New Tricks - By David Rosenfelt Page 0,83

favor of a client testifying in his own behalf, and it’s a sign that he thinks the situation is as dire as I do.

“But we don’t have to decide this now,” I say. “If you take the stand, you’ll be the last one to do so, and a lot is going to happen before then.”

“Are we losing?” Steven asks.

“We haven’t had our turn at bat yet.”

“I had this fantasy that the prosecution was going to present their case, and it would be so weak the judge would just end the trial right there.”

“It’s called a motion to dismiss,” I say. “I’m going to make one tomorrow morning, but the judge will turn us down. We need to make our case.”

“And can we effectively do that?”

“I don’t know.”

He smiles, but it’s not exactly a happy smile. “I was hoping you’d tell me what I wanted to hear. You should learn to bullshit more, you know?”

“I know,” I say, “it’s one of my weaknesses.”

Kevin and I head home to finish preparations for our defense case. We need to go over every detail, even though we’ve been over the same ground many times before, so that we are completely prepared for any eventuality.

It’s basically an issue of confidence for me. If I feel completely sure of the subject, then I can more comfortably freewheel, and thus be more effective. If I am in any way unsure of the details, I have a tendency to get more conservative.

Conservative is not what we need now.

The focus of the evening is altered when the court clerk calls to say that Agent Corvallis will be in court tomorrow morning at nine. We now have to turn our full attention to that argument, since if we fail we have no real hope of getting anything about Walter’s work or Robinson’s murder before the jury. And without that, we are in deep trouble.

So we work until midnight, pausing only to have dinner with Laurie. She’s made my favorite, pasta amatriciana, and in the face of that, preparation will have to wait. I have my priorities.

I arrive at court at eight thirty in the morning, and I learn that Hatchet has summoned Richard and me into his chambers for a pre-hearing chat.

“I have been told by FBI attorneys that there are serious national security implications involved in what Agent Corvallis is doing. I have turned down their request to withdraw my order for him to appear, but I have agreed that the hearing this morning will be closed, and the transcript will be held under seal,” he says.

“That’s fine with me, Your Honor.” I say.

“I’m so relieved,” Hatchet says. “You know how I covet your approval. Mr. Wallace?”

“Obviously we believe that Agent Corvallis should not be compelled to testify at all, but since we have for the moment lost that argument, we have no problem with it being closed and the transcript kept under seal.”

When we get back into the courtroom, Agent Corvallis has already arrived with four FBI attorneys. He gives me a big smile and handshake when he sees me, then introduces me to the smiling attorneys. Everybody’s so happy; you’d never know they were there to try to bury Steven Timmerman.

Steven is brought in, since defendants have the right to be present for every aspect of their trial. Hatchet then enters and convenes the hearing, spending a few minutes setting the ground rules. I will question Agent Corvallis first, and Richard will follow.

I am in an unusual situation here: The truth is I know very little about the FBI’s investigation of Walter Timmerman. I have theories, many of which have been mostly confirmed, but I don’t know the meat and potatoes of it. Thus, I can wind up doing that which lawyers religiously try to avoid, asking questions I don’t know the answer to.

“Agent Corvallis, have you been leading an FBI investigation focused on Walter Timmerman?”

“Yes.”

“When did that investigation begin?”

“About six months ago,” he says.

“What motivated it?”

“Walter Timmerman was doing some work that was potentially significant to the national security of the United States.”

“What was the nature of that work?” I ask.

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

“Are you aware if he enlisted the help of his friend Charles Robinson in connection with that work?”

“Yes. He did.”

I ask Corvallis to confirm that I approached him with my suspicions about Timmerman and Robinson, and he acknowledges that I did.

“Did I tell you the kind of work I thought Walter Timmerman was doing?”

The FBI lawyer objects, in an effort to