Chapter 26
BEYOND A REASONABLE
DOUBT
When I got to work it suddenly occurred to me I hadn't seen or heard from Gena Lombardi lately and nothing had been done to prepare for her trial. I decided to call Syd Brim to see if he'd got a trial setting yet. I dialed the number and waited.
"Law Office," a female voice said.
"Syd Brim, please," I said.
"Let me see if he's in a meeting. Who is this?"
"Stan Turner."
"Okay, hang on."
Annoying elevator music came on when she put me on hold. After several minutes she came back on the line.
"Sorry, he's in a meeting."
"Maybe you can help me."
"What do you want?"
"I just need to find out if you've got a trial setting yet on Gena Lombardi's federal criminal case?"
"We can't give out information about clients," she said.
"I am co-counsel with Syd, I just need to know if there's a trial setting yet."
"Okay, let me look . . . yes, June 3, 1979," she said.
"Huh . . . that's less than 30 days. . . . Okay, thanks."
"Good bye."
It was clear Syd wasn't going out of his way to prove Gena innocent, so I knew I had better figure out a way to do it. It seemed after talking to Tony and Bridgett that Gena was telling the truth. She had acted in good faith in selling tickets and collecting the money for them. It was Tony who discovered money in the account and withdrew it, preventing Gena from filling her orders. It suddenly occurred to me if Tony hadn't spent the money I could file a preference action in Gena's bankruptcy and recover the money he took. Then, if I provided for the reimbursement of the ticket buyers, the U.S. Attorney might drop the charges, if I could convince him I could prove there was no intent to defraud the ticket buyers. After all, he had to prove his case beyond a reasonable doubt. That would be very difficult given the evidence I would have gathered by the time of trial.
After careful thought I determined that I needed Gena's bank records to show the deposit of the money and the withdrawal by Tony. Gena wouldn't have any records, so I would have to get them from the bank. This often took time so I decided to get a subpoena out immediately. Then I prepared an adversary proceeding to be filed against Tony for withdrawing money owed to him within ninety days of Gena's bankruptcy filing. The preference statutes were designed to make sure all creditors were treated equally. Obviously Tony got paid much more than the other creditors so the preference action was an appropriate threat. Wouldn't he be surprised when he got the suit in the mail.
While I was thinking about Gena's defense my thoughts were strangely drawn to Gena's mother. She had been deserted by her husband but nevertheless kept a hundred-thousand-dollar insurance policy in force. How would she know if he died so she could collect the money? I remembered seeing an advertisement in the Texas Bar Journal for a firm called International Tracing Services. What was interesting was they didn't charge you anything if they couldn't find the person that you were looking for. Since I didn't have anything to lose, I called them and got them started looking for Michael Roman Lombardi, age 52, greasy black hair, standing 5'11" with a slight limp from an old war wound. His last known address was his wife's current residence which I provided to them. They advised me that since this was such an old address it may take them a little longer to track him down but they were pretty confident they could do it.
I was feeling pretty good about Gena's case after working on it for a couple of hours, so I decided to call her and tell her what I was planning to do. I called her business but no one answered. I thought that a little strange since it was the middle of the day. Then I tried her at home but the phone had been disconnected. My heart began to pound as I was very cognizant of the fact that I had co-signed on her bond. After trying her at her business again I decided to swing by her house on the way home to see if there was any sign of her.
On the way there I remembered I hadn't told Rebekah about Gena's bond. She was going to have a stroke. The thought occurred to me that I might want to go home and pack my bags for Rebekah was surely going to kick me out of the house when she found out not only was I about to lose $25,000 on Gena's bond but that Parker #3 had washed out as well. As I approached Gena's house I held my breath that I would spot the yellow Corvette for which she was so fond. If it was in the driveway, then Gena had to be close by. Unfortunately, the driveway was deserted. I got out of my car and went up to the front door. I rang the doorbell although I didn't really expect an answer. After a minute I peered through a window and was relieved to see that the furniture was still there.
By the time I got home I had decided not to tell Rebekah anything yet as I wasn't sure about Gena, nor had I given up on finding the $13,000 needed for her defense. One nice thing about practicing law you never knew when someone might drop in and dump a nice retainer on you. When I arrived home Rebekah met me at the door obviously very excited about something.
"What's going on Babe?" I said.
"You won't believe it but we got a call on your advertisement about Bird's accident. A guy called and said he drove by the accident almost immediately after it happened. Mom is on her way over to watch the kids. We're meeting this guy at the Denny's in Richardson at 7:30."
"Oh that's great, Babe. I hope he saw something that will help."
Several minutes later Mom arrived and we left for Denny's. When we arrived the man wasn't there yet so we got a booth and waited. "So how was your day, Babe," I asked.
"Pretty good, Stanley came home with a smiley face today. He was the best citizen in his class."
"I bet he was proud of himself."
"He certainly was. Marcia was fussy all day. She wouldn't eat anything and she refused to sleep. I think she must be teething."
"Hmm."
As we were talking a short, stout, bald headed man walked in the restaurant. He talked to the waitress and she pointed toward us. The man walked over. "Hello, are you the Turners?"
"Yes," Rebekah said.
"Hi, I'm Paul Singleton . . . I called about your ad."
"Please have a seat," I said.
Mr. Singleton sat down in the booth across from Rebekah and I and smiled.
"Rebekah tells me you saw the accident on Central Expressway the other night," I said.
"Yes, I got there just after it had happened."
"So what exactly did you see?"
"Well, as I approached the two cars, the man driving the rear car got out. He was a little shaken but seemed all right," Singleton said. "It was a few minutes before the other man got out of his car."
"That would have been Bird," I said.
"Is that his name?" Singleton asked.
"Right."
"I parked on the side of the road and observed what was going on just in case I would be needed as a witness. I remember the man driving the rear car was very upset and wanted to know why Bird suddenly stopped. I overheard Bird claim a dog ran in front of him."
"Did you see any dog?"
"No, but he could have run off by the time I got there."
"How did Bird react to the accident?" I said.
"He attended to his wife as you would expect until the paramedics showed up but he didn't cry or anything. He was really nervous though and had trouble talking coherently to the paramedics and police when they arrived."
"I suppose he could have been in shock over the accident," I said.
"Was Sheila Logan unconscious after the accident?" Rebekah asked.
"I think so; I never saw her move or say anything."
"Well, did you see anything else that might be significant?"
"No . . . well just something kind of curious," Mr. Singleton said.
"What?"
"Bird was real concerned about his wife's purse. He made the driver of the ambulance wait while he went back to get it. They told him to forget it but he insisted his wife had to have it."
/>
"Maybe she was carrying a lot of money or something," I said.
"I don't know but it was kind of weird," Mr. Singleton said.
"Well, thanks for your help. Rebekah's got your address and telephone number, so we'll call you if we need you at the time of trial," I said, and then pulled an envelope out of my pocket. "Here is the reward we mentioned in the ad. It's a hundred dollars."
"Thank you, I appreciate this very much."
Rebekah's spirits had been greatly lifted by the meeting with Mr. Singleton. For the first time since her arrest she seemed to have thrown off the shackles of depression and was her old, cheerful self again. When we got home she joked and played with the children just like old times. As much as I loved seeing her this way I couldn't feel any joy as the weight of eminent financial disaster loomed heavy on my mind. After the kids went to bed Rebekah laid down beside me on the sofa. I put my arm around her and stroked her long black hair.
"I feel much better doing something to prove I'm innocent," Rebekah said, "Just sitting around and waiting for something to happen is hard. You have too much time to think and worry."
"I know what you mean. When things get bad at work the only way I can get that sick feeling out of my stomach is to start working on solving the problem one way or another," I replied.
"What can I do to help Ken prove me innocent?"
"Well you could probably go over all the evidence as it's gathered and help him from a medical standpoint. He probably could use some technical assistance since I doubt if he has had any medical training. I'll suggest it to him the next time we meet."
"Good, I just don't want to sit around here all day and worry."
"I know. I'll tell the kids to keep you real busy from now on so you won't have time to think. How about that?"
"You don't need to give them any special instructions on that."
By Friday I hadn't heard from Gena and I was beginning to get panicky. It was less than three weeks to her trial and I had no idea where she was. I decided to call her mother and see if she had heard from her. I called at 8:00 a.m. hoping to catch her at home.
"Have you heard from Gena lately?" I asked.
"No, after she got out she called to thank me for putting up the bond money but that's the last I’ve heard from her. . . . Is everything okay?" Mrs. Lombardi asked.
"Yes, everything is fine, but if you hear from Gena have her call me, okay. I need to get with her to work on her case."
"Okay, I will."
"Oh . . . one other thing. I've hired a company to try to find your husband."
"What on earth for?"
"I don't know; I just have a feeling we need to find him. Has anyone called you looking for him?"
"No, not that I know of."
"Well, I expect to hear from them any day now so when I do I'll let you know what I find out."
"Okay, bye."
"Bye."
For several minutes I stared out my window at the busy street below contemplating my next move in trying to locate Gena. A thunderstorm was rolling in from the West and I could see lightning flashing in the distance. The telephone began to ring, but as loud as it was, it couldn't penetrate the depth of my concentration. Rebekah had often complained of this as she would often try unsuccessfully to engage me in conversation when my mind was in this state. Such an attempt was always futile and she got very aggravated when I failed to respond to her.
"Aren't you going to answer that phone?" General Burton yelled from his office.
"Oh yes, I'm sorry," I said as I picked up the telephone.
"This is Joe over at International Tracers, we've found your man."
"You did, that's great," I said. "Where is he?"
"Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Seattle, Washington," he said.
"He's dead then?"
"Well, he doesn't run the place."
"Okay, thank you. Can you get me a death certificate?"
"Sure, but it'll be another eight bucks."
"No, problem, just add it to my bill."
After I hung up the phone I rushed into General Burton's office. "I didn't even hear you come in?" I said.
"You were off in never-never land so I didn't want to interrupt you."
"I'm sorry. I get that way whenever I've got big problems," I said.
"Things aren't going so well?" the General asked.
"Well, they weren't, but I just got a break."
I told him about Gena's father and the life insurance.
"That's uncanny, Stan."
"I know. Anyway, now my client's mother can collect her insurance money and I can get paid."
"That always helps. How much does she owe you?"
"Fifteen hundred for the bankruptcy I did and then whatever we agree upon for the criminal matter. I should get at least half of what I need for Rebekah's defense."
"It has been a good day then," the General said.
"Now, if I could only find my client," I replied.
"You lost your client?"
"Well, temporarily. I'm sure she'll show up. She better anyway otherwise I'm going to have to make good on her bond."
"You're on her bond?"
"Yeah, I'm afraid so."
"How much."
"Twenty-five thousand."
"Oh no, Stan. Why did you do that?"
"I felt sorry for her, I guess, sitting there all locked up in the county jail."
"I don't know Stan; you may be too soft to be a lawyer. I am not sure you're going to make it," the General observed.
"What do you mean? I've already made it and nothing can keep me from being successful. I may never be rich, but I'll be a damn good attorney."
As I was talking to General Burton the phone rang again. I excused myself, went back to my desk, and picked up the phone. It was Debbie at the bank.
"I just wanted to tell you that a wire transfer just came through. The money is in your account."
"Oh, thank God! Hallelujah! Thanks so much for calling. You made my day!"
She laughed. "No problem."
I went immediately to the bank and had two cashier's checks made out to Worldwide Savings and Loan for the payments and had them delivered over to Mark Pointer immediately. Then I called Rebekah and the investors and gave them the wonderful news. I felt better than I had for some time, so I went home to share my joy and relief with Rebekah.
Brash Endeavor, A Stan Turner Mystery Vol 3 Page 30