23
IT’S NOT a terrible deal,” Duncan said, though he made no effort to show enthusiasm for it. He was alone with his client in a Rikers interview room. The room was small, Duncan’s knees almost touching Rafael’s as they sat across from each other. One wall was reinforced fiberglass, allowing the guards to keep an eye on them.
Duncan knew he was supposed to be trying to get Rafael to take the plea, but his heart wasn’t in it. While he wasn’t going to discourage Rafael from taking it, he wasn’t going to do a hard sell either.
“Twenty-five years?” Rafael said incredulously. “You saying twenty-five years?”
“That’s the offer,” Duncan said. “Doesn’t mean you’d actually serve all of that, with good behavior and parole.”
“What’s a bad deal look like? They gonna drag me on out to the yard and shoot me in the head?”
“It’s a murder charge, Rafael. Any plea on this is going to be serious time.”
Rafael was still incredulous at the thought of agreeing to spend twenty-five years in jail. “Serious time for what? Tell me what I’ve done that I’m going to do time for.”
“I’ve got an obligation to let you know when the DA makes you an offer. I’ve got to tell you too how it looks compared to what could happen if you get convicted at trial. It doesn’t mean you have to take it; it doesn’t mean we can’t keep going with the case. But you have to understand that most murder prosecutions don’t have happy endings for the guy on the hook.”
“But you said you can tell the judge how I hadn’t shot a gun, right?”
Duncan was well aware that Rafael placed too much confidence in the idea that the case was some sort of misunderstanding that could just be straightened out. “I hope so, but it’s far from a lock. You can’t believe that I’m just going to be able to get you out of this. I mean, I’m going to do everything I can, but you need to know that there’s nothing that I’m promising you in terms of a result.”
Rafael shook his head, leaning back in his seat, his anger making the tiny interview room feel even smaller. “So you telling me I should spend twenty-five years in the hole for something I didn’t even do?”
Duncan knew what his marching orders from Blake were, but he also believed that his primary duty was to his client. And on some level, he didn’t want Rafael to plead out so easily. “Listen, you don’t want to take the deal, then don’t take the deal. Just remember I’m not Superman. Even if I get the gunshot residue thrown out, the DA’s still got a witness; they’ve still got a motive. The reason they’re not offering very much is because losing the gunshot evidence doesn’t scare them that much. I can’t promise this will reach a moment where it’s better than it is right now.”
Rafael looked at Duncan carefully, studying him. “I say fight,” he said after a moment. “You gonna fight?”
Duncan held Rafael’s gaze. “Fight, yes,” he said. “That I can promise.”
“And it don’t matter that I can’t pay?”
Duncan felt offended by the question, but quickly realized he couldn’t blame Rafael for wondering that. “That’s not what this is about. I get paid to do my job, Rafael. Defending you is part of my job. I’m doing what I’d do, saying what I would say, whether you were paying or not.”
“Then let’s go to war,” Rafael said.
DUNCAN HAD rented a car for the trip out to Rikers. As he drove back to Manhattan he thought about how he was going to spin this to Blake, who was doubtless going to be displeased.
It also meant figuring out how to go forward with the case. The obvious thing was the hearing on the gunshot residue, see if he could get that thrown out. Despite what Castelluccio had said, doing so would likely get a much better deal offer, which could potentially end it.
But it was also time to make a real effort to establish Rafael’s innocence. Duncan wouldn’t necessarily communicate that part of the plan to Blake, but he didn’t see how he could avoid at least making some effort in this direction. It was a one-witness case; the obvious thing was to take a hard look at Chris Driscoll.
Duncan couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling he’d had ever since Blake had told him he’d be keeping the case. There was something going on he didn’t understand, a hidden agenda. Duncan had a lingering suspicion that he was being used in some way, but why and by whom he couldn’t tell. Then again, Blake was never exactly forthcoming, and the last couple of weeks had been generally disorienting, particularly with Leah Roth’s entrance into his life. He didn’t see his way to figuring it out, so Duncan resolved to just do what was in front of him to do. If something else was going on, it would reveal itself eventually. With any luck he would see it coming in time.