Hostile Witness

Read Hostile Witness for Free Online

Book: Read Hostile Witness for Free Online
Authors: William Lashner
work?”
    “Some. DUI, a few drug cases that pleaded out. I tried one aggravated assault to verdict.”
    “How did it go?”
    “Fine, until the jury came back.”
    “Juries can be like that. The only lawyers who never lose a case are the ones who won’t try the tough ones. Do much federal work?”
    “Yes, sir. It’s the only way to get to a jury before the client expires from old age.”
    “Ever appear before Judge Gimbel?”
    “No, but I heard he’s a tough old bird.”
    “Yes, he is,” said Prescott. “A little overdone for my liking, too.”
    I rubbed my chin to wipe off whatever it was he was staring at. Then he leaned farther forward. His voice became conspiratorially soft. “Jimmy Moore, the councilman.”
    “I know of him.”
    “He and his chief aide, Chester Concannon, are under indictment for extortion and racketeering.”
    “Yes. I know that also.”
    “Moore is accused of using his City Council post to try to extort a million and a half dollars from the owner of the nightclub Bissonette’s.”
    “That’s a lot of dollars,” I said.
    “Yes, it is. He’s accused of actually getting five hundred thousand. He is also accused of brutally beating ZackBissonette, the former baseball player who was also part owner of the club, because Bissonette had tried to interfere in the extortion plot. Finally, he is accused of burning down Bissonette’s because the payments stopped. All very serious charges that, if true, would make Jimmy Moore a monster. I represent him.”
    “Good luck,” I said, without really meaning it. From everything I had read about the case in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Moore was guilty as hell and going to spend many, many years in a federal prison. And the whole city knew that Bissonette, a retired second baseman who had been a darling of the Veterans Stadium crowd, was still in a coma from the beating.
    “Frankly, Moore’s politics are the exact opposite of mine,” said Prescott. “But in court that doesn’t matter. Now, Chester Concannon, the aide, was represented by my old friend Pete McCrae.”
    “It’s a shame what happened to him,” I said. McCrae was an obese Republican politico who had recently died in a Chinatown restaurant. They had thought it was a heart attack until they cut open his throat at the autopsy and found a large, fatty piece of duck lodged there. Dr. Heimlich, I guess, was dining elsewhere that night.
    “A tragedy,” agreed Prescott. “But now Chester Concannon needs new counsel. I was impressed with the way you handled the Saltz case and I thought you might want the opportunity.”
    “I’m flattered,” I said.
    “You should be. Trial is in two weeks.”
    “Wait a second,” I said. “If trial’s in two weeks I won’t have time to prepare.”
    “Everything you’ll need we have here for you, the documents, copies of the government’s tapes.” He gestured at the piles on his conference table. “We’ve done all the discovery already and McCrae’s files are readily available.”
    “I’d be thrilled to handle it, Mr. Prescott. But Iwould need more time. What’s the chance of getting a continuance?”
    “We don’t want a continuance. For political reasons the government indicted too soon, hoping to affect this fall’s election. Now they’re stuck going to trial with an incomplete investigation. And Bissonette is still in the hospital, unable to testify. They’re hoping he revives. We think, due to the weakness of their case, it’s to our advantage to get to trial before he does. We’ve opposed every motion for a continuance and asserted our rights under the Speedy Trial Act. The government wants a delay but the judge is holding to the trial date so long as the defense agrees. We need someone who can get up to speed quickly and be ready to go in two weeks.”
    “I can’t be ready to try a major criminal case in two weeks.”
    “Actually, you won’t have to. McCrae, before his visit to Ying’s Peking Duck House, was satisfied

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