Page 84 of Witness 8

‘He loves old movies, Marlon Brando, and he’s a total psychopath.’

‘Good to know,’ I said, and ended the call. There was a time and a place for asking Lake more questions about this man. Now was not that time.

I felt safer as I stepped inside the courthouse. I breezed through security and got into the elevator alone. As the doors closed, I let my eyes shut too.

My head felt like it was in a blender.

Harry was unconscious in the hospital and it was likely I was going to lose him. A crew of corrupt cops had hired an array of killers to take me out. An innocent man had placed his life in my hands. I had a case I couldn’t solve. And someone was playing around on the edges of it all, killing on the periphery of this trial.

I listened to the elevator mechanism. The whirr of cables and rollers. Allowed my mind to cool.

The elevator car stopped on my floor. As the doors rolled back, my eyes opened.

Kate was waiting for me in the hallway, her arms filled with files and her legal pad. A pen slotted into the bun of hair at the back of her head and a look on her face that spoke to the weight she was carrying too. All my problems were Kate’s problems. And I hated that.

‘Did you get my message?’ she asked.

I joined her in the hallway and we headed for the courtroom. ‘I did. We’ve been ambushed.’

‘Castro has dug up an eyewitness. Someone who says they’re afraid of reprisals and they’ll only testify if the court grants them anonymity. Looks like we’ll be cross-examining them blind.’

‘How are John and Alison?’ I asked.

‘They’re wrecks. I don’t think we can put John on the witness stand. He looks like he’s been living in a cell for months and he’s ready to crack. Who knows what he’s going to say on cross-examination.’

‘Ordinarily I don’t like putting clients on the stand. Castro can accuse him of lying. His DNA is on the murder weapon, but he told the police he’d never seen it before. If he can handle that, it’s worthwhile. I think people will believe him when he says he didn’t kill Margaret Blakemore.’

Kate tore off a page from her legal pad, handed it to me.

‘This is the list of the first set of witnesses. Castro is calling the investigating officer to open the case. Setting the scene for the jury. Oh, and Bloch wants to see you,’ she said, pointing up the hall.

Up ahead, Bloch leaned against the cool walls of the hallway. Head down. Lost in thought. Her gaze fell on me as I approached.

‘I pulled a favor, got Esther Hanson’s phone records. There’s no record of a call made to ICE.’

‘So maybe this was a set-up to frame Althea?’

Bloch said, ‘Maybe not. Maybe she made the call from a payphone. But it makes a set-up more possible, maybe not probable.’

‘Go join Lake in case one of our suspects makes a move. We need to keep tabs on Bale and Ellis. And remind Lake to get his own damn car. He’s been promising that for weeks. So, you two, any ideas who our mystery witness might be?’

Bloch shook her head. Kate took the pen from her hair and started to chew on the end of it. I waited, let her mind rattle through the possibilities.

‘Whoever it is, they are speaking to motive,’ said Kate. ‘I have a feeling there’s more to it. I’ve never dealt with a case where the witness is anonymous. Think the judge will grant his motion?’

‘I’m sure of it,’ said Eddie. ‘It happens more and more now. You see it a lot in mob trials and trafficking cases.’

‘So we have to cross-examine a witness totally blind, in a major murder trial? How is that fair?’

‘This is the justice system,’ I replied. ‘Nobody said it had to be fair.’

‘So what the hell are we going to do?’

‘You stick to the plan. We still have a strategy. Let me worry about the anonymous witness. The thing about an unfair legal system is that all bets are off. If the prosecution isn’t playing fair, I’m not going to run a straight game either. They’re forgetting something . . .’

‘What’s that?’

‘You can’t cheat a conman.’