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“Well, he may have a lot more soon,” Mike said emphatically. “That's why I'm calling you now. I just got off the phone with a woman who gave me information about Easton. If she's telling the truth, it will blow this case apart.”

When he relayed the contents of his conversation with Belle Gar?cia, Richard's reaction was exactly what he had expected.

“Mike, if this woman is credible, and if she's got a receipt and a telephone book, I think I can get Gregg out on bail while it's investi?gated further.” Richard's voice became increasingly animated. “And if all this is true, I don't think he'll just get a new trial. I don't believe Emily Wallace would seek to try this again. I think she would move before Judge Stevens to vacate the verdict and dismiss the indict?ment.”

“That's the way I see it,” Mike agreed. “These people will be here in a little while. We'll know very soon where we're going with this. If they have what they claim they have, I'm putting them on Courtside tonight, and I'd like you to be on with them.”

“Mike, I'd be glad to, but I have to tell you that I have very mixed feelings towards these people. I don't know if I can be civil to them. Of course, I'm ecstatic for Gregg if this pans out. On the other hand, I am outraged that this guy would sit on this information because he might have to pay some back taxes. It's a disgrace and that's the kind?est word I can think of.”

“Look, Richard, I completely understand how you feel. They should have come forward sooner and I am sure you will say that to?night. But if you come on the program and just attack them, it's not going to help Gregg. And the last thing you want to do is scare off anybody else out there who's also been afraid to speak up for what?ever reason.”

“I hear what you're saying. I won't attack them, Mike,” Richard answered. “Maybe I'll even kiss them. But I still think it's a dis?grace.”

“It's an even bigger disgrace if Jimmy Easton was coached by someone to tell that story,” Mike reminded him.

“Emily Wallace would never do that,” Moore insisted.

“I didn't say she personally did, but look at it this way: When all this comes out, won't they want to file perjury charges against Easton?”

“I'm sure they will.”

“Richard, trust me, if someone in the prosecutor's office or some police officer fed him information to bolster his testimony, he'll turn that person in. Then he'll swear that he was threatened with the maximum sentence on his burglary if he didn't agree to lie on the witness stand.”

“That I can't wait to see,” Moore said vehemently.

“I'll call you back after I talk to the Garcia couple. God, I hope this is the answer.”

• • •

At ten minutes of seven, Belle and Sal Garcia arrived at Michael's office. For the next half hour, with a young associate producer sitting in as a witness, he listened to their story.

“It was a heavy marble standing lamp,” Sal explained, nervously. "A guy who had a little antique repair shop on Eighty-sixth Street used to have me make deliveries for him. Jimmy Easton was work?ing for me that day. We carried the lamp up together.

“The housekeeper told us to put it in the living room. Then the phone rang. She asked us to wait a minute and went into the kitchen to answer it. I told Jimmy to wait for her to sign the receipt. I remem?ber I didn't want to get a ticket for being double-parked. So I left him alone in the living room. I don't know how long he was in there by himself. Then I got a call last week from my friend Rudy Sling.”

Rudy Sling, Mike thought. His wife Reeney is the one who phoned to say she could tell us where Jimmy worked.

“Rudy reminded me that when I moved him up to Yonkers, Eas?ton was on the job, and Rudy's wife, Reeney, caught him going through the dresser drawers. So my guess is that Jimmy may have opened that squeaky drawer looking for anything he could steal while I was on my way to the truck and the housekeeper was in the kitchen on the phone.” Sal swallowed nervously and reached for the glass of water Liz had brought in