and dialed Steve Mancini. It was going to look very bad for O'Shay when Steve confirmed the existence of the two documents in front of judge Kuffel. There would definitely be enough circumstantial evidence to support an inquiry by the Oregon State Bar into O'Shay's behavior.
'Steve, this is Peter,' he said as soon as Mancini picked up.
'How are you doing?' Mancini asked. 'You didn't look so good after the verdict.'
'I didn't feel so good, either, but something has happened that's gotten me excited. I found out that Sandra Whiley was involved with the drug deal that went sour at Whitaker State. The one where Chris Mammon and Kevin Booth were arrested.'
'What!'
'Yeah. I think Whiley was working with the police and Mammon found out. It gives him a terrific motive to kill her.'
'That's incredible. How did you work that out?'
'I hope you're not mad, but after I learned about the relationship between Mammon and Whiley I looked in your file on Kevin Booth. I couldn't ask Amos Geary to let me see Mammon's file and I remembered that you'd have the same discovery. I should have called you first, but I was so excited I i4st did it.'
'That's okay. You shouldn't have looked at the file.
It's confidential. But Gary's life is at stake.'
'Thanks, Steve. Anyway, I found two reports in your file from the DEA,' Peter went on. Then, he told Steve about his interview with Booth at the hospital, his detention by the police and his discovery that the reports had been removed from the file.
'Becky must have had someone break in here and remove them while I was at the police station,' Peter concluded, 'but she made one mistake. She forgot that you've seen the reports. You can confirm their existence.
Once the judge realizes that I saw the reports around noon, I told her about them around four and they were gone by eight, he's going to reach the same conclusion I have and O'Shay's ass will be grass. Kuffel is going to have to give Gary a new trial, once he determines that Becky failed to turn over key evidence that points to another suspect.'
'These reports,' Mancini asked hesitantly, 'what did they look like?'
'They were typed up. Each one was a couple of pages long. They were written by DEA agents.'
'Pete, I honestly don't remember seeing any reports from the DEA in the discovery I received from Becky.'
'Well, they were in there.'
'I'm sure they were. I mean, you just read the reports a few hours ago. All I'm saying is that I haven't looked at that file in a while and I just don't recall those reports.
'How can that be?'
'Booth's case wasn't that big a deal. I think I read through the reports once, real fast. He told me his version. All the stuff I needed to win at the prelim was in the report that the campus security guy filed. I'm sorry.
I'll spend some serious time thinking about it, but right now I don't remember any DEA reports.'
Peter hung up in a daze. He had been counting on Steve to support him. If Mancini could not remember the reports, he had nothing. Then, Peter recalled the last thing Kevin Booth said before the guard burst into Booth's hospital room. Something about Whiley making cocaine deliveries to pay for her drugs.
Booth had said that several people in Whitaker would have to worry if Whiley was working for the police and she named names. The only person he'd had time to mention before the' guard came in was 'Mr. Football,' who had dropped Booth when he found out Booth did not have any money.
Peter walked to the front door of the law-office and inspected it. He did the same with every other door that led into the building. None of 'them showed signs of forced entry. The person who took the DEA reports had a key to Steve Mancini's law office. Peter did not want to believe it. Could Steve have taken the reports? Peter raced back to the file room and opened the Booth file again. The phone message about the deal offer from O'Shay was also missing. Peter felt sick. Why was Mancini helping Becky O'Shay, and what were they covering up?
Suddenly, Peter recalled Steve's failure to tell him about his interview with Don Bosco. It was Steve who suggested that Peter convince Gary to plead guilty. Mancini had given him the names of three investigators, but the only one who was available was the incompetent Barney Pullen. Peter had assumed that Steve Mancini was his ally from the moment he'd become Gary Harmon's lawyer, but now it appeared that Mancini had a hidden agenda of his own and Peter suspected that it included saddling Gary with the lawyer least qualified to handle his case.
Peter parked his car at the edge of the dirt drive that led to the garage and surveyed Amos Geary's house. Like its owner, it was broken down and aging. Weeds had overgrown a front yard that had not seen a mower in recent times, the paint was peeling and faded. Only God knew the original color.
There was a light on behind a worn curtain in the front room. Peter hesitated before getting out of the car.
He could drive away, but to what destination?
One of the steps leading to the porch was cracked and Peter stumbled over it. He caught himself by breaking his fall with his hands. This was not an auspicious sign.
Peter thought about turning back, but the door opened.
When Peter looked up, he found Amos Geary, dressed in a bathrobe and striped pajamas, looking down at him with contempt.
'Jesus, Hale, you are pathetic. Can't you even walk up a flight of stairs without making a mess of it?'
'Good evening, Mr. Geary,' Peter stuttered as he stood up awkwardly. His hands stung where they had smacked into the wooden porch.
'What are you doing on my property?' Geary demanded.
'I'm in trouble.'
'I'm not interested.'
Geary turned to go inside.
'Wait!' Peter shouted. 'It's not me. It's Gary. Gary Harmon is in trouble.'
Geary paused. He turned back. There was a chill in the evening air. A gust of wind went right through Peter and he shuddered.
'What do you want from me?'
'You're the only person I can turn to.'
'What happened to your good buddy Steve?'
'There's something going on and Steve may be part of it.'
'Going on?'
'A, uh, cover-up.' Peter said the word hesitantly, knowing that it would make him appear paranoid.
'Something'like the Kennedy assassination?' Geary asked with a snort. 'Something involving.the CIA, perhaps? Go home, Hale. You sound ridiculous.'
'Please, Mr. Geary. I know I let you down.. .
'You didn't let me down. I expected you to fuck up.
In fact, Peter, you've confirmed my faith in my ability to judge the merits of my fellow man.'
Geary almost had the door shut. Peter was desperate.
'Goddamn it,' he shouted, 'this isn't about you or me. It's -about Gary. That poor bastard is in jail for a murder he didn't commit.'
Geary held on to the screen door and looked at Peter over his shoulder.
'Whose fault is that, Hale?'
'Mine! Are you happy? There, I said it. It's my fault.
I'm everything you said I was. I'm a self-centered shallow asshole and I'm asking for your help because I'know I don't have what it takes to save Gary.'
'My advice to you is to return the retainer you took under false pretenses to the Harmons, confess your misrepresentations and tell them to hire a real lawyer to represent their son.'
'It's not that simple. Please, hear me out. There's more to this than the murder in the park. I think Steve Mancini and Becky O'Shay have been working together to cover up something. I don't know what it is, but it's tied into the arrest of Christopher Mammon and Kevin Booth at Whitaker State.'
