“A sound business move. Assuming you have more business.”
“Oh, I do. More than I can handle. And I’ve been thinking about hiring some … outside consultants. To enable my firm to handle a … wider variety of legal matters.”
“That, too, is a sound business practice.” For all his stoicism, The Brain seemed to be suppressing a smile. “Of course, you’re carrying a lot of debt already.”
“But that’s all secured. Valuable collateral.”
The Brain made a sort of humming noise. “Well, let’s not dwell on that point too much. I think I can agree to a reasonable business loan for expansion purposes.”
Ben jumped out of his chair and grabbed the tiny man by the shoulders. “Thanks. I really appreciate this.”
He held up a finger. “But listen to me, Ben. Listen carefully. You’ve been to the well once too often already. There is no more water.”
“I understand.”
“I mean it. Nothing more. Not for any reason. And you must begin repaying your outstanding debt. Soon.”
“No more loans will be necessary.” He grabbed his coat and smiled. “I’ll invite you to the victory celebration.”
The Brain smiled wearily. “Just send me a check.”
Mike found Pfieffer at the New York Deli on Seventy-first near Yale. He was sitting upright and precisely consuming his Brooklyn Bomber pastrami sandwich in measured, equal-sized bites. He had removed his suit coat; all that was visible above the booth was his white shirt and his trademark suspenders and bow tie.
Pfieffer spotted Mike as he approached. “Ah, Lieutenant Morelli. I was told you’d be visiting me.” He gestured toward the empty seat on the other side of the booth. “If I’d known you were coming here, I’d have ordered you a sandwich. Still, it’s not too late. I particularly recommend the pastrami. It’s hard to get genuine deli meat here in Tulsa, you know. Shall I order one up?”
Mike crawled into the booth and faced him. “No thanks. I’m not hungry.”
“Are you sure? Man does not live by murder alone.”
“Cut the crap, Pfieffer. This is unpleasant enough without having to put up with your baloney.”
Pfieffer s eyes widened. “Beg pardon? Have I done something to offend?”
“You know damn well you have. Let’s not talk about it.” Mike pushed the snaps on his briefcase and drew out some papers. “I need your help.”
Pfieffer nodded. “So I gathered. Something of a financial nature, I assume.”
“You assume correctly.” Mike pushed the documents across the table. “This is just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve got mounds more of this stuff in my office.”
Pfieffer gave it a quick once-over. “Look like the monthly financials for some large business entity.”
“Correct. H. P. Blaylock Industrial Machinery.”
“Ah.” He fingered through some of the documents. “This must relate to your current murder investigation.”
“You know about that?”
“Of course. I’ve reviewed all your expense reports. Lots of trips out to Blackwood. Too many, really.”
Mike felt his blood pressure rising. Control yourself, he said silently. Keep it under wraps.
“I hope everything was in order,” Mike replied. The edge in his voice was nonetheless unmistakable.
“So far.” Pfieffer didn’t look up. His eyes were trained on the documents Mike had provided. What bored Mike to tears seemed to fascinate Pfieffer. “So tell me, Lieutenant. What exactly is it you’re looking for?”
“I don’t know.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me,” Mike barked. “I don’t know.”
“Are we on the trail of an embezzler? Tax fraud? Illegal campaign contributions?”
“I don’t know.”
Pfieffer seemed incredulous. “But this pertains to a murder investigation?”
“I got an anonymous tip, okay? Someone told me to … follow the money.”
“Follow the money? You’re joking.”
“No, I’m not.”
“And what exactly does that mean?”
Mike had reached his own personal boiling point. “I don’t know, you pompous twit. That’s why I have to resort to getting help from you!”
Several heads turned their way. Mike made a show of not looking like he was about to throttle the man, even though that was exactly what he wanted to do.
Pfieffer, of course, maintained the same even-tempered demeanor. “You don’t … like me very much, do you, Lieutenant?”
Mike was never one to mince words. “No. I don’t.”
“May I ask why?”
“Why? You have to ask why? After what you did?”
Pfieffer seemed utterly flabbergasted. “What I did? What did I do?”
“You got me hauled in front of Internal Affairs!”
“Oh. That.”
“Yes, that! What the hell did you think you were doing?”
“My job.”
“I’ve been on this force since I got out of college. I’ve worked on some of the toughest murder investigations this town has ever seen. And I never got hauled before IA. I never had a blemish on my record.” His eyes narrowed. “Until you changed all that.”
“It is my duty to scrutinize all expense reports and to report any instances of fraud.”
“Fraud! Fraud!”
“You attempted to receive more money than that to which you were entitled. That comes out of the taxpayer’s pocket, you know.”
“I made a math error!”
“If we allowed that excuse to prevail, everyone on the force would be overcharging.”
“Four dollars and twenty-three cents! I overcharged the department four dollars and twenty-three cents!”
“Of course,” Pfieffer said diffidently, “it’s the offense that matters, not the amount. That would be like saying, well, it was only a little murder.”
“Murder! This has nothing to do with murder! My calculator was broken!”
“My, you do have a plethora of excuses, don’t you? No wonder you were hauled before Internal Affairs.”
Mike leaned across the table. “I was completely exonerated.”
“Then what are you getting so hot under the collar about?”
“It’s the principle of the thing. You damaged my reputation.”
“You damaged your reputation when you filled out the expense report incorrectly. Did you pay the money back?”
“Of course.”
Pfieffer spread wide his hands. “Then why don’t we let bygones be bygones?”
I’m simply going to have to kill him, Mike thought. Perhaps I could stuff the body into one of those steel drums.
“Good,” Pfieffer said, clapping his hands together. “I’m glad we got past all that unpleasantness. Now let’s see if I can’t help you with your investigation.”
I’ve got a ball peen hammer in my toolshed, Mike thought, continuing in the same vein. Although that murder method might be too humane for this man.
“I’ll take all these,” Pfieffer said, stacking the documents neatly. “And I’ll send a clerk around to pick up the others.”
Or there was the corkscrew option. Corkscrews were everywhere. Could probably get one at that QuikTrip across the street.
“It won’t be easy,” Pfieffer said. “Since I have no idea what I’m looking for. But if there’s an irregularity in here, I’ll find it.” He stood, beaming. “I’m glad we’ve been able to come to this understanding, Lieutenant.” He extended his hand. “Let’s shake.”
Mike took his hand and shook. Defenestration, he thought. Exsanguination. Castration. Mutilation. Decapitation. A stake through the heart.
Chapter 23
BEN WAS CHEERED BY seeing the TU law school again. Since the class action suit had shifted into high gear, he’d asked a colleague to teach his classes, and he missed it. He had accepted the adjunct position because he wanted the opportunity to do something other than try lawsuits; he wante
d the occasional chance to interact with people in a more positive, less adversarial manner. He liked the kids; he tried to extend their enthusiasm and idealism just a bit beyond its natural life span. He hoped to get back to teaching as soon as possible.
But he felt a shiver run down his spine when he approached the large forum classroom. He hadn’t been in there since that horrible day several months ago when a madman had broken in with a shotgun and taken him and all the students hostage. He’d been filling in for another professor that day, Professor Canino, a.k.a. The Tiger, who disappeared soon after and, as far as Ben knew, had never been found. It had been the most frightening experience of his life. He would never forget it.
Especially not the way it ended. That was still a constant source of nightmares. And guilt. It haunted him day and night.
Professor Jack Matthews held court in the forum classroom today. He was one of Ben’s better friends among the faculty; he was also the last professor Ben had seen before he entered the classroom on the fateful day his whole class became hostages. He was renowned as the leading expert on torts, the area of the law relating to personal injuries, in the state. He was also well known (perhaps notorious) among the students for his slightly cockeyed but always engaging slant on tort law.
Today was no exception. As Ben peered through the window glass in the door, he spotted Professor Matthews—riding on a tricycle.
Ben slipped quietly inside so he could see what was happening. All eyes in the classroom were fixed on the professor, whose tall, gangly frame was scrunched down into a child’s three-wheeler. He had a thick, bushy salt-and-pepper beard, very academic-looking, accented by his tweed jacket and bright red bow tie. He was pedaling from one end of the apron to the other. The students were entranced, smiling merrily but completely attentive.
“So,” the professor said, pedaling furiously, “Little Johnny Prosser is pedaling down the street on his tricycle when another kid in the neighborhood, that bully Little Learned Hand, lights a firecracker. We don’t know what he planned to do with it, but just as he lights the thing, his bratty big sister, Little Sandra O"Connor, who thinks they’re still playing tackle football, broadsides him, knocking his feet out from under him. The lit firecracker flies forward, landing just inches from Little Johnny Prosser and his tricycle. It explodes. Although the noise is not such as would normally startle a child, Johnny is preternaturally afraid of loud noises because of a traumatic accident he had as a tot involving a Hoover vacuum cleaner. So Little Johnny is scared out of his wits and falls off the tricycle, injuring himself.”
At that, Professor Matthews threw himself sideways, capsizing the tricycle. The classroom burst into laughter. Matthews lay on his side, wheels spinning in the air.
“So the question, students,” he said, still lying sideways on the floor, “is this. Who was the proximate cause of Little Johnny’s accident? Who’s liable? The bully with the firecracker? The bratty big sister? Johnny himself? Or no one?
Hands shot up into the air. An engaging discussion of proximate cause, one of the most difficult issues in all of torts, ensued. Ben marveled at the professor’s quick wit, his cleverness, his ability to get students engaged in a topic that was dense, difficult, and often esoteric. Ben knew his own lectures, which involved no tricycles or other such theatrics, must seem dull in the extreme by comparison.
After class ended, Ben cornered the professor.
“Ben,” Matthews said warmly. “Good to see you. I heard you were taking a brief sabbatical.”
“That’s true. Someone else is covering my classes. Can I talk with you for a moment?”
“Sure. Just let me park my tricycle.” He pushed the three-wheeler behind the podium. “Care for some coffee?”
Ben didn’t, but he followed the man to the pit outside the library where the vending machines were located. Matthews treated for both of them, then led the way to a nearby table. He started drinking almost immediately. Ben held his in his hands, blew on it, and tried to look as if he might actually drink it at some point in the future.
“What can I do for you, Ben?”
“It relates to a case I’m working on,” he began.
“The class action? I’ve heard about that. And read about it in the paper, of course. How’s that coming?”
“Well, I’ve survived discovery, but the real litigating is just getting started. My worthy opponent is trying to heat things up. Put the pressure on to settle for peanuts.”
“That’s Charlton Colby, right?”
Ben nodded.
“I hear he’s one tough son of a bitch.”
“I would have to concur with that academic evaluation.” Ben grinned. “He’s trying to bury me in motions practice. I got eight in one day.”
“Eight? You should complain to the magistrate.”
“Trust me, I’ve already gotten everything I’m ever going to get out of the magistrate. Besides, they’re not frivolous motions. In fact, much as I hate to admit it, some of them look downright scary.”
“You’re afraid he’ll shut your case down before you get to trial.”
“In a nutshell.”
“Sounds grim. What can I do for you?”
Ben cleared his throat. He’d practiced this a hundred times driving over, but he never got it where it sounded halfway persuasive. “I was hoping you might be willing to join the plaintiffs" team. To be our legal scholar.”
Matthews was obviously surprised. “Me? Why me? I’m just a law professor. I haven’t practiced in years.”
“A law professor is exactly what I need. You’re the expert in torts—best in the state, most say. I can handle the courtroom. But I know I’m not the best at these esoteric legal arguments. You are.”
Matthews tugged at his bow tie. “That’s very flattering, Ben. But I’m sure there’s nothing in those motions you couldn’t handle yourself—”
“Given enough time, you’re probably right. But I don’t have enough time. I’ve got a hearing date that’s fast approaching and a million other things to do to get ready for trial. I can’t afford to spend a couple of weeks in the library. Which the opposition knows. Which is exactly why they filed the motions.”
“Kind of dirty pool litigation, isn’t it?”
“It usually is.”
“Still, Ben, I must be honest with you. I think you way overvalue me. I’m an academic, basically. There’s no reason to think that anyone out in the real world is going to listen to a word I say. Or write.”
“I have a reason,” Ben said. He had planned to keep this detail to himself, but he could see now it would be necessary if he was going to win Matthews over. “You wrote an article for the law review. On the nature of causation. Which has been and will be the big bugaboo in this case.”
“So what? No one reads the law review.”
“I know someone who does,” Ben replied. “I saw it on Judge Perry’s desk, last time I was in chambers. And it was open to your article. I have to assume he was consulting your piece to aid him in resolving the issues this case raises. In other words, he already considers you the expert.”
“On the printed page, perhaps—”
“So just imagine what will happen when I walk into the courtroom with you in tow. My credibility will shoot up a thousandfold.”
“Ah.” Matthews fingered his beard. “Now we’re getting to the real reason you want me on the team.”
“They’re all real reasons,” Ben insisted. “These are serious motions. I need someone who can make a serious reply.”
“Sounds like a hell of a lot of work. And on short notice, too.”
There was no point in lying about it. “It will be a major headache.” But he was relieved to see Matthews was at least considering it.
“Probably have to cancel some classes. Forgive me for being so venal, Ben, but—are you planning to compensate me for my time?”
“Of course. I just secured an advance for that express purpose.” More or less …
“Remind me wh
o the defendant is?”
“H. P. Blaylock. Industrial machinery company out in Blackwood.”
“Oh, right, right. I did some work for them, actually. Years ago. Back when I still practiced.”
Ben’s heart clutched. If Matthews had done legal work for Blaylock in the past, he might be barred from taking representation in opposition to them now by the conflict of interest provisions in the Rules of Professional Conduct. “What kind of work?”
“Oh, nothing much. I drafted some documents. It was a million years ago.
Ben slowly exhaled. “Then it didn’t have anything to do with this lawsuit?”
“It didn’t have anything to do with any lawsuit. It was purely pro forma stuff. Don’t worry; there’s no conflict.”
Thank goodness. “Then what do you say?”
“I should say no. I’m carrying a full class load, plus I’m working on a textbook that I’m way behind on.”
“Tell me we’re coming to a "but."”
Matthews smiled. “But it is tempting. I’ve done all right in the academic world, but I have to admit, I’ve always been a bit jealous of the legal eggheads who have really made a name for themselves. Dershowitz. Miller. Those guys became famous—by getting involved in some high-profile lawsuit.”
“This one’s very high profile, Jack. And then some.”
Matthews nodded. “Damn. I’m probably crazy—but I’ll do it.”
“Great!”
Matthews rose to his feet. “So, I’ll want to get copies of those motions as soon as possible.”
“As it happens, I have copies in my car.”
Matthews arched an eyebrow. “Very confident, weren’t you?”
Ben shook his head. “Hopeful.”
Matthews laughed. “Well, I want to get those motions. Let me get my briefcase.”
“Forget the briefcase,” Ben replied. “You’ll need a dolly.”
Fred the Feeb was running scared. He had tried to pretend otherwise, tried to act like he had everything under control. But he did not have everything under control. Things were spiraling totally out of his control. People were dying. And he might be next.
Since he had spotted his murderous friend out in the woods near the jogging trail behind the office, he had been in a state of abject panic. He had tried to keep his mind on other things—without success.
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