Jackson on-site. Turned out not to be a problem. The guy jumped at
it."
"Did he say who the friend was?" I asked.
"No clue."
Most likely a cover story Gunderson gave Minkins just to get Jackson on
the property.
"Anyway," he continued, "Jackson gave his information to a girl we use
for personnel-related stuff, and that's about all I had to do with him.
Then Friday I'm working at the site late, checking out the status of
things, and I see Jackson packing away some paint into his van. I
didn't recognize him, so I asked the guy his name. I remembered it
from when Larry told me to hire him, so I told him, Go ahead and take
it. Then I called Larry."
"What was his reaction?"
"Nothing special. Just thanked me for telling him about it. Next
thing I know, we got a body on our hands Monday and Jackson's getting
arrested for it."
"Why didn't you call the police?"
"So I'm not a good Samaritan. Sue me."
I wasn't buying it. If his decisions today said anything about his
behavior generally, Minkins was self-interested. No way did he sit
there silently while Gunderson dragged him into the middle of this.
"You're leaving something out. How'd you wind up at the library?"
He pursed his lips and looked at the ceiling. "So you did make me. I
was beginning to wonder."
Sucker.
"When I saw the news about Jackson, I asked Larry what the fuck was
going on. All he said was and I remember this "Take a lesson from it,
Billy, and keep your mouth shut." Scared the shit out of me. So I
started doing some snooping around of my own. Figured if I got the
goods on whoever pulled that shit on Jackson and the lady judge, they
couldn't pull anything on me."
"And what did you find out?"
"Not a lot. I know Larry's leveraged up the ass trying to keep the
bills paid. And I know you were doing some serious research into the
urban growth boundary."
"You're still not telling me why you were following me, Billy."
"It was stupid, OK? I watched the news Friday about the hearing, and
they said something about there being a shooting at your house last
month. I was thinking about trying to work something out with you, so
I went by Saturday morning, just because I wasn't doing nothing else.
Then I saw you driving away. Next thing I know, I'm following you
around the library. When I saw what you was working on, I realized I
didn't have a fucking clue about what was going on, and I was like to
get myself in more trouble than be able to help myself."
"But now you're coming clean anyway."
"Well, when you said what you said earlier, I figured it was about the
only choice I had. Larry sure as hell ain't gonna take care of me."
It sounded credible. I could see a guy like Billy Minkins feeling
desperate enough to follow me around while he tried to figure out what
to do. Thanks to the local news, anyone who was curious could find out
what block I lived on from a search of the Internet.
"Did you tell Gunderson about the library?" I asked.
"No way. I hightailed it out of there and laid low. I ain't saying
I'm perfect. Hell, it's not like I'm blind it's not every businessman
who's gonna let a guy like me take care of an operation. But no way
did I sign up to be in the middle of a murder trial and whatever crap
led up to it."
"You certainly don't sound like someone who trusts Larry Gunderson.
How'd you hook up with him anyway?"
Minkins let out a chuckle. "AA. Court-ordered after my check-writing
scheme went awry. I couldn't get work after that, and Larry'd been in
the program for years. Fucking ironic, ain't it?"
There's a reason guys like Minkins wind up in the system. Instead of
taking some responsibility for the decision that led him to this room,
he had found a way to blame it on the only chance a court had given him
to get his life under control. But Minkins seemed to think I liked
him, so I kept my mouth shut.
"Do you know of any connection between Gunderson and Clarissa
Easterbrook?"
"Other than her body being found there? Nope."
"Do you know anything about Gunderson paying bribes or kickbacks to her
or any other public officials?"
"Nope, but I wouldn't put it past him."
"Are you going to bother telling me what you're fishing for, Kincaid?"
Leave it to Lisa Lopez to think she's not doing her job unless she
butts in every once in a while.
"Me telling you what I think isn't part of this deal," I said. "What
matters is your client telling me what he knows, and I'm trying to make
sure he's done that."
I asked a few more questions, but I couldn't get anything more out of
him.
Lopez could tell the debriefing was coming to a close. "There you go,
Kincaid. Billy never even broke the law, so I want assurances that he
doesn't face potential prosecution. And his PO better not jam him up,
either."
"But he hasn't given me anything, Lisa. He said it himself. He
doesn't know what happened."
"You've got more than you had before. And he might not know all the
details, but that's because he doesn't have anything to do with it."
She was right. That's the problem with our system of flipping. Those
who have the most to trade are the ones least deserving of a break. If
Minkins was telling the truth, he had some serious moral shortcomings
but he wasn't a murderer.
"Fine, but only after he passes a poly."
Billy Minkins had his own priorities. "And I want some protection."
"Explain it to him. Lisa. I'm not exactly running a witness
protection program here."
"Fuck that noise," Minkins said. "I get the impression you don't know
any more about what's going on than I do. You turn me loose after
Gunderson knows I cut a deal, and I might wind up like that judge of
yours."
Shoot. Why didn't I think of that?
There was only one way to swing this, and it all depended on how badly
Billy wanted protection. As it turned out, he was more scared than I
thought.
Lisa and I told Prescott's clerk that we were ready and returned to the
courtroom. Thorpe and Gunderson were already there, presumably waiting
for Slip to call Gunderson to the stand pursuant to the subpoena.
"We're back on the record," Judge Prescott made clear. "Mr. Minkins
has chosen to proceed with separate counsel, and he is now present and
represented by Lisa Lopez. The motion to quash the subpoenas served
upon Larry Gunderson and William Minkins is quashed. Mr. Szlipkowsky,