Resurrection Walk

Judge Coelho didn’t bother removing her black robe as she took a seat behind a massive desk that dwarfed any I had ever seen in the Criminal Courts Building, where state jurists presided.

“Well, gentlemen,” she said, “the gloves have certainly come off. And before things get too combative out there, I thought we’d have a little sit-down to discuss where we’re going in this hearing. Mr. Haller, you went down this road with Sergeant Sanger and here we are back again with Deputy Mitchell.”

I nodded as I collected my thoughts. I knew that my response would determine how the rest of the hearing would go.

“Your Honor, thank you for this opportunity to explain,” I said. “If we’re given the chance to present our full case, the court will see that Roberto Sanz was killed because he had become an FBI informant. He was, in fact, talking to an FBI agent an hour before he was killed. Lucinda Sanz was set up to take the fall for his murder and coerced into taking a plea.”

“Your Honor, this is crazy,” Morris said. “He can’t prove any of this, so he’s going to use open court to make outrageous and slanderous claims against law enforcement officers who were just doing their jobs.”

“Thank you, Mr. Morris,” the judge said. “But don’t speak until I ask you to. Now, Mr. Haller, how do you plan to show this? There is nothing in your moving papers that supports it.”

“Your Honor, the petition does state that we have evidence of a conspiracy to frame Lucinda Sanz,” I said. “This is that conspiracy. I could not outline it in detail because that would give the conspirators a heads-up and they would cover their tracks. I need the court’s latitude now so I can bring it out. My next two witnesses will make it abundantly clear, and I believe the court will then order the appearance of Roberto Sanz’s FBI handler — Agent MacIsaac — so he can be questioned under oath about what really happened on the day Sanz was murdered.”

“Your Honor,” Morris said, “if I could be heard.”

“No,” Coelho said. “That won’t be necessary, because I know what you’re going to say, Mr. Morris. But I am the trier of fact in this hearing. As such, I am obligated to seek the facts before rendering a decision. Mr. Haller, I am going to let you go forward but I warn you to move carefully. If you stray from the provable facts, I will shut you down hard and you won’t want that. Neither will your client. Am I making myself clear?”

“Yes, Judge,” I said. “You’re clear.”

“Very well,” Coelho said. “You can return to the courtroom and I will be there presently to continue the hearing.”

Morris and I got up and headed out the door. I followed him into the hall that ran behind the courtroom. As we approached the door that led to the court clerk’s corral, Morris suddenly turned and confronted me.

“You fucking asshole,” he said. “You don’t care who you drag through the mud as long as you can make a play in front of the media. How do you sleep at night, Haller?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Morris,” I said. “Lucinda Sanz is innocent and if you had given the case a full workup, you’d see that. The people I drag through the mud belong there. And you’re going to get splashed with it too.”

He turned and grabbed the handle on the door but then looked back at me.

“The Lincoln Lawyer, my ass,” he said. “More like the Lying Lawyer. No wonder your wife left you and your kid moved away.”

I grabbed Morris by the jacket collar, turned him, and drove him into the wall next to the door.

“How do you know about my wife and daughter?” I demanded.

Morris held his hands up against the wall, maybe hoping that somebody would come into the hall and see he was being attacked.

“Get your hands off me, Haller, or I’ll have you arrested for assault,” he said. “It’s common knowledge how you blew up your marriage.”

I released my grip and reached for the door handle. I swung the door open and looked back at him. He still had his hands up.

“Fuck you,” I said.

I walked back into the courtroom. The marshals had kept Lucinda in place, anticipating that the meeting in chambers would be quick. I sat down next to her and filled her in as best I could. I tried to be reassuring.

“As soon as we get through with Mitchell, we go to our forensics expert and then I think things will start turning our way. So let’s see where we are by the end of the day. We should know a lot by then.”

The judge returned to the courtroom and we were back on record. Morris initially helped move things along by passing on cross-examining Mitchell. The big deputy was excused from the courtroom, and that left me down to my last two witnesses and the recall of Stephanie Sanger. That is, unless I was able to convince the judge to order Agent MacIsaac to testify. I also had Frank Silver on my witness list, though I had done that largely to keep him out of the courtroom. I now had to consider calling him to the stand. It would be a risky move and he most assuredly would be a hostile witness. If I could find him.