Brooks-Lotello Collection

by Ronald S. Barak

  “He was caught in a crossfire between James Ayres and Blaine Hollister. Outside the apartment of Tommy Thomas. Ayres and Hollister are dead. Thomas is missing.”

  “Hollister … Thomas … Ayres? What the hell’s going on? Where’s Frank? Can I see him? Is there anything I can do for him or his children?”

  “That’s why I’m calling. Before they put Frank back under, he told me it was urgent that he speak with you as soon as he’s conscious again. The doctors tell me that can be anywhere from late this afternoon to sometime early this evening. I’d be happy to pick you up and bring you to the hospital.”

  “I would appreciate that. How soon?”

  “Give me your address. I’ll come get you.”

  She gave him her address. He said he was on the way.

  * * *

  KLEIN COULDN’T BELIEVE WHAT she’d just heard. How could this happen? Does this have something to do with Norman? No idea what to think. Not to mention that Barnet’s been helping Reilly. Jesus!

  Barnet and Klein arrived at the hospital around a quarter to five. It was a classic hurry up and wait. It turned out that Lotello had to be taken into surgery because he started bleeding and they couldn’t stop it. He was in the recovery room. The only thing the nurse would tell them was that he was stable and resting comfortably. There was no indication of when Lotello would be back in his room. Or able to talk.

  Klein tried to probe Barnet for more information. Either he didn’t know anything more or wasn’t talking if he did. Our opposite sides in the Norman case didn’t help. And Lotello probably instructed Barnet not to say anything more until he wakes up and can resume control anyway. Has to have things his way. Like he’s the only one who can figure out how to cross the street!

  * * *

  IT WAS 7:30 THAT evening before Lotello was brought back to his own room. Where Klein and Barnet had been waiting. It was another hour before Lotello finally registered their presence.

  “Detective,” Klein asked him gently, “how are you feeling?”

  “First things first, Ms. Klein. Don’t let those do-good medical people know I’m up. They may insist on knocking me out again. We’ve got some things to discuss before they do.

  “As for me, I’ve had better days. I’m not sure who, but I think someone told me I’ll live. Maybe you guys know more about that than I do.”

  “They tell us you’ve lost quite a lot of blood. They had to operate on you this afternoon to address that. They seem to think that’s now under control. They say you’ll mend. Live to fight another day. Hopefully, not around guns. However, I think there’s going to be a line forming of those who want a piece of you. I’m planning on being first. Just not yet. You’re not gonna be ready for a while.

  “Mr. Barnet tells me you were caught in some kind of a shootout between Blaine Hollister and James Ayres. He says he doesn’t know anything more. Is there anything you can tell me?”

  Lotello was doing his best to focus. To clear away the cobwebs. He was feeling a little better. “Some of it you already know.

  “Not long after Norman was arrested and charged, an anonymous person delivered to me a copy of Wells’s little black book. I subsequently figured out that person was Ayres.

  “That little black book contained several entries that suggested Hollister might have been the one who killed Wells. Probably DiMarco and Johnson, too. Hollister might have been out to shake up the system. Our corrupt politicians. Something like that. I suspected he was the vigilante serial killer that the politicos and the prosecution thought Norman was. But I hadn’t yet been able to prove that.

  “I kept digging. Finally I caught a break. I found an eyewitness who saw someone leaving Wells’s townhouse around the time of her death. For now, that eyewitness has to remain anonymous. I’ll identify this person later if it becomes necessary. There are innocent bystanders who stand to be hurt if this eyewitness is revealed. I would like to avoid that if possible.

  “My eyewitness is a chronic liar. But I ultimately scared the truth out of him. The person the eyewitness identified to me was Hollister.

  “I’ve also thought our government spook, Thomas, had something to do with Bernie Abrams’s death. His assistant led me to Thomas. I conjectured that Thomas might also have been tied in with Hollister in some way. Thomas is connected with White House officials at the highest levels. At a minimum, President Tuttle’s chief of staff. Maybe Tuttle himself.

  “I set a trap for Hollister. Possibly Thomas as well. To kill two birds with one stone, you might say.

  “I spoke with Hollister’s attorney, Jonathan Mortimer. I told Mortimer I had an eyewitness who saw Hollister leaving Wells’s townhouse at the time of her death. That much was true. But then I fudged a bit. I next asked Mortimer if he perhaps knew whether Hollister had any dealings with someone by the name of Tommy Thomas. While I never said per se that Thomas was my eyewitness, the way I moved from one topic to the other might have caused Mortimer to mistakenly make that leap on his own.

  “I wanted to see how Hollister would react to what I was feeding Mortimer. Of course, Thomas is not my eyewitness. But I wanted to find out if there was any other connection between Hollister and Thomas. Or those who have been handling Thomas.

  “Next thing I knew, Hollister went to Thomas’s apartment Thursday night. I know because I followed him there. Thomas and Hollister got into it.

  “You’ll remember, I’m sure, later that night, actually early the next morning, that I called to tell you I hadn’t come up with anything definitive on either Hollister or Thomas. Meaning that you were no doubt going to have to dismiss their subpoenas. To your frustration as well as mine.

  “I obviously haven’t been entirely forthcoming with you, Ms. Klein. I used you to further Hollister’s and Thomas’s anxiety by issuing subpoenas to them and making them wonder what was going to happen to them in the court proceedings.

  “I wanted to get both Hollister and Thomas. I didn’t yet have what I needed to accomplish that. I knew that if I told you what I did, you would immediately go to Judge Brooks and get the charges against Norman dismissed. I would then lose Thomas. And those likely in cahoots with him. I just couldn’t let that happen.

  “I don’t expect you to see this the way I do. Our priorities have obviously not been quite the same. But I always figured there would still be time to save Norman.

  “I followed Hollister again last night. Thinking he was perhaps going back to finish Thomas off. I still don’t know exactly what kind of problem Thomas might have represented for Hollister, if any. But it sure looked like Hollister was bent on personally getting rid of Thomas. Permanently.

  “It might have been nothing more than the seeds I had used Mortimer to plant. Perhaps it was just to get even for the confrontation those two psychopaths had experienced the night before. Or it could be there was more between those two nut cases than I know. Or than we may ever come to know.”

  “Hold up, Detective, Klein jumped in. “I’ve been patiently listening to you. You’ve said very little about Ayres. What does Ayres have to do with all of this? Why was he there last night?”

  “I saw Hollister and someone wearing a hoodie shoot it out last night. I was pretty sure Ayres was the man wearing the hoodie to hide his face. Jeremy confirmed that to me earlier today. How I knew it is complicated. Too much for me to explain now. Especially since Ayres isn’t going anywhere.”

  * * *

  AS MUCH AS KLEIN wanted to hear Lotello’s guess as to why Ayres was there, she could see that he was fading and needed his rest. Besides, she had more important issues to worry about now. On which she desperately needed Lotello’s help. She’d save his ruminations about Ayres for another day. “Detective, given that you’ve personally spoken with an eyewitness who saw Hollister leaving Wells’s townhouse at the time of her murder, my first priority right now is what you can do to help me use that information to get Mr. Norman off. We need to do this before the jury comes in with a possible conviction. Which cou
ld happen at any time now. Working all this out after a conviction would be considerably more difficult.”

  “What do we do? How can I help?”

  “Our first try is to explain things to Vince Reilly about Hollister and see if he’ll join me in a motion to dismiss. If he will, that’s our best run at Judge Brooks. A joint or unopposed motion to dismiss. Although Brooks will no doubt still want to hear all of the specifics.”

  “What if Reilly doesn’t agree?”

  “Then we’ll have to go to Brooks over Reilly’s objection. I’ll try to reach Reilly tonight and speak to Brooks in the morning. Chances are good the switchboard won’t put me through to you when I need to reach you. Give me your cell phone number and keep your phone handy. I’ll be back to you as soon as I reach Reilly. And have some sense of where we’re headed.”

  “That won’t work. Jeremy has to hold onto my cell phone for safekeeping given the film I have on it of the shootout last night.”

  “I have a solution, Ms. Klein,” said Barnet, who had been quietly standing in the corner, listening to the exchange between Klein and Lotello. He handed his cell phone to Lotello and gave the number to Klein. “I’ll get another cell phone for my use when we leave here.”

  “That works,” Lotello said. “Again, Ms. Klein, I’m really sorry about all the difficulty I’ve caused you. I can only say I thought I was doing the right thing. And that I could always get Norman off with the information I had.”

  “I’m glad you’re going to be okay, Detective. And able to continue being a father to your children. I don’t want to add to your difficulties. However, before too much longer you need to give more thought to your children. As a single parent, you just can’t run around behaving as you have. If not for your well-being, then certainly for theirs.” I needed to get that off my chest. But if Lotello hadn’t been the maverick he is, we wouldn’t have the goods on Hollister that hopefully will provide Norman with a preemptive get-out-of-jail-free card.

  * * *

  LOTELLO KNEW KLEIN HAD his family’s best interests at heart. But she wasn’t saying anything he didn’t already understand. Beth. I am so sorry.

  CHAPTER 126

  Sunday, August 9, 8:30 a.m.–7:00 p.m.

  THE JURY WAS BACK at it again. As scheduled. “Good morning,” Kessler began. “By the end of the day yesterday, we had tentatively reached a vote of eleven guilty and one not guilty. We had also agreed that today we would turn our attention to the question of whether Mr. Norman’s tentative guilty verdict would be reversed based on the defense of justifiable homicide.

  “It seems to me we have a number of very interesting questions to consider regarding this defense. Our jury instructions provide that a defense of justifiable homicide exists when a defendant strikes out against one who poses an immediate or imminent threat to the defendant or the defendant’s family.

  “Mr. Reilly argued that this defense only applies when a threat of immediate physical injury exists: for example, a burglar breaking and entering into a home and threatening to shoot the defendant or his family. Ms. Klein argued that the notion of threat can include economic injury just as much as physical injury. According to Ms. Klein, a corrupt and dishonest government can represent a qualifying imminent threat just as much as a burglar with a knife or a gun.

  “The fact that Judge Brooks instructed us on this defense tells me that Ms. Klein’s view must be correct. Otherwise, there would have been no reason for Judge Brooks to instruct us on the subject, because the threat to Mr. Norman was clearly economic and not physical. Although, I guess we could consider Ryan Norman’s illness, and subsequent death, to be a physical injury.

  “Mr. Reilly also argued that only Mr. Norman, and not the government, is on trial here. That it’s unfair for us to try the government in absentia in our deliberations. However, if that were a basis to reject the defense, then the defense could never be asserted. A burglar who is shot breaking into the defendant’s home is also not on trial just because the defendant homeowner is tried for shooting the burglar.”

  “Hey, everyone,” injected Lynette Brown, “what about the meaning of the word family? A property owner is permitted to strike the burglar who threatens him or his family. Meaning his or her spouse and children. It seems to me that the government threat is to a much broader group of victims. The public at large. Does that really qualify?”

  Hartford Greene answered. “Good point, Lynette. The answer to your question seems the same as the answer to the question about economic injury versus physical injury and government as perpetrator versus burglar as perpetrator. If Judge Brooks didn’t consider the family of man eligible for protection under this defense, then I don’t think he would have instructed us on this defense. And permitted us to consider it.”

  Kenzo Miyagi weighed in. “Miyagi here. I have also been thinking about this subject. And I have a question. Or a comment. I’m not actually sure which it is.

  “One of our jury instructions provides that we are allowed to consider only evidence presented during the trial. What evidence was presented during our trial that our political representatives are corrupt and greedy?

  “Mr. Kessler, you said that our make-believe burglar was not on trial in our make-believe case any more than the government was not on trial here. I’m not sure that is a valid comparison. If this defense is presented against our make-believe burglar, presumably there would be evidence at trial about what the burglar did. I don’t see any evidence in this trial about what any political representatives did.”

  Maria Sanchez disagreed. “Mr. Miyagi. I do think we had some testimony placed in evidence in this trial about corruption and greed on the part of our political representatives. For example, the defendant’s Exhibit One, the newspaper story about Mr. Norman’s first arrest, refers to government corruption and greed as the cause of Mr. Norman’s behavior.”

  Miyagi responded. “Ms. Sanchez, I understand what you are saying. But is that evidence in this case? Or just some reporter’s unsubstantiated talk in a newspaper column? To me, that seems somewhat analogous to the objection of hearsay that we frequently heard asserted during the trial.”

  Sanchez seemed unsure how to respond. Hamilton Reynolds knew what he wanted to say. “I would like to offer two thoughts in response to Kenzo’s remarks. First, Judge Brooks specifically admitted Exhibit One into evidence. Even though Mr. Reilly opposed that, Judge Brooks put no limitations on his ruling when he admitted it into evidence. Second, as I recall, Dr. Farnsworth was questioned by Ms. Klein about the impact of political corruption and greed on Mr. Norman. She said she thought that caused Mr. Norman’s behavior and entitled him to the defense of justifiable homicide. I don’t think Mr. Reilly objected to that opinion. If he did, I don’t think the objection was sustained. So I think both of these instances might be considered evidence of government corruption in this case that we are entitled to consider.”

  George Remington had a slightly different take. Something that hadn’t yet been brought up by any of the others. “I don’t know if Exhibit One or Dr. Farnsworth’s testimony is actual evidence of any government corruption, as the term evidence is meant to be used. However, it’s apparent to me that this jury wants to use this case as an occasion to, quote, try government misconduct in the context of a defense to Norman’s possible actions. One way or the other, I think that’s exactly what this country needs right now. Someone needs to do this. The whole country is watching. Maybe that’s why Judge Brooks instructed us as he did.”

  Alicia Jackson jumped into the fray. “Listen up. I think Judge Brooks made it perfectly clear that we are free to consider this defense any way we wish. I believe Exhibit One and Dr. Farnsworth’s testimony open the door. Allow us to consider this defense. I, for one, certainly intend to do that.”

  Once again, Kessler tried to summarize and focus the conversation. “Okay, then is it fair to say that we consider this defense to be within the scope of our assignment? Does anyone disagree?”

  No one e
xpressed any disagreement.

  Kessler continued. “Contrary to Mr. Reilly’s argument, then, our jury does consider the government, or our political representatives, on trial here. Just as much as in the case of our hypothetical burglar. As such, I think we do need to direct our attention and focus on the question of political corruption and greed and whether it supports Mr. Norman’s defense of justifiable homicide.”

  Sajid Rajesh raised his hand and addressed the group. “As you all know, I have voted that Mr. Norman is not guilty. Therefore, I personally don’t think he needs this defense. Which frankly seems pretty far-fetched to me.”

  “I disagree, Sajid,” said Jackson. “I believe our political representatives are corrupt and greedy. I believe this corruption and greed have caused the unprecedented economic and moral collapse our country has recently experienced. And is still experiencing. And that this drove Mr. Norman to take the steps he is accused of taking. Of course, we don’t actually know whether Mr. Norman did anything. But this discussion right now is predicated on the assumption that he did. Which is how eleven of us have voted at this point.

  “I would like to list a few items I believe demonstrate this political corruption and greed. Number one. Our government officials allowed Wall Street to make tens of billions of dollars of unreasonable real estate loans to unqualified borrowers on real estate the value of which was permitted to be falsely and irresponsibly inflated. And to sell tens of billions of dollars of worthless real estate-backed securities predicated on such loans. They made a bloody fortune doing this.

  “When these bad loans and bad securities all came tumbling down, it brought our country to its knees. Where was the government oversight that never should have allowed this to happen? Clearly it was missing in action. Why? There are only two possibilities: either our government leaders were incompetent. Or they were corrupt. On the take. Or they were both. Incompetent and corrupt.