Without A Hitch

decide. Only then does the matter go to the jury.

Alvarez listened quietly, but he wasn’t interested in the trial. He wanted to talk about Beckett, a topic Corbin was in no mood to discuss. Corbin already spent the entire day agonizing over how to handle Beckett and he didn’t want to repeat that now. All day he asked himself the same questions. Did he need to act now or could he risk waiting? The evidence was coming in favorably, and if Beaumont was acquitted, the whole issue would go away. Plus, even if Beaumont was convicted, any confession Beckett gave after the jury’s verdict would be meaningless. But could he trust Beckett to wait and see how the trial went? What options would he have if Beckett jumped up and tried to confess in the middle of the trial? How could he “handle” Beckett if that happened and still get away with it? And of course, the big question hung over everything: could he actually pull the trigger?

Alvarez drifted into the subject of Beckett slowly. “What are the chances of Beaumont cutting a deal?”

“He’s shitting bricks. If they offered him two years, he’d jump at it. But they won’t.”

“Will Beckett push him to take a longer deal?” Alvarez asked, already knowing the answer.

“No.”

“How sure are you about Beckett?” Alvarez asked in as indifferent a tone as he could muster.

“I don’t know. He’s gotten strange,” Corbin admitted.

“What do you mean?”

“It sounds like he’s hoping Webb turns on Russell, but that’s not going to happen. Webb’s got too much to lose, and why should he take the fall for a shit like Beaumont?”

Alvarez’s mouth went dry. “Can you still trust Beckett?”

“I don’t know,” Corbin replied honestly. He spoke to himself more than Alvarez at this point. “He says he won’t do anything until it becomes clear they’ll convict Beaumont.”

“Do you believe that?” Alvarez was losing his indifferent tone.

“I do for now, but I don’t know how long that will last.”

“What are you going to do?!” Alvarez’s voice cracked.

“I’m going to hang up this phone, and I’m going to think very hard about my options.”

“You should have gotten rid of him before this,” Alvarez suddenly growled.

Corbin didn’t respond for some time. “I’m starting to think our best plan is to do nothing. The evidence is coming in favorably. There’s a great chance we’re going to win this. If that happens, then we don’t need to act. Acting if we don’t need to is just asking for trouble. Plus, we’ve been investigating long enough that I can explain away any confession he gives as being part of a nervous breakdown. I can explain away any evidence he produces by claiming it came from Beaumont. Beaumont will deny it, but they won’t listen to him. Besides, I have the trump card, I have the perfect alibi. Even if Beckett confesses, I can prove that I couldn’t have been in Philly when he did it.”

“No, you can’t,” Alvarez responded angrily. “You don’t have an alibi!”

“What are you talking about?!”

“This is what I’ve been trying to tell you! Beckett destroyed your alibi when he took up this damn case. Your alibi only works if you can bring people from your office to tell everyone you were in D.C. But the moment they put together that you work with the same people whose identities were stolen and that you then showed up to defend the guy who did it, they’re going to know right away what happened, and they’re going to zero in on you. Beckett fucked you!”

They sat in silence for a few moments, until Alvarez could no longer contain himself.

“This is insane!” he yelled. “Why won’t you admit the obvious?! He fucked you, and he’s going to turn you in! You need to act now! You can’t keep risking it. You can’t wait. You’re playing Russian Roulette, and you’re running out of empty chambers!”

“Calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down!”

“We’re winning right now. We have evidence that blows their witnesses out of the water.”

“God dammit! How can you be so fucking smart and still so fucking blind! He doesn’t care about the evidence. You’ve told me that yourself. He thinks Beaumont’s doomed. He wants to be a martyr. He wants to go out in a blaze of glory. He’s just waiting for the right moment, and you’re going along for the ride!”

“Calm down,” Corbin repeated.

“Why are you so afraid to act?! Just point the fucking thing and pull the damn trigger!”

“Oh, is that all there is to it?!” Corbin yelled. “What makes you think it’s so easy to kill another human being?”

“Because it’s me or him!”

There was silence.

Alvarez took a deep breath and continued. “I’m not doing seventy-five years because he suddenly got a conscience. If it comes down to doing seventy-five years or killing one rotten son of a bitch I don’t even like, I’m pulling the trigger!”

“Funny, I don’t recall you volunteering to come up here and do the dirty work yourself.” Corbin picked up the gun and squeezed the grip as he spoke.

“Listen to me,” Alvarez said in a low voice. “You are wrong about him. You were wrong from the beginning, and you’re wrong now. He’s erratic. He acts on impulse and some strange moral code only he understands. You can’t predict what he’s going to do, and if you wait, you aren’t going to have any options. You need to take care of him now, before he gets into that courtroom.”

Corbin didn’t respond.

“Alex. . I can’t take this risk with you anymore.” Alvarez paused. “Do it tonight or I’m gone.”

Corbin hung up the phone. He had no other messages.

Chapter 37

Beckett and Pierce sat on one side of Judge Sutherlin’s desk. Sutherlin and his clerk sat on the other. Corbin and Morales sat together against the wall. Beaumont, wearing a pimpish purple suit, sat next to Beckett. His wrists and ankles were shackled. The bailiff stood nearby with his thumbs tucked into his gun belt. Beckett had voiced extreme displeasure at Beaumont’s suit, but he had too much else to deal with, so he let the matter drop.

“All right, counselors, I’ve got some rulings for you,” Sutherlin said in his businesslike manner. His white shirt and red tie stuck out just above the short collar of his black robe. “Your request to bring a witness to testify that he did not see Mr. Beaumont at the mailbox location is denied as that’s not relevant.”

“Why ain’t that relevant?” Beaumont demanded.

Sutherlin looked up from his notes. “Counselor,” he warned Beckett, who put his hand on Beaumont’s arm to quiet him. Sutherlin continued: “Your request to show the entire video from either bank also is denied. Again, that’s not relevant. Obviously, I will grant your motion that Mr. Beaumont not be shackled in the presence of the jury, but instruct your client he is not to leave the defense table without my permission or I will order the bailiff to subdue him. Do you understand, Mr. Beckett?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“Is there anything else we need to decide before we get started?” Sutherlin asked.

“Our motion to dismiss remains outstanding,” Beckett stated.

“I’m still considering that one,” Sutherlin said gruffly.

“Your Honor,” Pierce interjected, “I noticed the defense has a number of people on the witness list whom I can’t imagine are relevant to this proceeding. I’d like a summary of their testimony or else I’m going to move to exclude them.” Pierce handed the list to Sutherlin and pointed to several names he had circled.

“You’re not entitled to a summary,” Beckett responded.

“Who are these people, Mr. Beckett?” Sutherlin asked.

“They’re here to refute any allegations of prior crimes.”

“I see,” Sutherlin said, eyeing the list. “I’ll make my rulings as they’re called.” Sutherlin picked up a stack of papers. “I’ve got proposed jury instructions from both parties. I’ll make my ruling on those tomorrow, and you’ll