City of Fire by Robert Ellis Page A

alcoholic, and the attorney used his frequent meetings with a recovery group to destroy the man’s good reputation. Once Paladino tainted the car his client was driving, he focused on the condition of the street and a pothole that seemed particularly deep. When he was finished, the crime had the feel of an act of God, and the jury delivered a not-guilty verdict to the surprise of no one but the families of the victims. Two years later when the boy’s father stood accused of redirecting money earmarked for the pension fund to an account in the Bahamas, Paladino got him off as well with nothing more than a fine. A large fine, worthy of headlines on most business pages, but one the man could easily afford.
    Buddy Paladino was a special kind of attorney, and his presence in the room made Lena feel uncomfortable. He wasslippery, but he was also extremely smart. No matter how good a case might seem on paper to the prosecution, Paladino was a genius at finding the loose end, unraveling it before a jury, and making everyone look like a fool.
    He cleared his throat, his dark eyes sparkling as he ignored DDA Wemer and directed his full attention to Lieutenant Barrera.
    “I’ve had a chance to speak with the young man,” he said. “Yes, I have. And I’ve read that statement you good people took down before he had the benefit of conferring with an attorney, which is his legal right.”
    Barrera cut in, “Wait a minute, Counselor. He waived his rights and we’ve got it on videotape. When he asked for an attorney, we made the call. That was seven hours ago.”
    “Yes, yes,” Paladino said. “It’s unfortunate that I was in San Francisco when I received the message. My flight was delayed because of fog. You have my apology, Lieutenant. All of you do.”
    Lieutenant Frank Barrera’s approach to life was straightforward. He began his career in uniform, rose in the department by avoiding politics as best he could and downplaying the petty games that went with it. He was fair-minded, a good judge of character, and from what Lena could tell, had the support and respect of the detectives he supervised. But Frank Barrera was a busy man and liked people who got to the point. Buddy Paladino was a ballroom dancer—a magician—who may have risen from the streets but had also mastered the art of the shell game. From the guarded expression on Barrera’s face, it seemed to Lena that her supervisor had already lost his patience and was repulsed. Still, Lena had never seen Paladino in real life before and couldn’t keep her eyes off him.
    “Is there a problem with the way your client has been treated?” the DDA asked.
    “I’m not exactly sure, Mr. Wemer. I’m just not sure. Mr. Brant told me that he waived his rights because he thought he was assisting with the investigation, not a person of interest. The young man didn’t believe he was a suspect and wanted to do everything he could to help.”
    Paladino stressed the word
help
, glancing at Lena. Had he been wearing a hat, she was sure he would have tipped it.
    “Then what’s the problem, Counselor?” Barrera asked.
    Paladino cleared his throat again. “It seems the young man wants a polygraph test.”
    No one said anything for a long time. Barrera and Wemer smiled, and so did Paladino, though in a different way. But not Lena. And when she traded quick looks with Novak and Rhodes, they weren’t smiling either. Something was going on. Something they weren’t aware of or missed. She had never heard of a defense attorney agreeing to a polygraph performed by the police without first hiring an expert and trying it out on his own. Particularly an attorney of Paladino’s stature and experience.
    “I’ve advised him against it, of course,” Paladino said. “But he insists. It seems the young man thinks he’s innocent of all charges. He’d like to clear up any discrepancies there might be between his statement and the statements of others. He’d like to dot the i’s and cross