'Where'd you meet Whiley?'
Booth tilted his head to the side and looked at Peter suspiciously. 'I thought you were interested in Mammon.'
ng 'I am. He says he didn't know Whiley well. I thought, if you knew her, you could set the record straight.'
:ch 'He's lyin' to you. Personally, I think he was screwing her.'
er 4 4 'YOU do?'
'The bitch would do anything for cocaine.'
Suddenly Booth laughed.
'What's so funny?'
Ut 'If Whiley was working for the feds there's gonna be a lot of nervous people in this burg.'
'Why's that?'
n- 'She never had much money, so she had to earn her if snow. One way she did that was by making deliveries.
up She could name a lot of names.'
'Like who?'
!r- ''Mr. Football' for one. It would serve the cock n- sucker right, the way he left me hanging as soon as I said I didn't have any money.'
the. 'Who are you talking about?'
irs Before Booth could answer, the door opened and the !guard walked in. When he saw Peter, he put his hand on to his gun.
w 'Who are you and what are you doing in here?'
'I'm an attorney,' Peter said with righteous indignation.'
'This man is a witness in the Harmon case. I have in- a constitutional right to talk to him.'
ig- 'Let's see some identification,' the guard said, taking the gun out and pointing it at Peter.
iat 'No problem. I'm just going to get my wallet, see.'
Peter pulled the wallet out slowly and handed a busi :ch ness card to the officer. The policeman studied Peter for he a minute.
'Yeah, you're Harmon's lawyer. I recognize you now.
Y_ I don't know what you think you're doing, but sneaking in here on my watch is going to get your ass hauled ter down to the station.'
in 'You better check before you try that,' Peter said with more bravado than he felt. 'Whitaker doesn't have enough money to cover the damages I'll win if you arrest me for talking to a witness in a death penalty case.'
The guard looked a little uncertain, but he stood his ground. Several people had clustered in the doorway to see what was going on. The officer turned to one of them.
'Nurse, call the station house and ask for one of the sergeants. Tell them we have a situation here.'
Dennis Downes had no idea whether Peter's shenanigans were legal or illegal. Peter was an attorney and Booth was a key witness. As soon as he learned what Peter had done, he called Becky O'Shay. O'Shay had sworn long and loudly, then told Downes she would be at the station in a few minutes.
'Just what do you think you're doing, Hale?' O'Shay demanded the minute the door to the interrogation room closed behind her.
'My duty under the Constitution of the United States.'
'Your duty, my ass. That man is my witness and he's in protective custody.
You are in big trouble. The worst you're looking at is a bar complaint and I've got someone checking to see if you've broken any laws.'
Peter was furious with O'Shay, but he did not let it show. Instead, he asked in a casual tone, 'Do you think what I did was as bad as hiding the fact that your victim, Miss Whiley, was the woman who was bringing the thirty thousand dollars to Christopher Mammon and Kevin Booth on the evening of their arrest?'
Peter noticed, with satisfaction, that O'Shay's normally pale complexion was now thoroughly bleached of color.
'Do you think it's as bad as concealing from me the fact that Miss Whiley was working with the cops, a fact that Mammon suspected and that drove him into a murderous rage, thus making him a very viable suspect in Miss Whiley's murder?'
'What ... what are you talking about?' O'Shay stuttered.
'I'm talking about a serious violation of your duty as a prosecutor to turn over to the defense all exculpatory evidence in your possession. I think the fact that you knew a homicidal maniac like Christopher Mammon 'had it in for the deceased and failed to mention that little tidbit to me constitutes a gross violation of your duties as a prosecutor, an officer of the court and a human being.'
'Mammon didn't kill Whiley, your client did,' O'Shay said.
'That's for a jury to decide, not you.'
'In case you've forgotten, hotshot, a jury did decide.'
'They didn't have all the facts.'
'This bullshit about Mammon is just that, bullshit,' O'Shay shot back, seemingly over her initial shock. 'I gave you all the information you were entitled to.'
'We'll see about that. I think it's time to go to judge Kuffel.'
For a brief second, O'Shay looked panicky. Then, she sat down across from Peter and, in a reasonable tone, said, 'Listen, Peter, I shouldn't have gotten so angry. I know the pressure you've been under. And there's Harmon's family. This has been tough on everyone. But I can tell you that you're barking up the wrong tree.'
'I've seen the DEA reports you sent to Steve Mancini.'
'What are you talking about?'
'The reports that mention the CRI who was involved with the drug deal at Whitaker State where Mammon and Booth were arrested.'
'I didn't send any DEA reports to Steve Mancini.'
'Someone did. They were in with your discovery material.'
'Let me see them.'
'I don't have them. They're in Steve's file.'
'I, think you're confused, Peter. If Whiley was working with the government, I would have been told.'
O'Shay stood up and headed for the door.
'Where are you going?'
'Home. It's Sunday' 'Are you going to tell Downes to let me 90 ?1 'As soon as I'm certain that you haven't broken any laws.'
'And when will that be?'
'When the deputy I've got working on the project lets me know.'
'That's fine by me, Becky. You're just increasing the damages I'm going to receive when I sue the Whitaker police, the Whitaker District Attorney's Office and you, personally.'
The door to the interrogation room slammed shut and Peter swore.
The police held Peter for two more hours, then they let him go. While he was in custody, it occurred to Peter that he should make a copy of the DEA reports to show to the judge when he filed his motion for a new trial.
Peter's car was still at the hospital, so he hiked there and picked it up. He arrived at the office a little after eight.
All the lights were out. Peter went directly to the file room and took out the envelope with the police reports.
He shuffled through them twice before realizing that someone had removed the DEA reports from the file.
Peter's first reaction was anger at Becky O'Shay. She had to be behind the theft. She was the only person to whbm he had mentioned the reports. He felt so stupid for doing that, but he never would have believed she would go this far to hold on to her victory. She must havekept him in custody long enough to send someone to the office to retrieve the reports from the file.
Unfortunately for O'Shay, there was someone else who knew about the reports. Peter walked to his office
