Fatal Flaw Part 14

I was guessing, this last part about the hidden evidence, but it was a guess that made sense, and Jonah Peale's reaction, a sort of head swivel of frustration, told me that my guess was spot on.

"You have no proof," he said.

"I don't need proof right now, all I need is to know I'm right. It won't be too hard to find what it was Guy hid, now that we know what to look for. And wouldn't Red Book be interested as h.e.l.l in seeing it for themselves?"

Jonah Peale's face turned pale and then paler still. He lost so much color I thought he would collapse, right there before me, collapse and fall off that chair. Then, suddenly, he composed himself, as if a k.n.o.b had been turned. He took off his spectacles, cleaned the lenses with the tip of his bright red tie. "It would destroy this firm's reputation," he said calmly, "destroy the firm I've put my life into. I can't allow that to happen."

"So it's not the family you're concerned about, is it?"

"We all have our priorities. Why are you here?"

And there it was, the negotiation had begun. It was a pretty impressive performance by Peale, he had taken the shot, recovered, and now was ready to take control of the situation. Good for him, good for me.

"We both have an interest in keeping this information quiet," I said. "If it becomes public, it could be damaging to my client's case. As long as I control the disclosure, and the spin, I think I could manage it. I could even turn it to Guy's advantage, paint Hailey as a schemer out for the money, reduce the natural sympathy for the victim. But still, it complicates things as far as motive. And, of course, to you it would be devastating. So I believe it is in our interests to work together to keep it quiet."

"Agreed. What do you want?"

"I want Skink off my back."

"I'll tell him."

"I don't want to see him again. I don't want him talking to anyone about this case in any way, shape, or form. It would be best if he took a vacation until this whole thing is cleared up."

"He will be so instructed."

"I see him, I hear word one from him or about him, then I'll let out the information my way, and Red Book will know not only what Guy did but that you were hiding it from them."

"You've made yourself clear."

"I also a.s.sume there are doc.u.ments showing what Guy discovered and hid. I a.s.sume there is a file."

"Maybe there is."

"If we agree to keep it quiet, I can't afford to have it slip out when I least expect it. I don't want anyone to control that information but me. I want the file. I want all copies of it."

"That may prove difficult."

"I don't want to hear excuses."

"It may prove difficult," said Jonah Peale, "because if there is a file, I don't have it."

"Where is it?"

"I don't know."

"You're kidding me."

"I'm not the type, Mr. Carl."

"It must keep you up at night."

"Yes, well, with the way my wife snores, I don't get much sleep anyway."

"Any ideas what happened to it?"

"Ask your client. Anything else?"

I sat for a moment, tapped my chin. "One more thing, I suppose. I like your tie."

"Thank you."

"I want it."

He stared at me, hard. I was going way overboard, but there was a purpose to it. His face reddened with anger and then the color subsided. "I'll messenger it over tomorrow."

"Actually I was going out tonight, and it would go marvelously with my blue suit."

He stared at me a moment longer, b.l.o.o.d.y daggers in his eyes, and then he reached a finger into the knot. As he worked the tie loose, his thin lips spread in an approximation of a smile. "You know, Victor, may I call you Victor? I suspect, Victor, that in the end we'll work well together. I'll make sure Mr. Skink is cooperative, as we discussed, but you might want to rethink Troy Jefferson's offer. h.e.l.l, it really is the best that a.s.shole could ever hope for. It would be to everyone's benefit for this to go away. And as for your fee, which your expression told me had not been paid for in advance, if he takes the deal, I'll make sure your fee is paid in full. Whatever the invoice says, no questions asked. He is family, after all, at least until the inevitable divorce."

I slapped my thighs and stood. "Talk to Skink."

He held out the tie. I stepped forward to take it. "Done," he said.

"Good." I turned to face the door and then stopped, turned around again. This was the moment, the crucial moment. It had to seem incidental, offhand. "By the way, you mentioned the inevitable divorce. Don't be so sure about that."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your daughter wants him back."

"Of course she doesn't."

"I visited her just last week. She wants everything returned to the way it was before. Her husband back in her happy home, sharing her bed, raising their children."

"She..." His voice softened. "She can't be serious."

"Oh, she is. Quite. She has even agreed to put up the house for his bail."

He didn't react like I expected. Instead of exploding in anger, he looked away from me, toward the windows, and creased his forehead in thought. "She can't," he said matter-of-factly. "It's not hers to put up."

"I don't understand."

"I cosigned the mortgage. She can't do a thing without my agreement, and I won't put up a penny to get that b.a.s.t.a.r.d out of jail. Not a penny." He turned quickly to stare at me. "You wouldn't insist that I do that, too, would you? You wouldn't do that."

The pleading in his voice was almost pathetic. I made a gesture of thinking on it for a moment before smiling to myself. "No. Better not to tip our hand. If you agreed to bail him out, it would look suspicious."

"She really wants him back?"

"As soon as I acquit him."

"How could she be such a fool?" he said, his voice now almost wistful, his gaze back to the window.

I said something or other by way of ending the meeting, but he didn't respond, just kept on staring, and so I left without another word, though on the way out I have to admit I skipped a step or two. Call me Satchmo, seeing as I had just played Jonah Peale like a cornet.

In the lobby I stopped in front of the fish leaping out from the marble fountain. The fish's fish lips were puckered and spitting out the nasty little stream. Someone, somewhere, thought the effect was pleasing, but who? How? Maybe that was the biggest mystery of all. I wrapped Jonah Peale's red power tie tight around that ugly fish's neck and stepped into the street.

17.

"YOU KNOW if this leaks," said Beth after I had told her of my discovery about Juan Gonzalez and my meeting with Peale, minus the bit about Skink, "it would devastate Guy's defense. He wants us to pursue the lover as the killer. Fine. In a lover's triangle it's easy enough to point the finger at the missing member." if this leaks," said Beth after I had told her of my discovery about Juan Gonzalez and my meeting with Peale, minus the bit about Skink, "it would devastate Guy's defense. He wants us to pursue the lover as the killer. Fine. In a lover's triangle it's easy enough to point the finger at the missing member."

"Speaking metonymically, of course."

"But money trumps love. If the prosecution can show a monetary motive for Guy's anger, like being cheated out of the money they had stolen together, they'll have a much easier go."

"I know," I said.

"And if Troy Jefferson finds out what you found out, he'll withdraw the plea offer in a second."

"I know that, too."

"Then maybe we should accept it before it disappears."

"Maybe, but we need to talk to Guy first. We need to give Guy a chance to tell us his side of the story."

"Guy stole the money, didn't he?"

"Yes."

"And Hailey transferred it out of their joint account, didn't she?"

"Yes."

"Then what is there that he could tell us to alter those fundamental facts? His explanation won't change the government's ability to turn that into motive. You add this to his fingerprints on the gun, the improbability of his story, the evidence of another lover, the lack of evidence of a break-in, you add it all up and the sum is a guilty."

I avoided her gaze and shrugged. "Convictions happen."

She stared at me. I refused to stare back.

"You look terrible."

"Thank you," I said. "That's so sweet."

"You have bags under your eyes the airlines would make you gate-check."

"I've been staying up late reading."

"Must be something good."

"A cla.s.sic."

"I've been wondering why you haven't pushed Guy to accept the plea. At first I thought maybe it was because you like appearing on the evening news and it had been a while since you had a case that put you there. Then I thought you just wanted to keep the case alive so you could bury yourself in work and forget your failed romance. But I never thought it was because you believed Guy is innocent. Do you, Victor?"

"What?"

"Believe he's innocent?"

I turned my head to look at her straight on. "It shouldn't matter."

"But it does, doesn't it? I can feel it in you."

"Let me turn it around. How would you feel if you learned that Guy was absolutely guilty? How would you feel then about defending him? How would you feel then about getting for him a sweetheart deal?"

"I'd feel lousy about it."

"But you'd still defend him to the best of your abilities?"

"Yes. I would. That's the job."

"I know the job. I'm not talking about the job. I'm talking about what you think think of the job." of the job."

"Sometimes I think it's rotten."

"There you go."

"So you do believe he did it."

"I'm saying it shouldn't matter, but sometimes it does. I'm saying that I'm in a tough situation, but I'm doing the best I can. I'm saying that all I need from you is a little faith that I'll do the right thing."

"You usually do."

"Thank you."

"But sometimes," she said, "you do it for all the wrong reasons."

I didn't want to ask her what she meant by that, so I ignored the comment. She scratched her neck and tilted her head as if she were trying to work it out, trying to find the missing piece that would explain everything. But she didn't have it, I knew, and she wouldn't get it if I had anything to say about the matter. What had been between Hailey and me was a secret, and even if Skink knew, that was where it would end. I had seen to that.

But I could still sense her unease. It was time to bring her tacitly on my side, time for her to see the absolute truth. It was time, finally, for Guy to confess, if only to his lawyers. Nothing admissible in a court of law, of course, but enough to get Beth working with and not against me. Time for Guy to tell the whole truth, and I knew just how to squeeze it out of him.

Juan Gonzalez.