Chapter Twenty-Three
Muriel smiled when she saw Naomi Baker unreel from her chair in the waiting room of the Multnomah district attorney’s office. Naomi had played volleyball in college, and she was one of the few women attorneys who dwarfed Muriel.
Muriel and Naomi had taken the bar exam together and became friends.
After she passed, Naomi went to work at a law firm that had a contract to handle court-appointed cases, and they had locked horns a few times when they were both handling misdemeanors.
The cases had been hard fought, but the friends didn’t let that stand in the way of a post-trial dinner after the verdict came in.
“What’s up, Naomi?” Muriel asked.
“Billy Kramer. I’m his lawyer, and I was told that you have the case.”
“I do. Come on back to my office.”
“What are you going to charge Kramer with?” Naomi asked when they were seated with the door closed.
“That’s a difficult question to answer. From what I know, the charges could be everywhere from theft to murder.”
“Theft of Terrance Cogen’s Jaguar?”
Muriel nodded.
“That might be tough to prove. Kramer was Cogen’s chauffeur. He had every right to drive that car.”
“He didn’t have the right to gift it to Jack Blackburn.”
“Who says it was a gift? Billy was too intoxicated to drive, so he asked Blackburn to drive his girlfriend home. He never intended Blackburn to keep the car. Cogen’s address was on the registration. Blackburn could have returned the Jag, but he chose to steal it.”
“Cynthia Woodruff will testify that Billy only pretended to be drunk when he gave Blackburn the keys to the Jag. She’ll also testify that your client reported the car stolen so Blackburn would be charged with Cogen’s murder.”
“The testimony of an angry ex-girlfriend.”
Muriel stared at her friend for a moment. Then she laughed. “What do you want, Naomi?”
Baker smiled. “Billy says he didn’t kill Cogen. He was dead when he found the body, and he panicked.”
“Why would he panic?”
“Here’s where we start our negotiations, Muriel. Cogen was a crook. He scammed and embezzled a lot of money, and he washed it through legitimate businesses owned by really bad people. Billy could tell you all about the voyage that the money took.”
“In exchange for…?”
“The only thing you can get Kramer for involves the Jag, and you know what I’ll argue, so winning even that case won’t be a sure thing. Why don’t you talk to your boss and see what she would be willing to do for insider information on the Lucifer’s Disciples.”
The mention of the biker gang unsettled Muriel. She didn’t want anything to do with them, so she bought herself some time to think.
“I’ll need a proffer and some reason to believe that Kramer didn’t run away because he murdered Terrance Cogen.”
“Let me talk to my client and get back to you. Meanwhile, what’s your position on bail?”
“We can talk about bail after I see the proffer.”
Normally, Muriel would have spent more time catching up on Naomi’s work and social life, but she was anxious to be alone, so she made up a meeting she had to attend and sent Naomi on her way after the friends set a date to have lunch.
As soon as Naomi left, Muriel felt real fear.
She had no idea that there was a connection between Terrance Cogen’s case and the Disciples.
Muriel was brave, but she wasn’t foolhardy, and she had no desire to be in a situation that could cost her life.
It was a little after four. She decided to go home while it was still light and try to figure out what she was going to do.