“Okay, what else?” he asked.
Now my mouth let some light in.
“What do you mean, what else? Isn’t that enough?”
“Enough for what?”
“Look, Ted, why don’t we cut the bullshit?”
“Please do.”
“What are we talking about here? That disc blows this case out of the water. Let’s forget about arraignment and trial and talk about going into court next week with a joint motion to dismiss. I want this shit-canned with prejudice, Ted. No coming back at my guy if somebody in here decides to change their mind.”
Minton smiled and shook his head.
“Can’t do that, Mickey. This woman was injured quite badly. She was victimized by an animal and I’m not going to dismiss anything against -”
“Quite badly? She’s been turning tricks again all week. You -”
“How do you know that?”
I shook my head.
“Man, I am trying to help you here, save you some embarrassment, and all you’re worried about is whether I’ve crossed some line with the victim. Well, I’ve got news for you. She ain’t the victim. Don’t you see what you have here? If this thing gets to a jury and they see that disc, all the plates fall, Ted. Your case is over and you have to come back in here and explain to your boss Smithson why you didn’t see it coming. I don’t know Smithson all that well, but I do know one thing about him. He doesn’t like to lose. And after what happened yesterday, I would say that he feels a little more urgent about that.”
“Prostitutes can be victims, too. Even amateurs.”
I shook my head. I decided to show my whole hand.
“She set him up,” I said. “She knew he had money and she laid a trap. She wants to sue him and cash in. She either hit herself or she had her boyfriend from the bar, the left-handed man, do it. No jury in the world is going to buy what you’re selling. Blood on the hand or fingerprints on the knife-it was all staged after he was knocked out.”
Minton nodded as if he followed the logic but then came out with something from left field.
“I’m concerned that you may be trying to intimidate my victim by following her and harassing her.”
“What?”
“You know the rules of engagement. Leave the victim alone or we’ll next talk about it with a judge.”
I shook my head and spread my hands wide.
“Are you listening to anything I’m saying here?”
“Yes, I have listened to it all and it doesn’t change the course I am taking. I do have an offer for you, though, and it will be good only until Monday’s arraignment. After that, all bets are off. Your client takes his chances with a judge and jury. And I’m not intimidated by you or the sixty days. I will be ready and waiting.”
I felt like I was underwater and everything that I said was trapped in bubbles that were drifting up and away. No one could hear me correctly. Then I realized that there was something I was missing. Something important. It didn’t matter how green Minton was, he wasn’t stupid and I had just mistakenly thought he was acting stupid. The L.A. County DA ’s office got some of the best of the best out of law school. He had already mentioned Southern Cal and I knew that was a law school that turned out top-notch lawyers. It was only a matter of experience. Minton might be short on experience but it didn’t mean he was short on legal intelligence. I realized that I should be looking at myself, not Minton, for understanding.
“What am I missing here?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Minton said. “You’re the one with the high-powered defense. What could you be missing?”
I stared at him for a moment and then knew. There was a glitch in the discovery. There was something in his thin file that was not in the thick one Levin had put together. Something that would get the prosecution past the fact that Reggie Campo was selling it. Minton had so much as told me already.
I wanted to stop everything and look through the state’s discovery file to compare it with everything about the case that I knew. But I could not do it now in front of him.
“Okay,” I said. “What’s your offer? He won’t take it but I’ll present it.”
“Well, he’s got to do prison time. That’s a given. We’re willing to drop it all down to an ADW and attempted sexual battery. We’ll go to the middle of the guidelines, which would put him at about seven years.”
I nodded. Assault with a deadly weapon and attempted sexual battery. A seven-year sentence would likely mean four years actual. It wasn’t a bad offer but only from the standpoint of Roulet having committed the crime. If he was innocent, then no offer was acceptable.
I shrugged.
“I’ll take it to him,” I said.
“Remember, only until the arraignment. So if he wants it you better call me Monday morning first thing.”
“Right.”
I closed my briefcase and stood up to go. I was thinking about how Roulet was probably waiting for a phone call from me, telling him the nightmare was over. Instead, I would be calling about a seven-year deal.
Minton and I shook hands and I said I would call him, then I headed out. In the hallway leading to the reception area I ran into Maggie McPherson.
“Hayley had a great time Saturday,” she said about our daughter. “She’s still talking about it. She said you were going to see her this weekend, too.”
“Yeah, if that’s okay.”
“Are you all right? You look like you’re in a daze.”
“It’s turning into a long week. I’m glad I have an empty calendar tomorrow. Which works better for Hayley, Saturday or Sunday?”
“Either’s fine. Were you just meeting Ted on the Roulet thing?”
“Yeah. I got his offer.”
I raised my briefcase to show I was taking the prosecution’s plea offer with me.
“Now I have to go try to sell it,” I added. “That’s going to be tough. Guy says he didn’t do it.”
“I thought they all said that.”
“Not like this guy.”
“Well, good luck.”
“Thanks.”
We headed opposite ways in the hallway and then I remembered something and called back to her.
“Hey, Happy St. Patrick’s.”
“Oh.”
She turned and came back toward me.
“Stacey’s staying a couple hours late with Hayley and a bunch of us are going over to Four Green Fields after work. You feel like a pint of green beer?”
Four Green Fields was an Irish pub not far from the civic center. It was frequented by lawyers from both sides of the bar. Animosities grew slack under the taste of room-temperature Guinness.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I think I have to head over the hill to see my client but you never know, I might come back.”
“Well, I only have till eight and then I have to go relieve Stacey.”
“Okay.”
We parted again and I left the courthouse. The bench where I had sat with Roulet and then Kurlen was empty. I sat down, opened my case and pulled out the discovery file Minton had given me. I flipped through reports I already had gotten copies of through Levin. There seemed to be nothing new until I came to a comparative fingerprint analysis report that confirmed what we had thought all along; the bloody fingerprints on the knife belonged to my client, Louis Roulet.
It still wasn’t enough to justify Minton’s demeanor. I kept looking and then I found it in the weapon analysis report. The report I had gotten from Levin was completely different, as if from another case and another weapon. As I quickly read it I felt perspiration popping in my hair. I had been set up. I had been embarrassed in the meeting
