“Okay, Val,” I said.

I walked over to the house door and pushed the button that raised the garage door. When I turned back I saw he had taken a box cutter from the tool bench and was cutting the tape on the top of the TV box. It looked like he was trying to confirm what we already knew about the plasma. I walked past him and out of the garage.

“I’ll split it with you, Val,” I said. “I’ll have Lorna send you a check in the morning.”

“Don’t bother. I’ll tell them it was delivered this way.”

I got to my car door and looked back at him.

“Then give me a call when they arrest you for fraud. After you bail yourself out.”

I got in the Lincoln and backed out of the driveway. When I glanced back into the garage, I saw Valenzuela had stopped cutting open the box and was just standing there looking at me.

Traffic going back into the city was light and I made good time. I was just coming in through the front door when the house phone started to ring. I grabbed it in the kitchen, thinking maybe it was Valenzuela calling to tell me he was taking his business to another defense pro. At the moment I didn’t care.

Instead, it was Maggie McPherson.

“Everything all right?” I asked. She usually didn’t call so late.

“Fine.”

“Where’s Hayley?”

“Asleep. I didn’t want to call until she went down.”

“What’s up?”

“There was a strange rumor about you floating around the office today.”

“You mean the one about me being Raul Levin’s murderer?”

“Haller, is this serious?”

The kitchen was too small for a table and chairs. I couldn’t go far with the phone cord tether so I hoisted myself up onto the counter. Through the window over the sink I could see the lights of downtown twinkling in the distance and a glow on the horizon that I knew came from Dodger Stadium.

“I would say, yes, the situation is serious. I am being set up to take the fall for Raul’s murder.”

“Oh my God, Michael, how is this possible?”

“A lot of different ingredients-evil client, cop with a grudge, stupid lawyer, add sugar and spice and everything nice.”

“Is it Roulet? Is he the one?”

“I can’t talk about my clients with you, Mags.”

“Well, what are you planning to do?”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered. I’ll be okay.”

“What about Hayley?”

I knew what she was saying. She was warning me to keep it away from Hayley. Don’t let her go to school and hear kids talking about her father the murder suspect with a face and name splashed across the news.

“Hayley will be fine. She’ll never know. Nobody will ever know if I play this thing right.”

She didn’t say anything and there was nothing else I could do to reassure her. I changed the subject. I tried to sound confident, even cheerful.

“How did your boy Minton look after court today?”

She didn’t answer at first, probably reluctant to change the subject.

“I don’t know. He looked fine. But Smithson sent an observer up because it’s his first solo.”

I nodded. I was counting on Smithson, who ran the DA’s Van Nuys branch, having sent somebody to keep a watch on Minton.

“Any feedback?”

“No, not yet. Nothing that I heard. Look, Haller, I am really worried about this. The rumor was that you were served a search warrant in the courthouse. Is that true?”

“Yeah, but don’t worry about it. I’m telling you, I have things under control. It will all come out okay. I promise.”

I knew I had not quelled her fears. She was thinking about our daughter and the possible scandal. She was probably also thinking a little bit about herself and what having an ex-husband disbarred or accused of murder would do to her chances of advancement.

“Besides, if it all goes to shit, you’re still going to be my first customer, right?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The Lincoln Lawyer Limousine Service. You’re in, right?”

“Haller, it doesn’t sound like this is a time to be making jokes.”

“It’s no joke, Maggie. I’ve been thinking about quitting. Even before all of this bullshit came up. It’s like I told you that night, I can’t do this anymore.”

There was a long silence before she responded.

“Whatever you want to do is going to be fine by me and Hayley.”

I nodded.

“You don’t know how much I appreciate that.”

She sighed into the phone.

“I don’t know how you do it, Haller.”

“Do what?”

“You’re a sleazy defense lawyer with two ex-wives and an eight-year-old daughter. And we all still love you.”

Now I was silent. Despite everything I smiled.

“Thank you, Maggie McFierce,” I finally said. “Good night.”

And I hung up the phone.

Tuesday, May 24

THIRTY-THREE

The second day of trial began with a forthwith to the judge’s chambers for Minton and me. Judge Fullbright wanted only to speak to me but the rules of trial made it improper for her to meet privately with me about any matter and exclude the prosecution. Her chambers were spacious, with a desk and separate seating area surrounded by three walls of shelves containing law books. She told us to sit in the seats in front of her desk.

“Mr. Minton,” she began, “I can’t tell you not to listen but I’m going to have a conversation with Mr. Haller that I don’t expect you to join or interrupt. It doesn’t concern you or, as far as I know, the Roulet case.”

Minton, taken by surprise, didn’t quite know how to react other than to drop his jaw a couple inches and let light into his mouth. The judge turned in her desk chair toward me and clasped her hands together on the desk.

“Mr. Haller, is there anything you need to bring up with me? Keeping in mind that you are sitting next to a prosecutor.”

“No, Judge, everything’s fine. Sorry if you were bothered yesterday.”

I did my best to put a rueful smile on my face, as if to show the search warrant had been nothing more than an embarrassing inconvenience.

“It is hardly a bother, Mr. Haller. We’ve invested a lot of time on this case. The jury, the prosecution, all of us. I am hoping that it is not going to be for naught. I don’t want to do this again. My calendar is already overflowing.”

“Excuse me, Judge Fullbright,” Minton said. “Could I just ask what -”

“No, you may not,” she said, cutting him off. “What we are talking about does not concern the trial other than the timing of it. If Mr. Haller is assuring me that we don’t have a problem, then I will take him at his word. You need no further explanation than that.”

She looked pointedly at me.

“Do I have your word on this, Mr. Haller?”

I hesitated before nodding. What she was telling me was that there would be hell to pay if I broke my word and the Glendale investigation caused a disruption or mistrial in the Roulet case.

“You’ve got my word,” I said.

She immediately stood up and turned toward the hat rack in the corner. Her black robe hung there on a hanger.

“Okay, then, gentlemen, let’s get to it. We’ve got a jury waiting.”

Minton and I left the chambers and entered the courtroom through the clerk’s station. Roulet was seated in the defendant’s chair and waiting.

“What the hell was that all about?” Minton whispered to me.

He was playing dumb. He had to have heard the same rumors my ex-wife had picked up in the halls of the DA’s office.

“Nothing, Ted. Just some bullshit involving another case of mine. You going to wrap it up today?”

“Depends on you. The longer you take, the longer I take cleaning up the bullshit you sling.”

“Bullshit, huh? You’re bleeding to death and don’t even know it.”

He smiled confidently at me.

“I don’t think so.”

“Call it death by a thousand razor blades, Ted. One doesn’t do it. They all do it. Welcome to felony practice.”