Reversible Errors (26 page)

"And where is he?"

Erno looked at the judge who nodded firmly to him.

"Atlanta. Doing good down there, too, like I said."

"Congratulations," said Muriel. "Now, what about on the other side, Mr. Erdai. Are you going to gain anything by coming forward now?"

"A clean conscience."

"A clean conscience," said Muriel. 'Tou say, Mr. Erdai, you've shot five people in your lifetime-murdered three, killed your mother-in-law, and tried to murder a fifth person who bothered you in a bar. And this will make you feel better, is that right?"

There was a riffle of laughter behind Larry. It sounded as if Carol, who should have known better, had been the first. Harlow's eyes rose and the courtroom instantly fell silent.

"I can't change any of the rest of it, Muriel. This is the best I can do--

Calling Muriel by her first name was pure Erno. As far as Larry knew, they didn't have even a nodding acquaintance, but Erdai always figured he was a blood brother with everybody in law enforcement.

"Well, hadn't you applied for a compassionate furlough several months ago? And then, when that was denied, a compassionate transfer? In order to be closer to your wife?"

y
y t
rue.

"Also denied?"

"Yes"

'Tour wife has a hard time making it down to Rudyard?"

"It'd be a lot easier if I was here."

"Where did you sleep last night?"

"County General."

"Did your wife see you there today?"

"Before court."

Muriel ran it down. He'd seen his wife yesterday, too. And the day before. And Arthur had filed a petition with the court suggesting that Erno not be returned to Rudyard while Gandolph's case was pending.

"Does it mean a lot to you to see your wife every day? At this stage?"

"Right now? Especially now, yeah, it means quite a bit. She doesn't deserve the last few years. Not a day of it." His voice weakened and Erno, with little warning, flushed. He dragged down his nosepiece and covered his face with his hand. Harlow had Kleenex on the bench and handed the box down with clinical efficiency. Muriel waited this out with no sign of impatience, because Erno could hardly have done much more to prove her point. She changed subjects once his breath had returned.

"Let's talk about the crime for which you're imprisoned, Mr. Erdai."

"What's that got to do with the price of beans?" asked Erno. Arthur, on cue, rose to object. The conviction was relevant, Arthur pointed out, only for whatever it said about Erno's credibility. The circumstances were beside the point.

"I'll tie it up," said Muriel. That was the trial lawyer's version of 'the check's in the mail,' but Harlow, sitting without a jury, said he'd give Muriel some leeway, particularly since this proceeding was a deposition, not a trial.

"I don't let lawyers break their word to me twice," the judge added.

"I wouldn't expect you to," said Muriel, before turning back to Erno, who, Larry thought, recoiled just a bit as she reapproached. Erdai's go-round with Muriel thus far had already left him looking less peppy.

"As a matter of fact, Mr. Erdai, you're in prison only because your friends on the Police Force didn't back you up -isn't that right?"

"I'm in prison because I shot a man."

"But you told the officers who were at this tavern, Ike's, where the shooting took place-you told them you'd pulled the trigger in self- defense, didn't you?"

"To my way of thinking, it was."

"And many of the officers who'd witnessed that shooting and heard you claim you were merely defending yourself were friends of yours, weren't they? Officers you were there drinking with?"

"Sure."

"Was it disappointing to you, Mr. Erdai, that none of them supported you in saying this was self-defense?"

"Not when I had a chance to think about it."

"But initially?"

"I don't know what I expected."

"But it wouldn't have bothered you, would it, if they'd backed your version?"

"I guess not."

"Have you ever known officers to protect their own?"

"I think it's happened before."

"But it didn't happen with you, did it?"

The mean part of Erno showed through for the first time, a sul- furous ignition behind the eyes. He was adept enough, however, to calm himself before he said no.

"And so you had to plead guilty, correct?"

"That's what happened."

"Now, what about Detective Starczek?" Larry sat up on reflex at his name. "Was he another of your friends on the Force?"

"Larry? I've known him going on thirty years. We were cadets together."

"And these letters you wrote to Detective Starczek-"

Unexpectedly, Muriel returned to Larry at the counsel table. She whispered with her lips barely moving: "Reach in my briefcase and take out the mail in the first compartment." A flutter of uncertainty zipped through him, but he'd caught up with her by the time he'd extracted the three letter-sized envelopes. According to the return addresses, they were her statement from the state retirement fund and two credit card bills. With the letters in hand, she faced the witness.

"You never wrote Detective Starczek telling him you killed anyone, did you?"

"Told him I needed to talk to him."

"Didn't you tell him straight out you wanted his help?"

"I might have. You know, as I remember, I called him once or twice, only he wasn't there, and they won't accept collect calls from the joint anyway, so I wrote him two, three letters and he didn't answer."

Arthur stood, waving at what Muriel held in her hand.

"Your Honor, 1 haven't seen those letters."

"Judge, I didn't receive any preview of Mr. Erdai's testimony. And besides, I haven't displayed them to the witness. Mr. Raven may inspect whatever I show the witness."

Arthur continued objecting and Harlow finally called them to the sidebar on the far side of the bench, away from Erno. Larry joined the procession.

"What's the story with the letters?" whispered Harlow.

"I don't have any," Muriel told him.

Larry figured the judge would go off, but instead Harlow smiled broadly.

"Bluffing?" asked Harlow.

"I'm entitled," she said.

"So you are," said the judge and motioned everyone away. Muriel had the court reporter read back the last two questions and answers.

Larry turned to watch Arthur, fearing he might try to cue Erno that Muriel was faking. You could never tell what kind of dog poo a guy would turn into as a defense lawyer, but Arthur remained poker-faced as he explained to his associate what was happening from behind his hand.

"Now, at the time you wrote Detective Starczek, you wanted to get into a medium-security facility, didn't you?"

"Well, my lawyer tried to arrange that. And when he couldn't I asked some guys could they help."

"And are you telling us, Mr. Erdai, that you thought you'd get to a medium-security facility by informing Detective Starczek that you'd committed a brutal triple murder?"

Notwithstanding Harlow's prior look, there were again a few giggles from the spectators' pews.

"When I wrote Larry, I'd basically given up on medium. Corrections says you're in maximum if you committed an offense with a firearm. Period."

"And can you give us the name of anyone on the Force who tried to get the Corrections Department to make an exception on your behalf?"

Erno took the toothpick from his mouth. He was cooked on this one, because he knew no one would come to court to back him up. In answer to Muriel, he said he didn't recall.

"And no matter why you wrote to Detective Starczek, we agree you never mentioned these killings, correct?"

"True. I told him I had to talk to him about something important."

"Detective Starczek didn't respond?" "Right."

"He didn't want to deal with you now that you couldn't do him any good. Is that how you felt?"

"Naw, I wouldn't say that."

Muriel returned to Larry for a copy of the letter Erno had written to Gillian, then started toward the witness. Ten feet to Larr\ s left. Raven immediately clambered to his feet.

"Judge, I haven't seen that," Arthur said. With an innocent look, Muriel displayed Erno's letter first to Raven, then Harlow. Larry read over another copy Muriel had left on the table. The words were right there, even though Arthur's dashed look made it apparent that he'd missed their significance. As Muriel returned to the podium, Larry saw her pass Arthur a collegial smile, a pleasant 'gotcha' as if they wer
e p
laying Scrabble or tennis. Then she turned back to Erno and used the letter like a knife to the liver.

"Did you write to Judge Sullivan that the detective on the case had no interest in you 'now that you can't do him any good?"

Erno read it over several times. "That's what it says here."

"Would you say you were resentful?" asked Muriel.

"Call it what you want."

"I'll call it resentful," said Muriel. Harlow sustained the objection, but he smiled again. Larry by now had gotten a line on the judge. Kenton Harlow liked lawyers, admired what they did. He believed that the truth would emerge from the hard-fought courtroom contest, and he was clearly taken with Muriel's style.

"Well, let's put it this way," said Muriel. "You provided information to Detective Starczek on what you knew was a major case, right?"

"Okay," said Erno.

"And your friend Detective Starczek made the case? He got credit for it."

"Him and you," said Erno.

"He and I. And the Police Force got credit for it, correct?" "Right."

"That Force where no one would help you get to medium security."

"Okay."

"That same Force where nobody backed your story that the shooting four years ago at Ike's was self-defense."

"Yeah, I suppose."

"And by saying what you're saying now, you're essentially taking back what you gave Detective Starczek and the Police Force before. Yes?"

"I'm saying the truth."

"True or not, you're trying to correct or withdraw the effect of the information you provided previously. Aren't you?"

"Cause that was a lie."

Muriel moved to strike and Harlow forced Erno to answer. He had no choice but to say yes. It was all too obvious by now, but a little ruffle passed through the rows of press when he spoke the word. They had the lead for their stories.

Muriel then began to question Erno about his relationship with the Gangster Outlaws, one of the street gangs that dominated the prison at Rudyard. This was information that Larry had worked most of the night developing, and Muriel laid it out nicely. Erno had gotten on with a G
. O
. cellmate and had eventually fallen under the protection of the gang, for whom Erno was thought to occasionally obtain information from old pals in law enforcement. Erno would not acknowledge the last part.

"Well, do you know, Mr. Erdai, that there have been several cases where members of the Gangster Outlaws who were incarcerated have provided false confessions to crimes other G
. O
. s were accused of?"

"Objection," said Arthur. "There's no evidence that Mr. Gandolph is a member of any gang."

"The question," said Muriel, "is whether Mr. Erdai knows that."

"It's irrelevant," said Arthur.

"I'll hear it," said the judge.

"I've heard that," said Erno.

"And have you also heard, Mr. Erdai, that the G
. O
. s control death row at Rudyard?"

"I know there's a lot of them there."

"Including Mr. Gandolph?"

"I wouldn't know about that. You have to understand, those death rows, the Yellow Men, are off by themselves. They don't see anybody else. I haven't had a word with Gandolph in all the time I've been in the facility."

"Well, Mr. Erdai, are you telling us that given your experience in the institution, if somebody from the G
. O
.'s, who've protected you, wanted you to tell a story, especially a story that wouldn't hurt you but that would hurt Detective Starczek and the Police Force who'd let you down, a story that would even help you spend time with your wife before you died - are you really telling us you have too much integrity to do that?"

Arthur had come to his feet long before Muriel finished. He quietly said, "Objection," and Harlow quickly responded, "Sustained." But Muriel had essentially given her closing argument for the press. With her job more than done, she moved back toward counsel table, then stopped abruptly.

"Oh " she said, as if what was coming was merely an afterthought. "After you hauled these bodies down to the freezer, Mr. Erdai, what is it you say you did to the corpse of Luisa Remardi?"