Reversible Errors (37 page)

"What did he look like to you? What was his race?" "He looked darker. Probably black, but I wouldn't say that for certain. Maybe Hispanic." "Age?"

"Couldn't tell. Not old, not young." "Build?"

"On the thin side."

"All right. This is what you told Erno Erdai the week before Luisa Remardi was searched: a man had come in." "Right."

"And did you have a conversation with that man?" "Right. And that's what I told Erno about." "And what did the man say?"

"This gentleman asked me where Luisa was and he told me to tell her that he had seen the Pharaoh." " The Pharaoh'? Like in Egypt?" "That's how it sounded to me."

Plainly perplexed, Muriel again studied Mrs. Carriere. "And did the man say anything else other than he'd seen the Pharaoh?"

"The man said he'd seen Pharaoh and Luisa couldn't do that to him."

"And who was Pharaoh?" "I didn't know."

Arthur saw Muriel tip her head. She'd heard something. "Do you know now who Pharaoh was?" "All I know is what Luisa told me." "When was that conversation?"

"The next day. After that man came in."

"And tell us what she said and what you said about Pharaoh."

"I told her that this man had come in and what he said about seeing the Pharaoh and that I had told Erno. And she got upset with me. For telling Erno. And so one thing led to another. She told me who Pharaoh was."

"And what did she tell you?"

Mrs. Carriere now looked back at Muriel with the same intensity Muriel had directed toward her. Then Genevieve covered her mouth with her hand and started shaking her head.

"I'm not going to say," she declared, her voice warbling a bit, despite her emphatic tone. "All I know is what she said. Which my lawyer says can't be used in court. Which is why I don't understand why I have to go through this."

"Off the record," said Marta. She waved Arthur and Muriel across the corridor to her office. It was furnished like a gentleman's library in a bygone era, all leather, with deep sofas and matched sets of books with spines imprinted in gold aligned on the long shelves. Arthur could smell Stern's cigars from next door. One of the side tables held an array of family photos of Marta and her husband, who appeared Hispanic, and their two children. There were also several photographs of her parents in earlier years. Especially in today's outfit, a double-breasted pantsuit, Marta, to Arthur's eye, was a dead ringer for Stern, decades ago.

"HypotheticaUy," said Marta, "let's imagine that Ms. Remardi was defalcating certain property from TN." Marta was treading lightly. 'Defalcating' was fancy for 'stealing.'

"What kind of'certain property'?" asked Muriel.

"Airline tickets."

"Airline tickets?"

Larry, who had followed them in, was the first to catch on. "She was fencing them through this Pharaoh, right?"

"Hypothetically. Now TN is ruthless in pursuing employee dishonesty. Zero tolerance. They got burned about ten years ago trying to sweep something under the rug with one of their higher-ups. One of the lawyers who was supposedly investigating a theft ended up running off with four million bucks."

"I remember," said Muriel.

"These days its the gallows for everyone. Prosecution, if possible, and civil suits to recover what was stolen. No matter who or what. The Remardi kids are living on a TN pension."

"TN won't sue orphans."

"If they were your best friend's children, would you take that chance?" Marta opened her short hands toward Muriel. "You don't really need Luisa's activities to be part of the record, do you?"

"Right now, I'd say no," said Muriel. "But I don't want to keep chasing your client over hill and dale to get a straight answer."

Marta nodded several times, then turned to Arthur. He was startled and uncertain what to think. For the time being, he reminded Marta that this was a capital case. He said he'd let the issue go as long as he could, but he reserved the right to re-examine it, if on reflection he thought it could materially aid Rommy.

"Of course," said Marta.

Once they were done, Marta, Arthur, and Muriel returned to the conference room, and Marta called her client outside. When Genevieve resumed her seat beside the court reporter, she mouthed, "Thank you," toward both lawyers. She still appeared unsettled and had her purse in her lap and a hankie in one hand.

Muriel did not appear much pacified by Genevieve's gratitude. In fact, with time she seemed to have grown vexed. She bounced on her chair several times settling in. Arthur suspected Muriel felt Marta had shortchanged her in their conversations beforehand.

"Back on the record," Muriel said. "A man whose name you didn't know had come in looking for Luisa Remardi some time in May of 1991 -is that the correct time frame?"

"It is."

"And this man said something about Pharaoh or the Pharaoh. You then told Erno Erdai what that man said and Luisa Remardi was angry you had done so and therefore explained to you who Pharaoh was and the nature of their relationship. That's the basic outline?"

"Correct."

"Did she tell you Pharaoh's last name?"

"No."

"Did she say whether that was a nickname?"

"No."

"Did she tell you where Pharaoh lived or worked?"

"I don't know anything else about him. Once Luisa told me what they were doing together, I didn't want to hear another word. Frankly, the only thing I was curious about was how they were getting away with it. I'd never heard of anything like that working in the long run. But I decided I didn't even care to know that."

"And this man who came in-did Luisa Remardi explain what his connection was to Pharaoh and her?"

"He'd introduced them."

"I see. And did he have any participation in the enterprise in which Luisa Remardi and Pharaoh were engaged?"

"Luisa said he'd wanted a share, but he didn't get it."

Muriel muttered "Mmm-hmm." She'd already figured as much. Arthur replayed it for himself. This third man had been the connect. He'd put Luisa in touch with Pharaoh to fence the tickets and was looking for a piece of the play, which he didn't receive.

"Now I want to be sure I have this right. You had no idea who Pharaoh was or what Ms. Remardi's relationship was with him until she explained that to you the day after this other man appeared? Right or wrong?"

"Completely right."

"And if you didn't understand the nature of Ms. Remardi's relationship with Pharaoh, why did you tell Erno E>dai what the man said?"

"Because Erno was the head of security." Marta, on the other side of her client, made a subtle movement and Genevieve lifted her chin to Muriel. "Because the man had made threats against Luisa."

"Specific threats? Specific actions?"

"Yes."

"And what action did he threaten?"

Genevieve's eyes wilted toward her hands, now covering her purse in her lap.

"He said he was going to kill her."

Arthurs vision jumped, as if a film had skipped frames. Muriel, never nonplussed, sat with her mouth open.

"Erno Erdai said that?"

"The man who had come in that night said it."

Growing agitated, Muriel re-arranged herself in her chair, shook her shoulders, straightened her neck. Then she stared down Genevieve, speaking to her stiffly.

"Now I'm going to ask a question, Mrs. Carriere, and I expect you to answer bearing in mind that the oath you took requires you to tell the whole truth. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Tell me everything that man who came in said to you."

"He asked for Luisa and I said she wasn't there. And he was upset. And he said something like, Tou tell her I just saw Pharaoh, and she can't do this to me, and when I find her, I'm going to kill her.' And naturally I was concerned for Luisa. Going off shift, I saw Erno and I thought Erno, as head of security, should know that. So I told him."

After the court reporter's machine had stopped clicking to record the answer, there was full silence. The momentousness of what he'd just heard stole in on Arthur. Luisa had been involved in dirty business with someone named Pharaoh, and a third man. And the third man had said he was going to kill her. There was a whole other circle to this case, a ring of crime and possible conspiracy, which had nothing to do with Rommy and not much to do with Erno either. And it was all good news for Romeo Gandolph. With multiplying suspects, no one could have the certainty required to put poor Rommy to death.

Muriel, too, clearly fathomed the damage she had sustained. Her small face was screwed up tight. Muriel could be mean.

"Now, this man said he was going to kill Luisa Remardi about two months before she was murdered, is that right?"

"Yes."

"And after Ms. Remardi was murdered, Detective Starczek, who's sitting right here, came out and questioned you about this case. Twice, as a matter of fact. Do you remember?"

"Yes."

"And yon never told him, did you, that there was a man who had come into DuSable Field and threatened Luisa Remardi's life?"

"He didn't ask. And I didn't think it had anything to do with her murder. When I'd told Luisa about it, she'd laughed it off. She was sure he was just talking."

"Of course not," said Muriel, "why should you think it had anything to do with Luisa's murder? A man says he's going to kill her and she gets killed. What possible connection could there be?"

"I object to that," said Marta.

"You object?" asked Muriel. She pointed at Larry. "Go look in the hall," she said. "Maybe there are six or seven more people out there who want to say they killed the three of them."

"And I certainly object to that," said Marta.

"I need to adjourn," said Muriel. "I'm too angry to continue." Her head bounced around like a bobble toy's.

Always quick-tempered, Marta flared up at once. She and Muriel had agreed to a two-hour dep. Genevieve was not coming back. The women warred for a moment while Arthur looked on. As far as Marta was concerned the deposition was over.

"The hell it is," answered Muriel. Genevieve, she said, was far too consequential a witness to be dealt with summarily. Now that Muriel knew that, she wanted time to investigate before continuing.

Sitting there, Arthur struggled to think it through. The discover)' period the Court of Appeals had authorized was over tomorrow. Muriel, clearly, was hoping to move to extend the deadline. And Arthur just as surely did not want her to succeed in doing that. With discovery closed, this new piece of information would guarantee that the Court of Appeals would allow Rommy's habeas to go forward. Indeed, Kenton Harlow, finally empowered to actually decide the case, might quickly grant Rommy a new trial on the basis of Erno's testimony and Genevieve's. Arthur tried to play peacemaker, in hopes of bringing the deposition to a conclusion.

"What do you need to investigate?" he asked Muriel.

"Well, for one thing, I'd like some clue about this mystery man who comes in and threatens to kill Luisa."

"What can Mrs. Carriere possibly add? She's already given you a physical and said she didn't know the man's name."

The court reporter interrupted to ask if this was on the record. Arthur said yes and Muriel said no.

"Oh, for crying out loud," said Arthur. "On the record: Mrs. Carriere, is there anything you can tell us today that will help us identify this man who said he was going to kill Ms. Remardi?"

He thought he'd asked this as kindly as he could, but Genevieve fixed him with a bitter look.

"I'd rather stop now," she said. "I can't tell you how upsetting this is. It was all so crazy." Genevieve had never surrendered her handkerchief and she looked down to be certain it was at the ready.

"Perhaps you can just say yes or no to my question," said Arthur, "and we can be done."

What flashed very briefly from Genevieve toward Arthur was raw enough to be hatred. It seemed out of character, but in that look of loathing she'd found his enduring vulnerability, and Arthur flapped a hand against his side.

"Okay," he said. "I'll agree to adjourn."

The next voice seemed to come from nowhere.

"I think she should answer that question right now." It was Larry.

They all turned to him. The court reporter's hands were poised over the long keys of the steno machine, uncertain if he should take down an interruption from a non-attorney. Muriel in the meantime was staring at Larry with sufficient wrath that Arthur was surprised she had not simply belted him.

"Make her answer," Larry told Muriel. There was a moment between them, some test of faith, Arthur could see. Then Muriel relented.

"Okay," said Muriel. "Answer."

Genevieve instead faced Marta. Marta scooted her chair an inch or two closer to her client and covered Genevieve's hand with her own, waiting for her to compose herself.

"I think this is all pointless," said Genevieve. "None of this is going to help those girls. And with Erno now, no one's going to know anything for certain."