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

few issues of a magazine dedicated to mixed martial arts that she had not had the time to read while Joe’s case was occupying her every waking moment.

After the pressure she’d been under, Robin was grateful that her caseload consisted of several briefs that were not due for months, a shoplift, two DUIIs, and a he-said-she-said domestic violence case that would probably be resolved by a plea. None of her trial-level cases contained a complex legal issue.

Robin was reading about a teen phenom who had won his first five UFC bouts, when her receptionist buzzed her.

“You have a collect call from the jail.”

“Tell the caller I died.”

“You may want to take this one.”

“Oh?”

“He says you’ve met him.”

“What’s his name?”

“Brent Macklin.”

It took her a minute before she remembered the handsome reporter who was writing a story about illegal fights.

“Why is he calling from the jail?”

“He says that he’s just been arrested for murdering Anthony Carasco.”

Robin swore under her breath. The last thing she wanted to take on was another murder case, but she told the receptionist to put through the call anyway.

“Good afternoon…” Robin started as soon as the guard left the contact visiting room at the Justice Center jail. Then she stopped.

“Should I call you Luis Ortega or Brent Macklin?”

Ortega looked embarrassed. “Luis Ortega is my real name.”

“On the phone, you said you were arrested for killing Anthony Carasco.”

“I didn’t do it. They have the wrong person.”

“That’s good to know, but the police must not believe you, and I assume one of the reasons is your snooping around using an alias. Why did you do that?”

“I wanted to find out who was responsible for my father’s death.”

“Tell me a little about him,” Robin said.

“It’s really sad. My dad was in the military. He did several tours in war zones and came back stateside all fucked up. We got him in rehab a few times, but he would fight, and they wouldn’t let him stay. Once he was back on the street…”

Ortega shrugged. “Mom took him in again and again, but finally, she’d had enough. The last time Mom told him to leave, we didn’t make an effort to find him. We were exhausted. Then the police told us he was dead.”

Ortega shut his eyes for a second. Then he took a deep breath. “I saw the video of the fight. It was horrible. I didn’t blame Lattimore. I blamed the people who were running the fights. Trying to find out who was really responsible for his death was my way of making amends.”

“I’m sorry about your father,” Robin said, “but revenge is a strong motive for murder.”

“I swear I didn’t kill Carasco. I would have told the police what I knew if I had proof Carasco was behind the fight that killed my dad.”

“The police must have something stronger than your use of an alias if they’ve charged you. Can you tell me what it is?”

“I found out when the next illegal fight was going to be held. I had some information that Carasco was involved in the fights, so I followed him and staked out the site. I was hidden in some trees with a good view of the barn when the police made the raid. I saw Carasco run out the back and take off in his car. I followed him to the Grandview apartments, but he was far enough ahead of me so I didn’t know which apartment he was in. By the time I drove into the lot, he was nowhere in sight. I was driving around, trying to spot his car, when a security guard drove up. I got scared, and I drove off.

“I was living in a hotel by the airport. I held off going home, because I wanted to find out if the police had arrested the people responsible for the illegal fight. When I heard that Carasco was murdered at the Grandview, I worried that I might have been seen. I was packing to go to my plane when two detectives showed up. They asked me if I’d ever been to the Grandview, and I lied and said I hadn’t. That’s when they started to arrest me. I panicked and hit one of the officers. The other one arrested me.”

“Something puzzles me, Luis. The location and date of these fights is a well-kept secret. I only found out there was going to be a fight Thursday afternoon. How did you learn there was going to be a fight?”

Ortega looked conflicted.

“Luis?”

“This is tough. The person who told me … I promised I would keep him out of it.”

“That’s nice, but you’re facing a possible death sentence, so I’d say that outweighs any promise you may have made.”

“Will you keep him out of it, unless it becomes absolutely necessary?”

“That would be up to you. You’re the client. The attorney-client privilege prevents me from revealing anything you tell me without your permission. Now, who told you where the fight was going to be held?”

Ortega took a deep breath. “He’s a deputy DA named Ian Hennessey.”

“Hennessey? But you knew he was Carasco’s alibi?”

“He suspected that Carasco set him up to be his alibi, but he was afraid his career would be ruined if he went to the police. He thought I was writing a story about the illegal fights, and he told me Carasco might be involved with them. He wanted me to expose Carasco if I found he was behind his wife’s murder.”

“Why did he think his career would be ruined if he took what he knew to the police?”

“Hennessey had been sleeping with a woman who was a prostitute. He said he didn’t know that until she told him that she’d been arrested in Portland for prostitution and had outstanding warrants. She threatened to tell Vanessa Cole he had paid for sex if he didn’t get the warrants off the system. He was sure he’d be fired if his boss learned about the prostitute.”

“How did he learn about the fight?”

“He overheard something that was