The Fifth Witness - Michael Connelly [45]
“What about Dahl?”
I shook my head.
“What for? He already stole my contract and made the deal. Why beat me up after?”
“Maybe just to slow you down. Maybe to add intrigue to the project. This adds another dimension. It’s part of the story.”
“Seems like a stretch. I like Opparizio better.”
“But why would he do it?”
“Same thing. To slow me down. Warn me off. He doesn’t want to be a witness and he doesn’t want to be dragged through the shit he knows I have on him.”
Cisco shrugged.
“Still not sure I’m buying it.”
“Well, whoever it was doesn’t matter. This isn’t going to slow me down.”
“What exactly are you going to do about Dahl? He stole the contract.”
“I’m working on it. I’ll have a plan for that douche bag by the time I get out of here.”
“When’s that supposed to be?”
“They’re waiting to see if I’m healing all right. If not, they might take off my left nut.”
Cisco cringed as though I was talking about his left nut.
“Yeah, I try not to think about it,” I said.
“Okay then, moving on. What about the two men? I’ve got two white guys, early thirties, leather bomber jackets and gloves. You remember anything else this time?”
“Nope.”
“No regional or foreign accents?”
“Not that I can remember.”
“Scars, limps or tattoos?”
“None that I remember. It went down pretty quick.”
“I know. You think you could pick them out of a six-pack?”
He was talking about a photo spread of mug shots.
“One of them I could. The one who did all the talking. I didn’t look at the other one too much. Once he hit me I wasn’t seeing anything.”
“Right. Well, I’ll keep working on it.”
“What else, Cisco? I’m getting tired.”
I closed my eyes to accentuate the point.
“Well, I was supposed to call Maggie as soon as you were awake. Her timing’s been off. Every time she’s been in here with Hayley you’ve been out.”
“You can call her. Just tell her to wake me up if I’m asleep. I want to see my kid.”
“Okay, I’ll tell her to bring her after school. Meantime, Bullocks wants to bring by the motion for a continuance for your approval and signature before filing it by the end of the day.”
I opened my eyes. Cisco had moved to the other side of the bed.
“What continuance?”
“For the prelim. She’s going to ask the judge to put it back a few weeks in light of your hospitalization.”
“No.”
“Mick, it’s Friday. The prelim’s Tuesday. Even if they let you out of here by then you’re not going to be in any kind of condition to—”
“She can handle it.”
“Who, Bullocks?”
“Yes. She’s good. She can handle it.”
“She’s good but green. Are you sure you want somebody just out of law school handling a prelim for a murder trial?”
“It’s a prelim. Trammel’s going to be bound over for trial whether I’m there or not. The best we can hope for is a little peek at the prosecution’s case strategy and Aronson will be able to report back on that.”
“You think the judge is going to allow it? He might see it as a move to set up an ineffective-counsel beef if there’s ultimately a conviction.”
“If Lisa signs off on it, we’ll be okay. I’ll call her and tell her it’s part of the case strategy. Bullocks can spend some time here with me over the weekend and I’ll prep her.”
“But what is the case strategy, Mick? Why not just wait till you’re healthy?”
“Because I want them to think they succeeded.”
“Who?”
“Opparizio. Whoever did this to me. Let them think I’m incapacitated or running scared. Whatever. Aronson handles the prelim and then we push this thing to trial.”
Cisco nodded.
“Got it.”
“Good. You go now and call Maggie. Tell her to wake me up no matter what the nurses say, especially if she comes with Hayley.”
“Will do, Boss. But, uh, there’s one more thing.”
“What?”
“Rojas is sitting out there in the waiting room. He wanted to visit but I told him to wait out there. He came yesterday, too, but you were sleeping.”
I nodded. Rojas.
“Did you check the car’s trunk?”
“I did. I didn’t see any evidence of a pick. No scratches on the tumblers.”
“Okay. When you go out, send him in.”
“You want