Dog Tags

CHAPTER 55

HE HASN’T FOUND THE ENVELOPE, BUT MILO IS STILL HELPING OUR CASE. He’s not helping actively or intentionally; Milo clearly believes in stepping back and letting the justice system run its course. But his mere presence is having a positive effect.

The media always seems to bombard and depress the public with statistics chronicling all the bad things that happen to Americans. They dutifully report that there is a violent crime committed every twenty-two seconds, a cancer diagnosis every twenty-six seconds, an auto accident every five seconds, and an auto accident injury every ten seconds. It’s the reason I no longer buy watches or clocks with second hands.

The point of this is that, with all the terrible things constantly happening, it’s very difficult to break through the clutter. Certain crimes, for instance those involving JonBenét Ramsey, Natalee Holloway, Chandra Levy, and Laci Peterson, attract tremendous media attention; other, similar ones do not.

Milo is our clutter breaker. His notoriety as a canine thief has given this case a public forum. The fact that it all has roots in Iraq, and that the victim is a high-ranking military officer, would have attracted interest anyway, but nothing like that which Milo’s involvement brings.

Dogs seem to have that effect on people. Rescue a person from a raging river, and you’re on page four. Rescue a helpless dog from the same river, and you’re on the Today show.

I’m taking advantage of this national canine fascination by appearing on Larry King tonight. It’s not my favorite thing to do; the conversations always feel strained and stilted to me, and I feel like I need to rein in my normal obnoxious sarcasm.

I also dislike when Larry opens it up to phone-in questions; they have a tendency to be direct and on point, and thus more difficult to evade. All in all, the thirty minutes I have been allotted will feel like a month.

But we need to shake things up, and we simply don’t have the resources to do so on our own. We need the public to know about our situation, and we need their help in dealing with it. And if the jurors are watching, despite the judge’s admonition to avoid media coverage of the trial, so much the better.

I’ve handled a number of very high-profile cases in recent years, and I’ve made the media rounds on most of them. This is my third time doing the Larry King show, so Larry mercifully doesn’t spend too much time introducing me to his audience.

We get right to the case at hand, and within five minutes I’m holding up the sketch of M. “There’s no sense mincing words on this, Larry. This is the man that we think is the real killer, and this is not the only murder he is guilty of. I don’t know his name, but he goes by the initial ‘M.’”

“That’s a pretty strong statement to make,” Larry says, probably surprised, since strong, controversial statements are not exactly a staple of the show.

“Yes, it is. And if I held your picture up on national television and called you a murderer, you’d be suing me within the hour. If this man wants to come forward and take me to court, I would welcome it, but he won’t.”

“So what do you expect him to do?”

“To stay in the shadows and continue killing. That’s why I am asking your viewers, if they have seen this man or know anything about him, to contact me or law enforcement. But please be careful: He is armed and very, very dangerous.”

Larry then proceeds to ask me some semi-specific questions about Billy’s trial, most of which I deflect, citing some vague confidentiality concerns. Finally I feign exasperation, and say what I’ve planned to say all along. “Larry, this case is about far more than a murder on an Edgewater street. It began when a young girl was sent in to blow up herself and a lot of innocent people, one of whom was my client.”

“So what is your theory of the case?” he asks.

“That will all come out where it should, in front of the jury. But this is much bigger than one murder; it has huge national security implications. And my client has been an unfortunate, innocent bystander through all of it.”

Before I leave, I show pictures of Jeremy Iverson, Jason Greer, and Raymond Santiago, the three soldiers we have been unable to locate at all. I realize that they may already be murder victims, though I don’t mention this. Instead I call on the public to contact me if they have any knowledge about their whereabouts.

“I am not accusing them of anything. In fact, it’s possible that they may already be victims. But if they are alive and well, I have reason to believe that they have information crucial to our case.” My expectation is that the media, including CNN’s own reporters, will pick this up and run with it. All of America will learn that the people I’ve mentioned are soldiers who were there that day in Iraq, and that were subsequently discharged.

Larry thanks me for coming, and obligingly gives me a chance to show the sketch of M again. I’ve accomplished my goals, which were to get these pictures out to the public, and also to reveal that we have an intriguing theory of the case. It’s been worth half an hour of my time, even if it felt like a month.

When I get home, I have to delay getting into bed with Laurie in order to have a trust session with Milo. Suffice it to say that I’m not pleased.

After he and Tara chomp down a few treats, I ask Milo, “You starting to trust me yet?”

He just looks at me, noncommittal.

“You know, I could be upstairs in bed with Laurie, but instead I’m down here with you. Isn’t that worth anything?”

Again no answer, and when I look over at Tara, she looks away. She doesn’t seem inclined to get into the middle of this.

“Tara, talk to him, will you? Put in a good word for me.”

I guess my walk the other night with Tara didn’t get me as many points as I’d hoped, because she’s sticking with her new friend.

“Milo, if Laurie’s asleep when I get up there, I’m not going to be pleased, and I’m going to blame you.”

I swear, I think he shrugs his lack of concern.

“Just remember, pal, you may be neutered, but I’m not.”