Hit List - Lawrence Block [97]
“Everybody’s got a VCR,” someone said.
“Exactly.”
He went on, dismissing the defense’s arguments one by one. Heads all around the table were nodding in agreement.It really was remarkable what a night’s sleep would do, he thought, even though he hadn’t managed more than an hour here and an hour there. It was just as well, he thought, that he was never going to see the woman again. Another such night might put him in the hospital.
“Well,” Milton Simmons said, “I get the feeling our overnight stay cleared things up for everybody. Unless Ms. Dantone’s still harboring some doubts.”
“I guess I’ve known all along the man’s guilty,” Gloria said, “but I wanted to be sure I was convinced beyond a reasonable doubt.”
“And?”
“I woke up with better perspective,” she said, “just like everybody else. And, if I had even a trace of doubt, Mr. Keller cleared it up for me.”
“We could share a taxi,” Gloria said, “but let’s not.”
“All right.”
“It was a shipboard romance, and you have to know it’s over the minute the boat docks. Of course instead of the Love Boat we had the Days Inn.”
“It used to be a Ramada.”
“Well, there you are. I’ll think of you whenever I have Vietnamese food, but I’ll be staying away from Vietnamese restaurants for a while. And if we’re ever on the same jury again—“
“Hey, you never know.”
She hailed a cab. He watched it pull away, then caught one of his own.
There were four messages on his machine, all from the same person. He called back, and Dot picked up the phone and said, “Where were you?”
“Sequestered,” he said, and explained.
“So you went to court yesterday morning, and they kept you overnight at a hotel near the airport. Why the airport?”
“No idea.”
“You couldn’t agree on a verdict so they locked you up. Then you agreed and they let you go home. There’s a lesson there.”
“I know.”
“But they didn’t lock you up for the weekend, did they?”
“No.”
“You went down to Baltimore.”
“Right after court adjourned Friday.”
“And came back Sunday.”
“Right.”
“And called me, and we had a conversation.”
“No, I didn’t call.”
“No kidding, you didn’t call. Which would have been fine. I’m not your mother, I don’t get palpitations if a Sunday comes and goes without a phone call from you. If there’s nothing to report, why should you feel compelled to make a phone call?”
“Dot—“
“Then Monday afternoon I got a FedEx delivery. A little package about half the size of a cigar box, and guess what it was full of?”
“Not cigars.”
“Money,” she said, “and that threw me, because who would be sending me money? Coincidentally enough, it was just the amount we would have had coming if you’d closed the file in Baltimore. So I took a train to the city, bought the Baltimore Sun at the out-of-town newsstand, and read it on the way back to White Plains. Guess what I found.”
“Uh—“
“Macnamara surprised a burglar in her Fells Point home,” she said, “but his surprise was nothing compared to hers when he grabbed the fireplace poker and beat her head in with it. Now this has to be news to you, Keller, because of course otherwise you would have called. So it’s the famous Keller luck, right? Someone else helped us out and did the dirty deed, and we get the credit.”
“I did it, Dot.”
“No kidding.”
“It was late by the time I got home Sunday night.”
“Too late to call?”
“Well, pretty late.”
“And it was early when you left for court yesterday.”
“I was a little rushed,” he said. “I had to pack a change of clothes, in case we were going to be sequestered overnight, and by then I was running late.”
“And last night?”
“We were sequestered.”
“They didn’t let you make a phone call?”
“No telling how secure the line was.”
“I suppose. But what about before you got on the train in Baltimore? Sunday afternoon, Sunday evening, whenever it was. I’d have accepted a collect call, if you were out of quarters.”
“I didn’t think of it.”
“You didn’t think of it.”
“I had things on my mind.”
“Like what?”
“Well, the trial,” he said. “You want to know something,