An Insignificant Case

Chapter Seventeen

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

When Charlie walked inside the Buccaneer Tavern, he was greeted by the sound of billiard balls smacking against one another, raucous hard rock music, and the smell of cigarettes, weed, sweat, and stale beer. When his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he spotted Gary Schwartz and Bob Malone drinking at a table with two other Barbarians.

Gary and Bob had heavy beards, violent tattoos, and massive builds. Schwartz was very smart, but he had never applied his intelligence in high school. Despite a so-so academic career, his ability as an offensive lineman had earned him a football scholarship to a Division II school, where he’d played one year before enlisting in the marines.

Bob Malone had been a good student in high school, but he’d had no interest in going to college. He had enlisted in the marines as soon as he graduated, and he and Gary had been reunited in Afghanistan. The friends had opened a garage when they returned stateside, and they were making good money as auto mechanics.

“Hi, fellas,” Charlie said, addressing his friends’ two companions. “Can I talk to Bob and Gary alone? It’s legal business.”

All the Barbarians liked Charlie because of his excellent won-lost record in cases involving the club. The two men left the table so Charlie could confer with his friends.

“What’s up?” Bob asked.

“I need a favor, and I’ll compensate you for your time.”

“Speak,” Gary said.

Charlie filled them in on Guido’s case.

“Now that he’s out of jail, I’m certain that someone is going to try to kidnap him so they can find the evidence he took from Hall’s safe,” Charlie said. “Can you watch his place and protect him until I can figure out how to make him safe?”

“Sounds like fun,” Gary said.

“Sounds like shit we did in-country,” Bob said.

“Guido is coming to Henry Roman’s office as soon as he’s released. I’ll let you know when we’re done, and you can follow him to his farm,” Charlie said.

“Consider it done,” Bob said.

“Does anything about the bail hearing strike you as weird?” Gary asked Charlie.

“What do you mean?”

“First, there’s Henry Roman. He’s one of the heaviest hitters in the criminal defense bar. How did you get him as cocounsel? Wouldn’t most judges appoint a public defender to help you out?”

“I guess,” Charlie conceded. “Judge Noonan must have called in a favor.”

“Why? The Constitution guarantees you a competent lawyer. Not a superstar. There must be a lot of public defenders with experience in murder cases. And have you ever heard of bail being granted in a murder case at the defendant’s arraignment without a hearing when the murder weapon was found in the defendant’s house?”

“I can’t answer that,” Charlie said. “This is my first murder case.”

“It ain’t the first one a Barbarian has been a part of.” Gary shrugged. “From what you’ve told us, Sabatini is in danger as long as he is out and about and is hanging on to whatever he took from the safe. Granting bail under unusual circumstances would be something someone would do if they wanted Guido where they could get to him.”

“What are you suggesting?” Charlie asked.

“I am suggesting that something smells fishy. What was Thomas Grant doing at an arraignment?”

“The sex trafficking case is super high profile, and Guido is involved in it, someway.”

“Still…” Gary said.

“You have a suspicious mind, Gary,” Bob said. “You’re not suggesting that the chief DA for our county has been fucking underage girls, are you?”

“I’m not suggesting anything. I just have a feeling that something ain’t right.”

Charlie knew that Gary was into conspiracy theories about the deep state, who killed Kennedy, and what one could find at Area 51, so he was desperate to divert him.

“Can I count on you to watch Guido’s back?” he asked.

“We’re on it,” Bob said. “No one will be permitted to fuck with Mr. Sabatini.”

Charlie had a drink with his friends before heading downtown. When he was in his car, he thought about what Gary had said. He had read the statutes governing death penalty cases, and he knew that getting bail without a formal hearing was not what normally happened.

And there was something else that was bothering him. Judge Noonan said that he was granting bail because the State hadn’t convinced him that their case was very strong. It wasn’t. Other than the painting, nothing connected Guido to the scene of the crime or the murders. There was the gun, but anyone could see that it was planted, like the painting, to frame Guido. So , he asked himself, why was the district attorney’s office charging Guido? Why hadn’t they waited until they had a stronger case?

One answer occurred to him. Being charged with murder was scary. Did someone want to frighten Guido into letting go of the items he took from Gretchen Hall’s safe?

Charlie frowned. Suddenly, he was thinking like Gary, and that wasn’t good. He didn’t believe in the existence of bigfoot, UFOs, and the Illuminati, and a conspiracy that involved people in power trying to frame Guido to frighten him into turning over the evidence he’d stolen sounded like a crackpot theory. But was it?