A Matter of Life and Death by Phillip Margolin (ereader with dictionary TXT) 📕

Robin looked dejected. “I don’t have one.”

“Are you going to put Mr. Lattimore on the stand?” Loretta asked as they headed back to Barrister, Berman, and Lockwood under overcast skies as gloomy as Robin’s mood.

“What would you do?” Robin asked her associate.

“Don’t you have to put him on to explain why he was at Judge Carasco’s house?” Loretta asked.

“Amanda?” Robin asked.

“I agree with Loretta. Joe’s the only person who can tell the jury what really happened.”

“He’ll also be telling the jury that he killed Ortega,” Robin said.

“Manslaughter doesn’t carry a death penalty,” Amanda answered.

The trio debated their next move on the short walk to Robin’s building. They had just entered the lobby when Amanda’s cell phone buzzed. Amanda looked at the caller ID and held up a finger to silence everyone. She looked grim when the short call ended.

“That was my ‘friend,’” Amanda told Robin. “The next fight is tonight after sundown at the same place Joe fought.”

Robin was lost in thought as they rode the elevator to her floor.

“I have to make a call,” she said as soon as the elevator doors opened. “I’ll meet you in the conference room.”

When she was in her office, Robin closed the door and speed-dialed Carrie Anders. Carrie and Robin had grown to trust each other during a series of cases where they were on opposite sides but had shared information. Robin was hoping that the mutual respect that had developed would work in her favor tonight.

“Carrie, I just learned that there is going to be a no-holds-barred fight tonight, and I know where it’s going to be held. I’ll take you there, but you have to do something for me.”

“Yeah?” Brent Macklin said when he answered his phone.

“It’s me,” Ian Hennessey whispered.

“Can you speak up? I can barely hear you.”

“I’m in a stall in the men’s room at the DA’s office, and someone just came in. I can’t risk anyone hearing me.”

“Okay. So?”

“Anders and Dillon were talking with Vanessa Cole, and I overheard them. There’s a barn in Washington County. It’s where they hold the illegal fights. There’s going to be a raid tonight.”

“Where is the barn?”

“I don’t know, but Carasco might go to the fight if he’s a backer. Follow him, and he might lead you there.”

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Jeff’s pickup bounced as soon as he drove onto the unpaved country road that led to the farm. Every time the truck thudded down after going airborne, the holster at Robin’s back bit into her spine.

“How much farther?” Robin asked between grimaces.

“Not much more. There’s a side road in about a mile. The SWAT team can park there, go over a hill, and come down on the barn through the woods.”

Earlier that evening, Carrie had told Robin that she had arranged a joint raid with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. Robin relayed the information about the side road to Carrie, who was leading a convoy of police vehicles. Shortly after Carrie acknowledged the message, Jeff spotted the narrow logging road where he’d hidden his truck on his prior trip to the farm. He pulled to the side of the road so the police caravan could hide.

“Let’s get one thing straight,” Carrie told Jeff and Robin when the raiding party was assembled. “You will lead us to the top of the hill and show us our objective. Then you will stay put until I tell you that you can come down. Is that clear?”

“Definitely,” Robin said. “I have no problem staying safe while you risk your life.”

Carrie raised an eyebrow. “I know you, and I am not fucking around.”

“I’ll stay put, but you’ve got to try to get the recording of Joe’s fight.”

“That was the deal, and I’ll make every effort to keep my promise, if it doesn’t involve breaking the law or screwing up the arrests.”

Jeff led the raiders to the top of the hill. Carrie scanned the area around the barn with binoculars. Cars filled the gravel lot and the field, and they could hear an occasional roar from the barn.

A drone was scanning the area and sending pictures back to a van that was outfitted with communications equipment. After checking with the van, Carrie radioed the police cars that were hanging back on the road, waiting for the signal to follow the raiding party. Then she led the team down the hill.

Robin watched through her binoculars. The raiders were dressed in camouflage, and even knowing where the SWAT team was, she had a hard time following them as they drifted downhill through the shadows.

Robin shifted her focus to the area around the barn. Several people were standing in the parking area, smoking, drinking, and talking. A white van was parked near the side door to the barn where Joe and the other fighters had entered, but no one was around it. Robin guessed that the audience for the fights entered through another door.

She watched the raiders inch along the side of the barn toward the door near the van. They paused. Then Carrie wrenched open the door, and the SWAT team stormed in. Carrie had a bullhorn, but the walls of the barn muffled her message and the screams and shouts that followed it. People were racing out of the barn toward their cars, but the police had blocked the road, and the few cars that left the lot were stopped at a barricade.

Robin panned the area on the side of the barn farthest from the parking area. A man who vaguely resembled Anthony Carasco darted out a back door and drove away on a narrow track toward the back of the farm. He was followed by another man. Normally, Robin wouldn’t have been certain of his identity from this distance, but few humans who didn’t play on an NFL offensive line looked like Andre Rostov.

“Rostov is getting away,” Robin told Jeff as she headed for the pickup.

“What are you doing?” Jeff asked.

“This is Joe’s only chance. The night of the fight, Rostov told Joe his fight