people were murdered. I read that Castle was charged with the murders and that you're her lawyer. I can't get in touch with him, so I decided to call you.
About what?
There was someone else who came around asking about the property. Mr. Vasquez showed me a picture but it wasn't him. He, uh, he said there was some money in it if I could tell him who it was. Are you still interested?
Yes.
I never told anyone but Mr. Vasquez about this man, not even the cops, so you'll be the only one who knows.
Who was it?
Vasquez said that he would pay me for that information.
How much did he say he' d give you?
Why don't you come to my office with three hundred dollars? I' m just a few blocks away.
Amanda knocked on Frank's doorjamb.
Got a second? she asked when Frank looked up from his work.
Sure. What's up?
I just visited Mary Ann Jager, the attorney who bought the farm where the bodies in the Castle case were found. When Bobby Vasquez interviewed her, she told him that someone else had asked about the property shortly before he did. Bobby showed her an old picture of Cardoni, but she couldn't identify him. Last night she saw the man on the evening news in a story about Justine's case. When she couldn't get in touch with Vasquez, she called me.
So who is it?
Cardoni.
I thought you said
The picture Vasquez showed her was taken before he had plastic surgery.
Frank's brow furrowed. That makes no sense. Why would Cardoni expose himself to Jager if he already owned the farm?
He wouldn' t.
You're saying ... ?
There are some loose ends in Cardoni's case that always bothered me. For instance, who made the first anonymous call to Vasquez?
Martin Breach. Justine. Frank shrugged. It could have been anyone Cardoni pissed off.
It couldn't have been Breach, Amanda said. Why would he want Cardoni in police custody, where he could cut a deal to testify against him? Breach would be more likely to put out a contract on him.
You're probably right, Frank answered thoughtfully. And the caller couldn't have been Justine.
Why?
She didn't know about the mountain cabin. Cardoni bought that in secret.
The police were never able to prove that Cardoni owned the cabin. What if he didn' t? What if Justine did?
You think Justine is responsible for the murders in Milton County?
That's what Cardoni always claimed.
Frank drew into himself for a moment. Then he shook his head.
It doesn't work. Even if Justine knew about the cabin, how did she know about Martin Breach? The caller said that Cardoni bought his cocaine from Breach.
In any event, you shouldn't be trying to prove Justine Castle is a murderer. First off, that's a job for the police. Then there's the little fact that Dr. Castle is our client. Even if you had the proof you needed, most of it, like the information you just learned from Jager, is privileged either as an attorney-client confidence or work product. Besides, you're sniffing up a false trail. I don't have any doubts that Cardoni is guilty.
How can you be so certain?
You remember the coffee mug with Cardoni's prints that the police found in the cabin in Milton County?
Amanda nodded.
The fact that Cardoni's fingerprints were found on the mug was never made public.
It wasn' t?
No. The police always hold something back to weed out false confessions. I became suspicious when a coffee mug was found at the farmhouse with Justine's prints on it. The public didn't know about the coffee mug, but Cardoni did.
How do you know?
I told him his prints had been found on the mug when I was representing him. Only someone who knew about the coffee mug from the Milton County case would go to the trouble of stealing Justine's mug from the hospital and planting it at the farmhouse.
If it was planted. What if Justine brought the mug with her and drank coffee while she worked?
Frank's smug look disappeared. That's a chilling thought.
It dawned on Amanda that another of Frank's conclusions could be wrong as well. He had said that Justine could not have made the anonymous call to Vasquez, because the caller knew about Martin Breach and Justine did not. But Justine would know a great deal about Breach if she was Clifford Grant's partner in the black market organ scheme.
Amanda was about to explain this to her father when the intercom buzzed and the receptionist announced that Sean McCarthy was in the waiting room and needed to talk to Amanda. Frank told her to show McCarthy to his office. The detective looked paler than usual and he moved slowly.
Good afternoon, Frank, Miss Jaffe, the detective said.
Good afternoon, Sean, Frank answered. You look like you can use some coffee. Can I get you some?
I' d appreciate it. I haven't been to bed and I' m running on fumes.
Frank buzzed his secretary and asked her to bring a cup of coffee for McCarthy while the detective settled into a chair.
So, what brings you here? Frank asked.
Bobby Vasquez. McCarthy looked at Amanda. A trucker found him in a rest area on the interstate. He's at the county hospital.
Amanda paled.
What happened? Frank asked.
He was knocked unconscious. The blow to the head was pretty severe. His condition is serious.
Amanda felt dead inside. Did Cardoni ... Was he the one who ... ?
We think so, McCarthy answered. We went to his hotel room to talk to him. He wasn't there, but we found a map in his trash with the rest area circled and a journal excerpt that's similar to the accounts in the journal we found at the farmhouse. We also found your business card in Vasquez's wallet. I thought you might be able to tell me what Bobby was doing in the rest area.
Amanda was about to tell McCarthy that Vasquez was working as Justine's bodyguard, but she stopped herself. Why was Vasquez in the rest area when he was supposed to be guarding Justine? Had Justine sent Vasquez to kill Cardoni? Amanda had no proof that Justine had done anything wrong, and she remembered what Frank had said about her duty to her client.
Mr. Vasquez was working with me on Dr. Castle's case, but I don't know why he was at the rest area, Amanda told the detective. Will Bobby be okay?
When I left the hospital, the doctors didn't know.
Amanda felt terrible.
Are you going to arrest Cardoni? Frank asked.
We're looking for him. Until we find him, you two should keep your eyes open. We have no reason to believe that Cardoni will go after you, but we're concerned for the safety of anyone connected to him.
Amanda normally dealt with stress by exercising, but she did not have the energy for a workout. Going home was out of the question, because she could not handle being alone. She hesitated a moment, then picked up the phone and called Tony Fiori at the hospital.
