Presumption of Guilt (11 page)

“Couldn’t he have earned it?”

“I suppose”

“Anything else?”

“Yeah. As soon as I started to talk about the jail, he clammed up.”

“Seems like everyone clams up about that topic,” Dani said. “What did he say about the argument with Joe Singer?”

“Said it was routine.”

“What’s your assessment of him?”

“Oh, he’s hiding something. And I’m gonna find out what.”

Bryson picked up the phone in his home office on the first ring. “Why are you calling me here?” he said.

“I just had a visitor.”

“How nice for you.”

“An investigator, working on Molly’s case. She has new lawyers. You know about them?”

“Of course I do.”

“It’s not going to stay buried. What are we going to do about that?”

“Stop worrying. I’ll handle it. Just like I always do.”

C
HAPTER

18

“I
’m going in to work tomorrow.” It was “honeymoon hour,” and Dani lay entwined in Doug’s arms on the living room couch.

“Are you sure? You’re still pretty sore.”

“It’s time.”

Doug stroked Dani’s hair. The windows were open, and a soft breeze carried into the room the sweet smell of the chrysanthemums and sunflowers blooming in their front garden. “Maybe it’s time to think about changing jobs.”

Dani sat upright and looked at Doug. “Why would I do that?”

“Because this job is too dangerous. You could go back to the US Attorney’s Office. They would take you in a heartbeat.”

“It’s just as dangerous there, probably more so. With every case, I’d be trying to convict criminals.”

“But at least they have the resources to protect you. Or maybe you could work at a Wall Street firm. They pay a fortune there. The only criminals you’d be defending would be accused of white-collar crimes. Not so likely to run you off a road.”

Dani lay back down again. “No, I like it at HIPP.”

“Then what about going back to writing appeals?”

For many years, Dani had only worked on appeals at HIPP. Last year she had conducted her first investigation into a client’s claim of innocence and had continued leading investigations ever since.

“I could be walking down the street tomorrow and have a crane fall down on me,” she said. Just that had once happened on a Manhattan street. “I could be driving home from work and skid off the road on my own in the ice. I could fly to another state to argue an appeal and the plane could crash.” Dani took Doug’s hand in hers and squeezed it tight. “There are no guarantees of safety no matter what I do. But what I’m doing is important. The US Attorney’s Office has no shortage of highly qualified attorneys eager to work there. And that’s true at the Wall Street firms, too. It’s different at innocence projects. There aren’t enough attorneys throughout the country to represent all the people incarcerated who insist they’re innocent.”

“Most of the requests you get are from people who were rightly convicted.”

“Sure, but for someone who’s truly innocent, we’re their last hope.” Dani knew nothing she said would ease Doug’s worries. If he’d been the target of an attack, she’d be making the same arguments. She couldn’t live her life running from potential danger, though. It just wasn’t in her DNA. She’d be more alert from here on out, but she wouldn’t stop.

Once again, Dani waited in an attorney interview room for Molly. She hadn’t seen her since their interview had been cut short almost two weeks earlier. After ten minutes, the door opened and Molly stepped inside. A guard, heavyset and with a sour expression, unlocked the shackles binding her wrists and ankles, then stepped outside the room.

“I was afraid you’d forgotten about me,” Molly said, a shy smile on her face.

“I was in a car accident and laid up for a bit. But I’m back at work now.”

“And you’re okay?”

“I’m fine now.” Dani took out her notepad and pen. “When I was here last, we started to talk about the Hudson County jail your dad built.”

“I remember. But I was just a teenager then. I didn’t pay too much attention to what my father did. As long as he stayed out of my business, I was happy.”

“There were a lot of articles in the newspaper about the cost of the jail. Do you recall that?”

Molly shrugged. “I only read the paper when one of my teachers assigned it.”

There was nowhere to go with this line of questioning. If Joe Singer had been skimming money from the jail contract, Molly didn’t know anything about it. She’d change gears.

“Molly, I hope you don’t mind if I ask you some personal questions. It’ll help me get to understand you better, especially since your memory of that night is blank.”

“Sure, ask me anything.”

“Tell me about your daughter.”

Molly’s body seemed to deflate in her chair. She swallowed and looked down at the floor. “She was such a beautiful baby,” she said at last, in little more than a whisper. “She was with me her first year. I shouldn’t have been allowed in the nursery program here. Usually only mothers convicted of nonviolent crimes are accepted. But I think the warden felt sorry for me because I was so young.”

Dani knew that the nursery program at this prison was the oldest in the nation and the model for other prisons throughout the country. Mothers with their babies were housed in a separate section of the prison.

“When they took her away from me, I wanted to die,” Molly continued. “I couldn’t bear being parted from her.”

“Do you still see her?”

“For a few years, Finn brought her every Saturday. There’s a special visiting room here stocked with books and games. Sophie would sit on my lap and I’d read to her. At the end of our visit, when she had to leave, she’d cry so hard.” She took a deep breath and went on. “After Finn married Kim, they convinced me it would be better for Sophie if she stopped visiting me, that it was traumatic for her to be wrenched from me each week. I never saw her after that.” Tears began to roll down Molly’s cheeks. “I still get blue every Saturday. I’ll never stop missing her.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been for you to give her up.”

Molly wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. “If it’s been better for Sophie, then that’s all that matters.”

“Has Finn written you about Sophie’s progress? Sent you pictures, maybe?”

“No. He thought it would be better to cut off all contact.”

This was such a bleak statement that it took Dani a moment to figure out how to proceed.

“I was surprised that Finn testified against you at your trial,” she said at last.

“He didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.”

“Still,” Dani said, “he was your boyfriend. No one but him would know what you told him. If he said nothing, no one would be the wiser.”

“He felt tremendous guilt about testifying. He told me his father pressured him and he relented. I forgave him a long time ago.”

Dani made a mental note to schedule her interview with Finn soon. Something didn’t seem right.

“Do you mind if we talk about your sister?”

Molly stiffened. “There’s nothing to talk about. I haven’t seen or spoken to her since I came here.”

“She’d like very much to visit you.”

Molly stared stonily at Dani. Her body language made it clear that her sister was unwelcome.

“If we’re able to uncover new evidence that would justify a retrial, it’s helpful to have family members in the courtroom,” Dani said. “It humanizes the defendant.”

“I don’t want her help now. It’s too late.”

Dani knew how hard it could be to forgive. She’d seen over and over petty annoyances tear families apart. Once a barrier was built, the task of dismantling it seemed insurmountable. She also knew the importance of family, especially when, like Molly, defendants had little else.

“Your sister was barely out of her teens herself when your parents were murdered. She didn’t have the judgment that comes with age and experience. She loved your parents very much, just as you did. And the hurt she felt from their loss left her vulnerable to the police’s certainty that you were guilty.”

Molly folded her arms across her chest and continued to say nothing.

“You have a niece and nephew now.”

“I know. My aunt told me. And she has a nice, cushy life with a rich husband.”

“She loves you.”

“Hah!”

“Just think about letting her into your life again, okay?”

Molly shrugged and said nothing more.

“Let’s go back to your father’s business. You told your trial lawyer you’d heard him arguing with his partner, Quince Michaels. Do you remember what they tended to fight about?”

Molly was silent for a minute, rubbing her wrists where the shackles had been. “I’m sorry. It was so long ago.”

“Did they ever fight about the jail?”

“The jail?” Molly shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. I just don’t remember. They’d get loud, though. Sometimes it would scare me.” She shook her head. “In those last days, there just seemed to be so much yelling. Me and my mom, about Finn, and my dad and Mr. Michaels, about whatever they were fighting about. They’d be in my dad’s office, going at each other. Sometimes it felt like the world was ending.”

And then it did, Dani thought.

C
HAPTER

19

I
t took twenty minutes for Dani to make her way through the crowd of colleagues wishing her well on her return to work. Once she reached her office, she found a stack of messages on her chair and a dozen folders in her in-box, each containing requests from inmates seeking HIPP’s help. She would get to those later. First, she needed to meet with Tommy and Melanie. They both entered Dani’s office a few minutes after she’d gotten settled.

“Where are we on Molly Singer’s case?” Dani asked.

“We’ve hired a forensic accountant,” Tommy said. “I gave him the report from the state and he’s talked to them about getting all the underlying documents. Singer’s company was paid on a cost-plus-fifteen-percent basis.”

“What kind of documents?”

“As part of the audit, the state got copies of every invoice from subcontractors, as well as records of all payments for materials and labor they provided themselves. The accountant will look for any irregularities in all of that.”

“Does he think the state will balk at turning them over?”

Tommy shook his head. “If there was fraud, they’ll want to know about it.”

Dani shifted in her seat. Although she’d felt well enough to return to work, the healing ribs still were uncomfortable. “Anything further with Michaels?”

“Yeah. I found his first wife. Her name is Ellen Michaels. They were divorced eleven years ago and she hasn’t remarried. She’s still living in Andersonville. I’m driving up there tomorrow to meet with her.”

“Great.” Dani turned to Melanie. “And on the legal front?”

“I’ve gone through the trial transcript and appeals. There were a number of questionable rulings by the trial judge, all against Molly, but her attorney raised them all at the Appellate Division and lost.”

Dani leaned back in her chair. She had the best team in the office, and they worked well together. But maybe Bruce was right. Maybe they’d taken on an impossible task. It was too early to know. Maybe the forensic accountant would find something the state had missed. Maybe Ellen Michaels knew what her husband was up to. Maybe a miracle would happen.

“Molly told me something this morning that might help,” she said. “She remembers her father quarreling with Michaels. Evidently they went at it pretty regularly, but it really heated up shortly before his death.” Dani leaned toward Tommy. “We need you to work your magic. This case will turn on what you can uncover.”

“I’ll see what I can do, although right now my bag of magic tricks seems pretty empty.”

The meeting over, Dani turned to the work on her desk. The inmate requests for help didn’t take long to go through. Each presented a clear reason not to proceed. After she returned the phone calls that had come in during her absence, she strolled over to Bruce’s office

Bruce looked her over when she entered, and the downturn of his mouth told Dani he was still worried about her. “How are you feeling?” he asked. “You shouldn’t do too much your first day back. Make it a short day today.”

“I probably will. I’m still tiring easily.”

Bruce cleared his throat. “You know, everyone will understand if you want to step down from the Singer case.”

“You must have been talking to Doug.”

Bruce shook his head. “We’ve never had any attempts on our staff before. It’s disturbing to think one of us could be at risk. Your safety, and everyone else’s, is more important to me than clearing an innocent inmate.”

“Would you back down if it’d happened to you?”

“I’m a single male with no children. If something happened to me, I wouldn’t be leaving anyone behind. Jonah is dependent on you.”

Dani leaned back in the chair and began to twirl the ends of her hair. She didn’t consider herself to be a brave woman. So many things frightened her—flying on an airplane, hiking narrow trails high on a mountain, getting lost with no means to contact anyone, dying before Jonah’s future was settled. “I do worry about Jonah. But I can’t run away because I’m afraid. It would just invite this kind of attack to happen again. No, I’m committed to Molly’s case. And all our cases.”

They chatted some more before Dani made her way back to her office and took up her file for Molly Singer again. The last thing she picked out of it was the report of the jail audit by the State of New York. The most recent letter Donna had received said a group of people had skimmed money from the project, and named Joe Singer and Quince Michaels as two of them. Who were the others?

Frank Reynolds certainly was in a position to do so. He oversaw the bills that were submitted for it. But Paul Scoby, the Hudson County Democratic committee chairman, said the ranking Democrat on the committee had to sign off on them as well. And she was dead.

A car accident.

Dani knew that, given recent events—she could still see that murderous black SUV in her rearview mirror, feel it slamming into the back of her, feel the awful loss of control as it drove her off that road—it would be some time before any car accident didn’t sound sinister to her. But still: what if Mary Jane Olivetti, too, had been in on the scam? Were she and the Singers all murdered for the same reason—to keep them quiet? Or was her accident just an accident—an unfortunate occurrence that had nothing to do with the Singers’ murders?