A Criminal Defense by Steven Gore

Author:Steven Gore
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Suspense
ISBN: 9780062025074
Publisher: Harper
Published: 2013-07-30T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 30

As Donnally slid his semiautomatic back in its holster and descended the ramp to the sidewalk, he was less concerned about a second visit from the flustered Vietnamese gunman than about what Hamlin was doing with the quarter-million dollars. There was no question in Donnally’s mind that it was crime proceeds, but what crime and by what device had Hamlin received it, and what had the crook expected him to do with the money?

The easy answer, maybe too easy, was that Hamlin was laundering it.

The man expected the money to still be in cash, while the problem for drug traffickers was to find ways to convert it into untraceable assets. That suggested Hamlin would’ve received it just before his death and hadn’t had time to launder it.

After again stepping into the flow of pedestrians and heading in the direction of Hamlin’s office, Donnally thought of his conversation with Lemmie. Maybe it wasn’t about money laundering, at least not directly. Maybe Hamlin had chased the dragon all the way into the drug trade and he was supposed to have used the money to purchase opium from his connection in Thailand.

What better cut-out for a drug trafficking organization than a white lawyer with a confidential trust account to move money to Asia to purchase narcotics?

But again, the man expected Hamlin still had the cash, which implied that the deal—if it really was a drug deal—hadn’t been done yet.

In either case, where was the money?

Donnally suspected the man felt a little foolish as he’d left. He’d come with a gun only because he fantasized that Donnally and Hamlin were partners and that Donnally was a crook like him who could be intimidated because he couldn’t run to the police for protection. But there was no basis for that belief other than a wish that it be true.

Now, standing in the same spot at the same intersection, Donnally felt an itch between his shoulder blades, wondering who would be next to press a gun barrel against his spine.

By accepting the role as the special master to investigate Hamlin’s murder, Donnally realized that he had become a proxy for the man, the living dead, and he didn’t want to become the dead dead.

Donnally took a few steps up around the corner to separate himself from the crowd, then called Navarro and asked him to find out whether the garage had a videotape surveillance system and to get a copy of the recording for the last two hours. That would be enough time to spot the gunman casing the garage, if he did, and him and Donnally walking inside, and then exiting.

As he turned toward the corner, he noticed patrons lined up in front of Café La Maison across the street, queued up men and women dressed in suits and long coats, confined by woven stanchion ropes. Stepping forward, then pausing. Stepping forward, then pausing. Sure that when they arrived inside the wine would be exquisite, the dinners would be satisfying, and the desserts would be just.

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