Reversible Errors (52 page)

Or was he? These chances didn't come around very often-to recover what had been lost and was still regretted. To reverse the mistakes of a stupid and more ignorant self. Could he just let that opportunity go? He sat there dizzy with doubt, ready to cry out for no purpose at all. Then he tore the report into several pieces and dropped it in the trash. The squirrels rushed over, but for them, like others, there was only disappointment.

Chapter
36

august 17, 2001

Lincoln Lan
d i
n judge kenton harlow's courtroom, there was no longer any expectation of drama. The vast gallery of onlookers was gone and the press contingent had dwindled to the standard retinue -Stew Dubinsky, Mira Amir, and a local news-service reporter, fresh from ) school, who, even to Arthur's eyes, needed to learn how to dress. With the media, Arthur had downplayed the allegations of the motions he'd filed. Whatever hopes he had with Harlow would not be enhanced if the judge felt Muriel had already been punished in the papers for her lapses.

Arthur had not slept well. He was at a loss about exactly where Rommys case was headed. With Muriel's letter about Collins, he might prop the coffin lid open for some time to come, and he even had flights of fantasy that Collins could somehow establish Rommy's innocence. Yet lately, for whatever reason, Arthur had become concerned for his future. Sooner or later, this was all going to end. As
Gillian had put it weeks ago, life would be life again, not an adventure. Never without a long-range plan, he suddenly could see nothing clearly. And that uncertainty had reached his dreams, turning them turbulent. Near five, he had crept into the kitchen, to the eastern window, to watch the fiery disc of the sun burn its place into the sky. It's going to be okay, he told himself. He believed it, but never more so than twenty minutes later when Gillian in a thin white robe found him, drew her chair beside his, and, without a word between them, held his hand while the sun regally threw off its rosy disguise and in blinding beauty ascended.

With Carol Keeney, and a determined step, Muriel arrived in the courtroom. She was dressed in a sleek pantsuit, looking, as always, like a lean cat ready for a fight. She deposited her files on one of the counsel tables, then strolled across the courtroom and plopped down beside Arthur on the front bench where he, and several other lawyers here on motions, awaited the commencement of court.

"So," she said. "How big is that top hat of yours? Any more rabbits left in there?"

"Fin hoping this one is enough."

"This is really clever, Arthur. I grant you that."

Arthur had eked one more extension from the Court of Appeals, this time for his motion to reconsider the order terminating Rommy's case, so he could investigate the matters about Collins that Muriel had disclosed in her letter. The next move, plotted with Gillian, was far more unorthodox. Under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Arthur had asked Judge Harlow to sanction the Kindle County Prosecuting Attorney's Office for failing to disclose what Collins had told Larry in Atlanta. Essentially, Arthur claimed that Muriel's response months ago to Arthur's motion to grant Collins immunity had been functionally false. As punishment, he wanted Judge Harlow to order Muriel to immunize Collins and allow Arthur to take his deposition. In theory, Judge Harlow no longer had power over this case. Yet the original judge was in the best position to determine if he had been lied to and so such questions were referred first to him. And the law would defer to the sanctions he imposed if he found a party had acted in bad faith.

"The Court of Appeals will see right through this, Arthur. Smart as this is, it's hopeless in the long run."

"I don't think it's hopeless, Muriel. I think Judge Harlow may feel you were hiding material information."

"I wasn't hiding anything, Arthur. It was Erno who was hiding- and lying."

"He was protecting his nephew."

"By shooting him? Besides, I don't think there's a motive exception for perjury. Erno's word is worthless, Arthur. It always was."

"Especially if you won't disclose anything that backs him up."

"Nothing backs him up, Arthur."

"How about Collins saying he prays every night for God to forgive him for what Erno and he did to Rommy? How could you possibly sit on that in good conscience?"

"It's b
. S
., Arthur, Collins getting his uncle's back on the cheap, blowing smoke up Larry's behind without the risk of perjury. And you got the information, Arthur, as soon as it appeared remotely relevant to anything."

"What else is there, Muriel, that youve decided isn't remotely relevant?"

"Arthur, I told you and the judge in my response that you have everything conceivably favorable to your client."

"Except Collins's testimony. You really think the courts are going to let you keep Collins in the closet while you execute Rommy?"

"Collins is a sideshow, Arthur. There's nothing that connects him to these murders. You've been very good at creating sideshows. That's your job. I give you credit. I'll tell you another sideshow that interests me."

"What's that?"

"A little birdie says he sees a lot of Gillian Sullivan around your office over there. And holding hands at the Matchbook. What's that about? Inquiring minds want to know." With the question, Muriel bestowed a lurid little smile.

That one set him back several steps, just as Muriel had intended. As Gillian had long predicted, Arthur was not entirely comfortable with the malicious sniggering that the wildfire news about their relationship seemed to have been evoking these days.

"What has that got to do with anything, Muriel?"

"I don't know, Arthur. Its unusual, don't you think?"

"There's no conflict, Muriel. You said on the record months ago that Gillian has no role in these proceedings."

"Sounding a little sensitive, Art. I always liked Gillian. Everybody deserves a second chance."

Muriel didn't care much for Gillian at all, according to Gillian. Both had tended to resent the frequent comparisons that had been made for years around the P
. A
.'s Office. And Muriel didn't believe in second chances. She was a prosecutor whose credo was punishment for all mistakes -except, of course, her own. Yet she'd accomplished what she wanted to. Arthur was eager to end the conversation. Muriel could see that and stood again.

Several weeks ago Arthur had taken the precaution of advising Rommy in writing that Gillian and he had become "close personal friends." But Muriel's point was not about propriety so much as vulnerability. She'd crossed the courtroom to warn him. If he went in for mudslinging, with high-profile assaults on her professionalism because she'd concealed the information about Collins, she had dirt on him of her own to hurl back.

He'd never been perfectly suited for this profession, Arthur realized. In spite of all the years in the trenches and everything he knew about Muriel, his first hope when she sat down beside him was that she'd come to pass time because she liked him.

"All rise." Harlow strode briskly up to the bench, various papers in his arms. He called and disposed of the few other cases scheduled to precede theirs. When he reached Gandolph ex. Rel. Warden of Rudyard, the judge smiled down at Arthur and Muriel as they assembled at the podium.

"I thought I'd seen the last of you folks. Welcome back." He called on Muriel first to respond to Arthur's motions. She was vehement.

"First," said Muriel, "the Court of Appeals has said that there's not a case pending. Second, Mr. Raven is no longer Gandolph's lawyer. Third, the limited discovery period that the court authorized concluded more than a month ago. And fourth, there were no misrepresentations of any kind in any statement we have ever made to Your Honor."

Harlow smiled, still amused by Muriels style. Barely five feet and one hundred pounds, she hit like a heavyweight. In his tall chair, the judge pushed back to contemplate, combing his hand through his long white hair.

"With all deference to my friends out there who are the eyes and ears of the public," he said, "I think there are some things best addressed back in chambers. Why don't the lawyers join me there?"

The judge ushered them through his outer office into Lincoln Land, as the judge's chambers were often called outside his presence. There were at least fifty portraits and figures of Lincoln at all stages of his life on the walls and shelves, including the Brady photographs. Documents bearing Lincoln's signature were displayed around the room. The judge even had a collection of proof pennies in a case.

Harlow's law clerks, a white man and a black woman, had followed him from the courtroom, yellow pads in their hands. As the judge approached his desk and hung up his robe on a rack next to it, he was laughing.

"Polks," he said, "I have seen lawsuits for forty-some years, and I want to tell you, this one I'll remember. It reminds me of those college football games where everybody is scoring in overtime. If you go get a beer, you can't even tell who's ahead." He stretched a long hand toward the walnut conference table at the side of the room, where Arthur and Muriel and Carol Keeney and the clerks took seats.

The formalities of the courtroom obliged the judge to listen first to the lawyers, but in his inner sanctum, Harlow was far less hesitant to speak his mind. Without a court reporter, he tended to proceed by edict.

"I don't like hiding from the press, not on a case that's received this much attention, but at this stage we all need to be candid so we can move along."

There was a call then from the courtroom. Pamela had arrived, following an appearance in state court. The judge told his courtroom security officers to bring her back.

"Okay, now let's not kid around about these motions," said Harlow, once Pamela, too, was at the long table. "First, Ms. Wynn, you don't know me very well, and I don't know you very well, but I think, speaking privately, both of us will agree that you should have corrected your filings with this court after your detective spoke to Mr. Farwell."

"I wish I had, Your Honor."

"Fine. And Mr. Raven, we both know that if Ms. Wynn were really trying to do you dirt, she wouldn't have disclosed any of this."

"Granted, Judge Harlow. But she waited until after the Court of Appeals ruled. Now my client has to try to undo a virtual fait accom- pli"

"Timing, that's the best of your gripe, Arthur. Right?"

He turned his hand in the air evincing no better than half-hearted agreement.

"I'm not dismissing the point, Arthur. We all know the forum can make a difference. Frankly, Ms. Wynn, if I'd heard that Mr. Erdai's nephew asked God every night to forgive him for what they did to Gandolph, I'd have been pretty damn eager to hear what Collins Far- well had to say."

"With all respect, Your Honor," said Muriel, "our office never grants immunity at the request of defendants or civil litigants, or even courts, who want to gain access to testimony. If the legislature thought those persons should have the power to bestow immunity, it would have given it to them. And it hasn't. We wouldn't immunize Mr. Far- well, then or now."

The judge squinted at Muriel for a second.

"I don't think counting the missiles in our arsenals is the right approach here, Ms. Wynn. Each of us has various powers. You have the power not to grant immunity. And I have the power to enter certain findings you might not like. And Mr. Raven has the power to make sure they're heard far and wide. Rather than power, I'd prefer to talk about what's fair. It's obvious to all of us that Collins Farwell knows something about the circumstances that gave rise to this crime, which he didn't disclose a decade ago. Mr. Raven says we should know everything we can before we execute his client, and that strikes me as a pretty good point. Now, given what Genevieve Carriere told yo
u a
bout the way Mr. Gandolph was carrying on back in July of 1991, none of us is going to be very surprised if it turns out that Mr. Raven is sorry he asked to interrogate Mr. Farwell. But he'll have some peace of mind as his client and he face what's coming next. As will you. And 1. So I'd rather we all take a day or two to reflect on what's fair, rather than our powers, since that may well just be the pathway to sorrow for all of us."

Beneath his overgrown eyebrows, shot with white, the judge again peered at Muriel. She said nothing, but clearly took the toll of what she was up against. The bottom line was exactly what Arthur had said to her in the courtroom. Kenton Harlow was not going to allow Rommy Gandolph to be executed without hearing Collins's story. The fact that Farwell s testimony might incidentally show up the Court of Appeals for putting an early close to the case was, without doubt, no small incentive to Harlow. But he was giving Muriel few options. With the press looking on eagerly, she could magnanimously immunize Collins, extolling her dedication to the truth, or she could fence with a far shorter stick against a federal judge who might send her off on her election campaign officially branded a liar.

"Why don't we all think about it?" said Harlow. He summoned his minute clerk and dictated a brief order, stating that Arthur's motion was entered and continued, and then sent them on their way. Muriel hurried off, her face compressed by cold indignation. As soon as she was gone, Pamela could not resist throwing an arm around Arthur and giving him a robust squeeze, further emphasized by another of her glimmering smiles.