The Girl From Home

by Adam Mitzner

  It does. All too well.

  “Yes,” Jonathan says.

  “Well, the folks at Cromwell Altman weren’t such romantics, and they fired me. I felt like . . . well, like I had nothing. Like I wished that instead of firing me, they’d shot me in the head. Again, sound like anyone you know?”

  This time, Jonathan offers only a nod.

  “But I had a daughter, and so dying wasn’t really an option. Which meant I had to go about rebuilding my life. It wasn’t easy. There was more than a little bit of drama that followed, but eventually I focused on what truly mattered, and that was my family. And then I got this job at Peikes Selva, and now this is my life. I won’t lie to you—there are times when I’m in my little dinky office and wonder, my God, how the hell did I end up here? But a few years ago my wife and I had our little boy, and . . . I have to say, I’m happier now than I’ve ever been. So it’s a long way of saying that, even though I know things are bleak for you right now, a lot of good things can still be yours. Don’t waste your life by going to jail for a crime you didn’t commit.”

  Jonathan flashes on his father’s dying words, imploring him to be a better man. What would that better man do?

  And then he thinks about the motto that has guided him for as long as he can remember: I want what I want.

  What is it that he truly wants?

  It’s the moment of truth. As Alex said, time is not on his side. For all Jonathan knows, Jackie is close to making a decision herself. He has to act before she does.

  “Okay,” Jonathan says. “You’re right. I’m willing to make a deal.”

  40

  A night in prison has hardened Jonathan’s resolve that the path he is about to travel is the only course. So the next morning, when he once again hears his name called out by the guard, Jonathan girds himself for the battle to come.

  Like before, Jonathan’s hands are cuffed behind his back, and a guard leads him through the prison. But this time, they walk past the visitors’ room where Jonathan met Alex Miller the day before, and enter a room at the end of the hallway.

  Once inside, Jonathan sees that it’s a full house, seven people crowded into the space. The only face among the attendees that Jonathan recognizes, aside from Alex Miller’s, belongs to the New Jersey lawyer Alex needed to vouch for him at the bail hearing.

  While the guards unlock Jonathan’s handcuffs, Alex says, “Let me do the introductions. You all know Mr. Caine, of course. Jonathan, this is Juliana Scillieri. She’s the acting county prosecutor for Middlesex County.” Scillieri looks to be Jonathan’s age, and smiles the way you would if you were introduced to someone at a dinner party, which couldn’t be more incongruous in this setting. “Lydia Rodriguez, you may remember, was the prosecuting attorney at the arraignment. Standing beside her is Detective Quincy Martin. He’s the lead detective on the matter.” Detective Martin nods, but even with that limited gesture, Jonathan can tell that Detective Martin is a formidable guy. “Next to him is David Geller. David is the head of the criminal division in the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, and next to him is Elliot Felig, who is also an assistant US Attorney in that office.” Jonathan recalls that Felig’s name was on the bottom of the grand jury subpoena he received on New Year’s Day. “The folks representing the federal government were invited to attend because what we decide here will have implications for the securities investigation in New York.”

  Alex had previously told Jonathan that the first hint of how receptive they’d be to the proposal could be discerned by attendees. If Felig comes alone, it means that they’re just going to hear us out, Alex had said. But if his boss joins, then they’re ready to deal.

  Felig’s superior was present. That meant Jonathan had reason to hope.

  The introductions complete, Geller says, “We understand that you have a proposal to make, Mr. Miller. So . . . we’re all ears.”

  “First some ground rules,” Alex says. “I assume no one has any objections that this is an off-the-record meeting, for settlement purposes only. Meaning that if we end up going to trial, nothing anyone says here will be repeated there. Agreed?”

  “Yes, of course,” Geller says.

  Scillieri nods her assent. “Agreed.”

  “Good. So let me get down to it, then. Our proposal is that Mr. Caine will cooperate against Mrs. Williams in connection with the murder charge, in exchange for full immunity on that charge and also the securities fraud charges still being investigated in New York.”

  “What is the nature of that cooperation?” Scillieri asks.

  This is another good sign. The lead prosecutor isn’t negotiating, but inquiring.

  Alex turns to Jonathan. “Tell them what you know, Jonathan.” Then, as if he can sense Jonathan’s apprehension, Alex adds, “Don’t worry. It’s all privileged as settlement discussions.”

  It’s now Jonathan’s turn to tell them what they want to hear. The words he had never thought he’d ever utter.

  In as unemotional a tone as he can muster, Jonathan says, “Jackie admitted to me that she hired a hit man to kill her husband.”

  The statement hangs in the air. There’s no going back now.

  “That’s just your word against hers,” Scillieri says. “She’ll say you’re lying to save yourself.”

  “She got the $10,000 she used to pay the hit man by pawning some jewelry,” Jonathan says. “I can tell you where she pawned it. I can also corroborate the hit man’s story about where the money was left for him.”

  This disclosure is met with stone-cold silence. Jonathan knows that’s yet another good sign. They believed him.

  Scillieri finally says, “We can live with giving Mr. Caine immunity as long as the deal is contingent on Mrs. Williams’s conviction.”

  Alex laughs. “No. It doesn’t work that way. The deal is based on my client providing you with certain agreed-upon information and then testifying truthfully to the best of his ability at trial. End of story. He’s not going to jail if you guys screw up the case against Jackie.”

  “That’s too risky for us,” Scillieri says.

  “Not really,” Alex says. “You have nothing on Mr. Caine on the murder, so giving him a pass isn’t really much of a price to pay. And, as I said, this is a two-part deal. We need immunity on the securities fraud charges, too.”

  “Nope. Not going to happen,” Geller says quickly. “I really appreciate you guys inviting me to your plea negotiations, but I’m not sure why I’m even here. I understand what Ms. Scillieri gets out of it. If all goes well, she’s going to walk out of here with a murder conviction. But what do I get? Nothing. And that’s exactly what I’m prepared to give in return.”

  “I can say the same thing to you that I said to Ms. Scillieri,” Alex says. “If you had a case to make against Jonathan, you would have already made it. You don’t have anything, and so closing up the investigation isn’t really much of a concession.”

  Geller shakes his head. “No, I could say the same thing to you. If you really don’t think we have enough, then don’t link our investigation to the murder case. And if you’re right, you haven’t lost anything because we won’t indict Mr. Caine, or we’ll lose at trial.”

  Jonathan hates people talking about him as if he weren’t present. It’s something that never happened when he was ruling the roost at Harper Sawyer. Unfortunately, it seemed to be business as usual with lawyers.

  “If I’m turning on Jackie, I’m going to have to start my life over,” Jonathan interrupts. “I can’t do that if I’m worried about getting indicted tomorrow for securities fraud. I want to leave the Northeast, maybe go somewhere warm. My sister lives in Florida. None of those things are possible with this thing hanging over me. I need to know that it’s all over for me, or I’m not going to do it at all.”

  “As much as I’m touched by your change of circumstances, Mr. Caine,” Geller says with sarcasm, “I only came to this little soiree because I thought I’d end up leaving with a guilty plea and some jail time out
of you. I’m willing to be reasonable with regards to a sentencing recommendation in consideration of your acceptance of responsibility for your crimes . . . but if you think you’re getting a deal in which you never see prison, you are sadly mistaken. Worse than that, you’ve wasted my time.”

  Jonathan knows that Geller isn’t bluffing. If he wants a deal, he’s going to jail. Shit. The question in his mind is for how long.

  Alex then asks it. “What kind of jail time would you be looking for?”

  No one says anything. Jonathan can feel his heart race.

  “Give us a moment,” Geller finally says. “We need to talk among ourselves.”

  * * *

  “What do you think?” Jonathan asks Alex once they’re alone.

  They’ve been returned to the prison’s visitors’ room. Visitors aren’t permitted at this hour, and so they’re alone.

  Alex considers the question for a moment. “Scillieri obviously wants the deal. She needs this conviction to get the ‘acting’ part off her job title. It seems that it’s just like we thought. The arrest was a Hail Mary pass to try to get either you or Jackie to turn. So it’s a safe bet Scillieri is going to be putting maximum pressure on Geller to make an offer we can live with so he doesn’t screw this up for her.”

  “And what will he want?” Jonathan asks.

  “Hard to say. But you heard him say that it’s definitely going to be jail time.”

  “Damn.”

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First things first. We need to hear what the offer actually is.”

  * * *

  The wait isn’t long. The federal prosecutors enter less than a half hour later.

  Neither Geller nor Felig sits down. Felig has apparently been tasked with doing the honors, because he says, “The best we can do is five years on the securities fraud. Immunity on the murder.”

  “No way,” Alex says. “Five years? We could lose at trial and still do better than that with the right judge.”

  “Or you get the wrong judge and it’s twice as long a sentence,” Geller says.

  Alex audibly sighs. “Now we’re going to need a minute,” he says.

  After Geller and Felig leave, Alex turns to Jonathan. “So you got that, right? For giving them Jackie, the murder charge goes away, and on the securities fraud, it’s five years. And like I told you, you serve all of it. Last six months in a halfway house, but other than that, you’re inside the whole time. No time off for good behavior and no parole.”

  “Where would I serve the time?”

  “We’ll insist that part of the deal is that they agree to a joint recommendation, and we’ll ask for a minimum-security facility. That decision is ultimately made by the Bureau of Prisons. The Bureau is free to disregard our deal, and even the judge’s recommendation. But the securities fraud is a nonviolent offense, and the agreed-upon sentence is relatively short, plus you’re a first-time offender, so I’m reasonably confident that you’ll get minimum security. As to which minimum-security facility, we’ll put together something of a wish list where we rank them. Otisville is the place of choice for most New Yorkers. Fort Dix is on an army base in New Jersey, and it’s about an hour from here. There’s a good one in Pensacola, Florida, that’s popular. Pleasanton, which is near San Francisco, is supposedly okay.”

  “You make it sound like I’m applying to college.”

  “It is, a little bit. But I want to be straight with you. Even if you’re in minimum security, the days of Club Fed—you know, the places with tennis courts and lobster for dinner—those are long gone. This deal gets you out from under the murder charge. So right there, that’s worth it all by itself—although I know, it’s a murder you didn’t commit. But looking at it solely through the prism of the securities fraud, five years is steep. In my own head, I was hoping we’d end up closer to three. Besides, we have no idea if they’re even close to getting an indictment. This entire thing could be a bluff by the New York guys to get you to plead guilty and serve time when they know they can’t make a case. So, if it was just the securities fraud we were talking about, I’d advise you to turn down the deal, and wait to see what an indictment looks like—or even if they can get a grand jury to indict.”

  “Okay. I get it. On the one hand, and on the other hand. What I need to know is what you’re telling me to do.”

  “There’s an old joke in the legal world that says that no matter what I tell you, you’re the one who has to serve the time. So, it’s really your call here, Jonathan. My job is to present the options and the risks associated with them.”

  “That’s not much of a joke,” Jonathan says with a smile.

  “Nothing funny about this, I’m afraid. And, at the risk of showing you yet another hand, you need to consider one more thing. There’s no way I can represent you for free in two big-time trials. My partners are already upset about the time I’m putting in now pro bono.”

  Jonathan nods. “I know you can’t devote two years of your professional life to me without seeing a penny.”

  “So you’ll have a public defender representing you in both cases. Some of those guys are great, maybe better than me, especially on the murder charge because . . . full disclosure, I’ve never tried a murder case. But they’re also overworked, and the securities case requires extensive analysis of the trading records, and all that stuff takes time and bodies.”

  Jonathan understands. If he doesn’t take this deal, he’ll be facing a two-front war with an overworked, underpaid public defender being the only thing between him and a lifetime in jail.

  But five years. Jonathan will be pushing fifty when he gets out. If he isn’t killed inside. And he’ll be a convicted felon, which means he’ll never be able to assume anything approaching his old life. As an ex-con, he couldn’t even work in the mailroom at a bank.

  “Okay,” Jonathan says with a sigh. “I’ll take it.”

  41

  Alex arrives back at the prison the following morning. In his hand is the paperwork setting forth the plea deals. The documents have already been executed by the prosecutors in New York and New Jersey. Now all that awaits is Jonathan Caine’s John Hancock.

  Jonathan reads the terms several times, making sure each deal says exactly what they agreed: In exchange for truthful cooperation, which included, but was not limited to, his identifying the pawnshop that provided the ten thousand dollars that was used to pay Ariel Kishon, and his truthful trial testimony that Jackie admitted to murdering her husband, the State of New Jersey and the Department of Justice agreed that all charges against him relating to the homicide of Richard Williams would be dismissed with prejudice, and he would receive full transactional immunity from prosecution for any criminal conduct relating to the death of Richard Williams.

  The federal securities fraud deal with the New York prosecutors was even more straightforward. There all Jonathan had to do was to tell the truth about what he’d done, and the US Attorney’s Office would request a jail sentence of five years. Alex had gotten the deal to include the joint recommendation that Jonathan serve his sentence in Fort Dix, and that Jonathan had the right to withdraw his guilty plea if the judge imposed any greater sentence. As icing on the cake, the deal also included that no one else would be prosecuted for the securities fraud, which was the least Jonathan could do to repay his debt to Haresh Venagopul.

  “Does Jackie know about any of this?” Jonathan asks, staring at the signature pages.

  “No,” Alex says. “I didn’t want to say anything that would potentially derail it. But I suspect our friends in the county prosecutor’s office are going to share it with Mark Gershien as soon as I deliver the signed documents.”

  Jonathan tries to imagine what Jackie will think when she hears that he’s turned against her. His only frame of reference is how he would have reacted if she had betrayed him. It’s a thought too horrible for him even to fathom.

  Then without further hesitation, he signs both plea deals and pushes the papers toward Alex.


  “It’s the right thing to do,” Alex says, taking the paperwork in hand.

  Jonathan smiles at him but doesn’t otherwise answer. He thinks he’s done the right thing too, but for vastly different reasons than Alex.

  * * *

  Later that day, Jonathan is brought to the same room where he turned on Jackie, once again to meet with the acting county prosecutor, Juliana Scillieri, and Detective Martin. Alex Miller is also there, but Jonathan knows he’s largely going to be a spectator. This is Jonathan’s show now.

  “You got what you want,” Detective Martin says, “and so now it’s our turn.”

  Jonathan takes a deep breath. Then he tells them what they want to hear.

  “Jackie raised the ten grand by pawning some jewelry and her father’s Rolex. She took them to some place called We Buy Gold 4 Less. It’s located in Asbury Park. She told me the guy she dealt with was fat with a bad comb-over.”

  “How’d she find the hit man?” Detective Martin asks.

  Jonathan smiles. “Believe it or not, the Internet. She created a Gmail account and just e-mailed the guy. She never met him. Never spoke to him.”

  “So how’d she pay him?” Scillieri asks.