Chapters (64)
- PART ONE
- One
- Two
- Three
- PART TWO
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- PART THREE
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- PART FOUR
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Forty-three
- Forty-four
- Forty-five
- Forty-six
- PART FIVE
- Forty-seven
- Forty-eight
- Forty-nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-one
- Fifty-two
- Fifty-three
- PART SIX
- Fifty-four
- Fifty-five
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- ALSO BY MICHAEL CONNELLY
“I don’t have a lot to tell. My corporate attorney hooked me up with Jerry and he was fine. We worked out the fee arrangement and then he came to me — this was early on, at least five months ago — and he said he had been approached by someone who could salt the jury. You know, put someone on the jury who would be for us. No matter what happened he would be a holdout for acquittal but he would also work for the defense on the inside — during deliberations. He would be a talker, a skilled persuader — a con man. The catch was that once it was in play, the trial would have to stay on schedule so that this person would end up on my jury.”
“And you and Jerry took the offer.”
“We took it. This was five months ago. At the time, I didn’t have much of a defense. I didn’t kill my wife but it seemed the odds were stacked against me. We had no magic bullet … and I was scared. I was innocent but could see that I was going to be convicted. So we took the offer.”
“How much?”
“A hundred thousand up front. Like you found out, Jerry paid it through his fees. He inflated his fee and I paid him and then he paid for the juror. Then it was going to be another hundred for a hung jury and two-fifty for an acquittal. Jerry told me that these people had done it before.”
“You mean fixed a jury?”
“Yes, that’s what he said.”
I thought maybe the FBI had gotten wind of the earlier fixes and that was why they had come to Vincent.
“Were they Jerry’s trials that were fixed before?” I asked.
“He didn’t say and I didn’t ask.”
“Did he ever say anything about the FBI sniffing around your case?”
Elliot leaned back, as if I had just said something repulsive.
“No. Is that what’s going on?”
He looked very concerned.
“I don’t know, Walter. I’m just asking questions here. But Jerry told you he was going to delay the trial, right?”
Elliot nodded.
“Yes. That Monday. He said we didn’t need the fix. He had the magic bullet and he was going to win the trial without the sleeper on the jury.”
“And that got him killed.”
“It had to be. I don’t think these kinds of people just let you change your mind and pull out of something like this.”
“What kind of people? The organization?”
“I don’t know. Just these kinds of people. Whoever does this sort of thing.”
“Did you tell anyone that Jerry was going to delay the case?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Of course I’m sure.”
“Then, who did Jerry tell?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Well, who did Jerry make the deal with? Who did he bribe?”