The Good Client

by Dan Decker

Inwardly was a different matter. I was glad I had asked Winston to do a full background check on Timothy, because at least I could conclusively say that nothing had come back.

  “Have you not done an internet search on him?” Frank’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

  “Stop beating around the bush.”

  “Look, I’m here to tip you off so you are not blindsided when I file amended charges next week.” He shrugged. “Honestly, I wouldn’t be here except for Stephanie, she convinced me to come. She was about to contact you herself, something she didn’t want to do for obvious reasons, but she told me what you did for her back at the apartment and felt like she owed you.” Frank let out a little chuckle. “As to that whole thing, my impression of you went up a bit. You would have been one of the first attorneys on my list to suppress evidence. In fact, I’ve suspected you of doing that in the past. I never figured you for an honest guy, and then you come and hand us the murder weapon.”

  I bristled at the backhanded compliment but let it go.

  “Am I missing something? Have ballistics come back?”

  “Come on, Mitch. You and I both know that’s the murder weapon, we don’t even need to see a report, do we?”

  I waited. Mitch was having a good time and as much as I wanted to rain on his parade, it was best to just let him have his fun and deliver the information as he saw fit.

  What goes around comes around in this business. I would remember his actions the next time I had him at an advantage.

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said, deciding I better acknowledge he had at least had recognized I was honest. “I hope you’ll note that I didn’t say anything about this to the media.”

  “Why didn’t you?” He asked with sarcasm so thick I could practically see it dripping from his tongue. “You don’t want to be known as the criminal attorney who turned over evidence that convicted his client?” He shook his head. “That’s bad for business.”

  “I had an ethical responsibility.”

  “Yeah, the newspapers won’t see it that way. Nor would future clients. They all would just go to Keith Williams.” The way he said this last bit made me think that word had got around the Williams had been retained for this, but that Timothy had stuck with me.

  That’s great, I just have to win so I can use it.

  “Look Frank, I don’t believe what I’m hearing. I did Stephanie and your investigatory team a solid in how I handled a delicate situation for you guys. If you guys turn around and use it to hurt my business, you can hardly expect me to play that way in the future. While I had an ethical obligation, there was nothing that would have stopped me from going to the newspaper and leaking the fact that you guys had missed the murder weapon in the victim’s home. That would not have looked good for you. When does your boss come up for reelection?”

  “You and I both know the reason why you didn’t do that. It wasn’t for the department. It was because of her.”

  I shook my head. “It wasn’t but even it was, motives hardly matter, it had the same beneficial effect either way, didn’t it? Who cares why it benefited your department if it did benefit your department?”

  “I’m just saying that you’re not as altruistic as you pretend to be.”

  “Frank, I don’t understand why we’re here. You’re hinting at things but not giving me the lowdown. If you have information on my client, I’m happy to look at it.” He wanted me to ask for further information, but I was not gonna do it. He was probably hoping I would ask if there was a deal on the table, something I was also not going to do. Not like this. If he was gonna make me wait until everybody else knew it too, that would be just fine.

  “Mitch, you’re no fun. Of course, we’re not gonna leak your name to the press. We appreciate what you did for the department and that’s why I’m here. There was a curious incident in Timothy’s youth. He was at camp and one of the boys died. It was ruled a suicide, but Timothy was one of his bunkmates. Strange coincidence, isn’t it?”

  “A little thin, isn’t it?”

  “It doesn’t look good. The judge is not going to have a problem with our amendment.”

  “Bunkmates. There was more than one of them.” I kept my voice unemotional as I made the observation, because I did appreciate the heads up. I could meet with Timothy and have a plan on how I could handle this before the amended charges were announced.

  Frank could have waited, but had chosen to do the friendly thing. I would try to look at it that way, instead of remembering how he had taken his time to draw it out.

  “There were four of them. There was a whole investigation and everything. I will send that over with the next round of disclosures.”

  “What makes you think that Timothy had anything to do with that boy’s death? If it was ruled a suicide, why do you now think it was murder?” I clenched my fist under the table. Those questions had just slipped out.

  “Now as for that, I’m going to make you wait.” Frank grinned in a most annoying fashion, but I shrugged.

  “Fair enough. I appreciate the heads up.” I wanted to start beating him until I got the truth, but I took another bite of my cold chicken Alfredo instead.

  24

  Jun 7 – 8:06 PM

  I had planned to go home after my dinner meeting with Frank, but I was now rattled enough that I went back to the office where I had a better set up for working. I knew it was going to be hours before I fell asleep anyway, I might as well turn that jittery energy into something useful.

  I was surprised when I drove up to see the lights were still on. Both Veronica and Tony’s cars were gone, but Susie’s was still parked. Judging by its position in front of the building, she had left and returned, probably after getting something to eat.

  “What are you still doing here?” I asked as I walked past her desk on the way to my office.

  “Just working on the assignment you gave me. I am trying to track down some people he knew in high school.” She looked up. “Don’t worry, I’m not keeping track of my time. I’m doing this for Timothy. He needs all the help he can get.”

  “Keep track of your hours,” I said as I walked past and shut the door. That’s not something Veronica would have said, but we were a business, not a charity. If Susie wanted to do some charitable giving, she could find a different place to do it.

  The first thing I did was type Timothy Cooper’s name into the internet search engine with the words “summer camp.” My assumption had been that Winston would have done some basic internet searches, but nothing would have made him think of looking for summer camps. Nothing came up in the first few pages of results so I tried researching summer camps that I thought Timothy Cooper might have gone to. I had still not turned up anything half an hour later.

  Just when I was starting to think that Frank Ward had been lying to me, there was a knock on my door.

  “Come in.”

  Susie entered, she looked like she had just seen a ghost. “Look at the email I just sent you.”

  I opened it and could already tell from the URL that it was what I had been looking for.

  “Thanks,” I said. “I have been looking for this.”

  “You knew?”

  “Just found out. That’s why Frank Ward wanted to meet.” I looked at her. “Can you keep a secret, at least for a few days?”

  “Sure,” she said, looking paler by the moment.

  “They’re going to charge him with capital murder.”

  “What? They can do that?”

  “They are probably going to charge him with murdering this kid back at camp as well. Their theory of the case is that this is a pattern so they will try to get them connected, at least during the sentencing phase.”

  “We’re screwed.”

  “Don’t think like that. We’re here to do our job. This is why you should keep track of your hours, because we’re going to send the bill to Timothy’s father.”

  I did not say as much, but the implication of my words was that I was starting to thin
k Timothy was guilty.

  Susie didn’t have anything to say as she left my office. A few minutes later I heard the front door close as she left for the night.

  I wondered if I should have been more comforting or tried to say something better, but I was just as despondent as her.

  It might be a stretch to charge Timothy with the murder of a bunkmate from when he was a kid, but then it might not. It might be that they had had some evidence of foul play, but not enough to bring any charges back then.

  A dead roommate turning up in college would be a convincing enough pattern for them to take a hard look at it again, which apparently, they had.

  “We are screwed,” I said aloud to an empty office.

  25

  Jun 10 – 6:55 AM

  I got to the office early Monday morning. My initial inclination upon hearing the news from Frank Ward was to work all weekend, but I’d left shortly after Susie and had gone in the opposite direction, deciding not to think about the case on Saturday or Sunday.

  I had even found a church and attended mass, something I hadn’t done in a few years, but was something Britney was trying to get me to do more often. The next time she wanted me to go with her, I could claim to have gone recently so I could hopefully bow out.

  My assumption that Frank was about to offer a deal had only grown over the weekend. He probably would have made an offer Friday night if I had been a little bit more shocked by his revelation, but I had rolled with it well enough that Frank had decided to give it time to sink in before he came up with another option.

  I pulled out my notepad and started taking notes about the things I had thought of during my drive in.

  He is guilty, as improbable as that seems, I have to get that in my head. I have to treat him like I would any other client.

  It helped to have a clear mind. I would soon have to confront Timothy with what was about to happen.

  Perhaps a plea deal was the right way to go. I had assumed the cops had got it wrong, but maybe he did do this. It was a disheartening thought, but there was not much for it. This was the way things usually worked.

  This case was a study in why it was essential to not get involved with your client’s problems, even if it was somebody you were close to. You never really did know a person. While I had done my best to not think about the case over the weekend, I had subconsciously started to accept that Timothy had murdered Gordon and had probably done in his bunkmate as a kid as well.

  It was shocking, but I didn’t know how else to come to terms with what had been given to me.

  I found the murder weapon for crying out loud! I got up from my chair and stretched, trying to clear my head. I need to shake this off. There are things I am missing. There are facts they are glossing over.

  There was knock on the door and Veronica came strutting in. “I officially take it all back. You took a risk and it paid off.”

  “What’s that now?”

  “I criticized you for taking Timothy Cooper’s case, but I was wrong.”

  “The money came in,” I said unemotionally. It took Keith Williams long enough to forward it.

  She smiled. “Cleared this morning. I meant to talk with you about it on Friday but you’d already left when I stopped by.”

  I didn’t know how to respond. Normally, a big retainer was something to be welcomed, but I didn’t know how I felt about it right now. I struggled to maintain my composure because I knew if I spoke my mind, Veronica would not be my law partner for much longer and while she had some weaknesses where money was concerned, she was a good partner. It would not be fair to lash out at her, especially since she had no way of knowing what was going on with the case.

  I leaned back, put my hands behind my head and forced a smile. Luckily, I was saved from any more interaction because her phone rang. She gave me a wave and answered while walking out.

  Feeling like I had dodged a bullet and been kept from doing something stupid, I went back to my notes.

  I kept trying to tell myself that I needed to withhold judgment until I had a chance to review all the evidence, but knew in my heart the case was over.

  I had thought he was innocent, but the chances of him having two roommates die within a few years of each other was just too much of a coincidence to ignore, especially in a murder case.

  They have the body, they have the gun, they have the bullet, and have an apartment with a door that was not forced. Motive won’t be too hard to manufacture when they trot out Timothy’s past and his arguments with Gordon, all the while making it seem like he is developing a pattern of killing roommates.

  I shook my head.

  Why had I kept Keith Williams from stealing this case from me?

  I couldn’t remember.

  My cellphone buzzed and I was surprised to see it was Winston. He usually didn’t call on my private line this early so I took it.

  “Do you have some time this morning?” Winston asked without preamble.

  “Is this about the Cooper case?” I asked, preparing to tell him that it was all but over. Frank Ward was gonna make an offer and while I would negotiate it down, I was going to encourage Timothy to take it. I was not looking forward to the meeting, but I knew the way this was going to go.

  “Yeah, I turned up some interesting stuff over the weekend, you’re gonna want to see this first thing.”

  “There have been some developments on my end too and it looks like I am going to plea him out.”

  “Trust me, don’t make any deals yet. You’re gonna want to see this first. We now have suspects up the wazoo.”

  Hope fluttered, but I intentionally stamped it down. I was never going to take a case from somebody I knew again. It was just too awful to ride the ups and downs. It was much easier when I could look at it from the distance of a clinical practitioner.

  “Can you be here by 9:00 AM?” I asked.

  “Better make it 9:30. I have some other things to do first. Don’t plea him out. Not yet. This race is not over, not by half.”

  Hope again flared, but I pushed it away.

  I buzzed Ellie and was surprised when she answered. She sometimes had a sixth sense for knowing when I got to the office. Perhaps I needed to check for a hidden camera that alerted her to my presence.

  “Can you arrange to have Timothy come in today?”

  “When do you want him to come?”

  “Let’s make it 11:00 AM. Also, I have a meeting with Winston at 9:30. Please block off that time as well.”

  “Will do,” she said cheerfully, happy that I had remembered to tell her about it.

  26

  Jun 10 – 9:35 AM

  I tapped my desk impatiently while I waited for Winston to show. Despite knowing better, I had started to hope he had found something that was going to get the case back on track.

  Suspects up the wazoo, eh? We’ll see about that.

  I was starting to think of asking Ellie to push Timothy’s appointment back to this afternoon, because I wanted to take lunch to think about my approach with him. Not that I didn’t trust Winston, but I feared when I looked at what he had that I wouldn’t see much value. I also wanted to maximize the opportunity for Frank to reach out with an offer so I did not go to my client empty-handed when I suggested it was time to start talking plea bargain.

  There was a smart rap on my door, disturbing my thoughts as Winston pushed it open and entered.

  “Sorry, running a little late, was trying to get some stuff printed out for you and it took longer than I thought.”

  “No problem, what do you got?”

  “I spent a bunch of time this weekend looking into and following Ron Cooper. I did not turn up much on the internet.” Winston shrugged. “This is hardly a surprise, considering that Cooper is a prominent attorney and has been careful in his indiscretions.” Winston stared right at me. “But he has not been careful enough. He wasn’t planning on somebody following him this weekend. He’s stepping out on his wife.”

  “This is hardly
the earth-shattering revelation I was hoping for, unless you have anything that ties him back to the murder.”

  I was starting to get impatient and was wondering if Winston was wasting my time. It was beginning to seem like it. An affair, as nasty as that could be, was precious little to go on.

  Winston was not put off by my negative attitude. “The affair is not as interesting as who the affair is with. I did a little digging on the woman and she does have a connection to Gordon.”

  It took a moment for the information to process. Winston smiled at me when the light bulb went on.

  “What’s the connection?”

  “She’s his aunt.”

  “Gordon’s aunt?” I shook my head. “That seems highly unlikely. Timothy and Gordon met on Craigslist.”

  “Yeah, this can’t be a coincidence. I am willing to bet that Timothy either met Gordon through this illicit liaison or that Ron met—her name is Barbara Howard Smith—her through his son’s relationship with Gordon. Now, I don’t have anything that ties Barbara or Ron to Gordon’s murder, but I don’t have to tell you we finally have some people with proper motive, a big one. Perhaps Timothy walked in on them one time, or maybe it was Gordon, considering he’s the one that’s dead. In any case, if we can make a connection between Gordon and either one of them, we have some significant doubt.”

  My mind was awhirl with possibility. This was indeed exciting. It was the game changer I had been hoping for when I received Winston’s call.

  “They’re upgrading the charges to a capital offense and seeking the death penalty.”

  “For this?”

  “No, they’re trying to pin another death on Timothy as well. Apparently, something happened when he was a juvenile. I don’t have much on it.” I slid a folder over to him. “Here are some news clippings I was able to find. Timothy isn’t mentioned by name, but his father is mentioned as an attorney representing one of the boys, it isn’t much of a leap.”