False Convictions

67

CASEY’S STOMACH tightened. She looked at Jake, whose eyes had also gone wide, as if he, too, expected something to go bad.

“It’s on tape,” Jake said in a whisper, as if afraid the men downstairs could hear. “They’re not going to do anything crazy.”

Massimo reached into his jacket.

“Is that a gun?” Casey said, knowing they could kill them all and make the tape go away.

Massimo’s hand came out of his jacket with a cigar that he tucked up underneath his nose to sniff. Casey let out a long breath.

“I mean just what I said,” Todora said. “This Patricia Rivers, she’s a judge. She’s not supposed to take anyone’s money.”

“Well,” Graham said, “she didn’t. So I had to put my foot on her neck. She made it easy, fucking with that Hubbard case, even if it was twenty years ago. I enjoyed the whole thing, actually, working the system, playing the media like a herd of cows.”

“You did that,” Massimo said, clapping Graham’s shoulder another time. “That crazy fuck Brad Pitt and all that, then the story on the redhead. Perfect.”

“Brad Pitt’s a putz,” Graham said, his hands relaxing. “I bought him off like I did the redhead. When you’re in my position, you learn pretty quick that everyone has their price.”

“We got ours, right?” Todora said, leaning forward with a scowl.

Graham shifted in his seat and spoke in nearly a whisper. “I didn’t mean you, Mr. Todora.”

Todora broke out in a laugh and they all joined in, Graham loudest of all.

“I meant it,” Todora said, wiping a stray tear from the corner of his eye. “I got my price. John, Massimo, they got theirs. You got yours, we all do. It’s human nature.

“So, you set the redhead up? Looks like she’s got a nice ass.”

Graham chuckled. “Like a college coed. Did you see her face when they took her into the police station in cuffs?”

“She looked good in cuffs,” Massimo said, piling more food into his mouth. “Sexy.”

“She had her chance,” Graham said.

“The worst,” Massimo said, chewing. “Dumb broad.”

Napoli swatted the air.

“You done now with the Freedom Project bit?” Massimo asked.

Graham wrinkled his face and took a bite of salad. “The Project is good cover for a lot of things. It’s public relations. The image I’ve developed being on their board and other charities helps in business, and when I want to create a story, good or bad, I’ve got the platform to do it. I use charities like toilet paper.”

“Ruthless,” Napoli said. “You remind me of some people I used to know.”

Graham inclined his head. “Thanks.”

“You like being on TV, don’t you?” Todora asked.

“It works for my skill set,” Graham said. “I’m comfortable with it.”

“That’s a good thing,” Todora said, raising his fork in the air, “comfort with your skill set. That’s a West Coast term, right?”

Graham shrugged.

Todora motioned to a large man in the doorway. “Now I think it’s time to cut the bullshit. Ask those people upstairs if they got everything they need before we finish this. My meal isn’t sitting right, looking at this guy.”

A moment later, the big man knocked at the door and looked in on Casey, Jake, and Dora.

“You good?”

“Perfect,” Jake said.

The man nodded and left and they returned their attention to the monitors.

The big man passed on the message in a whisper and returned to his station in the doorway.

“Good,” Todora said, pointing to Napoli, “give him that stuff.”

Todora motioned to the waitress to remove Graham’s plate. Napoli brought the folder Casey had prepared out from his wheelchair and pushed it across the table with a pen.

“You need to sign these,” Napoli said.

Graham blinked and his mouth fell open. He opened the file and looked at the documents.

“What are you talking about?” Graham asked, holding up one of the papers. “What’s this?”

“We know all about it,” Todora said. “And we figured before the whole game turns to shit, you’d want to make sure we got our money back.”

“These are my homes,” Graham said, beginning to whine. “I can fix this. We’re fine.”

Todora flipped the fork over in his hand and slammed it into the table so that it stuck. His face turned purple and his hand trembled without releasing the fork.

“You shut the fuck up and sign those fucking things and think how lucky you are that you got to pay us back before this whole thing turns to shit,” Todora said through clenched teeth.

Graham started signing. When he finished, Todora nodded to the big man in the doorway. The big man crossed the room, gripped Graham’s upper arm, and raised him up out of his seat, propelling him toward the door.

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” Graham said, pleading. “This can all still work out. I’ve got it handled.”

“You and that TV shit?” Todora said across the room as his man dragged Graham from their presence. “Good you like it. ’Cause you’re gonna be getting a lot of face time.”

The sound of Graham faded and the three men in the monitor returned to their meals as if nothing had happened.

“Wow,” Casey said, standing up and pointing at the computer, thinking of all the crude comments about her. “You’re going to edit that stuff, right?”

“Of course,” Jake said, touching her shoulder. “Trust me, I’m not going to embarrass you with his crap.”

“I still helped set that sick bastard free.”

“He’ll turn up.”