become a client of ours.” She found the idea of the former senator being a client of Legal Aid pretty funny.
“Why wait?” I said. “Why not challenge it now?”
“Are you serious?”
“Sure. If nothing else, it would be interesting to see what the report looks like. How is it done?”
“We just write a letter demanding substantiation of the accounts and debts on the report. It’s pretty simple, really. It’s getting it fixed that’s the hard part.”
I pulled into the Will Rogers State Beach and parked facing the ocean. With the windows down and the light wind blowing in off the water, it was a perfect late summer evening. We watched people walking on the sand and riding bikes along the strand of pavement that ran along the beach.
“So what do you need to do it?” I asked.
“You’re really serious?”
“You bet. Why not?”
“Social Security number, last address, date of birth. That would do it.”
I dug though the file in my briefcase and wrote everything down on a sheet of yellow legal paper. “There you go. We can read it with a bottle of wine and have some laughs.”
17
The brief made it to the United States District Court for the Central District of California at three-thirty in the afternoon. The next day at ten in the morning, my phone rang.
“Mr. Olson, this is Ed Snyder of the Los Angeles Times. Do you have a minute?”
A reporter? I had no idea what to say. Was I even supposed to talk to reporters? I assumed not. “Yeah, this is Oliver Olson.”
“Mr. Olson, thanks for talking to me,” the voice said, despite the fact that I hadn’t done any talking yet. “The receptionist said you were working on the Steele case.”
“Uh, yeah, that’s right.” The brief had barely been on file for twelve hours, and most of those were in the middle of the night.
“Well, I’m doing a story on the Steele case and I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions.” His voice sounded young and hungry.
“Well,” I laughed, trying to act like a veteran at this sort of thing. “That depends on the questions.” Did people really ever answer with “no comment”?
“Certainly. I’ve read the brief. It’s quite a story. Do you guys really believe you’ll get Steele released?”
It seemed like a silly question. Like I was going to say no. “Well, we think Mr. Steele did not receive a fair trial. Given the testimony of Dan Kelly, it’s fair to say that a jury would likely have reached a different conclusion had they been presented with the evidence that Mr. Kelly has to offer.” I told myself to shut up, to just stop speaking, but the words flowed out.
“I see.” Ed paused on the other end of the line. I could hear him taking notes. Shit, I thought. I was going to be quoted in the newspaper and there was no way that could be good. If anyone was to be quoted, it was undoubtedly supposed to be Carver.
“So,” Ed went on, “how does Mr. Steele feel about all of this finally coming out?”
“Well, as you might imagine, he’s looking forward to getting a chance to tell his side of the story. He’s looking forward to getting the truth out there.”
“If he does get out, does he plan to seek office again?”
“You know, we’re just taking things one step at a time. I certainly haven’t talked to Steele one way or the other about that. I simply have nothing to say on that topic.” I had to find a way to end it. Could I just hang up?
“I was just wondering whether you know if his politics have changed during his incarceration. I would assume they have on certain issues like prison reform, but I was wondering about his more traditional issues. For example, has he expressed any opinion one way or the other on drilling in the Alaskan Wilderness Preserve?”
The question seemed bizarre. Steele was in prison for murdering his wife, the last thing on the guy’s mind was an issue as obscure as that. “Uh, no.” I chuckled, “I haven’t heard him talk about anything like that.”
“Well, I was just wondering. I mean, rumor was that he was getting ready to push for a bill that would open up those sections of Alaska for drilling. It was the last piece of legislation he was working on before his arrest. I was just wondering if that was an issue he still felt strongly about.”
“I have no idea. I think