Fugitive

Senior flashed a malevolent smile. “You mean your contention that I bribed Otto Jarvis and had something to do with that Rodriguez person, who took the pictures of Sally and her convict friend? Maybe you haven’t heard, but Otto Jarvis passed away, a heart attack, I believe. And Mr. Rodriguez was shot to death in an alley. Something to do with a drug deal gone bad. So you would no longer be able to produce witnesses to support your allegations. But why bring up Sally’s trial? It’s old news.”

“I still don’t understand why I’m here.”

“You’re representing Mr. O’Co

“Why would I do that?”

“I have occasional need for an attorney with your talents, Mr. Jaffe. Obviously, I couldn’t retain you or your firm while you’re representing Mr. O’Co

Frank stared directly at Senior. Senior didn’t blink.

“You don’t see anything wrong in the offer you just made?”

“None whatsoever.”

“Some people might interpret it as a bribe.”

“Nonsense. It’s to my advantage to have the very best legal talent at my disposal.”

Frank smiled. “I appreciate the compliment, Mr. Pope, but I’m going to turn you down.”

“That might not be wise. If you don’t assist me I may have to contact the bar with some disturbing information I’ve had in my possession for some time. I would be very upset if I was unable to retain you because you were no longer permitted to practice law.”

All of Frank’s tolerance for Pope’s clumsy attempt to corrupt him disappeared instantly, and Frank fixed his host with an icy stare.

“Why wouldn’t I be able to practice law, Mr. Pope?”

Senior pulled a photograph of Frank and Sally Pope going into her home at night out of his inside jacket pocket.

“The bar frowns on affairs between a lawyer and his client. I have numerous pictures of you and Arnie’s wife together during and after her trial and investigators who will swear before a disciplinary panel that you left my daughter-in-law’s house in the small hours of the morning on many occasions.”

Frank stood up. “You’re going to have a hard time convincing the bar that I wasn’t conferring with Mrs. Pope about her legal affairs, but do your worst. I’ve never sold out a client and this definitely will not be the case where I start.”

“You’re making a big mistake.”

“No, Mr. Pope, you are. If you come after me, do not think for one moment that I won’t come right back at you.”

CHAPTER 43

I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Mike Greene said as he carried two duffel bags loaded with Karl Burdett’s files in the Pope and Marsh cases into Amanda’s condo shortly after seven in the evening. Amanda gave him a big kiss on the cheek.

“You’re a prince,” she said as she picked up one of the bags and carried it into the living room. Amanda’s romance with Mike Greene had been rocky at times, but that had always been her fault, especially when she’d been traumatized by the events in the Cardoni case. What made her love Mike was his consistency. He was always there for her and he never judged her, even when she was at her worst.

“I would have been over earlier but I had to wait until everyone left, so no one would see me smuggling this stuff out,” he told Amanda as he hauled his bag to the couch and opened it.

“I’ll go through these files and you go through yours,” Amanda said as she sat on the floor. “Then let’s switch.”

“I assume you made coffee,” Mike said as he started pulling folders out of his bag, “because we have to get through this tonight so I can get the files back to the office in the morning before anyone gets in.”

“Fresh coffee and doughnuts are on the counter. I even bought some maple bars,” she added, naming Mike’s favorite guilty pleasure.

“It’s going to take more than a maple bar to get back in my good graces,” he grumbled.

“I’ll see what I can do, if we’re not too tired,” Amanda promised as she stacked manila folders in front of her.

IT WAS TEN o’clock and several cups of coffee later when Amanda and Mike got ready to swap.

“Did you find anything in your files or Burdett’s notes that was helpful?” Mike asked.

“No,” she said, disappointed, “though I did find something that I don’t understand.”

Amanda carried a folder to the couch and sat next to Mike. He opened it.

“This looks like a master file,” Mike said. “It has copies of the pleadings, correspondence.”

“That’s what I figured, but what’s this?” she said, pointing to a line on a log sheet that was stapled to the left inside cover. “A lot of the entries were made twelve years ago, but look at this entry.” Amanda pointed at the numbers and letter: 1253X. “It was made yesterday. Do you know what it means?”

“Sure. Washington County wanted to have a copy of the file to work on while we were looking at Karl’s original file. That’s a record of the number of pages that were copied. The file is a little more than twelve hundred pages long.”

“Okay, that’s what I figured. But look at this entry,” Amanda said, pointing to an earlier, recent entry that read 1209X.

“That probably refers to another copy of the file,” Mike said.

“Yeah, but see the date and time the copies were made? That’s the afternoon of the day I visited Hillsboro and told Burdett that Charlie was returning to Oregon to face the charges against him.”

“I don’t see where you’re going. I usually make a copy of my file so I can break it up when I make files for individual witnesses.”

“If the office had a duplicate file when you asked them to make a copy, why did they need another one?”

Mike’s brow furrowed.

“On the day I told him Charlie was returning to face trial, I think Karl made a copy of his complete file for someone who is not in the DA’s office.”

“Who would want something like that?”

“Remember I told you how upset Burdett was when the sniper took his shot at Charlie?”

“Yeah.”

“I think Burdett might have been killed because he put two and two together and came up with Arnold Pope as the man behind the assassination attempt on Charlie and the murders at Sally Pope’s house.”

“That’s some stretch, Amanda.”

“With Gary Hass out of the picture, who other than Senior would want Charlie dead? Revenge is an obvious motive for the attack at the courthouse. Arnold Pope Sr. could order Burdett to make a copy of the case file and expect to be obeyed. He could order Burdett to set free the man he held responsible for his son’s murder so he would be out of jail, where an assassin could take a shot at him.”

Mike frowned.

“I’m certain Sally Pope was used to lure Charlie out of his hotel so he could be killed after the first attempt at the courthouse failed,” Amanda went on. “If Charlie’s mysterious savior hadn’t appeared on the scene, Sally and Charlie would have died. Pope is the only person I can think of who would want both of them dead.”

As she spoke, an image of Nathan Tuazama flashed through her brain, but she decided to keep that information confidential. Besides, Tuazama wouldn’t kill Charlie before he had the diamonds.

“It’s a stretch, Amanda, and you haven’t given me any hard evidence to work with.”

“You’re right about the proof part but you have to admit my idea makes sense. When Agent Cordova told Burdett that Gary Hass couldn’t have been the sniper, I think Burdett realized that Pope was behind the attempt on Charlie at the courthouse. What if he confronted Pope? What if Pope became worried that Burdett would tell someone his theory? Pope could have had the same person who murdered Sally take care of Burdett.”