Chapter 62
Eddie
‘We’re here,’ said Kennedy.
I must have dozed off on the highway in the back of the SUV. Looking around, I saw we were outside the Center Street Courthouse and the sun was up. Staring at my watch, I couldn’t make out the time. Either my brain or my eyes hadn’t fully adjusted to consciousness.
‘What time is it?’ I asked.
‘Eight thirty-five,’ he said. ‘You’re not seriously going into court?’
‘No choice. Don’t worry. I called ahead for fresh clothes,’ I said as I saw Harry with a suit bag in his hand coming toward the car. I looked down, saw the mud on my pants and the blood on my shirt.
‘It’s not your outfit I’m worried about. You should have gone to hospital for a CT scan and some real stitches in that head wound.’
‘The paramedic put some paper stitches on it. It’s fine.’
‘It’s still bleeding.’
‘I’m okay,’ I said, and as I undid my seat belt another shot of pain went through my skull. ‘Thank you, Bill. I mean it.’
‘You don’t have to thank me. Just get checked out when this is all over, okay?’
‘I will,’ I said, with no intention of getting checked out.
I’d taken enough blows to the head in the ring, and in life, to know when I needed to be worried.
I probably had a mild concussion, but feeling around my head I was pretty sure I didn’t have a skull fracture.
I was alive, and for now that felt like a win.
I thanked Bill again, got out of the car and stood facing Harry Ford.
‘You look like shit,’ he said.
‘I feel a lot worse.’
He dropped the suit bag on the sidewalk and hugged me. ‘After this we should take a long vacation. Go somewhere warm, with a beach and a bar. Forget about this city. Maybe forever.’
‘That sounds good to me,’ I said.
‘If you want, we could get drunk in that beach bar. Maybe even get arrested, just for old times’ sake.’
‘Is everyone here safely?’ I asked as he let me go.
‘Lake got Vanessa and me here in an Uber. The exhaust and the rear axle fell off the Aztek this morning. Bloch is inside already. She says she’s got something you’ll like.’
When I lifted my head out of the sink in the men’s bathroom on the eighth floor of the courthouse, the water was a dirty, reddish brown. I used my shirt from the night before to dry my face and chest, then dabbed my hair dry, carefully. The cut was really stinging now.
I wore a fresh pair of pants and shoes, and I was already feeling a little better.
Bloch handed me a clean shirt. I slipped it over my shoulders.
‘Raymond’s DNA analysis report has been handed in to the DA and the court, along with his video of the painters at the Hamptons house,’ she said.
Harry was already in court with Vanessa and Lake. The case was due to start in ten minutes. He was going to hold the fort while I got ready.
‘There’s something else I found – thought you would like it. I already gave it to the DA and the court,’ she said as she handed me a one-page report from the New York City Department of Finance.
I let the shirt hang open, read the report carefully.
Then read it again.
‘You’re shitting me,’ I said.
Bloch gazed at my chest and said, ‘You have a lot of scars.’
She was that kind of person. She said what was on her mind. I looked down at my chest.
‘Maybe Harry’s right,’ I said. ‘Somewhere in the world there’s a dirty, run-down beach bar with a couple of empty stools for Harry and me. I’ve been lucky, Bloch. Sooner or later, luck runs out.’
‘Not today,’ she said, staring at the document in my hands. ‘Not today.’
The judge and jury were already seated when I entered the courtroom.
The stares from Tanner were hard enough to cut glass.
I ignored her, went straight to my client.
Before anything else happened in this case, I needed something from her.
I leaned over the defense table, whispered to Vanessa.
‘We’re going to make a new deal, between lawyer and client.
I know two things. I know you didn’t kill Molly Green.
I know you’ve been lying to me since the day we first met.
I’m going to win this case for you now, but not in the way you think.
When this is all over, you and I are going to have a sit down.
And you’re going to tell me the truth. Either you agree to this now, or I walk out that door with my team and you can find yourself another lawyer. ’
What she said next was unexpected, but really I should have seen it coming.
‘The judge won’t let you walk away.’
I let that sit for a moment, then said, ‘She can put me in jail for a while, but you don’t want a lawyer that doesn’t want you for a client. I can throw you under a bus with this jury just as fast as I can save you. Think quickly, Vanessa.’
She breathed in, thought for a moment and said, ‘Okay.’
‘Good, because when we talk, I’ll know if you’re lying to me.’
I moved to the prosecution’s table. Riley got up as I approached.
‘Mr. Flynn, we are waiting . . .’ said the Judge.
‘I’m sure you’re getting well paid for it,’ I said.
‘What did you just say?’ she asked.
‘My apologies, I said, I’m sure it will be worth it, Your Honor. I just need a quick word with Mr. Riley. We have some new evidence in this case.’
I lowered my voice, so no one but Riley would hear.
‘I’m using this new evidence today. You should listen carefully to it. You’ve got a decision to make.’
‘What the fuck does all this new evidence even mean, Eddie? I don’t get it.’
‘You will, but don’t worry about that for a second. I’m not trying to mess with you – I’m not playing a con here – I’m trying to help you. You heard the FBI pulled Ben Larkin’s body out of a shallow grave this morning?’ I asked.
‘I heard.’
‘I was the one who found him. This whole case stinks and you’re smart enough to know it.
You have some talents. You have a perfect record of convictions.
In another year, you can walk into a good job in a decent firm on a great salary.
Don’t let this case put the same smell of corruption on you.
Because if that happens there’s no future for you in this city.
The only way out of this is for you to drop the charges. ’
‘I can’t do that. The DA will fire me. The evidence all points . . .’
‘The cops and the judge have been paid to look in one direction only. That’s why the evidence points to the wife.
Trust me, for your sake. I’m going to call a witness, and then you’re going to stand up and ask for the indictment to be withdrawn, on a without prejudice basis, in light of this new evidence.
Nobody in the DA’s office will criticize you for that, and some of the more liberal-leaning law firms in this town will look at your résumé a lot more favorably for it.
They’ll think you’re a straight shooter, a man who follows the law – maybe the last powerful person in this city who thinks the law means anything. ’
I could see from the look on his face that this was landing, but he wasn’t sure.
‘How do I know you’re not conning me?’
‘Two reasons. Listen to the testimony and, if you’re not convinced, don’t do it. Second, I didn’t have to say shit to you. I could have let this go to a verdict and just kicked your ass.’
‘Why do you want me to withdraw the charges without prejudice? That means we could charge her again in the future. Surely you mean with prejudice.’
‘I know what I mean. Without prejudice. Don’t ask me why.
I know every lawyer in your office thinks I’m a criminal and a conman, and I’m not going to defend the things I’ve done, but I will say this – I always did what I thought was right.
This feels right. And that’s all I have to say.
Now you’ve gotta do what you think is right. ’
I swung away from Riley, said, ‘The defense calls Melissa Bloch.’