The Law of Second Chances

62

Henry and his new cohort, Valentine Busby, had driven to Tampa early Thursday morning and boarded a plane to Chicago, from where they would head to Madison, Wisconsin. It was a bumpy flight, and Henry had been so nervous he was sweating.

“This is nothing,” Valentine told him. “When I was in the Army we used to fly overseas in those big transports. They never flew around storms back then. I thought I was going to die at least a dozen times, and I’m still here.”

Valentine’s pep talk didn’t do much for Henry, who hadn’t felt better until the plane touched down in Chicago. They rented a car and arrived in Madison three hours later, finding Milton Jeffries’s house with little difficulty. Things seemed to be going well-until a woman in her mid-fifties answered the door and told them that Milton Jeffries didn’t live there anymore.

“My husband and I bought the place last year. We’re both professors at the university, and so was Milton. He retired just before he sold the house. He didn’t tell us where he was going. To be honest, he was a little weird about it. If you go to the administration building on campus, they may have a forwarding address.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Henry said graciously. “We’ll do that.”

Milton Jeffries hadn’t left a forwarding address with the school, so Henry went to the biology department and started knocking on the doors of faculty members and asking if they had any idea where their former colleague could be. At the fourth door they met Harvey Nelson.

“I don’t have any idea,” Harvey told them after Henry explained who he and Valentine were and that it was quite literally a matter of life and death. Harvey was an affable fellow in his mid-forties, with curly brown hair that stopped just a few inches short of his shoulders. Henry could tell he was trying to be helpful. “To tell you the truth, Milton’s retirement was a shock to everybody. He really loved his work. Then all of a sudden he was gone-no forwarding address, no nothing. They had to scramble to get somebody to take his classes.”

“Is there anybody who might know where he went?”

“Unfortunately, no. He was pretty much of a loner. I was probably his closest friend in the department, but we weren’t really that tight. We went fishing together a few times. Hey, wait a minute-fishing. Milton loved to fish. He had a cabin out in the middle of nowhere at a place called Castle Hill Lake. He invited me up a couple of times. He had to give me directions to the cabin or I never would have found it. I think I still have them in my computer, if only I can remember what I saved them under. It’s a long shot, but he might be living there.”

“That would be great if you could do that,” Henry replied.

“No problem,” he told them. “Come on in and sit down. It may take me a few minutes.” Harvey went to his desk and started searching on his computer. “Let me see, maybe it’s under Milton or Milton’s cabin,” he muttered to himself as he stared at the screen. “Nope. Let’s try cabin. Nope. I need to get these files organized better,” he said apologetically over his shoulder before turning back to the screen. “Let’s go over to fishing. Nope. How about directions, Harvey?” Henry gave Valentine a sidelong look. “Aha! Here it is: Directions to Milton’s house” He opened the file and scanned the lines of type. “Yup, this is it,” he said, turning to Henry and Valentine with a look of satisfaction on his face. “I’ll just print it out for you. Let me see, where is that print command. .”

A couple of minutes later the directions were printing out. “It takes about an hour and a half to get there,” he told Henry as he handed him the paper. “If you left now, it would be dark by the time you got there. You don’t want to be driving up to somebody’s house after dark in that neck of the woods, especially if you’re not expected. Besides, I can almost guarantee you’ll get lost. I got lost in the daylight.”

Henry knew all about the hazards of arriving unexpectedly. He stole another, sharper glance at Valentine.

Valentine just shrugged his shoulders. “People don’t like being surprised,” he muttered.

They thanked Harvey and left.

“What do you think?” Henry asked as they were walking back to the car. “If we went now and found him, would Milton Jeffries be as ornery as you?”

“My guess is yes,” Valentine replied. “He’s a man who was spooked by something, and he’s probably still spooked. If you came up to my house in the dark you might be dead now. It’s been a long day, it’s freezing out, and in case you haven’t noticed, we’re not properly dressed for this weather. I think we should get a hotel room and get a good night’s sleep and start out fresh in the morning.”

“I guess you’re right,” Henry replied. “We’d probably get lost anyway.”

Henry called Jack at six-thirty as planned and gave him a brief, almost cryptic summary of the day’s events, remembering Jack’s concern about revealing too much over the phone. He didn’t mention any names or where they were or where they were going the next day-just that getting to New York by Friday was not going to happen.

“Sorry about that, Jack, but we’ve just had a little trouble with, um, directions.”

“I understand, Henry. Just let me know when you have a better idea.”

“Will do. How are things at your end?”

“Not bad. I was hoping to have you back here tomorrow, but I think I’ll be okay for now,” he said, thinking to himself that he’d definitely have to put at least one of the prosecution’s witnesses on the stand.

Jack worked for another hour before calling Molly. It was a routine now. She didn’t even bother to say hello.

“Are you ready?” she asked when she picked up the phone.

“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” Jack replied.

Molly looked radiant once again. Her cheeks were red from the cold, which made her even more desirable to Jack.

“How’d it go today?” she asked as usual.

“Pretty good,” Jack replied. “We made some good points, and we haven’t even started our defense yet.”

Molly changed the subject. This was relaxation time. “So, where do you want to go on vacation?” she asked.

“Didn’t you just come back from vacation?”

“Yeah, but I can always take a Friday and a Monday to fly to London or something like that. I’m management, after all.”

“London would be nice. But how about Aruba or Jamaica or somewhere like that? I need to warm up these bones.”

Molly laughed. “I’m flexible. Aruba would be fine. How about next weekend?”

“Sounds great. The trial will definitely be over by then. I’ll need the break.”

“So will I,” Molly replied. “I’ve got to go out of town tomorrow until next Tuesday. We’re having one of those business conventions.”

“That’s a vacation too, isn’t it?” Jack chided.

“I wish. I’ll be giving talks all weekend.”

“I won’t see you after tonight until next Tuesday?”

“I’m afraid so,” she said, looking at him with doe eyes.

“I’ll miss you.” Jack really meant it. He was starting to count on their little rendezvous every night. Molly knew how to get him to relax.

“I’ll miss you too, Jack.”

Friday morning was another frigid day, with the thermometer hovering in the teens. Very few spectators were braving the elements outside, although the courtroom was as packed as it had been the two previous days.

Luis was in his usual spot. “How are you feeling, Jack?”

“Good. How about you?”

“Pretty good. The coroner didn’t hurt us too bad, did he?”

“No, Luis. He may have helped us. It all remains to be seen.”

Jack didn’t want to give Luis false hope, but he was feeling pretty confident. Just then the guards brought Benny into the courtroom. He had the charcoal gray suit on with a blue striped tie and a white shirt.

“Benny, you look better every day,” Jack told him.

Benny smiled. “It’s all my dad’s doing,” he said, turning to look at his father. Luis beamed.

Across the aisle, Spencer was pacing as he waited for the judge’s appearance. Jack noticed that he was excited and smiling. Something was up.

Promptly at nine, Langford Middleton walked into the courtroom. After giving his daily sermon to the spectators, he turned to the lawyers.

“Is there anything we need to take up before we bring the jury in?”

Spencer stood up. “Yes, your honor. May we approach?”

Langford looked puzzled. A sidebar when there was no jury in the room was a little unusual, but Jack was pretty sure he knew what was going on: the dandy had something he didn’t want the spectators to hear yet.

“Come on,” the judge said impatiently. “What is it?” he asked when they were standing in front of his dais.

“Your honor, the police department got an anonymous tip last night. We believe we’ve found the gun that killed Carl Robertson.”

Jack had been expecting trouble, but even so, he was shocked. He was relieved that Spencer hadn’t announced it in open court because Luis probably would have had a heart attack right on the spot. He couldn’t think about Luis now; he had to concentrate on the problem at hand. How he responded could be crucial to the case.

After a slight pause to savor the bombshell he had dropped, Spencer continued. “The police have the gun in custody, your honor. They picked it up this morning. I’ve spoken to one of the department’s ballistics experts-his name is Pete Ingram-and he says he can do all the necessary tests today to determine if this is in fact the murder weapon. He also says he could meet with Mr. Tobin late this afternoon to answer questions. I’ll need a one-day delay to handle these matters, but I can be finished on Monday.”

This was the fly in the ointment Langford Middleton had dreaded. So far he had handled everything. Now Spencer Taylor had to drop this in his lap. He looked at Jack.

“Well, Mr. Tobin?”

Jack cut right to the chase. “Judge, I’d like to make a motion for a mistrial. My client’s due-process rights would be violated if these proceedings continue. This trial has been pending for a year. Now, all of a sudden, after four days of trial, a gun appears. In addition, your honor, I don’t have the opportunity to get my own expert. We are at a total disadvantage.”

Jack knew this was the moment to make a record for appeal. If Langford didn’t grant his motion and give him time to get his own expert, Jack would have a better-than-average shot at overturning a conviction on appeal. At the moment, that was looking like Benny’s best hope.

Langford Middleton didn’t reply right away; he was trying to think of a way to keep the whole thing from falling apart. His stomach was grumbling.

After a long few moments he looked at Jack. “We don’t have to make a decision today on your motion, Mr. Tobin. We’ll let Officer Ingram do his tests, and you can meet with him and talk to him. Who knows? He may not be able to say this gun is the murder weapon. I’ll tell you this, Mr. Tobin: the people of the state of New York have rights too. They have a right to see that justice is served, not delayed. If Mr. Ingram determines that this is the gun that killed Mr. Robertson, I’ll want to hear this opinion outside of the presence of the jury before making my final decision on your motion. Now, is there anything else?”

“Yes, Judge,” Spencer Taylor replied. “I am requesting that you enter an order releasing prosecution’s exhibit number 6-that’s the bullet, your honor-to Detective Severino so that he can deliver it to the state’s ballistics expert.”

“So ordered. Anything else?”

“No, Judge,” they both answered.

The lawyers returned to their tables and the judge addressed the spectators. “Ladies and gentlemen, some new matters of evidence have come up, as they often do during trials of this nature. We are going to have to recess for the day. We will resume promptly on Monday morning. Please leave the courtroom now in an orderly manner.”

He called the jury in next and gave them the same speech. The judge then left the courtroom.

Spencer walked over to Jack, who was huddled with Luis and Benny. “Call me at three o’clock this afternoon,” Spencer said, cutting in. “We can probably set up a meeting with the firearms guy at that time.” Jack nodded curtly, and Spencer turned and left.

Only Jack, Benny, Luis, and Benny’s guards now remained in the courtroom. The guards gave them room to talk.

“What happened?” Luis asked.

Jack looked at Benny. “I don’t want you to say anything during this conversation. Just listen.” He turned back to Luis. “They think they found the murder weapon.”

“They think?”

“They have to test it. That’s the reason for the delay.”

“This is bullshit. They’ve had this all along. They just waited to spring it on us.”

“Hold on there, Luis. We don’t even know if it’s the gun.”

“Do you think their expert, a police officer, is going to say it’s not the gun, Jack? Come on.”

“But he has to give reasons, and we can attack his reasons.”

“It doesn’t matter, Jack.”

“What do you mean, it doesn’t matter?”

“Look me in the eye and tell me that if they have the gun Benny has any chance of getting off.”

“Luis, the gun doesn’t really put them in a better position. They had the bullet. Now they have the bullet and the gun. Who shot the gun is the issue.”

“I don’t trust these people, Jack. There’s more to this, you watch. The dandy has something else up his sleeve.”

Jack felt it too. Spencer was holding something back. They would have to wait until Monday to find out what it was. “You may be right, Luis. We’ll just have to deal with it as it comes-make our objections for the record and keep fighting.”

Benny sat silently through the whole exchange, but his expression spoke volumes.