An Insignificant Case

Chapter Twenty-Nine

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Charlie returned to his office and worked on a divorce for a woman his aunt had referred. He had just finished talking to the husband’s lawyer when his receptionist told him that he had a call.

“Who is it?” Charlie asked.

“She says that she’s Mr. Weiss’s mother.”

Charlie sat up in his chair. “Put her through.”

“This is Charlie Webb,” he said when they were connected.

“Are you my son’s attorney?”

“I’m representing Lawrence Weiss. Are you his mother?”

“Yes. How… how is he?”

“He seems to be doing okay.”

“It said on the TV that he thinks he’s a painter who studied with Michelangelo.”

“That’s true.”

Charlie heard a sob on the other end of the phone.

“My poor boy,” she said. “He had so much promise.”

“Mrs.… Is it Mrs. Weiss?”

“It’s Adler. Miriam Adler. I took my maiden name back when I divorced Larry’s father.”

“I’m so glad you called. We’ve been trying to get as much background on Larry as we can. Are you still in touch with Larry’s father? I need to talk to everyone who knew him when he was growing up.”

“Jerry passed away four years ago.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m not. His father drove Larry away.”

“Tell me what happened.”

“Larry is big now, but he was small and sickly as a child. My husband wouldn’t hide his disappointment. And I think he was jealous because Larry was so much smarter than we were. So, he made Larry’s life hell until Larry grew. But when he was little, Larry retreated into a fantasy world. I think that’s why he pretends to be someone he isn’t now.”

“This is all very important. Do you live in Oregon? Can we get together?”

“I live in Massachusetts. That’s where Larry grew up. He ran away the day after he graduated from high school. I haven’t seen him since then, but I read that he went to a college in California.” She sighed. “It makes sense that he would want to get as far away from us as he could.”

“Have you been in contact with Larry since high school?”

“No. And I’m not surprised he never tried to get in touch. Larry had a growth spurt in high school, and he built himself up so he was very strong. The day he graduated, Jerry got on him. When Larry talked back, Jerry tried to hit him.”

Charlie heard another sob. “Are you okay?”

“It’s very hard for me to think about that day.”

“What happened?”

“Larry defended himself. He beat Jerry so bad that he had to go to the hospital. That’s why Larry ran, although he might have been planning to escape for a while. He was always thinking ahead.”

“Did your husband tell the police?”

“No. He was too embarrassed, and I threatened to leave him if he did. Then, when it became clear that Larry was gone for good, I ended the marriage.” Charlie heard a sigh. “If I’d left Jerry sooner, maybe things would have been different. Maybe I could have protected my boy.”

“Ms. Adler, do you want to come to Oregon for Larry’s trial? I can send you a ticket and put you up in a hotel.”

“No. I can’t come unless Larry says that he wants to see me. I don’t think he does, and I don’t want to upset him.”

“Can I send someone to Massachusetts to interview you? If Larry is convicted, your testimony might save his life when the jury is deciding his sentence.”

“I have to think.”

“Okay. You have my number. Can you tell me how to get in touch with you?”

Ms. Adler hesitated. Then she gave Charlie her contact information. As soon as the call ended, Charlie leaned back in his chair. He felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Ms. Adler had helped him understand his client’s erratic behavior and had provided valuable information he could use to humanize Guido if he faced a death sentence.

Shortly after Charlie ended the call with Guido’s mother, Elin walked into his office. She didn’t look happy.

“How did it go?” Charlie asked.

“Not great. Guido cut me off as soon as I asked about his early life. Then he claimed he was tired and went into his house.”

“Don’t feel bad. That’s just Guido acting weird, which is what he does best.”

Elin was holding a memo. She gave it to Charlie.

“These are my notes of our conversation. He did open up about why he stopped studying mathematics, but there’s not anything else that we didn’t know already.”

“The stuff about the numbers is interesting,” Charlie said when he finished reading Elin’s notes, “but not getting him to talk about his early years might not matter. His mom called me.”

Elin sat up. “She did?”

“I have a lot of new information we can use if there’s a penalty phase.”

Charlie briefed Elin on his conversation with Miriam Adler.

“She’s a gold mine,” Elin said when Charlie was through.

“That she is.” Charlie looked at his watch. “Hey, it’s lunchtime. Are you hungry?”

“Now that you mention it, I am.”

“Do you like Middle Eastern food?”

“It’s one of my favorites.”

“I’ll call Henry. Then I’ll take you to my favorite Middle Eastern restaurant,” Charlie said.

“That sounds great.”

Charlie dialed Henry Roman’s number.

“What’s up, Charlie?” Roman asked, and Charlie told him about his conversation with Guido’s mother.

“That’s a real breakthrough,” Roman said. “What are you going to do with the information?”

“I’m going to visit Guido to see if I can use what I’ve learned to get inside his head.”

“Good luck with that,” Roman said.

“I’ll give it the old college try.”

“If anyone can get through to Sabatini, it’ll be you. And while we’re talking, I have something to tell you. Judge Noonan is hearing our pretrial motions, but I can’t be in court with you.”

“Why not?”

“I’ve got to go to San Francisco to try and settle a case.”

“Maybe we should ask for a set over. I don’t feel comfortable representing Guido by myself.”

“Hey, Charlie, there’s nothing complicated about these motions. A first-year law student could handle the hearing. We’ve discussed the issues, and we know how the judge is going to rule.”

“You’re right,” Charlie admitted. “Go to Frisco. I’ll be fine.”

“I wouldn’t go if I didn’t think you understood the legal issues.”

Habibi was a few blocks from Charlie’s office. They entered the restaurant and sat near the front window. Charlie couldn’t believe how much time he was spending with Elin. This made their second lunch in as many days. He wondered what she would say if he asked her to go to a movie or dinner, but he was afraid to ask because he still couldn’t convince himself that someone as beautiful and smart as Elin could ever want to have a serious relationship with him. Plus, he’d read enough newspaper stories about romances between employees and supervisors that had gone sour to know that a workplace romance could end very badly.

“So, Charlie,” Elin asked after the waiter took their orders, “did you always want to be a lawyer?”

“Honestly, I didn’t have any idea what I wanted to be. I have great parents, but my dad works in a factory and my mom is a clerk in a department store. Neither one went to college, so I didn’t have any guidance about what to do after high school. And my grades were never that good. I liked lawyer shows on TV, so that’s why I applied to law school after college, but I was rejected at almost every law school I applied to. I was lucky one school took me.”

“None of that matters now, though, does it?” Elin said. “You’ve ended up where you would have even if you went to Harvard. You’re a practicing member of the bar and cocounsel in a high-profile murder case with national coverage.”

Charlie smiled. “It does sound like I’m doing okay when you put it that way.”

“You’re a good lawyer, Charlie, and you’re going to clear Guido’s name. I just know it.”

Charlie laughed. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

He had never thought of himself as anything special as a lawyer, but now that he thought about it, a lot of his clients had said the same thing after he’d helped them, and so had Bridget Fournier.

As soon as Charlie paid for lunch, he told Elin that she could go home. Instead of going to his office, he walked to his garage. His talk with Guido’s mother had given him an insight into Guido’s behavior that he had not had before, and he had decided that a trip to Sabatini’s farm might prove useful.