Such Wicked Friends
Page 24
“Hell, we would never have pursued a murder investigation at all if we had a suicide note.” Shapiro wasn’t pleased.
“I knew that. And while I didn’t have the evidence to tag her for the Margaret Frome murder, I knew that I could keep a noose around her neck by keeping quiet about the suicide.” She realized she dared not clarify any further her scheme of vigilante justice. She shouldn’t admit she was willing to let Priscilla rot in jail for a crime she didn’t commit if she couldn’t land Jack Bichadel. She continued with what she could admit aloud, “I told her I knew she’d shot Margaret and my plan worked. She eventually confessed to me. In other words, I used the threat of her staying in jail because of the Brad Ebert arrest as leverage to force her to cooperate in pressing the case again Bichadel. Of course, if she hadn’t confessed I would have come forward with my information to free her.” That last part was a bold lie. She would have let Priscilla rot in jail. She slumped down in the chair.
Shapiro and Arno exchanged frowns. The room was quiet for a full minute. Then Shapiro said, “You’ve just admitted to a very serious charge. Certainly more serious than picking up that envelope. I can’t believe you purposely withheld evidence in the Brad Ebert murder investigation.”
Martin stood abruptly, stepped over behind the chair where she sat and placed his hands on her shoulders. All were watching as he began, “What she’s trying to say is she didn’t deliberately break any rules. She was seriously concerned about exposing information given to her in confidence by Brad Ebert.”
“Regardless, Ebert wasn’t her client. No presumption of confidentiality should have existed,” Shapiro argued.
She started to interrupt, but Martin shushed her and said, “Nonetheless, he did come to her office seeking legal assistance. And they discussed such assistance. A presumption of his being a client could exist.”
“Sorry, that argument is faulty,” Shapiro said. “There’s no evidence any professional relationship persisted after he left her office.”
“Ah, but there is. He left a confidential document in her custody.”
“What confidential document? You mean the suicide note?”
“Yes, but was it in fact a suicide note? It didn’t say goodbye cruel world or that he intended to kill himself. Perhaps she’s guilty of withholding nothing but a benign marginal annotation at the bottom of a document. Nonetheless, his handwritten note on that extremely confidential information does indicate he trusted her to keep quiet.” Martin gestured dramatically with one hand in the air. “How easy for us to sit here now at arm’s length from this poor woman’s dilemma and argue the ambiguity she suffered.”
Shapiro fought back grinning at Martin’s theatrics. “Even if logic is bent to assume an attorney-client privilege, that privilege does not survive the death of the client.”
Martin waved away the argument. “That, Sir, has been argued in front of the Supreme Court. It seems unreasonable to assume that the privilege vanishes altogether. She decided to err on the side of Mr. Ebert and protect what he’d told her in confidence.”
Shapiro sat silent, thinking. Martin remained standing behind her chair, his face now glowing.
“Why thank you, Martin.” She was delighted he had come to her defense. She raised her hands to cover his hands on her shoulders for a second. “I suppose that’s what I must have been thinking.”
Shapiro frowned. “Regardless of the note, it remains that Brad Ebert discussed suicide. She should have come forward to assist the police with whatever information she had. You can’t tell me that she ever seriously considered Brad Ebert her client.” He looked at Sandy. “Oh well, I should be able to convince Moran to accept your argument. He’ll be so thrilled with your handing him this colossal Bichadel case.”
“In addition to that,” she pressed on, “now that the courtyard murder is solved, be certain Moran understands the manila envelope found on the body was just a prop in Bichadel’s scheme. And whether or not I touched it is of no consequence whatever. If he wants my cooperation in going after Bichadel, he must immediately withdraw all of his complaints against me with the Florida Bar Association. Agreed?”
Shapiro smiled and nodded.
Arno handed her his card. “Have you ever considered working for the Bureau? We need people who can actually go out and get things done.”
“You’d want me in spite of my incredible ability to annoy complete strangers?”
“Well, of course we’d need to place you where you could conduct all your outrageous escapades, and where the FBI could deny ever hearing about you.”
“Annoying, meddling, provoking—it seems my work is never done.”
“She also leaps over tall buildings at a single bound,” Martin said.
Arno added, “I can tell you now that Bichadel Corporation was far reaching and involved worldwide interests. You may have brought down his entire empire. Don’t be surprised if you get a personal letter from the Secretary of the Treasury suitable for framing.”
“You’re not serious.”
“Could happen. I’m putting you in for it. You deserve it.”
“Wait. Margaret Frome and Ted Cobalt should get the recognition for this. She gave her life and he risked his.”
“That was the EPA side of this,” Arno said, “and even that part wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t clamped your teeth onto this affair like a pit bull.”
She said, “You should put Martin’s name on there as well—he helped me. Hey, would you ask the Secretary to send a copy of the commendation to State Attorney Lawrence Moran?”
“You are an absolute devil, Sandy. When Moran hears about you receiving a citation, he’ll have a seizure.” Shapiro took her arm gently and turned her aside. “I’d like to buy you dinner tonight to celebrate.”
She took a half step back to study his face. “Dinner, just the two of us?”
“Yes, to celebrate. To show my appreciation. Some place special. You could start filling me in on all those details only you know.”
She considered for a moment then smiled. “Sounds good, Mel. Thank you. And we’re going to talk about business?”
“We’ll talk about anything you want. I’ll pick you up at say...eight?”
“Fine. While I’ve got your attention, are you friends with any of the judges?”
“Is this a trade off for agreeing to have dinner with me?”
“I was going to ask you anyway.” Martin was watching them. She smiled at him inviting him over.
Shapiro answered, “Sure. All the prosecutors know all the judges. Some we play golf with...some we drink with...not to mention some who are slept with. Are you worried about Judge Allen? Don’t be. If Moran says he’s dropping all charges against you, then Judge Allen won’t pursue it. Not to worry.”
She frowned. “But he’s the also the judge in our multi-million dollar wrongful death suit. Any day now, he’s making a final decision on whether we win. He’s going to hear about all my antics, and the last time he saw me I was standing in front of him looking worse than a Somali orphan on a charity poster.”
“And you’re concerned that your incredibly reckless attitude and absolute total disregard for basic decorum and the law might prejudice his decision?”
“Geez, you didn’t have to put such a fine point on it.”
“I believe Judge Allen will decide the case on its own merits and disregard the aberrant personality of counsel,” Shapiro said. “But yes, Sandy, I’ll make a point of casually encountering the judge and will mention you are a paragon of innocence and true goodness, who phones her mother once a week and would dearly love to win the lawsuit and sock away a half-million bucks.”
“You see, Martin.” She turned to him. “It’s not always about sex and money. Sometimes it’s just about money.”
The End
Addendum
About the Author: Rod Hoisington has a background in education and business and lives in Florida where he devotes full-time to his compulsion to dig into the sou
ls and lives of fictional characters.
One Deadly Sister is the first novel in the popular Sandy Reid mystery romance series. Followed by The Price of Candy, Such Wicked Friends, Chasing Suspect Three and Alive After Friday.
To check out all the books in the Sandy Reid mystery series: CLICK HERE!
One Deadly Sister
Four Star Mystery Novel Rating
She doesn’t carry a gun but then neither does a pit bull ~
An almost-too-clever young law student reluctantly attempts to rescue her estranged brother caught up in woman-trouble and a murder charge in a hostile Florida town. He isn't looking for trouble, but doesn't have a clue about women, and gets seduced and framed, leaving the sister in an ever-increasing entanglement of deceit, double-cross and danger.
The Price of Candy
Four Star Mystery Novel Rating
Passion makes fools of us all ~
An old acquaintance interrupts Sandy Reid’s law studies and gets her seriously involved in unraveling the mystery of a body on a Florida beach. Sandy uncovers the identity of the prominent Congressman who gave the beautiful hitchhiker a ride to Florida and confronts him. Now that the naked body has been discovered, he risks having his misdirected passion exposed and his reputation and prosperous way of life devastated.
The almost-too-clever young law student must solve the mystery surrounding the unidentified dead woman on the beach, unscramble a related child kidnapping that the mother won’t report and clear herself of a murder charge that threatens to destroy her dream of becoming a lawyer. Along the way, she discovers she has fallen victim to a sensuous passion of her own.
Chasing Suspect Three
Four Star Mystery Novel Rating
Clients don't just hire her, they turn her loose ~
Sandy Reid is back in this mystery romance and the assertive young criminal defense attorney finally lands her first big murder case. As she digs in and begins to destroy the state attorney's case, she’s convinced her client is lying. Is she rushing to save an innocent woman or helping a killer get away with murder?
She faces a client who seems innocent of shooting her husband until she opens her mouth, the client's mysterious boyfriend who has no past and although shady doesn't cast a shadow and the victim's sister whose fashionable façade hides a layer of predatory sex, and who happens to be a former girlfriend of Sandy's lover and wants his romance back in her life.
Sandy finds herself questioning her lover's faithfulness at the same time she's deciding whether to go too far with an FBI agent with movie-star looks who won't take no for an answer. Her gutsy search for the killer leads her away from her quiet Florida ocean side town and down to the tropical palms along Biscayne Bay, and the steamy streets of Miami that are dark with something more than the night.
Alive After Friday
Four Star Mystery Novel Rating
Some decisions are deadlier than others. ~
Being kidnapped is only the start of Sandy Reid’s problems. When an extortion plot strikes close to home, she’s forced to come up with a world of money to save her Significant Other. That’s the bad news—there is no good news. The feisty young lawyer ignores the risks and with sidekick Martin she’s off on a gripping whirl around sun-splashed Palm Beach County, Florida; including confronting an sexy stranger who’s easy to brush off until the gun comes out, a cheating wife who gets more action than she can handle and a Barbi Doll beauty who would never jump into bed with just any couple who asks. Meanwhile, must straight-laced Martin resort to seduction to learn the critical secret of the attractive, unlucky-in-love woman who already has two murdered men in her past?
All this because a pair of shadowy characters make the biggest mistake of their lives when they target Sandy, in this romance-splashed women-sleuths mystery.
To check out all the books in the Sandy Reid mystery series: CLICK HERE!
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Addendum