The Associate

by Phillip Margolin

  Forbus sat with Daniel for a few minutes. He explained that Daniel would be held in the cell for a while and told him that he could knock on the door if he wanted to use the rest room or needed a glass of water. Then he closed the door and drew a metal sheet across a small, tinted-glass window in the door, cutting off all contact with the world outside the cell. Daniel stretched out on the bench, placed an arm across his eyes to shield them from the light, and tried to relax.

  Twenty minutes later Forbus reentered the room with a photographer who took several photographs of Daniel. As soon as the photographer left, Forbus gave the prisoner a flimsy, white, one-piece, disposable Tyvex jumpsuit made of paper that zipped up the front and felt slick and odd against his skin. The detective explained that Daniel would wear this suit until he was given a uniform in the jail.

  When Daniel was dressed, Forbus led his prisoner across the hallway into a small interrogation room furnished with several, heavy wooden chairs and a table that was affixed to the wall. Daniel noticed a box of tissues on the table and wondered how many men had wept in this room.

  Forbus made no attempt to question Daniel about the murder and Daniel had to fight an urge to open the subject. The detective asked Daniel's age, date of birth, and other statistical information for his custody report. He was tempted to refuse to answer the detective's questions, but he wanted to put off returning to the cell as long as possible. When Forbus had the information he needed he put Daniel back in the holding cell. His watch had been taken from him and he could only guess how long he stayed in the lockup, but it seemed like hours before he heard a key in the lock again and Billie Brewster came in.

  "I'm going to take you over to the jail now," she said as she cuffed Daniel's hands behind his back. Brewster led him down a carpeted hall to an elevator that took them to the ground floor. After a short walk through Central Precinct and the garage, Daniel found himself standing on a red dot in front of a blue metal door in the reception area of the jail. The detective passed a custody report through a slot to a sheriff's deputy in a green uniform who was stationed behind a plate of thick glass.

  "If you want to talk with me about what happened at the cottage, tell one of the deputies," Brewster said in a kind voice. Then she surprised Daniel by putting a hand on his shoulder and saying, "Good luck, Daniel."

  As soon as Brewster left, the door behind Daniel snapped open and he was ordered into a narrow concrete chute about six feet long and seven feet wide. Another handcuffed prisoner was stretched out on a bench that ran along the wall. Daniel was afraid to ask him to move, so he stayed standing. A few minutes later a door at the other end of the room opened and Daniel was taken out by a deputy who patted him down before leading him over to a brightly illuminated area where his picture was taken again. After that, Daniel was escorted to a window that opened into a small medical facility. A woman on the other side of the window asked Daniel for a medical history then turned him over to another deputy for fingerprinting. Finally, he was led down a hall along a concrete floor and heard what sounded like a dog howling. The guard prodded Daniel around a corner and the howling turned to screams. They were coming from one of several single cells that lined the wall of a large holding area. Blue metal doors fronted all the cells. Toward the top third of the doors were narrow glass windows. A female deputy was talking through a grille beneath one of the windows in a firm voice. Daniel realized that the inhuman screams and moans he had heard were coming from this cell.

  "This isn't doing you any good, Mr. Packard," the woman deputy was saying, but Mr. Packard was unaffected by her attempts to calm him and continued to howl.

  The guard unlocked Daniel's cuffs and placed him in a cell enclosed by chain-link fencing that stood in the center of the holding area. Another prisoner in street clothes was lying on a concrete bench. Daniel took a closer look at his cellmate, who was sleeping through Mr. Packard's insane lament. The man was stripped to the waist, revealing a torso covered with tattoos. It took an effort not to stare. To make it easier, Daniel turned away and looked at his surroundings through the grille. It dawned on him that no other prisoner was making any noise. He could see into some of the other holding cells through the slit windows and what he saw were men pacing, locked in with their own thoughts as Daniel was locked in with his.

  At first Daniel tried to remember all he could about his other jail experiences so he could prepare himself to survive. He knew that being in jail was like being back in high school in a class made up of bullies, liars, and lunatics. Most criminals were irresponsible, angry men who were unable to succeed in the world and took out their frustrations on those who could. Daniel resolved to tell no one that he had graduated high school, let alone college and law school.

  There was a second bench in the cell and Daniel stretched out on it. He had not slept and it had to be early morning by now. He closed his eyes, but the bright lights in the holding area, the hard surface, and the constant, unfamiliar noises made sleep impossible. Daniel tossed and turned for a while until his thoughts turned to the question he would have asked himself earlier if he had not been shell-shocked by the discovery of the dead man and the shame and terror of his arrest: "Who had killed Arthur Briggs and why?"

  Daniel knew almost nothing about Briggs's private life, except that he was married and had two grown children. The only times he had been in Briggs's presence socially were at firm functions. From experience, Daniel knew that Briggs was a rude, abrasive man who was extremely aggressive in court, but he had no idea if Briggs had enemies-or friends, for that matter. It soon became obvious to Daniel that he lacked the information to make even a rudimentary guess about the identity of Briggs's killer, so he turned to motive.

  In the message Briggs had left on Daniel's answering machine he had said that he needed to talk to Daniel about a new development in the Insufort case. He'd also said that he knew that he was wrong about Daniel and that Daniel was the only person he could trust. Suddenly it occurred to him: the Kaidanov report!

  Daniel sat up. The new development in the Geller case must have involved the report, because that was the only aspect of the case of any importance that involved Daniel. It was the reason he was fired. What had Briggs talked about during their last meeting? He'd gotten furious when Daniel told him that Geller was covering up the results of Kaidanov's study. Of course! Briggs must have found out that Geller was involved in a cover-up. That would explain why he thought Daniel was the only person he could trust. The firm would lose Geller Pharmaceuticals as a client, and its hefty retainer, if Briggs exposed a plot to cover up Kaidanov's study, so he would not have been able to trust anyone at Geller or anyone in his own firm. But he could trust Daniel because Daniel had urged Briggs to expose the cover-up. The only problem with his theory was that he could more easily imagine Arthur Briggs involved in a conspiracy with Geller than exposing a cover-up by a client that brought millions to the firm.

  But what if he was wrong about Briggs? He'd known so little about the senior partner. Maybe Briggs had spoken to the wrong people at Geller and they had silenced him. Daniel had to tell someone what he had figured out, but who? And what proof did he have? A wave of despair swept over him and all of his energy and excitement drained away. No one would believe him if he started talking about cover-ups and conspiracies. They would think he was a crazy, disgruntled employee. Just the type of maniac who would murder the person who had fired him.

  An hour later a deputy brought Daniel and his comatose cellmate a brown-bag breakfast. The tattooed man continued to sleep. Daniel opened his bag and took out a baloney sandwich on pasty white bread, an orange, and a small carton of milk. He had no appetite and the sandwich looked repulsive, but Daniel knew he had to eat to keep up his strength. He finished his meal shortly before a guard handcuffed him and led him out of the holding cell. The jail had a receipt for Daniel's possessions, which included his wallet. For a dollar fifty he was allowed to purchase a hygiene kit containing shampoo, toothpaste, and a toothbrush.


  The guard took Daniel upstairs to the seventh floor. After a short walk from the elevator, Daniel was led through a sally port into a two-story-high, open area. At one end of the floor was a glassed-in rec room with a television. Along the walls were two tiers of cells. Daniel was told to strip. The guard took his Tyvex suit and gave him plastic shower slippers, a set of pink dyed underwear and socks, a pair of blue cotton pants with an elastic waist, and a blue, pullover, V-neck shirt. Then the guard told him to enter cell 7C.

  The cell had a two-tiered bunk bed. A muscular Hispanic was stretched out on the lower bunk. He turned on his side and stared at Daniel with little interest. Along the wall was a concrete slab. Daniel saw that his cellmate's toiletries were at one end of the slab and he placed his on the other end. Behind the bunk was a narrow window that stretched the length of the cell and looked out at the new federal courthouse.

  As soon as the guard closed the door, Daniel addressed his cellmate.

  "How you doin'?"

  "Okay," the man answered. Then he asked, "Whatchoo in for?" in a thick accent.

  "Nothing much."

  Daniel knew better than to talk about his case. Every cellmate was a potential state's witness.

  "Me, too," the man answered with a sly smile. "Name's Pedro."

  "Daniel. I'm gonna sack out."

  "Yeah sure."

  Daniel remembered something he had learned the last time he was in jail. He grabbed his toothbrush before climbing into his upper bunk. He did not sleep, but he did spend several hours using the concrete wall to sharpen the end of the toothbrush into a sharp point in case his cellmate turned out to be less friendly than he seemed.

  Chapter Twenty-Two.

  "Ames, your attorney's here."

  Daniel was still groggy from a sleepless night and it took him a minute to process the fact that the guard was talking to him.

  "What attorney?" he asked.

  "How should I know? Get a move on."

  As Daniel climbed down from his bunk he wondered if the court had already assigned him a public defender. The guard led him into the common area and through the sally port into a long corridor lined with noncontact visiting rooms where prisoners and visitors sat on either side of a thick glass window and conversed by telephone. A metal door at the end of the corridor led into a shorter hallway. On one side were two contact visiting rooms. Daniel could see into the closest room through a window that took up half the wall. It was furnished with a round table that was bolted to the floor and two molded plastic chairs. An attractive woman with shoulder-length black hair was seated in one of the chairs. When Daniel stepped into the room the guard closed the door and the woman stood up. Daniel was five eleven. The woman was almost as tall and had the broad shoulders and solid build of an athlete. She wore a conservative business suit.

  "Hi, Daniel," she said, extending her hand. "I'm Amanda Jaffe."

  Daniel colored. His jail-issue clothes were a size too big, his hair was uncombed, and he had a day's growth of beard. He also smelled.

  Amanda smiled. "I bet this wasn't what you expected when you called for a job interview."

  "What are you doing here?"

  "Kate Ross phoned me after she tracked you to the jail. Why don't we sit down," Amanda said as she returned to her seat. Daniel remained standing.

  "Look, Ms. Jaffe . . ."

  "Amanda," she corrected.

  "I can't afford to hire you. Kate must have told you that I just lost my job, my savings probably won't cover the cost of this consultation, and my job prospects have just plummeted to minus zero."

  "Don't worry about the fee."

  "I've got to worry about it. No matter what you charge, there's no way I can pay it."

  "Daniel, please sit down. I'm getting a crick in my neck."

  Daniel sat reluctantly on the other chair.

  "Kate thinks very highly of you. She doesn't believe that you murdered Arthur Briggs."

  "I didn't."

  "Good. Then try to relax so I can get the information I need to get you out of here."

  "But your money . . ."

  "I'm taking the case pro bono and Kate is covering my expenses."

  "I can't let you two do that."

  Amanda's smile disappeared and she looked deadly serious.

  "You're in big trouble, Daniel. You've been charged with murder. If you're convicted you're looking at life in prison or a death sentence. This is not the time to be proud. Accept our help. You need it."

  Amanda's words had a sobering effect. Life in prison or execution. What was happening to him?

  "Before coming here, I talked to Mike Greene, the prosecutor who's handling your case. He claims to have a witness who saw you running from the crime scene. She also says that she heard you have an angry argument with Arthur Briggs on Friday."

  "Who's the witness?"

  "Dr. April Fairweather."

  "Fairweather! Are you kidding?"

  "You know her?"

  "She's a Reed, Briggs client, but she had nothing to do with the Insufort litigation."

  "The lawsuit involving the pregnancy pill? What's that got to do with Arthur Briggs's murder?"

  "That's why I was at the cottage. Briggs left a message on my answering machine telling me there was a new development in the case. He said he needed my help, which surprised the hell out of me since he'd just fired me for screwing up the case."

  "I'm not following this. Maybe you should start at the beginning."

  Daniel explained the Geller Pharmaceuticals case, the discovery of Dr. Sergey Kaidanov's letter, his search of Kaidanov's house, the discovery of the murdered man at the lab, and the leak of the study to the press. Then he told Amanda about being fired, his argument with Briggs, and what happened at the cottage.

  "Now I know how the police figured out that I was there so fast," Daniel concluded. "Dr. Fairweather was in Mr. Briggs's waiting area when he fired me. She saw us argue. What I can't figure out is what she was doing at the cottage. Her case had nothing to do with the Geller case. It doesn't make sense that Briggs would have wanted her there if he was going to talk about Insufort."

  Amanda was quiet for a moment. Daniel thought that she looked worried and he began to get nervous. Then she brightened and Daniel leaned forward expectantly.

  "You have a motive to murder Briggs because Briggs fired you and threatened you, but the message on your answering machine shows that he changed his opinion about you for some reason. There's a chance I might be able to persuade Mike to hold off on an indictment if he hears the tape."

  Daniel's face fell. "I erased it."

  "What?"

  "I panicked and I erased the answering machine tape just before the police came. It was proof that I was at Starlight Road when the murder occurred."

  Amanda failed to conceal her disappointment and Daniel knew he'd screwed up.

  "How long do I have to stay in jail?" he asked nervously.

  "You're not going to get out quickly. Bail isn't automatic in a murder charge. I have to ask for a bail hearing and they're hard to win. If you had to stay in jail for a week or more, do you think you could handle it?"

  Daniel felt sick, but he nodded.

  "I've been in jail before."

  Amanda tensed. "Tell me about that."

  Daniel looked down at the tabletop. "My . . . my home life wasn't good. When I was a kid I ran away a lot." He shrugged. "When you're living on the streets there are a lot of opportunities to get in trouble."

  "What kind of trouble were you in?"

  "Burglary, assault. The cases never stuck, but I was arrested twice and I stayed in jail both times."

  Daniel told her the approximate dates of his arrests and Amanda made some notes on her pad. Then she asked him several other background questions. When she was finished, she put her pad in her attache case.

  "I'm going back to my office to meet with my investigator. You'll make your first appearance in court at two this afternoon and I'll be there. This appearance wil
l be over quickly. The judge will read the formal charges against you and make sure you have counsel. I'll ask him to set a date for a bail hearing and we'll request a preliminary hearing. Then we'll go from there. Do you have any questions?"

  "No, not now. I'm too numb."

  "I don't blame you. If I were in your position I'd be scared to death. But you have one thing going for you that gives me hope." Daniel looked up expectantly. "You've told me you're innocent and I do believe that the truth will come out."

  Daniel should have found Amanda's words reassuring, but he remembered an editorial about the death penalty he had read recently. It had called for a moratorium on executions because of all the innocent people who were languishing on death row.

  Kate Ross was waiting in the public reception area. She stood up the moment Amanda got out of the jail elevator.

  "How is Daniel?" she asked anxiously.

  "He's holding up okay. I get the impression that he's pretty tough. If I can't get him out on bail before the trial I don't think being in jail will break him."

  "Will you be able to get him out?"

  "I don't know, Kate. Mike Greene told me a little about the state's case. It's not airtight, but it's strong."

  "What have they got?"

  "Briggs fired Daniel and they argued in front of witnesses, so Daniel had a reason to shoot Briggs. They haven't recovered the murder weapon and they didn't find it when they searched Daniel's apartment, but Mike Greene will just argue that he threw the gun away. The really bad news is that an eyewitness saw Daniel running from the scene of the murder."

  "Who is it? Give me the name. If there's evidence that the witness is lying, I'll find it."

  "I appreciate the offer, but I'm afraid you're not going to be able to work on Daniel's case."