'Yeah, maybe the Long Hauler can write a letter about it,' Frank added,
laughing with his brother.
They were psychopaths, but I had to give them credit. They were smart
psychopaths. My head was reeling. There was no Long Hauler. O'Donnell
had access to the Northwest Regional Cold Case Database. He'd written
the letters, carefully selecting details only from cases that lacked
DNA evidence. He'd probably mailed them when he was out of town at his
fishing cabin.
'Frank, Derrick,' I said. 'It doesn't matter that Tim was there when
Jamie died. There's a rule that says a co-conspirator's testimony
alone isn't enough to convict. Even if Tim testified against you, the
State would need other evidence to corroborate the testimony. There
isn't any. Anyway, he's the last one who's going to turn you in. It
implicates him too.'
O'Donnell finally clued in. 'She's right, Derrick,' he said. 'I'd
never testify against you, but even if I did, the rule she's talking
about would keep there from being any case.'
The tag team approach seemed to be working. 'You're better off blowing
town than killing us,' I said. 'You commit a double murder, and you're
looking at the death penalty. They won't just assume the Long Hauler
did it. They'll check for copycats, scour the files we were working
on. They'll find the pictures I have of you with Haley. They'll find
Travis Culver.
Once the police are done fishing around, you'll wind up on death row.
As it is, you can bail.'
Derrick thought about it for a few seconds, then shook his head. 'Nice
effort, but our previous counsel here already gave us some advice. I
tried like hell to get those pictures back to be safe, but O'Donnell
here tells me they don't show much. Hell, my face ain't even in 'em.
As for Culver, he'll be shot during a robbery gone bad at the Collision
Clinic.'
'Derrick,' O'Donnell said, 'don't you think the police are going to put
it together? A witness, the DA, and the victim in Frank's trial all
turn up dead? Don't do this, man.'
They needed to see that their plan was starting to fall apart. 'The
police will find the transcript of the grand jury testimony against
you,' I said. 'They'll draw the same conclusions I did. Right now,
there's not enough proof, but with two dead DAs they'll put it
together. And the grand jury testimony will be admissible in court if
any of the witnesses are dead.'
'What grand jury testimony?' Derrick asked. 'Tim, you said there was
no record of a grand jury testimony. Is there or isn't there? Don't
you fucking lie to me!' he yelled, back-handing O'Donnell with the
gun.
Tim's head jerked to one side with the blow. When he sat back up,
blood was running from a cut beneath his right eye. 'We don't have
court reporters for normal grand jury sessions, but you can request one
if you want to keep a record.'
Derrick smacked him again in the same place, bursting the cut open even
wider. 'Now you fucking tell me, man!' He pursed his lips, trying to
figure out his next move. 'OK, bitch.'
I assumed he was talking to me.
'You think you're so smart, but now I know you got a transcript, you're
gonna tell me where it is.'
'It's at the office,' I said.
'That's bullshit,' Derrick said. 'Tim tells me you been holding out on
him. He couldn't find the files in your office and tells me you've
been hiding them at home. Only way he knew you indicted me was a
secretary. Ain't that right, Tim?'
I looked over at O'Donnell. The right side of his face was swollen and
bloodied.
'Alice mentioned it to me,' he said by way of explanation. 'She
recognized the name and thought I should know about it.'
In an office where I could never find anyone to help me, I'd managed to
find someone who was too competent. I should've known Alice Gernstein
wouldn't miss a beat.
It was clear that O'Donnell was losing his resolve to fight. It was
also clear that I wasn't digesting the new information quickly enough.
My first impulse was to be pissed at him for snooping through my
office, but then I remembered that this was a man who had helped kill
Jamie Zimmerman, sent an innocent man to death row, and led the
Derringers to me to save his own ass.
Derrick was behind me now, running the head of his gun along my
collarbone, pushing aside my hair to graze the back of my neck. 'Tell
us where the transcript is, Sam, or I'm gonna have one hell of a time
on your buddy Kendra before she dies.'
I resisted the urge to tell him I wasn't as stupid as O'Donnell. I
