Disclaimer: CSI: isn't mine.
For all other disclaimers and warnings please see the Author's Note at the beginning of Chapter 1.
Chapter 35
Agreed on Price
"Let me get that."
John Morgan indicated to the female bar tender that she should refill his own glass too, the twenty sitting in the tip slot before him ensured that they were served quickly and efficiently.
The bar was softly lit, not Vegas strip club dark. Close to the courthouse it was a favourite haunt for attorneys and even the occasional judge and the owners, aware of that, were keen to keep their custom and avoid any association with sleaziness.
"I hear you lost a relative recently?" Morgan continued his opening gambit.
Andrew Mason threw his own bill on the bar, he wasn't accepting Morgan's offer
"You shouldn't be talking to me. The McCain case comes to trial in under two weeks. If you don't want me to call 'witness intimidation' I suggest you leave me alone."
"Actually I'm perfectly entitled to speak with you. Your belief that Douglas Mason, the man you thought was your cousin, died as a result of my client's negligence calls into question your motive for coming forward to testify against him and I have the right to ask you questions about that. Of course you're entitled to have another attorney present. Would you care to pick someone?" He gestured at a number of other lawyers scattered around the room. "Look, Mark Berisford is over there, perhaps we should call him over? He is the ADA in charge of prosecuting this case."
Mason looked over to the table Morgan was indicating. A group from the District Attorney's office was gathered there which included Berisford, the man who'd represented the DA at Grissom's appeal hearing. As Morgan was pointing him out the man looked in their direction and nodded before going back to his conversation. Morgan made a mental note to thank Maddie Klein and complement her on her timing. When he'd realised that he'd be able to corner Mason in the bar this evening it had only taken a quick call to Klein and she'd made sure Berisford would be there too and even promised to make sure it at least appeared that the attorney had no problem with the meeting. Hopefully she'd persuaded her colleague that his discussion with Mason was about something else entirely, they were both defence lawyers and could easily have clients accused in the same case. Not that he was doing anything wrong; he could just do without having Berisford insisting on being present while Morgan talked to one of his star witnesses.
Maddie had risen to the challenge magnificently and, once more, John Morgan was impressed with the kind of friendship and loyalty Grissom inspired in people. He suspected he hadn't been the only defence attorney in Vegas to offer his services to Grissom for free and, as for Grissom's friends and colleagues, once they realised that there was going to be a battle they'd all stepped up to the mark. He only wished all his other clients had access to such a high level of support and expertise.
Still, Morgan had been forced to reach an uncomfortable conclusion. With all the evidence Grissom's friends had put before him the only obstacle he was really likely to have in persuading a jury that Gil Grissom was innocent of Laura McCain's murder was going to be the presentation of the defendant himself.
It was something he'd never have expected to worry about, Dr Gil Grissom giving a poor performance in court? How utterly ridiculous! Yet it had become a cause of deep concern for Morgan. Grissom's nervous stammer, the worry that he might break down or lash out in panic while in the courtroom and the risk that, even if he got all the anxiety under control, it might be at the cost of him appearing cold and unfeeling, all left Gil's attorney feeling very uncomfortable about the upcoming trial. That was why he'd agreed to help Jim Brass with his plan. While he was here to talk about Mason's part in the case, it wasn't with the aim of getting ammunition for use in court, it was in the hope of revealing the real culprit and avoiding making Grissom face a jury altogether.
To his relief Mason was indicating that he didn't feel the need to have someone sit in on their conversation. Thankfully no other member of the Mason family was present and Morgan had been pretty sure that Andrew Mason would not want to discuss the Paul Millander connection in front of anyone else.
By now their drinks had arrived and Morgan and Mason moved to a small table where their conversation could be more private.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Grissom was grateful that his psychiatrist had agreed to prescribe him something for his nausea and that Jim had made a point of collecting the medication on their way home.
It seemed that Catherine had suddenly realised that Grissom had spent his last birthday in jail and no-one had done anything to mark it. Grissom hadn't minded because, actually, he hadn't noticed either. With no access to TV or the papers to remind him of the date he'd only realized the day had come and gone when he'd been giving his identification details at his appeal. It hadn't mattered to him, he hadn't set much store by celebrating the anniversary of his birth for years now, doing so mainly to please other people. Having a couple of cards addressed to 'James Price' to stick to the wall of his cell would hardly have brightened his day much.
Still it seemed that Catherine had decided to combine her mission to put the meat back on his bones with another stage in his 'reintroduction to society' program and he was now sitting at Jim's dining table once again, this time with a large frosted cake in front of him adorned with lit candles in the shape of the numbers "5" and "2" plus an additional regular birthday candle 'to represent the extra point one of a year since his actual birthday' on the top. Catherine, Nick and Warrick were all seated opposite, looking at him expectantly.
Please don't ask me if I'm making a wish, he thought, you don't want to know what I want most right now.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
While Grissom was otherwise occupied, Jim Brass, David Hodges and Greg Sanders were gathered in his old office at the crime lab. With the trial getting closer it was getting more and more urgent that they find some way to make real progress.
Once again the possibility of obtaining samples from Vincent Lurie by alternative means was being considered.
"I know we haven't got round to asking Gil how he feels about the idea yet, but he's so down I want to be able to offer him a fully developed plan to think about. Obviously he can offer suggestions for changes, but he seems to find it easier to think straight when he has fewer possibilities to cope with.
"So, David, you're still our best option for getting near our subject without being recognized. Are you still prepared to go ahead with the plan?"
Hodges looked unhappy.
"Wouldn't Sanders be a better choice?" David had been hoping Brass had already come to that conclusion, why else had he dragged Greg in on their private meeting? "Field work was never my strong point and he's a fully trained CSI now, although he wasn't then, so Lurie wouldn't have had any contact with him either, would he?"
"Actually I did. I came up with the idea of using an ALS to reveal which of the potential suspects were using the products I discovered on the hair from the crime scene and Grissom let me run with it. I went to the hospital to do the test myself. Lurie would have definitely seen me then, because I picked him out."
"Fortunately Greg looked rather different in those days," Jim resumed, "so I've asked him to join us because he can help make sure you get the right guy, but I still wouldn't risk him doing more than a simple walk past, you're the one who'll need to hang around until you can get the evidence we need. It will have to be from the hospital canteen or somewhere else that Lurie eats or drinks. From what Mandy told you we'll be a lot better off with DNA than just getting prints. We need as much certainty as we can get if we're going to persuade the DA to let Gil off the hook."
"OK." Hodges sighed again. "I just want the two of you to know that I'm only doing this because it's Gil. If either of you guys gets into trouble, you're on your own."
"You know Hodges," Greg answered with a grin, "I never expected anything else." But his brown eyes were serious; he was impressed that Hodges was willing to do this.
In the privacy of the darkened office the three men began to discuss their options.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
John Morgan was trying to gain empathy with his fellow attorney.
"You and I do the same job. We both know the set up. You get up on the witness stand, Berisford asks appropriate questions, you say what you think you heard my client say, and then I do my best to make you appear mistaken, inaccurate or downright untruthful. Of course that part will be difficult, because you know exactly the kinds of tactics I'd be likely to try.
"I'm sure you're also aware that one of the things I'm considering is calling your cousin Alexander to testify should the prosecution attempt to use Dr. Grissom's initial acceptance of a plea bargain as an indication of guilt. Of course that would mean raising the whole issue of 'cousin' Douglas Mason and his alter ego.
"That revelation would certainly have advantages for my client; a judge who turned out to be a serial killer is probably one of the few stories that would move Dr. Grissom's own trial off the front page.
"There will certainly be questions asked about how Millander got to be a judge in the first place but, with the bar association only responsible for checking his academic abilities it's the electorate who will be thinking about their choices twice when the next vote comes up just over a month from now. By the way, have you suggested to your sister that she change her campaign literature? I believe 'Douglas Mason' gets a mention as part of the 'long tradition of legal service' she hails from."
"She has already altered the brochures, and I'm sure that any articles about Paul Millander will make it clear that he was a devious man who deliberately took advantage of my family name to give him an aura of respectability he'd never have otherwise achieved."
"I'm sure it will, but I'm afraid we both know that mud sticks. Something which I'm afraid your family and my client are going to have to learn to cope with, whatever the outcome of all this might be." Morgan stopped and watched Mason intently, trying to register his reaction. The idea of family was clearly strong among the Mason's, enough so that Alexander Mason had gambled, and lost, his career to avenge someone he'd believed to be a distant cousin. Could Andrew Mason's loyalty be used to persuade him to help in some way? It was fortunate that this year was the one in which Andrew's older sister had decided to run for election to the state judiciary. Maybe that would give him some leverage.
"Of course there's someone else who's risking having their name dirtied by playing a role in this case. Have you warned your client, Dr. Lurie, that there may be repercussions for him in all this? I take it that he did consult you before he came forward? That's how you found out that my client was under suspicion isn't it, Lurie contacted you and persuaded you to bear witness as well?"
Mason looked at him blankly, he was a good enough attorney to rate a senior surgeon amongst his clients and he wasn't going to open up to Morgan that easily.
"What if I went to him? Obviously I couldn't offer to testify without checking with Dr. Lurie first. Dr. Grissom's words were an indiscretion on his part, but I am not so indiscreet as to risk my client's reputation by dragging up an occasion when he was accused of something for which there was so little evidence that there wasn't even a question of Dr. Lurie being indicted. A point I'm sure the ADA will raise should you attempt to bring up the issue in court."
"He should," Morgan conceded, not believing for one moment that Mason had been the proactive member of the partnership, the 'what if?' phrasing of Mason's response was a very obvious attempt to mislead, "but that's the problem isn't it? Dr Lurie may be your client, but you're only attending this trial as a witness, you won't be able to protect him, that's up to ADA Berisford, and Lurie won't be his highest priority, he wants my client convicted, anything else is secondary. I hope you were clear about that in advising your client."
"Dr. Lurie is fully aware of the possible consequences. Fortunately he will be fifty-five this year and has already made plans for early retirement. He considers that any backlash there might be would be of minimal importance in comparison with doing his civic duty by giving the jury an impression of how Doctor Grissom's mind works."
Really, thought Morgan, now that's interesting timing.
"Now, if that's all..." Mason was preparing to leave now. Morgan hadn't finished yet, so he tried to stall his opponent by changing approach.
"Look, Andrew," Morgan addressed the man sitting with him as a colleague and equal, "I'm not threatening you, I'm not even asking you to withdraw your testimony, you've been deposed now, there would be no point. You could be forced to appear anyway, but while the prosecution has Vincent Lurie to speak for them, they don't actually need you anyway other than for confirmation. In fact the odds are they won't call you, because, thanks to your cousin Alexander, I could ask you all sorts of useful questions regarding your antipathy toward my client that I wouldn't be permitted to put to Lurie. In fact I'd be tempted to call you anyway, I'll have no difficulty getting your cousin declared a hostile witness and once we've heard from him having the same declared about you will be no problem. Client privilege may protect Lurie, but what protection do you have?"
Morgan watched as Mason turned this new idea over in his mind. He clearly hadn't thought about this repercussion of his family's personal involvement in Grissom's persecution. However it happened Morgan would be able to get him up on the stand and be able to ask him leading questions. The issue now was whether Mason had any information that he was afraid might be revealed under that kind of questioning and, more importantly whether he believed Morgan knew about it.
Right now Morgan didn't, although his experiences so far indicated he shouldn't rule out Brass and the CSIs coming up with something at the last minute. His job right now was to indicate that he did know something while surreptitiously fishing for clues about what that something was so that he could pass the lead on to Grissom's friends.
"You know I've been reviewing the law as it applies to privilege," he began, "initially I wanted to see if I could prevent you from revealing what was said in the interview room that day because of it's connection to your client's possible implication in that murder, but apparently that would only work if your client was involved in this murder. Even then it would all depend on when your client came to you, after all, if, for example, he came to you with a hypothetical question before Laura McCain was murdered then not only would attorney-client privilege be suspended, you'd actually be obliged to pass on any information you had." It seemed a fair guess that Lurie might have asked legal advice at some point in the lead up. Even if he wasn't quite as involved as Brass had assured Morgan he was, Lurie's retirement preparations seemed to indicate some foreknowledge of the events that had led to Grissom being accused of murder.
"Complicated isn't it?" he added with a smile, a prearranged gesture to the bar tender resulting in a stronger type of liquor appearing in front of Andrew Mason.
This time the offer was not rejected.