying. Be sure and watch the six o’clock news. Denise is hosting the coverage. You can watch it at my place if you like. Beer’s cold.”
“I’ll have to take a raincheck. I’m still not a hundred percent. Right now, I’m ’bout gived out,” Carter told him. “Bed’s gonna feel real good.”
Matt smiled at Carter’s idiom. He’d been in California for decades and he still hadn’t changed the way he talked. One time he asked Carter about it and was told it was his way of rebelling against authority. “Ain’t nobody gonna make me do nothin’ I don’t want to do, Matt.”
Chapter 31
Matt watched the six o’clock news with Traynor’s disclosure of Merlin’s interest in the election. It was pretty much a replay of what he’d heard on the radio but was much more enjoyable with Denise’s smiling face narrating with on camera interviews cutting in. She wore a conservative dark suit with white blouse.
She looks great!
He called afterward and left a congratulatory message. She didn't call back so he assumed she was having an after-the-news celebratory gathering with Allister hosting.
Maybe they went to the Hard Rock Café for drinks. I’m not jealous. I hate to think how it would be between us ten years or so down the road when I’m slowing down and she’s just getting warmed up.
He did get a call, however. It was from Triplett. “Dawson, we’ve had a complaint from a guy, Dwight Middleton. He says you attacked him on the beach behind that shack you live in.”
“Have you looked at the guy?” Matt asked. “He must weigh in at two eighty. Muscles out to here. Probably been eating steroids since he was ten. Has to be six foot four or five. Can you picture me attacking him?”
“He says he accidentally bumped you when you were jogging and you went berserk and tried to kill him. You hit him in the crotch when he wasn’t looking.”
That La Jolla Lawyer Page 24
