The Lincoln Lawyer Collection

by Connelly, Michael

  When we got to his small, windowless office, he offered me his office partner’s seat and closed the door. We sat down and looked at each other. I let him go first.

  “Okay,” he said. “First off, I wanted to meet you. I’m sort of new up here in the Valley and haven’t met a lot of the members of the defense bar. I know you’re one of those guys that covers the whole county but we haven’t run across each other before.”

  “Maybe that’s because you haven’t worked many felony trials before.”

  He smiled and nodded like I had scored a point of some kind.

  “That might be true,” he said. “Anyway, I gotta tell you, when I was in law school at SC I read a book about your father and his cases. I think it was called Haller for the Defense. Something like that. Interesting guy and interesting times.”

  I nodded back.

  “He was gone before I really knew him, but there were a few books about him and I read them all more than a few times. It’s probably why I ended up doing this.”

  “That must have been hard, getting to know your father through books.”

  I shrugged. I didn’t think that Minton and I needed to know each other that well, particularly in light of what I was about to do to him.

  “I guess it happens,” he said.

  “Yeah.”

  He clapped his hands together once, a let’s-get-down-to-business gesture.

  “Okay, so we’re here to talk about Louis Roulet, aren’t we?”

  “It’s pronounced Roo-lay.”

  “Roooo-lay. Got it. So, let’s see, I have some things for you here.”

  He swiveled his seat to turn back to his desk. He picked up a thin file and turned back to hand it to me.

  “I want to play fair. That’s the up-to-the-minute discovery for you. I know I don’t have to give it to you until after the arraignment but, hell, let’s be cordial.”

  My experience is that when prosecutors tell you they are playing fair or better than fair, then you better watch your back. I fanned through the discovery file but didn’t really read anything. The file Levin had gathered for me was at least four times as thick. I wasn’t thrilled because Minton had so little. I was suspicious that he was holding back on me. Most prosecutors made you work for the discovery by having to demand it repeatedly, to the point of going to court to complain to the judge about it. But Minton had just casually handed at least some of it over. Either he had more to learn than I imagined about felony prosecutions or there was some sort of play here.

  “This is everything?” I asked.

  “Everything I’ve gotten.”

  That was always the way. If the prosecutor didn’t have it, then he could stall its release to the defense. I knew for a fact — as in having been married to a prosecutor — that it was not out of the ordinary for a prosecutor to tell the police investigators on a case to take their time getting all the paperwork in. They could then turn around and tell the defense lawyer they wanted to play fair’and hand over practically nothing. The rules of discovery were often referred to by defense pros as the rules of dishonesty. This of course went both ways. Discovery was supposed to be a two-way street.

  “And you’re going to trial with this?”

  I waved the file as if to say its thin contents were as thin as the case.

  “I’m not worried about it. But if you want to talk about a disposition, I’ll listen.”

  “No, no disposition on this. We’re going balls out. We’re going to waive the prelim and go right to trial. No delays.”

  “He won’t waive speedy?”

  “Nope. You’ve got sixty days from Monday to put up or shut up.”

  Minton pursed his lips as though what I had just told him were only a minor inconvenience and surprise. It was a good cover-up. I knew I had landed a solid punch.

  “Well, then, I guess we ought to talk about unilateral discovery. What do you have for me?”

  He had dropped the pleasant tone.

  “I’m still putting it together,” I said. “But I’ll have it at the arraignment Monday. But most of what I’ve got is probably already in this file you gave me, don’t you think?”

  “Most likely.”

  “You have that the supposed victim is a prostitute who had solicited my client in here, right? And that she has continued that line of work since the alleged incident, right?”

  Minton’s mouth opened maybe a half inch and then closed, but it was a good tell. I had hit him with another solid shot. But then he recovered quickly.

  “As a matter of fact,” he said, “I am aware of her occupation. But what surprises me is that you know this already. I hope you aren’t sniffing around my victim, Mr. Haller?”

  “Call me Mickey. And what I am doing is the least of your problems. You better take a good look at this case, Ted. I know you’re new to felony trials and you don’t want to come out of the box with a loser like this. Especially after the Blake fiasco. But this one’s a dog and it’s going to bite you on the ass.”

  “Really? How so?”

  I looked past his shoulder at the computer on his desk.

  “Does that thing play DVDs?”

  Minton looked back at the computer. It looked ancient.

  “It should. What have you got?”

  I realized that showing him the surveillance video from the bar at Morgan’s would be giving an early reveal of the biggest ace that I held, but I was confident that once he saw it, there would be no arraignment Monday and no case. My job was to neutralize the case and get my client out from under the government’s weight. This was the way to do it.

  “I don’t have all my discovery together but I do have this,” I said.

  I handed Minton the DVD I had gotten earlier from Levin. The prosecutor put it into his computer.

  “This is from the bar at Morgan’s,” I told him as he tried to get it playing. “Your guys never went there but my guy did. This is the Sunday night of the supposed attack.”

  “And this could have been doctored.”

  “It could have been but it wasn’t. You can have it checked. My investigator has the original and I will tell him to make it available after the arraignment.”

  After a short struggle Minton got the DVD to play. He watched silently as I pointed out the time code and all the same details Levin had pointed out to me, including Mr. X and his left-handedness. Minton fast-forwarded as I instructed and then slowed it to watch the moment when Reggie Campo approached my client at the bar. He had a frown of concentration on his face. When it was over he ejected the disc and held it up.

  “Can I keep this until I get the original?”

  “Be my guest.”

  Minton put the disc back in its case and placed it on top of a stack of files on his desk.

  “Okay, what else?” he asked.

  Now my mouth let some light in.

  “What do you mean, what else? Isn’t that enough?”

  “Enough for what?”

  “Look, Ted, why don’t we cut the bullshit?”

  “Please do.”

  “What are we talking about here? That disc blows this case out of the water. Let’s forget about arraignment and trial and talk about going into court next week with a joint motion to dismiss. I want this shit-canned with prejudice, Ted. No coming back at my guy if somebody in here decides to change their mind.”

  Minton smiled and shook his head.

  “Can’t do that, Mickey. This woman was injured quite badly. She was victimized by an animal and I’m not going to dismiss anything against — ”

  “Quite badly? She’s been turning tricks again all week. You — ”

  “How do you know that?”

  I shook my head.

  “Man, I am trying to help you here, save you some embarrassment, and all you’re worried about is whether I’ve crossed some line with the victim. Well, I’ve got news for you. She ain’t the victim. Don’t you see what you have here? If this thing gets to a jury and they see that disc, all the plate
s fall, Ted. Your case is over and you have to come back in here and explain to your boss Smithson why you didn’t see it coming. I don’t know Smithson all that well, but I do know one thing about him. He doesn’t like to lose. And after what happened yesterday, I would say that he feels a little more urgent about that.”

  “Prostitutes can be victims, too. Even amateurs.”

  I shook my head. I decided to show my whole hand.

  “She set him up,” I said. “She knew he had money and she laid a trap. She wants to sue him and cash in. She either hit herself or she had her boyfriend from the bar, the left-handed man, do it. No jury in the world is going to buy what you’re selling. Blood on the hand or fingerprints on the knife — it was all staged after he was knocked out.”

  Minton nodded as if he followed the logic but then came out with something from left field.

  “I’m concerned that you may be trying to intimidate my victim by following her and harassing her.”

  “What?”

  “You know the rules of engagement. Leave the victim alone or we’ll next talk about it with a judge.”

  I shook my head and spread my hands wide.

  “Are you listening to anything I’m saying here?”

  “Yes, I have listened to it all and it doesn’t change the course I am taking. I do have an offer for you, though, and it will be good only until Monday’s arraignment. After that, all bets are off. Your client takes his chances with a judge and jury. And I’m not intimidated by you or the sixty days. I will be ready and waiting.”

  I felt like I was underwater and everything that I said was trapped in bubbles that were drifting up and away. No one could hear me correctly. Then I realized that there was something I was missing. Something important. It didn’t matter how green Minton was, he wasn’t stupid and I had just mistakenly thought he was acting stupid. The L.A. County DA’s office got some of the best of the best out of law school. He had already mentioned Southern Cal and I knew that was a law school that turned out top-notch lawyers. It was only a matter of experience. Minton might be short on experience but it didn’t mean he was short on legal intelligence. I realized that I should be looking at myself, not Minton, for understanding.

  “What am I missing here?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” Minton said. “You’re the one with the high-powered defense. What could you be missing?”

  I stared at him for a moment and then knew. There was a glitch in the discovery. There was something in his thin file that was not in the thick one Levin had put together. Something that would get the prosecution past the fact that Reggie Campo was selling it. Minton had so much as told me already. Prostitutes can be victims, too.

  I wanted to stop everything and look through the state’s discovery file to compare it with everything about the case that I knew. But I could not do it now in front of him.

  “Okay,” I said. “What’s your offer? He won’t take it but I’ll present it.”

  “Well, he’s got to do prison time. That’s a given. We’re willing to drop it all down to an ADW and attempted sexual battery. We’ll go to the middle of the guidelines, which would put him at about seven years.”

  I nodded. Assault with a deadly weapon and attempted sexual battery. A seven-year sentence would likely mean four years actual. It wasn’t a bad offer but only from the standpoint of Roulet having committed the crime. If he was innocent, then no offer was acceptable.

  I shrugged.

  “I’ll take it to him,” I said.

  “Remember, only until the arraignment. So if he wants it you better call me Monday morning first thing.”

  “Right.”

  I closed my briefcase and stood up to go. I was thinking about how Roulet was probably waiting for a phone call from me, telling him the nightmare was over. Instead, I would be calling about a seven-year deal.

  Minton and I shook hands and I said I would call him, then I headed out. In the hallway leading to the reception area I ran into Maggie McPherson.

  “Hayley had a great time Saturday,” she said about our daughter. “She’s still talking about it. She said you were going to see her this weekend, too.”

  “Yeah, if that’s okay.”

  “Are you all right? You look like you’re in a daze.”

  “It’s turning into a long week. I’m glad I have an empty calendar tomorrow. Which works better for Hayley, Saturday or Sunday?”

  “Either’s fine. Were you just meeting Ted on the Roulet thing?”

  “Yeah. I got his offer.”

  I raised my briefcase to show I was taking the prosecution’s plea offer with me.

  “Now I have to go try to sell it,” I added. “That’s going to be tough. Guy says he didn’t do it.”

  “I thought they all said that.”

  “Not like this guy.”

  “Well, good luck.”

  “Thanks.”

  We headed opposite ways in the hallway and then I remembered something and called back to her.

  “Hey, Happy St. Patrick’s.”

  “Oh.”

  She turned and came back toward me.

  “Stacey’s staying a couple hours late with Hayley and a bunch of us are going over to Four Green Fields after work. You feel like a pint of green beer?”

  Four Green Fields was an Irish pub not far from the civic center. It was frequented by lawyers from both sides of the bar. Animosities grew slack under the taste of room-temperature Guinness.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I think I have to head over the hill to see my client but you never know, I might come back.”

  “Well, I only have till eight and then I have to go relieve Stacey.”

  “Okay.”

  We parted again and I left the courthouse. The bench where I had sat with Roulet and then Kurlen was empty. I sat down, opened my case and pulled out the discovery file Minton had given me. I flipped through reports I already had gotten copies of through Levin. There seemed to be nothing new until I came to a comparative fingerprint analysis report that confirmed what we had thought all along; the bloody fingerprints on the knife belonged to my client, Louis Roulet.

  It still wasn’t enough to justify Minton’s demeanor. I kept looking and then I found it in the weapon analysis report. The report I had gotten from Levin was completely different, as if from another case and another weapon. As I quickly read it I felt perspiration popping in my hair. I had been set up. I had been embarrassed in the meeting with Minton and worse yet had tipped him early to my hole card. He had the video from Morgan’s and had all the time he would need to prepare for it in court.

  Finally, I slapped the folder closed and pulled out my cell phone. Levin answered after two rings.

  “How’d it go?” he asked. “Bonuses for everybody?”

  “Not quite. Do you know where Roulet’s office is?”

  “Yeah, on Canon in Beverly Hills. I’ve got the exact address in the file.”

  “Meet me there.”

  “Now?”

  “I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

  I punched the button, ending the call without further discussion, and then called Earl on speed dial. He must have had his iPod plugs in his ears because he didn’t answer until the seventh ring.

  “Come get me,” I said. “We’re going over the hill.”

  I closed the phone and got off the bench. Walking toward the opening between the two courthouses and the place where Earl would pick me up, I felt angry. At Roulet, at Levin, and most of all at myself. But I also was aware of the positive side of this. The one thing that was certain now was that the franchise — and the big payday that came with it — was back in play. The case was going to go the distance to trial unless Roulet took the state’s offer. And I thought the chances of that were about the same as the chances for snow in L.A. It could happen but I wouldn’t believe it until I saw it.

  FIFTEEN

  When the rich in Beverly Hills want to drop small fortunes on clothes and jewelry, they go to Ro
deo Drive. When they want to drop larger fortunes on houses and condominiums, they walk a few blocks over to Canon Drive, where the high-line real estate companies roost, photographs of their multimillion-dollar offerings presented in showroom windows on ornate gold easels like Picassos and Van Goghs. This is where I found Windsor Residential Estates and Louis Roulet on Thursday afternoon.

  By the time I got there, Raul Levin was already waiting — and I mean waiting. He had been kept in the showroom with a fresh bottle of water while Louis worked the phone in his private office. The receptionist, an overly tanned blonde with a haircut that hung down one side of her face like a scythe, told me it would be just a few minutes more and then we both could go in. I nodded and stepped away from her desk.

  “You want to tell me what’s going on?” Levin asked.

  “Yeah, when we get in there with him.”

  The showroom was lined on both sides with steel wires that ran from ceiling to floor and on which were attached 8 × 10 frames containing the photos and pedigrees of the estates offered for sale. Acting like I was studying the rows of houses I couldn’t hope to afford in a hundred years, I moved toward the back hallway that led to the offices. When I got there I noticed an open door and heard Louis Roulet’s voice. It sounded like he was setting up a showing of a Mulholland Drive mansion for a client he told the realtor on the other end of the phone wanted his name kept confidential. I looked back at Levin, who was still near the front of the showroom.

  “This is bullshit,” I said and signaled him back.

  I walked down the hallway and into Roulet’s plush office. There was the requisite desk stacked with paperwork and thick multiple-listing catalogs. But Roulet wasn’t there. He was in a sitting area to the right of the desk, slouched on a sofa with a cigarette in one hand and the phone in the other. He looked shocked to see me and I thought maybe the receptionist hadn’t even told him he had visitors.