Sleight of Hand

CHAPTER Fifty-Four

The day after Horace Blair fired him, Charles Benedict’s receptionist surprised him by announcing that Bobby Schatz was calling.

“What’s up, Bobby,” Benedict said in a cheerful voice.

“I’d like to take you to lunch.”

“Oh?”

“Can you meet me at Venezia at one?” Bobby asked, naming the most expensive Italian restaurant in D.C.

“Why do you want to meet?”

“I want to pick your brain about Horace’s case.”

“Does your client know we’re meeting?”

“No, and I don’t want him to know because he’ll tell Pratt, and Pratt will throw a fit.”

Schatz paused. When he spoke again his tone was conciliatory.

“Look, Charlie, I know how it feels to be dumped by a client, and I’m sorry it happened to you. It’s Pratt who got you fired. He’s got a bug up his ass about that bail hearing and he convinced Blair you weren’t competent. When he called me I told him you were perfectly capable of trying Blair’s case, but he insisted that you were out.”

Benedict paused for effect to make Schatz think that he was hesitant to meet, but meeting Blair’s new lawyer was a no-brainer. It would give him a chance to learn some of Bobby’s strategy and find out if there were any holes in his plan.

“Okay, Bobby. One it is,” Benedict said. He was smiling when he disconnected.



Bobby Schatz was waiting in a booth the restaurant reserved for him whenever he called. The maître d’ showed Benedict to the back, where he and Schatz would be hard to see and just as hard to hear. Then he hovered while Bobby asked Benedict if he’d eaten at Venezia before.

“It’s my first time,” Charlie admitted.

“Do you mind if I order for you?” Schatz asked.

“Go ahead.”

Bobby told the maître d’ what he wanted in rapid-fire Italian, then asked for a recommendation for the wine. The maître d’ thought for a moment before making a suggestion. When Bobby agreed, the maître d’ smiled and left them.

“You’re in for a treat,” Bobby assured Benedict. Then he got down to business.

“I haven’t had a chance to read the file yet,” Schatz said.

“I’ll messenger it over to you tomorrow.”

“Thanks. But, from what I’ve heard, Hamada has a strong case.”

“I agree.”

“Why don’t you give me your take on how to defend Blair.”

Over the antipasto and the first glass of wine, Benedict told Schatz how he thought the commonwealth attorney was going to present his case.

“So where’s the weakness?” Schatz asked when Benedict finished.

“Quite honestly, I don’t see any. I mean, there are the anonymous tips. You can argue they’re suspicious. And I made the point at the bail hearing that it’s hard to explain how that key got in the grave.”

“Yeah, I thought that was very astute,” Schatz said.

“But you’re still left with the evidence the cops found in the trunk, and the prenup.”

Schatz leaned forward and lowered his voice. “But they don’t have the prenuptial agreement—the actual document—and that gives me a way to wedge open the case. Hamada’s theory about the motive hinges on the idea that Blair killed his wife to keep her from getting twenty million dollars. How are they going to prove that?”

Rick Hamada’s boss, Ray Mancuso, was also worried about not having the prenup, but Benedict decided to keep that tidbit to himself.

“Barry Lester will claim Horace confessed the motive while they were locked up together,” Benedict said.

“Charlie, think about it. Everything Lester claims Blair told him about the prenup was in the newspapers, and those stories are inadmissible hearsay. I’ve had my investigator running down Lester’s background, and I’ll have a field day with him. I even think I’ve got a shot at keeping his statements about the prenup out because they mirror the newspaper story.”

“Hamada can subpoena Pratt to bring the agreement to court,” Benedict said.

Schatz smiled. “He doesn’t have it. There are only two copies. They can’t make Blair incriminate himself by subpoenaing his copy, and no one knows where Carrie hid hers. So Hamada is f*cked if he’s counting on producing the document in court.”

“That is a lucky break,” Benedict said.

“You aren’t kidding. If Hamada can prove that Blair was going to have to pay Carrie twenty million dollars during the week she was murdered, Blair can start making plans to furnish his cell on death row.”