Free Lou Mason Mystery - 01 - Motion to Kill by Joel Goldman

bank knew it. The loans cost the bank fifty million. The government says that was criminal fraud.”
    “And my lawyer advised me that the loans were reasonable business investments that turned sour. That’s not a crime.”
    “And I’m not the jury. Did your lawyer get any of that money before he turned up dead?”
    “I’m sure Richard charged for his services and was paid.”
    “Did he collect for anything other than his legal fees?”
    O’Malley offered a patient smile. “I didn’t write the checks. You’d have to ask him.”
    “You begin to see the problem here, Victor. Richard Sullivan is dead. You haven’t forgotten, have you?”
    O’Malley’s eyes narrowed and his congenial veneer evaporated.
    “No, I haven’t, young man. My friendship with Richard was the only reason I stuck with this firm and didn’t hire a Wall Street heavyweight. I may have to rethink that now that he’s gone.”
    “You may need a Wall Street firm sooner than you think. If the firm is indicted, we’ll claim that we didn’t know the true nature of your actions because you concealed them. The court will waive your attorney-client privilege, and we can fight over the movie rights.”
    O’Malley nodded. “All right. You’ve made your point. Better to hang together than separately. What else do you want to know?”
    “St. John has subpoenaed our files on Quintex Land Corporation. I want to know why.”
    “I don’t know. The bank didn’t loan any money to Quintex.”
    “What does Quintex do?”
    “I use it to buy and sell land.”
    “Scott said that Sullivan handled the real estate deals but that the company has made other investments besides real estate.”
    “Look, Richard set up more corporations for me than I could keep track of. I certainly can’t remember every deal that I ever did. You’ve got the records. You figure it out and tell me if I’ve got another problem besides the loans.”
    Mason shook his head, realizing the struggle that lay ahead. O’Malley wasn’t going to tell him anything he didn’t have to. Mason couldn’t blame him. They had met only once before. The lawyer O’Malley trusted was dead, and he hadn’t decided whether he could trust Mason.
    Mason and Sandra spent the next two hours hammering him on Quintex, but they didn’t know enough to ask the right questions. They needed time to plow through all the material, so they scheduled another meeting for the following Monday afternoon.
    “Well, what do you think?” Mason asked Sandra after O’Malley and his son left.
    “No jury will ever believe that someone that successful could know so little about how he made all that money. He’s not going to help us more than he has to.”
    “Doesn’t he know that the harder he makes our job, the more likely it is that he gets convicted?”
    “Maybe. Unless he’s more worried about what the government doesn’t know than what it does know. We better buy some time from St. John.”
    “Our appointment is at ten tomorrow morning. Let’s have a look at Sullivan’s office.”
    The locksmith was just finishing under Angela’s watchful eye. She gave them the Girl Scout salute, handed each of them a key, and posted the No Admittance sign on the door.
    “The office is secure, so let’s leave it until tomorrow. Maybe we’ll have a better idea of what we’re looking for after we meet with St. John,” Sandra said.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
     
    When Mason returned to his office, he found six banker’s boxes stacked against one wall. Each box was labeled Douchant v. Philpott Safety Systems . There was a note from Scott taped to one of the boxes that read, A deal is a deal. Save the firm and take care of Tommy. Then take the rest of the day off.
    Mason ran his hand over the boxes, deciding whether to open them. He knew that when he did, he’d have no more excuses to quit the firm or to blame the result in Tommy’s trial on fickle courtroom gods. He used the letter opener Scott had given him for being best