The Anonymous Client

36

Fitzpatrick heaved his bulk around the small conference room in the courthouse like an angry whale.

“Son of a bitch!” he said. “Son of a fucking bitch!” He poured himself a glass of water and gulped it down. “I don’t need this,” he said. “My specialty is corporate law. I’ve got myself some juicy plum clients. Chief among them, Phillip Harding. He dies, and I inherit his daughter. She inherits a murder. Suddenly I’m in court. But even then I’m all right, because I’ve got a genuine, first-class, made-to-order red herring, scapegoat, fall guy, to take the rap. Only he turns out to be the attorney for my client’s lover, and suddenly I’m fucked. Suddenly I’m in court with a smug-ass district attorney who just wants to play games with me. ‘Your Honor, I rest my case.’ Jesus Christ, he hasn’t made a case. What the hell’s he doing resting now?”

“It’s good move,” Steve said. “If we don’t put on a case, he’s given the jury enough to convict. If we do put on a case, he’s still got a whole bunch of witnesses left for rebuttal.”

Fitzpatrick threw up his hands. “What case? We have no case. You talked to Marilyn Harding. You know what she’s like. We don’t dare put her on the stand.”

“No argument there.”

“It’s a no-win situation. If we don’t put her on the stand, she’s a dead duck. If we do put her on the stand, Dirkson will tear her apart.”

“All right,” Steve said. “What’s your plan?”

Fitzpatrick stared at him. “Plan? What plan?”

“All right. What’s Dirkson plan?”

“What you just said. It depends what we do. If we don’t put on any defense, we’ve lost. If we put Marilyn on the stand, he’ll tear her apart.” Fitzpatrick shrugged. “If we try to make a case without putting her on the stand, it’s like you said. He’s got a whole bunch of witnesses saved up for rebuttal.”

“Right. And what’s he gonna hit us with?”

“Everything.”

“Yeah, but pick one. What’s he gonna hit us with?”

Fitzpatrick pursed his lips. “Best guess, the Phillip Harding murder. He alluded to it in his opening statement, hasn’t mentioned it since. I’d imagine if we make any showing at all, if we manage to swing the sympathy of the jury in the least, he’ll come back at us with that. He’ll bring in the Phillip Harding murder and try to poison the minds of the jurors with the thought that Marilyn is a habitual killer.

“Yeah,” Steve said. “That’s what I think too. And if he does, what are you going to do?”

Fitzpatrick looked at him in surprise. “Fight it, of course. Try to keep it out of the record. Once Dirkson gets that in the minds of the jurors, we’re sunk.”

“Right,” Steve said. “And what do you think Dirkson expects you to do?”

Fitzpatrick frowned. “What is this, twenty fucking questions? You wanna make a point, make it. Frankly, your Socratic method’s getting to be a pain in the ass.”

“All right. Sorry. Look, we agree Dirkson’s going to try to bring in the Phillip Harding murder. You plan to fight it. You think Dirkson doesn’t know that? Of course he does. And if he knows it, he’s prepared for it. You saw how many precedents he cited in opposition to my motion? Well I’ll bet you a nickel he’s got twice as many to cite to back up his contention that evidence of a prior crime may be introduced to show motivation. And you know what, I think he’s probably right.”

“So,” Fitzpatrick said, “you’re telling me we’re fucked before we start.”

“No, I’m not,” Steve said. “I’m telling you what Dirkson has in mind. The way I see it, Dirkson has certain expectations. If we fulfill those expectations, we’re playing right into his hands.”

“So?”

“So, we can’t do that. We can’t play this conservative and conventional. This is a situation that calls for heroic measures. We gotta throw the game plan away. We’ve got to get off the defensive and on the attack. The hell with what Dirkson expects. Let’s rock the son of a bitch in his sockets. Hit him where he least expects it, get the jury interested, and then give ’em a show.”

Fitzpatrick frowned. “I don’t know how to do that.”

“I do.”