B.A. Hammer Returns Ch. 07

B.A. Hammer Returns Ch 7

The next morning, I was in the office early. I never got back to sleep. I left a message at Brick's office to call me when he is in. It's time to prepare for the preliminary hearing. It comes up next week.

Liz came in early that morning. "Boss, we know who is in the picture. His name is Nathaniel Livingston. You might want to run that name by some people."

"Call Sammy. I have a hunch about the man that would sign that card."

"On the other people you asked me to check on. Wilbur Knapp is a manager at the First National Bank, and Mary Thomas works there."

That explains those two. Call Sammy and ask him about the other guy. I have a hunch." She nodded and left.

Now we know the players. We don't know what is on the two photos listed on the evidence list, but we will see them soon enough. Probably Carrington and Ahmad together, something like that. We need to find the connection to Sam Jones. We know he brought Carrington into the plan to get them the wavers they needed. We know Donald is the real connection to Redthorne, but they are going to try and make Ahmad the connection. What could they have to tie Ahmad to Carrington?

Liz came in all excited. "Sammy says Nathaniel Livingston is a world class forger. He even sort of looks like Ahmad."

"Okay, get me pictures of everyone on the witness list plus a picture of Ahmad." She bolted out of my office only to return in a couple of minutes with the pictures. She already had them. She is good.

"Here you go, boss. I put them in a folder for you." I smiled and she dropped them on my desk and disappeared.

I put Livingston's picture next to Ahmad's. Sort of similar, but if they were side by side, you would never confuse them. That is what we will need to do.

Brick called me when he got in and I went up to see him. I took the pictures with me.

"I have pictures of everyone involved in this case. Here."

"Stop. I don't want to see the bank picture. If I do, I will have to turn it over and tell where I got it. This is what I want you to do. Give it to someone you trust but has no connection with your office or this case. Have them make several people handle the picture to ruin the fingerprints. Then have them mail it to me anonymously. Then I will be able to honestly say I have no idea where it came from."

Lawyers, always thinking ahead of the little details. "You got it." I pocketed that picture and handed him the folder with the rest. I told him about the two bank employees and the fact that the other guy is a good forger.

Brick sat back for a second. "Okay, here's my plan. I am not going to challenge this case in the preliminary trial. I will let them proceed to the jury. This case will be front page news by then. I am sure the D.A. will handle this case by himself. Johnson W. Berrington won't be able to resist. This is how he will proceed.

1. The two officers will recount what they found and what they did at the scene.
2. The coroner will give the details of Carrington's death.
3. The homicide detective will introduce the gun and the residue on Ahmad's hands and clothes.
4. Donald will give a brief testimony of the connection between Carrington and Ahmad.
5. The bank manager will detail the account in Ahmad's name.
6. Jones may or may not have something to add at this time.

That should be that. I won't put on a defense, only question each of them if I want clarification. Otherwise, we will proceed to the trial. I am going to see Ahmad this morning to get his permission to proceed like this."

It made sense to me. Ahmad was safe as long as he was in jail, and they wouldn't bother him as long as they continued trying to find his family. That will give me more time to crack Redthorne and the wavers.

"Do you think the Senator would be willing to testify about the procedure to receive a waver, and how Carrington accomplished it?"

"I have already spoken to him, and he will testify if I need him. We will hold him to the end. That will give us real headlines."

"The latest shipment to Ukraine left a couple of days ago. I am trying to find a Romanian Ike knows to see if he can help us find information in Tulcea."

I headed back to my office. I need to find someone to send Brick the photo. I never would have thought of the problem this photo could be to us. That is why Brick is one of the best attorneys in town.

I asked Stevie to come and see me, and he arrived that afternoon.

"What's up, boss?"

I showed him the photo. "Do you know this man?"

He looked at the photo for a few minutes. "Not sure. I probably should, but I'm not sure."

"Nathaniel Livingston."

"Of course, that's who it is. Pretty good forger."

"Here's what I need. I need you to get this photo smeared with several uninvolved fingerprints and have someone not related to any of us mail it to Brick. Anonymously. Got it? Preferably another borough than around here."

"Sure, no sweat." He took the photo and left.

Liz found Andrei Ionescu. Facebook is a wonderful thing if you aren't trying to hide. Once on it, you're stuck. The last thing posted on his page is from Budapest. I called Ike and asked him to find someone he knew that could try and look him up for us. He said he would get on it.

I got the strangest call next. You never get used to the way life twists. Bubba Wayans was a man in Ike's squad in Afghanistan. We were sort of surprised he went to work for AID when he got back to the states. Ike called me to say Bubba wanted to talk to us. This must be a trap.

I went to Ike's office. "What do you think? What did you think of him in Afghanistan? Not now."

Ike got up and pulled a file off his desk. He gave it to me. "I keep a file on every man I knew there. You never know when you might need more men, just like now."

I reviewed Wayan's file. Ike had his military file, and I didn't ask where he got it. He had a good record in the military. Ike had a few notes written on the bottom. "Smart and decisive. Excellent shot. The last note was AID, FORGET."

"SO, until he went to work at AID, you sort of liked him?"

"Yes, I would have hired him before he went there."

"Should we at least hear him out? Carefully."

"I guess it wouldn't hurt. I'll call him and set up a meeting."

"Anything else?"

"No, our boy Donald is doing nothing."

"You can drop that. They can kill him for all I care now. Ahmad has an alibi. We got the one connection we needed, Sam Jones. One last thing. Did we find out what is one that latest shipment to Romania?"

"Not yet, but I should have an idea soon. I will pull them men off Donald."

I headed back to my office. The arraignment was the next morning. I was there with Brick when they brought Ahmad in. Brick spoke to him for a few minutes and Ahmad nodded. I leaned in and whispered to Ahmad that Muhammad was attacked, but he fought them off, and his family was safe. He smiled and sat down. I sat behind Brick in the first row.

The judge entered the courtroom. Natashia Cummings has been assigned to this case. She takes the bench, and everyone sits down.

"The case of New York vs. Ahmad Muhammad Aziz. The charge is First Degree Murder. Are the lawyers for each side ready."

Barrington spoke first. "Johnson W. Barrington for the prosecution, your honor."

"Percy Blackstone for the defense, your honor."

The DA began his case exactly along the lines Brick predicted. Brick let them build their case. He only asked detail questions of the witnesses. He challenged none of them.

He confirmed Mary Thomas was the employee that signed "Ahmad" up with the new account. He confirmed that the manager did not actually see Ahmad. He was there because he had the authority to disclose the details of the account in public. He also got the basics of Donald's story. Donald testified that Ahmad is the one who brought Carrington to Redthorne. He claimed he only saw Carrington a couple of times in meetings. He left the coroner and the homicide detective alone. He also didn't ask any questions of the two police officers that made the arrest that night. They did not have Sam Jones testify.

Brick apparently decided to test that fact. "Your honor, I notice the DA hasn't called an important witness."

"Which one, Mr. Blackstone?"

"Sam Jones."

Barrington spoke up, "Your honor, we do not feel like his testimony is necessary to establish the fact that a murder has been committed, and there is a high probably that the defendant committed the crime.'

"Your honor, the defense feels that it needs to have all of the evidence in order to provide an adequate defense."

The judge sat thinking for a moment. "Nothing in the law states that the prosecution must reveal all their cards at this time. The defense is denied."

"Mr. Blackstone, do you wish to provide a defense before I rule?"

"Not at this time, your honor."

"Very well. I find there is sufficient evidence that a crime has been committed and that the defendant may have committed the crime. I therefore bind the defendant over for a trial with the charge of First-Degree Murder. There will be no bail. We are dismissed."

Brick and I said our goodbyes to Ahmad and left the courtroom. When we got outside, I had to ask. "How do you think that went?"

"Exactly as I expected. I inserted a couple of minor points and I never expected to see Jones at this time. We now have six weeks to put this thing to bed.

When I got back to my office, I had a message from Ike. I decided to go to his office instead of calling. When I got there, we sat down and opened a couple of cold beers.

"Do you have anything new?"

"Yeah, I found Andrei. He lives in Budapest. He remembers me. He suggested I come over to talk to him in person. I thought we'd both go. We could see the area, and the latest shipment will arrive in about a week. I thought maybe we'd have Andrei help prepare a little arrival party."

"Not a bad idea. We could at least look around and see what Redthorne and AID look like over there. What about our new friend Bubba?"

"He wants to meet at a small bar not far from AID's headquarters."

"Well, we know what that is. He might as well have printed an invitation to the "trap" party. As I see it, we have two choices. Either we ignore it or go in guns blazing."

"There is one other choice. We could meet him. Maybe he will surprise us. It would not hurt to have a man on the inside."

"It seems like a large risk. I have a baby coming in a couple of months."

"I'm not talking about being stupid. You know the military saying, "We trust God, everyone else gets met with a gun. I will have a force in the shadows checking out the neighborhood before we go in."

"You know, I was in the military for nearly ten years, and I never heard that saying."

"You just hung around with the wrong squads. We can be ready."

"Okay, set it up."

When I got back to my office, Stevie was waiting for me. "Boss, SDS is getting nervous. I hear they want Redthorne to make this trial go away. Redthorne has asked SDS for money to keep them going for the next couple of months until the trial is over, but SDS is balking. You had better be careful, they are likely to do anything."

"Thanks, Stevie. Keep your ear to the ground." Stevie cupped his hand around an ear and laughed. He was still laughing as he went out my door.

Great, now I need to travel to Romania and meet Bubba. I am either meeting a Quisling or bait staked out to lure me in. I don't like meetings where everyone is armed to the teeth. This isn't supposed to be Afghanistan, after all.

We will see.