The Fifth Witness - Michael Connelly [62]
“You want to know who his secretary is?”
“His personal secretary, yes.”
“Why would you want to know that, sir?”
“I am asking the court to indulge me.”
“Very well. Mr. Opparizio? Mr. Haller would like the name of your personal secretary.”
Opparizio leaned forward and looked at Zimmer as if needing his approval. Zimmer signaled him to go on and answer the question.
“Uh, Judge, I actually have two. One is Carmen Esposito and the other is Natalie Lazarra.”
He then leaned back. The judge looked at me. It was time to play the ace.
“Judge, I have here copies of a certified letter that was written by Mitchell Bondurant, the murder victim, and sent to Mr. Opparizio. It was received and signed for by his personal secretary Natalie Lazarra. The letter was turned over to me in discovery by the prosecution. I would like Mr. Opparizio to testify in court so that I can question him about it.”
“Let’s take a look,” Perry said.
I stepped away from the table and delivered copies of the letter to the judge and then to Zimmer. On my way back I swung by Freeman and offered her a copy.
“No, thanks. I already have it.”
I nodded and went back to the table but stayed standing.
“Your Honor?” Zimmer said. “Can we have a short recess to look this over? We haven’t seen it before.”
“Fifteen minutes,” Perry said.
The judge stepped down from the bench and went through the door to his chambers. I waited to see if the Opparizio team would take it out into the hall. When they didn’t move, I didn’t. I wanted them to worry that I might overhear something.
I huddled with Aronson and Trammel.
“What are they doing?” Aronson whispered. “They had to have known about the letter already.”
“I am sure the prosecution gave them a copy,” I said. “Opparizio acts like he’s the smartest guy in the room. Now we’re going to see if he is the smartest guy in the room.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’ve got him between a rock and a hard place. He knows he should tell the judge that if I ask about that letter he will take the Fifth and therefore the subpoena should be kicked. But he knows if he takes the Fifth in front of the media here, he’s in trouble. That puts blood in the water.”
“So what do you think he’ll do?” Trammel asked.
“Act like the smartest guy.”
I pushed back from the table and stood up. I nonchalantly started to pace behind the tables. Zimmer looked over his shoulder at me and then leaned in closer to his client. Eventually, I came back to Freeman, still in her chair.
“When do you wade in?”
“Oh, I’m thinking I might not have to.”
“They already had the letter, didn’t they? You gave it to them.”
She shrugged her shoulders but didn’t answer. I looked past her to Kurlen sitting three rows back.
“What’s Kurlen doing here?”
“Oh… he might be needed.”
That was a lot of help.
“Last week when you made the offer, that was because you had found the letter, wasn’t it? You thought your case was in real trouble.”
She looked up at me and smiled, not giving anything away.
“What changed? Why’d you pull the offer back?”
Again she didn’t answer.
“You think he’s going to take the Fifth, don’t you?”
The shrug again.
“I would,” I said. “But him…?”
“We’ll know soon enough,” she said, dismissively.
I went back to the table and sat down. Trammel whispered to me that she still wasn’t clear on what was going on.
“We want Opparizio to testify at trial. He doesn’t want to but the only way the judge will let him out of the subpoena is if he says he’ll invoke his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. If he does that, we’re dead. He’s our straw man. We need to get him on the stand.”
“Do you think he will take the Fifth?”
“I’m betting no. Too much at stake with the media here. He’s putting the finishing touches on a big merger and knows if he takes the nickel the media will be all over him. I think he’s just smart enough to think he can talk his way out of it on the stand. That’s what I’m counting on. Him thinking he’s smarter than everybody else.”
“What if—”
She was cut off by the return of the judge to the bench. He quickly went back on record