Page 34 of The Lincoln Lawyer

“I’m on it. It will be a sit-down on video when they do it.”

“And if crime scene does a video, I want that, too. I want to see her place.”

Levin nodded. He knew I was putting on a show for the client and Dobbs, giving them a sense of my command of the case and all the irons that were going into the fire. The reality was I didn’t need to tell Raul Levin any of this. He already knew what to do and what to get for me.

“Okay, what else?” I asked. “Do you have any questions, Cecil?”

Dobbs seemed surprised by the focus suddenly shifting to him. He quickly shook his head.

“No, no, I’m fine. This is all good. We’re making good progress.”

I had no idea what he meant by “progress,” but I let it go by without question.

“So what do you think?” Roulet asked.

I looked at him and waited a long moment before answering.

“I think the state has got a strong case against you. They have you in her home, they have a knife and they have her injuries. They also have what I am assuming is her blood on your hands. Added to that, the photos are powerful. And, of course, they will have her testimony. Having never seen or spoken to the woman, I don’t know how impressive she will be.”

I stopped again and milked the silence even longer before continuing.

“But there is a lot they don’t have—evidence of break-in, DNA from the suspect, a motive or even a suspect with a past record of this or any sort of crime. There are a lot of reasons—legitimate reasons—for you to have been in that apartment. Plus…”

I looked past Roulet and Dobbs and out the window. The sun was dropping behind Anacapa and turning the sky pink and purple. It beat anything I ever saw from the windows of my office.

“Plus what?” Roulet asked, too anxious to wait on me.

“Plus you have me. I got Maggie McFierce off the case. The new prosecutor is good but he’s green and he’ll have never come up against someone like me before.”

“So what’s our next step?” Roulet asked.

“The next step is for Raul to keep doing his thing, finding out what he can about this alleged victim and why she lied about being alone. We need to find out who she is and who her mystery man is and to see how that plays into our case.”

“And what will you do?”

“I’ll be dealing with the prosecutor. I’ll set something up with him, try to see where he’s going and we’ll make our choice on which way to go. I have no doubt that I’ll be able to go to the DA and knock all of this down to something you can plea to and get behind you. But it will require a concession. You—”

“I told you. I will not—”

“I know what you said but you have to hear me out. I may be able to get a no-contest plea so that you don’t actually ever say the word ‘guilty,’ but I am not seeing the state completely dropping this. You will have to concede responsibility in some regard. It is possible to avoid jail time but you will likely have to perform community service of some sort. There, I’ve said it. That is the first recitation. There will be more. I am obligated as your attorney to tell you and make sure you understand your options. I know it’s not what you want or are willing to do but it is my duty to educate you on the choices. Okay?”

“Fine. Okay.”

“Of course, as you know, any concession on your part willpretty much make any civil action Ms. Campo takes against you a slam dunk. So, as you can guess, disposing of the criminal case quickly will probably end up costing you a lot more than my fee.”

Roulet shook his head. The plea bargain was already not an option.

“I understand my choices,” he said. “You have fulfilled your duty. But I’m not going to pay her a cent for something I didn’t do. I’m not going to plead guilty or no contest to something I didn’t do. If we go to trial, can you win?”

I held his gaze for a moment before answering.

“Well, you understand that I don’t know what will come up between now and then and that I can’t guarantee anything… but, yes, based on what I see now, I can win this case. I’m confident of that.”

I nodded to Roulet and I think I saw a look of hope enter his eyes. He saw the glimmer.

“There is a third option,” Dobbs said.

I looked from Roulet to Dobbs, wondering what wrench he was about to throw into the franchise machine.