“Look,” Maddy said to the man. “I already told you. I’m waiting for someone and I’m not interested. Now, get lost!”
“Hey, honey,” the man said, acting as if he might be a little drunk. “I’m offering you a chance to get really lucky.”
Leo stepped up to the man who was at least twenty years younger and said, “The lady said she’s not interested now, leave her alone or I throw you out.”
“Who the hell are you, old man?” the deputy said.
Leo grabbed him with both hands by the lapels of his coat and began to propel him along the bar. As soon as he did this, Maddy, using a bar napkin, snatched the glass Leo was holding and slipped it into a Ziploc plastic bag she had in her purse. The bartender, who had been watching his boss, failed to notice what she had just done.
A minute later Leo, having physically removed the younger man, was back with a very satisfied look on his face. “You all right?” he asked Madeline.
“Are you all right?” she asked Leo. “I’m sorry about that. Can I buy you a drink for helping a damsel in distress?” she asked.
“It’s my place,” Leo said as modestly as he could. “Let me buy you one. I’m Leo,” he said as he put out his hand. “Leo Balkus. I own the place.”
Maddy shook his hand then reached in her purse and pulled out the subpoena. “You’re Leo Balkus?” Without waiting for a reply she said, “I have something for you,” and handed him the folded document.
With a curious look on his face, Leo unfolded the paper and began to read it. At that moment, Ike Pitts and Johnny Czernak came out of the office and walked up to their boss.
Madeline stood up to leave as Leo, realizing what she had given him, angrily said to Johnny, “Grab that bitch!” before she could turn and try to flee.
Johnny reached for her right shoulder with his left hand but instead Maddy grabbed his wrist with her right hand and viciously twisted it tearing his elbow ligaments. At the exact same moment, she grabbed his hair with her left hand and still holding his twisted left arm, slammed his face on the bar and tossed him backward onto the floor.
Seeing what happened to Johnny, Leo stepped back and pushed Ike toward her. Ike tried to reach inside his coat for his gun but wasn’t quick enough. Maddy stepped into him and grabbed the arm he was trying to use to get his gun, his right one, with her left hand. As she did this, she slapped him as hard as she could with her cuffed right hand against his left ear. The force of the concussion blew out his eardrum and the pain caused Ike to scream. Still holding his right arm, she pivoted a half turn on her left heel and drove her right foot down onto the side of his left knee immediately buckling it. She finished him off by driving his face into the bar and letting him drop unconscious to the floor. The entire fight, if it could be called a fight, had lasted barely five seconds.
Keeping her eyes on Leo, Maddy knelt down and removed Ike’s gun. She then stepped over to Johnny who was holding his face and moaning over and over, “Not my goddamn nose again,” and removed his gun as the blood poured from his shattered nose.
By now most of the bar patrons had scattered and the ones that remained were too awestruck to move.
Maddy set Johnny’s gun on the bar and removed the magazine from Ike’s automatic. While Leo looked on in shocked silence at the carnage she had wrought, she field stripped Ike’s gun and tossed the separate pieces around the room. In less than ten seconds she did the same thing to Johnny’s gun.
She retrieved her purse in a way so she could feel the glass still in it, nodded at the bartender and backed up several steps away from the thunderstruck Leo, unconscious Ike and still moaning and bleeding Johnny. Without another word she turned and quickly walked out of the bar. A minute later, the deputy who was to be her backup slipped unnoticed out of the restaurant to follow her. When he reached the parking lot, he found Maddy and his compatriot waiting for him.
As he approached the two of them, he pulled out his phone and dialed a number. Tony answered on the first ring and anxiously asked, “Everything okay?”
“I thought you said she might need some protection. Or did I misunderstand? Was I there to protect her from Leo and his thugs or protect them from her? I may have been confused. Here, I’ll let her tell you,” he said as he handed the phone to a smiling Madeline.
Without telling him the details of the fight, she told him everything went well and she got what they wanted. They made plans to meet at Vivian’s right away and she ended the call. She thanked both of the deputies and asked if they had been paid.
“I would have paid you to see this,” the second deputy said. “You should have seen the show,” he said to the one who had left first under Leo’s escort.
“Thanks again, guys. I have to go,” Maddy laughed as she headed to her car.
Two hours later, the glass with Leo’s fingerprints and maybe a little DNA, were being couriered to Vivian’s New York friend. He would get the prints professionally lifted from it, any trace DNA swabbed out of it and the results sent to his contact in Russia.
EIGHTY-ONE
Marcella Washington looked up from her desk when she heard the knock on the office door directly in front of where she sat. Without waiting for Marcella to answer, the door slowly opened and three serious looking men, all dressed similarly in standard business suits, stepped through the door and looked down at Marcella. The first one to enter, an attractive young black man reached in his inside coat pocket, removed a billfold and opened it to show Marcella his credentials.
“Good morning, Ms. Washington,” the man said. “I’m Damian Darsen. I’m a lawyer with the US Attorney’s office here in Minneapolis and it’s very important we meet with Judge Rios.”
“About what?” Marcella asked.
“That’s none of your business,” the oldest of the three men, a dour, almost bald white man said.
“And who might you be?” Marcella asked with obvious attitude.
“Wait,” Damian interrupted, turning first to the bald white guy then back to Marcella. “Please, Ms. Washington. It’s very important we see her before her trial starts,” he softly said.
“I’ll see if she has the time,” Marcella testily answered him as she got up and walked around her desk. She lightly knocked on the door to the judge’s chambers, went in and closed it behind her.
Without looking up from the document she was reading, Judge Rios asked, “What’s going on out there?”
“There’s a fine looking young man I want to introduce my niece to from the U.S. Attorney’s office and a couple of grumpy old white guys with him. They look to be feds. They say they need to see you.”
Rios laughed and said, “At eight o’clock? Show them in, please.”
Marcella opened the door and stood aside as the three men entered. She scowled at the three men behind their backs, went out and closed the door as the judge pleasantly told the men to be seated.
“What can I do for you gentlemen?”
“Your Honor,” Darsen began, “we have an order here enjoining you from allowing Leo Balkus to be forced to testify. I’m afraid he cannot be put on your witness stand.”
“An order from whom?” she asked as she reached across her desk to take the document from Darsen.
“It’s a FISA court order,” the bald man said.
“And who are you?” she asked him.
“My name is Benton Alquist. I’m here from Washington. The Department of Homeland Security. This is a matter of…” in a clearly condescending voice.
“We’ll get to that,” Rios said abruptly cutting him off and sending him the unmistakable message that she ran her office. “And you are?” she asked the third one.
“Charles Swain, your Honor,” he answered respectfully. “Special Agent, FBI. I am with the local office,” he said as he handed her his credentials case.
Rios took the credentials from Swain and began to write down his name and his number. As she did this she said, “I want to see both of your ID’s as well.”
The two men handed them over and Rios wrote down the information from them. The Homeland Security representative, visibly annoyed with how this was proceeding, sat back, crossed his legs and sighed heavily.
When Rios finished reading the order, she handed back their credentials and said to Darsen, “What’s going on here, Mr. Darsen?”
The bored Alquist said, “This is a matter…”
“I was talking to him, Mr. Alquist. Now, you may be a big deal hotshot from Washington but this is still my court and you will treat me and it with due respect or I will put your ass in jail. Do we understand each other?”
“Yes, your Honor,” a chastened Alquist answered her.
“All we can tell you, your Honor, is that this is a matter of national security and the government has obtained an injunction to stop you from putting Leo Balkus on the stand. To be honest, your Honor, I don’t know why and if I did, I couldn’t tell you.”
“Mr. Alquist?” Rios asked.
“That is correct, your Honor,” he answered much more respectfully. “And you are not to discuss this with anyone except the lawyers. We will stay behind to discuss it with them.”
“Agent Swain, why are you here?”
“The FBI has an interest in this matter that I cannot go into. I’m just here to observe and report.”
Rios silently looked back and forth at the three men thinking it over. Finally, she said, “I’ll tell you men something. I don’t like this one bit. I have a man on trial for his life and he is being precluded from putting on a key witness. This will certainly be grounds for an appeal.” She then picked up the phone, dialed Marcella and asked her if the lawyers were in her courtroom and if so, to bring them in. Two minutes later, Marcella opened the door and stood aside as Marc, Gondeck and Jennifer Moore all walked in looking puzzled.
“We have a problem,” Rios announced to them as they came in. She held up the federal court order and motioned for Marc to come forward and get it.
While Marc and Gondeck, with Jennifer looking between their shoulders, read the injunction, Darsen said, “That is for you to read only. That document leaves with us and no copies will be made.”
After Marc had read enough to know what it was, he angrily said, “You got a Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act court order to protect Leo Balkus. What the hell is wrong with you people? Do you know what a sleazy scumbag this guy is?”
“We’re not here to debate this,” the DHS representative said. “We’re here to inform you, as politely as possible, that Leo Balkus will not take the stand. Further, none of this leaves this room. There are serious national security concerns which we cannot go into.”
“Marc,” Darsen said. “They’re serious about this. If you go out there and raise a stink about it, you will be prosecuted. Sorry but that’s the deal.”
“I have to tell my client,” Marc said as Gondeck handed the document back to the government’s lawyer.
“No you don’t,” Darsen answered him. “No one outside of this room, period. And this will not be grounds for an appeal. You do not even present this to an Appeals Court.”
“Then I want a mistrial, your Honor,” Marc said to Rios.
“No, no mistrial,” Darsen said. “At least not because of this. If you declare a mistrial, your Honor, you’ll have to explain why. Sorry, can’t allow it.”
“Who is this guy?” Gondeck asked. “What the hell is going on here? Marc’s right, Leo Balkus should be on death row, not protected by the government. What the hell is going on here, Charlie?” Gondeck asked the FBI agent, a man he had known for several years.
“Sorry, Steve. My hands are tied.”
With that, Darsen stood up and the two men he came with did also. “Thank you for your time, your Honor.” He held out his had for the FISA order and Marc reluctantly gave it to him. The three men from the federal government silently filed out of Rios’ chambers leaving the judge and the three lawyers, all of whom were still standing, mildly shocked at what had just happened. No one knew quite what to say and after a minute, the judge finally asked Marc, “Do you have any other witnesses ready to go this morning?”
“Uh, yeah. I have my character witnesses lined up. After this, they’ll take up today.”
“Okay,” Rios said. “We’ll get started at nine. You good with that, Marc?”
“Yes, your Honor.”
For the rest of the day the trial dragged on with Marc’s list of character witnesses. He and Maddy had had a difficult time finding any who were willing to testify on behalf of Prentiss. Mostly what he wanted them for was to testify that they had known both Gordon and Catherine for years. They all testified that they considered themselves good friends and were extremely shocked at the allegations of domestic abuse.
Marc had each on the stand for a little over an hour a piece. None had anything to offer about guilt or innocence, but he could at least use their testimony to argue reasonable doubt about the second murder one charge; a homicide arising from domestic abuse when there has been a pattern of abuse.
The last one was Prentiss’ former partner, Carter McElhenney. He spent almost two hours on the stand late Monday afternoon. He came across extremely well and not only refuted the allegations of abuse but literally scoffed at them. He admitted that Gordon could be difficult at times and demanding. And yes, he had an ego which was hardly unusual in their profession. This hardly made him an abuser let alone a murderer. Marc ended his questioning and turned him over to Gondeck for his cross-examination.
Each of the previous character witnesses had been forced to admit, by Gondeck on cross-examination, that no matter how well they knew the Prentisses, or anyone else for that matter, they could not be sure what went on behind closed doors.
“You seem pretty certain in your belief that the accused did not abuse his wife.”
“I am very certain of it,” McElhenney answered.
“How could you be so sure?”
“Because Catherine would have told me,” he answered. McElhenney almost stopped there wondering if Gondeck would ask the obvious follow-up question. Since the prosecutor might not and since it was a poorly worded, open-ended question, he decided to make sure he said would he wanted to say. He finished his answer and dropped the bombshell. “You see, last year, for almost ten months, Catherine and I were having an affair. We spent two or three afternoons each week in a hotel room and I have no doubt she would have told me.”
As soon as he said it, a buzz went through the courtroom and all of the jurors sat up looking alternately between McElhenney and Gordon Prentiss. Taken off guard, a stunned Steve Gondeck tried to recover but quickly knew it was futile. He asked a few more innocuous questions in a lame attempt to change the subject and distract the jury, but it didn’t work.
“Redirect, Mr. Kadella?” Rios asked.
“Yes, your Honor. Mr. McElhenney, did Judge Prentiss know about your affair with his wife?”
“No, I don’t believe so.”
“I’m curious, why didn’t you tell me about the affair?”
“Because my wife didn’t know about it. I never told her.”
“I see. Why did it end?”
“My wife and I were having problems before I became involved with Catherine. I ended it to try to save my marriage.”
“And you became close enough with Catherine Prentiss so that if she was being abused by her husband she would have told you?”
“No doubt about it.”
“Did you ever see any physical signs of abuse on her?”
“None.”
“Thank you, Mr. McElhenney. I have nothing further, your Honor.”
With that exchange, the trial recessed for the day. As Carter McElhenney walked past the defense table to exit the courtroom, he was watched with a murderous stare by Gordon Prentiss. It was a look Marc noticed and prayed none of the jurors would see the violence in Gordon’s heart.
“What do you have to report today, Gabriella,” Melinda asked into the camera.
“A b
it of a bombshell was dropped in this afternoon’s session,” Gabriella replied. “The defense started its case today and Marc Kadella, the lawyer for Judge Prentiss, put on several witnesses that knew both judge and Catherine Prentiss very well.”
“Gabriella, please stop calling him judge. He’s a murdering, wife-beating, sex pervert and it makes my skin crawl when you call him that,” Melinda interrupted.
Gabriella managed to keep a straight face and not show her displeasure at Melinda’s blatant unprofessionalism. Instead, she ignored the foolish remark by her and continued reporting.
“Each of today’s witnesses testified that they had known the Prentisses for years and had never seen any indication of any abuse. The last witness, a partner in the defendant’s former law firm, a man by the name of Carter McElhenney, also testified he was a friend of both. Then he told today’s big surprise. He claimed he and Catherine had a ten-month long affair last year and she never once mentioned anything about being abused and he never saw any signs of abuse. He was the last witness of the day and the courtroom was certainly buzzing with that bit of news.”
“Did he say anything about Gordon Prentiss knowing of the affair? That would certainly be motive for domestic abuse by the pervert.”
Gabriella cringed a little at Melinda’s characterization then said, “He was quite clear that the defendant knew nothing about it.”
“Interesting. Well, who can blame her for getting involved with another man after living with Gordon Prentiss for years? Thank you for that report, Gabriella.”
As Marc was riding down in the crowded elevator to go back to his office, he was scrolling through the day’s text messages. He ignored and deleted all but three. There was an urgent one from Carolyn, one of the office assistants telling him to call Maddy and an urgent one from Maddy requesting a callback. The third one was from Margaret Tennant sarcastically wishing him to get well soon. This one caused a twinge of guilt knowing he had not spoken to her for more than a week.
Marc Kadella Legal Mysteries Vol 1-6 (Marc Kadella Series) Page 88
