Three hours later, Bella peeked into the conference room where Jason and Lassiter were still watching the videotaped depositions. “It’s six o’clock,” she said. “You need anything before I leave?”
“No, we’re fine,” Jason replied, his attention still on the monitor. But before Bella could turn to go, a thought hit him. He pressed pause.
“Bella, come here a minute.” He handed her the transcript from Melissa Davids’s deposition. “Pick out a question on any page,” Jason said. “Andrew, let’s see if you can guess the answer.”
“There’s no point in this,” Andrew said.
“Just humor me. Bella, go ahead and pick out a question.”
Bella and Andrew looked at Jason with matching frowns, but he wouldn’t let it go. A frustrated Bella exhaled forcefully enough to move a small sailboat and turned to the middle of the deposition. “‘Do you know what an illegal straw sale is?’” she asked, her tone registering her protest.
“‘Of course,’” Andrew said.
Bella shot Jason a look, like she’d just seen an impressive card trick. “‘Explain it to me,’” she read.
This time, Andrew stared at the wall for a moment and fluttered his eyelids. “‘Is it my job to explain the law to her?’”
Jason smiled. He remembered the line from the deposition-and his own response. “You don’t have to explain it,” Jason said, “but it might help us get out of here.”
“Actually,” Andrew said, “your precise line was, ‘Not really. But maybe if you do, we can get out of here faster.’ Then Ms. Davids says, ‘A straw purchase transaction is when an eligible purchaser of a firearm buys a gun on behalf of another person who is an ineligible purchaser of a firearm. Let’s say, for example-’”
“All right,” Bella said. “I get it. You can stop now. But let me just check something…” Like a true skeptical New Yorker, she flipped through a few pages in the deposition and started reading again.
“‘You’re aware that the cities of New York, Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia have filed lawsuits against rogue gun dealers based on guns they sold that were later traced to crimes on the streets of those cities?’”
“‘Yeah, I’m aware,’” said Andrew, playing the part of Melissa Davids. “‘You want my opinion on those suits?’”
“‘That won’t be necessary.’”
“‘Didn’t think so.’”
“Wow.” Bella shook her head, a converted skeptic. “How do you do that?”
Lassiter twitched and looked back to his computer program-game over. “I don’t know. I’ve just always been able to remember things.”
“Un-flippin’-believable,” Bella said. “You oughta go on Jeopardy! ”
“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”
51
Hiring Rafael Johansen was not Jason’s idea. It had been suggested-no, it had been insisted on-by Andrew Lassiter. “What good is a micromarketing program for selecting jurors if we don’t know enough about their lifestyles to match them up?”
According to Lassiter, nobody could do a better job of providing detailed background information for prospective jurors than Rafael Johansen and his investigative team.
“I thought Rafael was employed by Justice Inc.,” Jason said.
“Are you kidding? Robert Sherwood is not about to put Justice Inc. on the hook for Johansen’s actions. Rafael works as an independent contractor. Sherwood gets all the dirt on the real jurors without ever having to know how it came into Johansen’s greasy hands. Plausible deniability. Richard Nixon style.”
Jason eventually agreed to bring Johansen on board but insisted on calling Robert Sherwood first. This caused a heated argument between Jason and Andrew Lassiter, but Jason was not about to back down. “If Sherwood has a problem with it, I’ll find another investigator,” Jason said.
“It’s none of Sherwood’s business,” Andrew replied.
Jason called anyway and learned, much to his surprise, that Sherwood thought it was a superb idea. Jason got the impression that Sherwood was going to put a lot of money on Jason’s side of the case and wanted to see Jason get all the help he needed. “Just be prepared,” Sherwood warned. “He doesn’t come cheap.”
Jason’s next call was to Case McAllister to obtain the client’s approval. Everything was a go until they found out how much Johansen’s services cost. After two days of phone negotiations, they finally talked Johansen into a billing rate of “only” $325 for himself and $200 for his associates. To Jason’s chagrin, his jury investigator was now making more per hour than he was. To secure payment, Johansen required a $50,000 retainer.
Not surprisingly, Bella gave Johansen a cold reception when he showed up at the office a half hour late for his first meeting. He came decked out in black pants and a tight, black, long-sleeved pullover that showed off bulging pecs. His hard eyes and icy stare made everyone around him uncomfortable.
In his office, Jason explained the kind of information he would need for each potential juror and the types of reports he preferred. When he finished his spiel, he handed Johansen a two-page retainer agreement with the terms of the undertaking spelled out in detail.
Johansen looked at the agreement, snorted, and put it back on Jason’s desk. “I don’t do agreements,” he said.
“Then we don’t have a deal.”
“Fine.” Johansen stood and headed for the door.
“Wait,” Jason said. The big man turned around, his face as emotionless as before. “We’ll do it without a written contract,” Jason offered.
Johansen nodded and returned to his seat. “I’m here because Robert Sherwood asked me to help. To me, you’re just another punk lawyer getting paid a lot of money before you’ve proven anything in the courtroom.” Johansen hardened his stare. “I’ll do my job and get you the information you need. But I do it my way and that means we don’t put anything in writing.”
The venom caught Jason by surprise. He didn’t expect to be Johansen’s buddy, but he didn’t appreciate being called a punk by a guy he had just hired at $325 an hour.
“Fair enough,” Jason said brusquely. “Then let’s put a few more things on the table. You work for me on this case. You don’t call the client unless I give you permission. You don’t do any investigative work unless I authorize it, and I want weekly reports on all your activities. Your primary responsibility will be compiling information for each potential juror. You’ll be working directly with Andrew Lassiter.” Jason sat back and let his demands hang in the tense air for a few seconds. Working with Johansen was going to be tiring. “Any questions?”
Johansen shrugged. “No.”
“Then here’s what I need done…” For the next several minutes, Jason detailed the information he wanted on each jury member. He ignored Johansen’s stare and pretended not to be bothered by the fact that Johansen didn’t take a single note.
“I expect a trial date in June or July,” Jason said, wrapping up. “We’ll have a list of prospective jurors-there will probably be nearly a hundred of ’em-about a month prior.”
“Is that it?” Johansen asked condescendingly.
“For now.”
“You don’t need me to investigate anybody else?”
“No, just the jurors.”
“I see,” Johansen said, nodding. “Then what do you want me to do with the information I’ve already got on the plaintiff, the plaintiff’s attorney, and Judge Garrison?”
“What information?”
Johansen sneered. “Does that mean you want to hear it?”
“How about we quit playing games,” Jason said. “If you’ve got information I need to know, let’s have it.”
Johansen crossed his legs and gave Jason a little smirk. “I thought maybe your curiosity would get the better of you. Let’s start with the plaintiff.”
