The Lies that Bind Read Online Free Page A

dump, his ashtray overflowed with ashes and butts. I also appreciated his world-weary, jaundiced attitude. You could call it cynical, you could call it common sense: depends on your point of view.
    When I went to his office on Friday morning to talk to him, he was standing in front of a mirror, brushing his hair. It was black with gray highlights, thick and wiry, the kind of hair that reacts to every change in moisture, electricity or wind. Saia didn’t pay much attention to his clothes, but he was vain about his hair.
    â€œHat head,” he said, finishing up and putting the brush in his drawer.
    â€œPleasure to see you too,” said I.
    â€œHey, Neil, you know you’re my favorite defense lawyer.”
    â€œ That’s not saying much.”
    He laughed and sat down at his desk. I sat in front of him. He lit a Camel with his Bic lighter. I lit a Marlboro and blew out the match.
    â€œSo the APD has the best shots in the West,” I said. Just because I liked the guy didn’t mean I couldn’t give him some shit.
    He winced. “Don’t believe everything you read in the papers. A man charging police officers with a weapon is asking for trouble.”
    â€œWhen the weapon is a three-inch penknife?”
    He shrugged, flicked an ash at his ashtray, missed.
    â€œIf the APD shot him to keep him from killing himself, what do you call that—murder or suicide?”
    â€œSelf-defense. You know, sometimes it’s just a matter of luck whether a suspect dies or not.”
    â€œThen the APD is lucky?”
    â€œI’d say unlucky.” He laughed. “I don’t think your luck’s going to be so good on this one.”
    â€œTell me what I’m going to be reading in the papers.” So far Justine’s death had gotten only a brief notice in the Journal and the Tribune, but sooner or later they’d find out she’d been the girlfriend of Martha’s grandson, and that was likely to move the story up to page one.
    â€œThat a witness saw Martha Conover’s car entering the Los Cerros complex at an excessive rate of speed around ten-fifteen. That a neighbor called the APD at eleven to say she’d found the body in the road.”
    He could give me the names of the witness and the neighbor if he chose to. But he wouldn’t choose to unless we were talking plea bargain, and he wouldn’t have to unless Martha Conover was indicted. It’s tough to get any information out of the DA’s office while a case is under investigation. “The body wasn’t found until eleven?” I asked.
    â€œYeah. There’s not much traffic on that road at night. Nobody lives up there but old ladies, and they don’t go out.” Saia picked up a rubber band from his desk, stretched it between his fingers and began moving the fingers back and forth like a sideways seesaw. “There were no brake marks on the pavement. Your client didn’t even slow down.”
    â€œHave you gotten the results of the autopsy back yet?”
    â€œYeah. Death on impact due to massive injuries to the vital organs.”
    At least he wouldn’t be able to depict Martha Conover as a heartless woman who’d left the victim lying alone in the road to bleed to death. “Did the OMI find any drugs and/or alcohol in Justine’s blood? “
    â€œSome antihistamines. That’s all. She was Michael Velásquez’s girlfriend. Did you know that?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œ And three years ago, also on Halloween, she was driving the car he died in. Did you know that?”
    By the time I thought of faking it, it was too late. My expression had given me away. “No,” I said.
    â€œYou’re slipping, Neil. I thought you’d know your clients better than that.”
    â€œMe, too.”
    â€œOne of the investigators thought Virga looked familiar, and he traced her to the previous accident. She was a beautiful girl; someone you’d