TWENTY-FIVE - Rosalie #2
Sorry about the mess. He looks around as if seeing it for the first time. He has to be in his early fifties, and his wiry gray hair stands up on end. He hasn t shaved in a couple of days, and his eyes are bloodshot.
Thank you for fitting me in. I look around the cluttered office. I can tell you re swamped.
I am. His beefy hand lands on the desk. There s a lot going on in Silicon Valley these days.
He digs under a stack of file folders and pulls out one.
I looked over the Alexei Sokolov case last night to prepare for our meeting, and it was pretty solid, I got to tell you.
He s actually a lot nicer than I expected, considering I m at the moment acting as a criminal defense attorney.
He continues, I have a notation here that we sent copies of all the evidence over to your office already.
Yes, I say. We re hoping to be able to repair the security disc from the date of the murder.
He scratches his head and reads something in the file folder before turning the page. Yeah, it was pretty corrupted. But that was, what, seven years ago? Technology has probably changed. We can take another look as well.
That is wonderful, I say, although Ella is the best. I study him. Do you remember much about the case?
He focuses on me. Yeah. I was the investigating detective at the time. Your client s guilty, Counselor. His voice doesn t hold a lot of emotion, and I take that to be more from experience than anything else.
Why so? I already read his testimony, but I want to hear it directly from him.
The detective shrugs, leaning back in his chair, which shrieks in protest. He s got to be a good six feet tall and maybe about two hundred and fifty pounds of what I would consider to be solid muscle—beefy and strong.
He probably needs to have his suits specially tailored.
Your client was at the murder scene, and his fingerprints were all over the knife that he had to throw in the pond.
He was in love with the deceased s wife, and he thought he was untouchable.
Untouchable? I ask, just watching him and not making notes. People are less likely to speak freely if they think you re writing everything down, so I listen and make mental notes that I will type later.
The detective nods. Yeah, he was rich, and he was popular, and he was cocky. Honestly, I m sure he thought he could get away with it—that money would triumph in the end.
I can see the younger Alexei thinking that, so I nod. Go on.
The detective shrugs. Have you looked through all the evidence yet?
I ve read the reports, depositions, trial transcripts, and his former attorney s notes, I murmur. Besides the corrupted security disc from the Fairfax residence, I m still watching the hundreds of hours on a bunch of CDs from the Amethyst Pony.
Your boy loved that woman, the detective says, and that s one of the best motives there is for murder. Trust me, I ve seen it happen over and over again. You take a cocky, rich playboy who s challenged by another man, and he would ve killed him. He did kill him. It s a fact.
It all seems too easy. Alexei says he was set up, that he wouldn t ever be dumb enough to throw a knife with his fingerprints into a pond that s just off the back of the deceased s home, I say.
The detective smiles. In hindsight, people think they re a lot smarter than they truly are. I imagine this was your client s first murder. I m sure he freaked out, and he knew the police were on the way. The kid panicked. The kid wasn t a kid anymore, and he was less prone to panicking.
The judge and the prosecuting attorney were corrupt.
I m aware of that, the detective says, anger burning in his weary eyes. In fact, I m one of the people who investigated both. And you know what? There was never any evidence that they threw the trial against your client. You ve read the trial transcripts, correct?
I nod. Yes.
The judge ruled against Alexei s attorney several times, who also didn t do a very good job.
But it doesn t mean they were bribed. It looked like a fair trial to me, and the primary evidence is the knife.
Your client panicked, Counselor. If anybody s offering you a deal, you should probably take it. His voice is sure.
Apparently, he can testify not only as to the case against Alexei, but the case against the judge and the prosecutor. I think through my options. You don t think Alexei was set up. You re not even willing to consider that possibility?
The detective shakes his head. I find absolutely no evidence of that. What I do find is plenty of evidence that your client murdered David Fairfax out of jealousy or ego or both. I don t really know, and I don t really care.
I question him for another half an hour, but he doesn t give me any more that I can use. I stand. I appreciate your help, Detective. He actually seems like a pretty nice guy.
He stands. Anytime, Miss Mooncrest. I have to tell you from the investigation I ve conducted on your client, you need to be very careful.
I blink. Why is that?
He s ambitious and he s strong, and he has no problem killing. If I were you, I d pass this case off to somebody else.
It s too late for that. I appreciate your warning, but I really do think my client is innocent.
The detective bursts out laughing. Then you re in the wrong business, sweetheart. Trust me.