The First Law dh-8

by John Lescroart

  Hardy and the rest of the associates all missed the rest of the report. At the word "critical," Phyllis had uttered a small cry and crumpled to the ground.

  In his office, Hardy had three voice mails from Jeff Elliot, his friend and the writer of the "CityTalk" daily column for the Chronicle. They shared the basic information that each had independently gathered; then Elliot asked, "So where does this leave you?"

  "You mean me personally or the firm here?"

  "Both."

  "Well, he's the rainmaker here, so people are freaked. If he's even out for a couple of weeks, the work dries up. Phyllis fainted. You know he'd just asked Gina to marry him?"

  A short silence. Elliot, Hardy knew, trying to digest it. "What'd she say?"

  "She said yes. He gave her a ring."

  Another pause. "Was she seeing anybody else?"

  "Who'd want to kill David and thereby eliminate the competition? I don't think so. She was at the hospital all night."

  "Still…"

  "I think it's a dry well, Jeff, but you can ask her if you want."

  Elliot seemed to accept that. "So how are you doing?"

  "I'm worried. Unconscious isn't good. They're saying critical, and the nurse this morning wasn't what you'd call optimistic. Blanca-you know Blanca-he seemed to think that whoever did it meant to hurt him bad at least."

  "What for?"

  "No theories. Not robbery, unless he was carrying something unusual with him, which he never did. But not his wallet, not his watch-a Rolex by the way."

  "So what do you think?"

  "I'm totally stumped. At the moment, I'm tempted to think it might even have been random. Easy target. Cheap thrills. It's been known to happen. Hey, I'm getting another call. You want to wait?"

  "No thanks. I'm crankin' here. I hear anything, I'll let you know."

  "Dismas Hardy," he said, punching into his call waiting.

  "Diz. Dick Kroll. I just heard about David. My God…"

  "Yeah. I don't know what's happening yet. Did we have a depo today? We do, don't we?" Hardy brought his hand to his forehead, squeezed his temples.

  Kroll was sympathetic. "We can put that off as long as you need. The important thing now is David. How's it look?"

  For the hundredth time, Hardy ran down what he knew. Answered the same questions. No robbery. No motive. No clues. A senseless beating of an old and defenseless gentleman. When he finished, the line hummed open for a long beat.

  "I don't know what to say, Diz. I'm in shock, really. Is there anything I can do?"

  Hardy gave it an instant's thought. "Maybe see if any of your client's men noticed or heard something. Or will. It wasn't one of Wade's beats, though, was it?"

  "I don't know. Where did it happen exactly?"

  "Two blocks north of here. Right around the corner, actually."

  "No, then. Thirty-two ends down at Post."

  Hardy kept on. "It was his usual route home, which he always walked because he was bullet proof. Jesus…"

  "What?"

  Hardy blew out. "Nothing. I just remembered I offered to drive him." He swore.

  "Don't blame yourself. It wasn't anything you did." Kroll cleared his throat. "So listen, I don't want to add to your troubles today. Why don't you dig out, call me when you want to start up on these depos again. I'm assuming if David's out, you'll be taking the lead."

  "It's too early, Dick, okay? I don't want to go there yet."

  "Fine, fine. I'll wait till you call me. Meanwhile, is there anything else I can do? Anything at all?"

  "I can't think of anything, but thanks."

  "I'll pray for him. How about that?"

  Hardy hadn't ever considered Kroll much of a religious man-certainly he was an unscrupulous attorney and dirty fighter, but you never knew. "Couldn't hurt," he said. "Thanks." Yet another call was coming in on the heels of the last. He looked at his watch-the regular workday still wouldn't begin for seven minutes and he'd already been going for two hours. He punched the button on his phone, stifled a weary sigh. "Dismas Hardy," he said.

  It was the first time Hardy had been to Glitsky's new domain on the fifth floor. The lieutenant was leaning over a computer terminal in a claustrophobic room occupied by two women, one of them with an enormous girth. Glitsky was saying something to her about the new software they should be getting sometime in the next decade that would do it all faster and better. Hardy, in low enough spirits already, found the moment nearly unbearably sad.

  Perhaps sensing a shadow behind him, Glitsky stopped in midsentence, straightened up and turned around quickly. Everything from his stance to his fierce glare announced his readiness to fight whoever it might be. When he saw it was Hardy, something went out of him. For an instant, he seemed almost disappointed, but immediately the expression shifted to concern. "You all right?" he asked. "Is everybody all right?"

  By this he meant, of course, their families. Hardy showing up unannounced in the middle of a Wednesday afternoon, looking shell-shocked and drawn, set off every alarm in Glitsky's head.

  Hardy's reply didn't ease his mind. "Got a minute?"

  Excusing himself to his staff, he led his friend to the next office and closed the door behind them. "What?"

  "You haven't heard about David?"

  Glitsky read his friend's face and his gaze went flat. "Don't tell me he's dead."

  "Not yet, but it doesn't look good." The telling took less than a minute, during which Glitsky took a seat behind his desk. Hardy remained standing, drained, hands in his pockets. "I've just come from the hospital. Again. Gina's back down there, too."

  Glitsky slouched in his chair, ringers templed at his lips. Hardy was rambling on. "I don't even know why I'm here, to tell you the truth. I answered calls all morning at the office, but the thought of work…" He shrugged. "Sorry to just barge in."

  "If memory serves," Glitsky said, "I've done it to you a few times."

  But the usual banter couldn't find a toehold, and the two men filled the space managing their silent emotions. Finally, Hardy pulled a chair around and sat heavily. "I really don't know why I'm here," he repeated.

  Glitsky let another minute pass. "He was walking home? That's it?"

  Hardy nodded. He was wrestling with something, and finally came out with it. "I almost told Blanca I thought it was Panos."

  At this, Glitsky's eyes sharpened. He stirred in his chair. "Do you?"

  He shook his head. "I can't see it. Kroll called me up this morning as soon as he heard. He seemed genuinely upset."

  "And that rules out Panos? That he didn't inform his lawyer? I wouldn't tell my lawyer if I was planning to beat up or kill somebody. Not before, not after. But what was David to Panos? I know you've got that lawsuit, but…"

  "Just keep repeating thirty million dollars, Abe, and everything will become clear. If we win all the way large, say, it's not impossible Panos is on the street." Talking about specifics somehow took Hardy's mind off the big picture, and he too became more animated. "Kroll offered David four the other day to settle."

  "Four million? What'd the old man say?"

  "He laughed at him. Kroll then got huffy and said he was going to go around David and talk to me directly, I guess on the theory that I'm a wuss and I'd cave. David said he was welcome to try, but I'd probably just send it back to him, which was true. Anyway, Kroll got a little mad and told him he'd better watch out."

  "For what?"

  "Maybe for what happened."

  Glitsky cocked his head. "You really think that?"

  "I'm not really thinking anything, yet, Abe. We're talking boots and clubs, maybe nightsticks. Your average street banger doesn't have a sap."

  "But you said 'maybe' nightsticks."

  "True. But we're also talking downtown. Unless you're walking around with lumber, you're not going to find a club lying on the street, are you?"

  "Maybe a tire iron. Or the butt of a gun."

  Hardy shook his head, disagreeing. "A couple of whacks on the head wit
h a tire iron and you're dead directly, wouldn't you think? Maybe a gun, though."

  "So what are you saying?"

  "It's coming to me as we're talking, so I'm not sure. Whoever did it didn't come to rob him. They showed up carrying heavy tools and ambushed him."

  The phone rang twice. The answering machine picked up with its warm and sunny greeting. "Glitsky, payroll. Leave a message." Some sergeant left his number and asked if he could get a call back about his accumulated comp time.

  Neither Glitsky nor Hardy acknowledged the interruption. As soon as the sergeant had rung off, Hardy continued. "You might as well know the other thing that happened yesterday. Both Blanca and Jeff Elliot thought it might have something to do with it, but I just came from talking to Gina, and it doesn't."

  "Okay. What?"

  He told Glitsky about the engagement, the ring, the remote question about Gina's possible involvement with another man. "Anyway, I asked. I don't know whether it set our friendship back two years or if she was flattered that I could think she was somehow keeping a stable of men on the side, but either way, she wasn't lying. Enough for me, anyway."

  "I'd take that."

  "So. There we are." Suddenly he found he had talked it all out. And again, it left him exhausted. "And so what, huh? Nobody's even looking."

  Glitsky almost said that if Freeman came to, he would be able to tell them what happened; if he died, the case would go to homicide and maybe Paul Thieu would get it and discover something, but he realized this wouldn't be a consoling thought. And if anybody else besides Thieu picked up a case like this, an old man who lingered, no clues, it would remain a mystery forever. So he shrugged. "Blanca's okay," he said. "Maybe he'll get something."

  "Yeah." Hardy dragged his old bones up and stood. "Well…"

  The phone rang again. Glitsky glared at it, then got up himself, making no move to answer it. He was coming around to let Hardy out when he heard the voice of Marcel Lanier. He stopped and picked up the receiver.

  "Talk to me," he said.

  Hardy was at the door and raised a hand in silent farewell. Glitsky, listening with one ear, snapped his ringers, got his attention, waved him back in. "Yeah, I'm here," he said into the mouthpiece. He listened intently for almost a full minute, then said, "I appreciate it, Marcel. Thanks."

  Hardy stood right at the door. "What was that about?"

  Glitsky raised a hand and settled a haunch on the corner of his desk, his face hardened in concentration.

  Hardy couldn't take it. "What, for Christ's sake?"

  Glitsky expelled a lot of air. "One of Panos's guys got shot last night. The kid who found Silverman. Creed. Matt Creed."

  "You knew him?"

  "I only met him once, Monday night, a couple of hours after I left you, in fact. But he made an impression. Remember I told my dad it was a bad idea to go to Silverman's when nobody in homicide called him back?"

  Hardy nodded. "Sure."

  "Well, he went that night anyway and I had to pull him out. Creed was there."

  "Doing what?"

  "Just walking the beat. He saw the light and stopped. Then I showed up. We had a little party together. But a nice kid."

  "And somebody shot him?"

  Glitsky's head dropped, came back up. "Last night. On the beat." He paused to let Hardy digest it. "Marcel was just talking to Paul Thieu and heard about the connection to Panos. He thought I'd want to know."

  "Why's that?"

  "We had a talk about Wade recently, Marcel and I. I thought maybe he could pass a message along to Gerson. Save him some trouble." A shrug. "Turns out he couldn't."

  "What was the message?"

  "That maybe Panos wasn't the guy to help out homicide on Silverman. Or anything else, for that matter."

  "And he'd been doing that?"

  "Trying. He'd given them some names, among them your friend Holiday, who Creed originally ID'd as one of the guys who broke into Silverman's, by the way."

  "Well, that's wrong. John had…"

  Glitsky held up a hand. "Relax. Creed changed his mind. No ID. He was calling the case inspectors and letting them know."

  "Did he?"

  "I don't know. I'd assume so. Besides, what does it matter? You said Holiday has an alibi, and you'd never lie for a client."

  Hardy declined to comment, found his chair, and was sitting again. Finally, he said, "Suddenly I'm willing to believe that Panos had something to do with David."

  Glitsky nodded slowly, the professional cop in him less than completely willing to commit. "It does invite inquiry."

  "So how do we do it?"

  "Do what?"

  "Inquire."

  Glitsky scratched his cheek. "You might profitably mention something to Blanca. Maybe something got left at the scene. David's. But this could be nothing. Just a coincidence."

  "Theoretically, I agree with you. I'll keep it in mind."

  "Just so we're on the same page. And also, so you're clear, I'm not going anywhere near it. The latest poll results are in, and the consensus is it's not my job."

  12

  San Francisco's crime lab, one of several buildings in a facility that had originally been built by the Navy, had recently been refurbished and was now pretty much state of the art. The facility also housed the TTF unit, or Tac Squad, and served as the PD's armored car lot. Although its location in Hunters Point was as far from desirable as possible, the ancient hamburger stand called Dago Mary's just outside the compound made it something of a destination for the law enforcement community.

  Russell and Cuneo had finished their lunch with Roy at John's Grill. Then they'd gone back to the Ark, pounded on the doors again, sat outside for most of another useless hour. Apparently the place wasn't opening today, at least not before nighttime. Finally Cuneo gave up on the stakeout and they'd driven to the Marina District, to Holiday's address, where several newspapers in the doorway argued that he'd been away for a while.

  Russell couldn't pass Dago Mary's without a pit stop. Hell, they were right here anyway, Russell argued. It wouldn't take fifteen minutes. They would have plenty of time to pick up their ballistics results from the lab and roll back uptown on the undoubtedly related Creed/Silverman murders. Get some warrants. Kick ass.

  By the time they got past the guard tower, parked, and arrived at the lab's reception, they'd burned fifteen more minutes. A small room with a desk, phone and computer, enclosed on their side with glass, blocked any view of the lab itself within. When the inspectors entered the lobby area, there was no one at the desk. They waited awhile in the hopes that a body would appear.

  Cuneo craned his neck trying to be seen. He sang out a strong, "Hello!"

  "Here we go," Russell said. There was a button next to the door that led inside and he pressed it. Silence. "Maybe it rings inside." He pressed and held it this time.

  "Hey! Hey! Enough with the bell! We're coming."

  The door finally opened to reveal a small, pale, middle-aged man in Dockers and a button-down plaid shirt. A wash of wispy dark hair fell sideways across his forehead- if he'd had the right mustache, he would have been a ringer for Hitler. The plastic name tag over his left pocket read "M. Lester," and Mr. Lester was frowning. "Keep your shirts on, boys, what's the problem?"

  Cuneo pointed at the reception desk. "Nobody seems to be minding the fort, is all."

  "Yeah, well, Sherry's out today. Sorry."

  "Well," Cuneo said, "we're here for some ballistics results. Homicide. My partner here, Russell, he marked it urgent."

  The frown grew more pronounced as Lester turned to Russell. "I emailed you about that."

  "I never got it."

  The man persisted. "I sent it off as soon as I got yours. Couldn't have been five minutes later."

  "I still didn't get it," Russell said. "What was it about?"

  "Your evidence. I asked if you could pick it up while you were still at the Hall and bring it down here. We're getting killed by the flu. Half the staff is out sick. We got nobod
y to drive the shuttle even."

  Cuneo drew a breath, kept an exaggerated calm in his voice. "And so, because my partner had marked his email 'Homicide-Urgent,' and you didn't hear back from him, you called a patrol car or got a messenger to bring this critical evidence down to your lab so that we'd have our ballistics results in time, perhaps, to save a life or two, or at least get some scumbags off the streets. That's what you did, right? Tell me that's what you did."

  In spite of the strikeout on ballistics, Cuneo reminded Russell that for all their efforts, they still needed to talk to John Holiday. He might have come in to the Ark since they'd last been there, and Cuneo voted that they go back for the third time that day and try again.

  "There's no way, Dan. He's gone."

  "I don't think so."

  "Why not? He doesn't come to work. His apartment's deserted. He knows we've put him with Terry and Wills on Silverman. If it were me, I'd be long gone."

  "Except that, if you recall, Roy Panos said he talked to him last night. Stopped by the Ark and there he was working behind the bar. Nothing's changed between last night and today."

  "Except Creed got shot. Not exactly nothing."

  Cuneo glanced across the seat. "Agreed. But if Holiday was bartending, and Roy says he was, then he didn't do Creed, did he? He knows we're not after him for that. So no way does it get him to run if Silverman didn't."

  This shut Russell up for a half block or so. "Don't get me wrong," he finally said. "I'm itching to drive back uptown and talk to him, but if we don't have ballistics, what are we talking to him about? Especially if he wasn't any part of Creed?"

  "I never said he wasn't any part of it. He just didn't pull the trigger. But that still leaves Terry and Wills. In which case Terry's the shooter both times. We might mention some chance of immunity for Holiday if he'll give them up, see if he bites."

  "If he's there."

  "Even if he's not, we'll learn something. Maybe get another chance to talk to Terry."

  "And if he is, we're his friends."

  "That's the ticket," Cuneo said. "Give him a chance."