Evans looked directly at Hawkins, who met his eye without flinching.
“You know Dale Perry, don’t you, Mr. Hawkins?”
Bischoff held up his hand and addressed his client. “Don’t answer that, Chuck.
“Mr. Evans, I instruct you to desist from asking Charles Hawkins, my client, any questions,” the lawyer said, making certain that the stenographer got the prohibition on the record. “If you want him to answer a question, please direct it to me first and I’ll advise him whether he should answer it.”
“That’s okay with me,” Evans answered, “but it doesn’t matter what your client says about his relationship with Perry. They were in the same class at Oregon State University. We have several witnesses who’ll confirm that Perry, Christopher Farrington, and your client were friends. After college, Mr. Hawkins went into the army and President Farrington went to law school in Oregon. Mr. Perry went to law school at the University of Chicago. After law school, he went to work for the Kendall, Barrett law firm.
“A client hired Dale Perry to make arrangements to have Miss Walsh followed. By hiring a lawyer, the client could use the attorney-client privilege to shield his identity. Perry hired Dana Cutler, who is a PI, to tail Walsh but didn’t tell her who she was working for. The client wanted pictures of everyone Walsh met, and he wanted Cutler to give him a running report when Walsh went somewhere or did something. To facilitate the reporting Perry bought two cell phones. He gave one to the client and one to Cutler. Cutler was ordered to leave voice messages when she had something to report.
“On the evening that Walsh was murdered, Cutler followed her to the Dulles Towne Center parking lot and reported the position of Walsh’s car in the lot. That means that the client was one of a small group of people who knew the exact location where Walsh would be after she left the farm. Cutler followed the Secret Service agent and Walsh to the farm where she met President Farrington. Cutler reported to the client when Walsh left the farm to return to the mall, but a guard spotted Cutler, and she couldn’t continue following Walsh.
“Dana Cutler hung on to the cell phone Dale Perry gave her. She also gave us the number she called to leave the voice mail messages for the client and she gave us the date and time she called the client with the information about the location of Walsh’s car. Once we had the client’s number we were able to identify the cell phone provider. The cell phone provider stored the voice mail messages from Ms. Cutler on a backup computer and gave them to us along with the time they were retrieved.
“When a person wants to retrieve voice mail messages that have been left on his cell phone he dials a remote voice mail retrieval number for the provider’s voice mail system from his cell phone. The system will ask the caller for a password. After the person punches in the password he’s given his messages. The cell phone provider was able to give us the mystery client’s remote voice mail retrieval number, but the provider did not have a record of telephone calls to the client’s voice mail system between the time Cutler left the message explaining where Walsh was parked and the time she was murdered. They had no record because there was bad reception that night. Bad reception is common, and it can be intermittent. In this case, the client couldn’t use his cell phone to call for his messages and he was forced to use a landline to retrieve them.
“As soon as we suspected that Mr. Hawkins was the mystery client we tried to learn where he was when Cutler left the message with the location of Walsh’s car. We learned that he was at the Theodore Roosevelt Hotel. One of the Secret Service agents remembers him getting a call on his cell phone around nine-forty. The agent also remembers Mr. Hawkins complaining about the reception and leaving to try to get a clear signal.
“The hotel confirmed that Mr. Hawkins reserved a suite for Dr. Farrington so the first lady could rest if her pregnancy fatigued her. He also reserved an adjoining suite for security purposes. Several Secret Service agents remember Mr. Hawkins coming out of one of the two suites he reserved shortly after complaining about the poor reception on his cell phone.
“We went to the phone company and asked for a record of all calls to the cell phone company voice mail retrieval system telephone number in the D.C. area on the date and time in question. There were thousands of calls because everyone using the cell phone provider would call that number to get their voice mail, but only a few calls were made from the Theodore Roosevelt Hotel. Once we’d confirmed that calls had been made from the hotel we got the hotel records to see from what rooms the calls had been made. One room was in the suite adjoining Dr. Farrington’s suite.”
Evans stopped talking. Bischoff waited until it became obvious that the agent was finished presenting as much of his case as he was going to reveal.
“That’s it?” the lawyer asked.
“I think I’ve given Mr. Hawkins enough to think about for the time being.”
“You’re going to indict Chuck based on the word of a man facing multiple death sentences and a cell phone call?”
“We have other evidence that I’m not prepared to reveal at this time,” Evans bluffed.
The lawyer stood. “This has been very entertaining, but Mr. Hawkins and I have busy schedules.”
“I understand, but you should understand this. I really want Mr. Hawkins. The only reason I would even think of cutting a deal with him is my belief that the president may be involved. If he is, the only way your client is going to come out of this alive is by cooperating, and I’m not going to wait very long for your call.”
“I’ll let you know Mr. Hawkins’s position as soon as we’ve had a chance to confer,” Bischoff said as he ushered his client out of the office.
“What do you think?” Evans asked Maggie Sparks and Gordon Buss as soon as the door closed.
“I wouldn’t wait by the phone,” the AUSA answered. “You’ve got as much of a chance of cutting a deal with Hawkins as I do with Osama bin Laden.”
“Do you agree, Maggie?” Evans asked.
“I think the next time you talk to Hawkins he’ll be sitting in the witness box in a federal court.”
Evans sighed. “You’re probably right. I knew it was a long shot, but I had to try.”
Roy Kineer wasn’t in, so Evans couldn’t report on his meeting with Hawkins and Bischoff right away. Instead he went back to his office and read over a report he’d received from Oregon that morning. Clarence Little’s pinkie collection had been printed. Laurie Erickson’s pinkie was not a part of it, but Peggy Farmer’s was. The report concluded that it was highly improbable that Little would have been able to kill Farmer and her boyfriend in Central Oregon and return to Salem in time to kill Laurie Erickson. The report cheered up Evans, who felt that the interview with Hawkins had been a complete bust.
Shortly before noon, Kineer’s secretary told Evans that Justice Kineer was back and wanted to be briefed about the meeting. Evans spent an hour with the judge before his boss left to have lunch with several members of the House Judiciary Committee.
Evans had his secretary pick up a sandwich for him, which he ate at his desk. He was halfway through it when the receptionist buzzed to tell him that Gary Bischoff was on the phone. Evans was surprised.
“What’s up, Gary?”
“Are you busy?” Bischoff asked. Evans thought he sounded upset.
“No, why?”
“We need to talk. Can you come to my office?”
“When?”
“Right now. Hawkins wants to cut a deal.”
Evans was stunned. “Okay,” he said, trying to sound nonchalant.
“And come alone. This is between the three of us.”