called the cops.”
“Why’d you take the bill, Ed? You should have told the guy to take a hike.”
He explained his philosophy that counterfeiting was part of the cost of doing business.
“If I tell someone their money’s no good, I could be wrong, or could risk pissing off a customer who might have gotten it passed to them unknowingly. If the shopper is a crook, I risk getting punched or worse.”
Seemed to me Ed was overlooking the obvious. “But you have a gun.”
He crunched his lips together and shook his head. “Unless your life is at stake, you generally don’t want them to know you have a gun. Criminals can always use another gun, especially one that’s not registered to them. They might come back to get yours.”
So Ed simply reported the crime, hoping that if the cops busted a counterfeit ring, he might be eligible for a reward.
CHAPTER 20
I had to sideline my research on counterfeit cash, because to show the citizens of Minneapolis that the Kate Warner homicide case was under control, the police arrested Chuck.
Channel 3 didn’t get perp parade video because our first word about the news was a phone call from him, in jail, asking me for the name of that attorney I had mentioned.
“I’ll send him down,” I promised. Neither of us brought up how our previous encounter had ended.
Benny Walsh was one of the top criminal lawyers in town. His dark suits and black stares were legendary in the courthouse. I wasn’t sure Chuck could afford him, but Benny was willing to head down to the slammer to find out. Sometimes, if he thought the case had enormous potential for publicity, Benny could be flexible about money. But most times if a defendant couldn’t cough up a hefty retainer, he turned him over to the public defender’s office.
Suspects can be held in Minnesota jails for thirty-six hours before being charged. That gives the cops time to make their case. So Chuck’s best hope of not spending the rest of his life in prison was not to be charged with murder in the first place.
I told Benny about the people meter alibi, figuring if I attributedthe information to him, Channel 3 could report it without fear of retribution from the ratings giant.
Benny had a hard time following my account of how the ratings system worked. “So if I subpoena these records from Nielsen, they’ll show that he couldn’t have committed the crime?”
“If what he says is true, the data will show that somebody was watching TV in Chuck’s house during the time of the murder. It’s up to you to convince the cops or jury that it was Chuck.”
“Interesting,” he said.
“Remember, Benny, you have to learn about this from him and keep me out of it.”
“Yeah, I got it. But you keep this straight, Riley, if I take him as a client, my allegiance is to him, not you. His secrets are my secrets. You get nothing unless I determine it to be in his best interest.”
I didn’t need Benny to tell me that. I’d been a criminal defendant myself.
I handed Noreen a copy of Chuck’s mug shot. He looked dazed, like he’d been pulled out of bed and hauled off to jail.
She was pissed on a couple of matters. First, that Chuck was behind bars and couldn’t turn his people meter remote to Channel 3 for the news. Second, that Benny knew about the ratings device from me.
“Riley, you’ve put us in quite a quandary.”
I disagreed. “Nielsen will never know we knew about it first. We’re merely reporting the news via his lawyer. And privately, as journalists, we’ll know we did the right thing to get the truth out. If the ratings data clears him, fair’s fair.”
That interpretation did not reassure her. “It’s entirely possible he’s lying about being home and was actually out committing murder.”
That was true. When it comes to homicide, more often than not, the suspect is the killer. “If that’s how this plays out,” I acknowledged, “we’ll report it.”
Then Noreen warned me in her familiar boss voice
“Why’d you take the bill, Ed? You should have told the guy to take a hike.”
He explained his philosophy that counterfeiting was part of the cost of doing business.
“If I tell someone their money’s no good, I could be wrong, or could risk pissing off a customer who might have gotten it passed to them unknowingly. If the shopper is a crook, I risk getting punched or worse.”
Seemed to me Ed was overlooking the obvious. “But you have a gun.”
He crunched his lips together and shook his head. “Unless your life is at stake, you generally don’t want them to know you have a gun. Criminals can always use another gun, especially one that’s not registered to them. They might come back to get yours.”
So Ed simply reported the crime, hoping that if the cops busted a counterfeit ring, he might be eligible for a reward.
CHAPTER 20
I had to sideline my research on counterfeit cash, because to show the citizens of Minneapolis that the Kate Warner homicide case was under control, the police arrested Chuck.
Channel 3 didn’t get perp parade video because our first word about the news was a phone call from him, in jail, asking me for the name of that attorney I had mentioned.
“I’ll send him down,” I promised. Neither of us brought up how our previous encounter had ended.
Benny Walsh was one of the top criminal lawyers in town. His dark suits and black stares were legendary in the courthouse. I wasn’t sure Chuck could afford him, but Benny was willing to head down to the slammer to find out. Sometimes, if he thought the case had enormous potential for publicity, Benny could be flexible about money. But most times if a defendant couldn’t cough up a hefty retainer, he turned him over to the public defender’s office.
Suspects can be held in Minnesota jails for thirty-six hours before being charged. That gives the cops time to make their case. So Chuck’s best hope of not spending the rest of his life in prison was not to be charged with murder in the first place.
I told Benny about the people meter alibi, figuring if I attributedthe information to him, Channel 3 could report it without fear of retribution from the ratings giant.
Benny had a hard time following my account of how the ratings system worked. “So if I subpoena these records from Nielsen, they’ll show that he couldn’t have committed the crime?”
“If what he says is true, the data will show that somebody was watching TV in Chuck’s house during the time of the murder. It’s up to you to convince the cops or jury that it was Chuck.”
“Interesting,” he said.
“Remember, Benny, you have to learn about this from him and keep me out of it.”
“Yeah, I got it. But you keep this straight, Riley, if I take him as a client, my allegiance is to him, not you. His secrets are my secrets. You get nothing unless I determine it to be in his best interest.”
I didn’t need Benny to tell me that. I’d been a criminal defendant myself.
I handed Noreen a copy of Chuck’s mug shot. He looked dazed, like he’d been pulled out of bed and hauled off to jail.
She was pissed on a couple of matters. First, that Chuck was behind bars and couldn’t turn his people meter remote to Channel 3 for the news. Second, that Benny knew about the ratings device from me.
“Riley, you’ve put us in quite a quandary.”
I disagreed. “Nielsen will never know we knew about it first. We’re merely reporting the news via his lawyer. And privately, as journalists, we’ll know we did the right thing to get the truth out. If the ratings data clears him, fair’s fair.”
That interpretation did not reassure her. “It’s entirely possible he’s lying about being home and was actually out committing murder.”
That was true. When it comes to homicide, more often than not, the suspect is the killer. “If that’s how this plays out,” I acknowledged, “we’ll report it.”
Then Noreen warned me in her familiar boss voice
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