The Lawyer's Lawyer

CHAPTER Fifty-Seven



For the next ten days Tom and Jack pored over the State’s disclosures and its case, taking everything apart piece by piece, making sure they weren’t missing anything before finally agreeing to the early trial date.

They met every morning in Jack’s condo. Tom would bring the bagels and Jack would make the coffee. Henry was there for breakfast and he’d usually hang around for a while to see if they needed him to do anything. If not, he’d leave them alone.

“Let’s go over the obvious first,” Jack said after the seventh day when they had been through just about everything. “They’re going to use the two cops to establish that I said I was going to kill Felton. We can deal with them. Then they put Jeffries on and he goes through how he found the body, that there was no gun, and that Danni and I both told him that I shot Felton. Jeffries then talks about motive—he brings in the claims bill and the contingency fee agreement and makes the argument that I killed Felton because he screwed up my payday. Merton has got to ask him then why I didn’t plant the gun if I planned this all along, and that’s when he comes up with his theory that I was going to plant the gun but he, Jeffries, thwarted that plan by arriving on the scene so quickly. We don’t know they’re going to do that for sure but there’s no other way they can handle that problem that I can think of.”

“That’s the basic case. Now let’s get into the nitty-gritty,” Tom said.

The two men had developed a style between them of talking things out and taking them apart in brainstorming sessions. Jack found his older counsel to be sharp as a tack and totally flexible in going where the evidence took them. He was also brutally honest at times and Jack knew and appreciated that that was an absolute necessity.

“Let’s talk about those documents for a minute,” Tom said. “How are they going to authenticate them? They can’t use you.”

“They’ve listed a handwriting specialist. The contingency fee agreement is an original. If they can establish my signature on the agreement, I think it’s in. Once they get the agreement in evidence, I think the judge will have to let the claims bill in even though it’s a copy.”

“Do they have enough original examples of your signature for the specialist to work with? They haven’t yet asked for any samples,” Tom asked.

“I sent a few letters to the police department a few years back,” Jack said. “They can use those. And I filed some pleadings with Judge Holbrook, so they can look at the court file for those.”

“Okay, so they have enough examples to establish your signature. They’re going to get the documents in. Why don’t we agree to their admissibility,” Tom suggested.

“Why don’t we wait,” Jack countered.

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“Wait until trial. When Merton calls his handwriting expert, you stand up in front of the jury and tell the judge in open court that you think Mr. Merton is calling this witness to establish the authenticity of certain documents. Then tell the judge there’s no need for that—”

Tom cut him off excitedly. “We stipulate them into evidence right in front of the jury so the jurors know we’re not hiding anything. It’s brilliant.”

“Thank you,” Jack said. “I told you I was brilliant, you just weren’t listening.”

Tom smiled. “I’m an old man, I don’t hear everything.”

“You hear plenty. What were you going to tell me about the coroner’s report?”

“She lists the cause of death as a gunshot wound but the back of his head was smashed in.”

“I know. He fell backward, and it looks like he hit his head when he landed. Let’s look at the pictures again.”

Tom pulled out the pictures Merton had provided in the package he produced in open court. Tom turned to the pictures of Felton’s head.

“Look at that. He’d have to hit the ground awfully hard to do that kind of damage,” Tom said. “Maybe somebody smashed his head in because he wasn’t dead when he arrived.”

“Don’t go there, Tom. Look at the rock under Felton’s head. It’s certainly big enough to cause that kind of damage, and there’s blood all over it. Besides, the coroner didn’t say anything about somebody smashing his head multiple times.”

“The coroner probably didn’t look that closely because of the gunshot wound. Maybe you’re right, Jack. Maybe we should leave it alone, but this is your life we’re talking about. Why don’t we delay the trial and hire our own pathologist to look at this.”

“Look, Tom, you’ve read enough of these reports in your day. The bullet nicked the aorta. Now it wasn’t a big nick but that just means that it might have taken him twenty minutes to die rather than ten. There’s no doubt that my bullet killed the man.”

“You can get an expert to say anything.”

“I’ve seen it a thousand times. You pay them, they’ll say anything. We’re not going that route.”

“I didn’t think so. I’m just raising possibilities.”

“I know, Tom, and I appreciate that.”

“You should at least let me explore the possibility that the head wound may have expedited Felton’s demise.”

“For what reason?” Jack asked. “To suggest to the jury the possibility that Jeffries bashed Felton’s head in? I assure you that’s not going to help our case. Besides, I’m not going to do it.”

“Well, I think that’s what happened,” Tom said. “I think Jeffries took the gun and I think he bashed Felton’s head in.”

“You may be right, but those theories are not going to leave this room unless we have concrete evidence to support them.”

“I understand. That was our deal. Let’s move on. Do you think they’re going to call that girlfriend of yours?”

“Danni? She’s not my girlfriend.”

“I know, she’s just a friend. Do you think they’ll call her?”

“Of course. She can buttress Jeffries’s testimony that I said I shot Felton.”

“Any other reason?”

“None that I can think of.”

“Well, think hard because she’s an unknown for me.”

“I can’t think of any other reason they’d call her.”

“You’re sure, Jack?”

“Sure as I can be.”

“Okay, so far we have the cops, Jeffries, the coroner, your friend Danni—anybody else we can think of?”

“I was thinking about this—how are they going to establish it was me that called Felton?”

“I don’t know. I expected them to call somebody from the telephone company but nobody is listed on their witness list.”

“Dammit! I forgot,” Jack said. “They can get that from Danni. I called her a few times.”

“Let me ask you this one more time—is there anything else they can get from Danni?”

“No. I know I forgot about the telephone number but why do you keep pressing that issue, Tom?”

“Because she’s your blind spot, Jack. You think only a certain way about her and you know as well as I do that in a trial for your life you can’t have any blind spots.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure that’s everything.”

“Keep thinking. We can’t afford any surprises.”

“I will, Tom, but as of now I’ve got nothing.”

“So what do you think? Are we ready to go to trial?”

“I’m ready,” Jack said. “If you agree, I don’t want to wait.”

“I agree,” Tom said. “Let’s get it done.”