Free New Tricks by David Rosenfelt Page B

unfortunately not much.
    “She’ll make it, Andy. She’s a fighter.”
    I know everybody is being well intentioned, but that line is starting to drive me crazy. “Right.”
    “Any leads on the shooter?” she asks.
    “I think so. They got the make of the car, and a partial license. Pete Stanton is the lead detective on it.”
    “Good,” she says. She knows Pete, and the kind of cop that he is.
    “And Marcus has vowed revenge,” I say.
    “Game, set, and match,” she says. “You going to ask for a delay on Timmerman?”
    I’m surprised she’s even aware that I am representing Steven. “I’m going to take a couple of days to figure that out. How
     did you know I was on it?”
    “Are you kidding?” she says. “You cost me an assignment.”
    “What does that mean?” I ask.
    “There’s a task force on it. I was going to get assigned, but then you came on board, and they reworked it because they knew
     we were friends.”
    This is bewildering to me. “Why was the bureau investigating Walter Timmerman?”
    “That I don’t know; I hadn’t gotten briefed yet. And you know I couldn’t tell you if I did know.”
    “Understood,” I say. If she doesn’t know anything, there’s no sense trying to cajole her into revealing more.
    It’s only when we get off the phone that I realize exactly what she said. If I cost her the assignment, then the bureau’s
     task force is still in existence, even after Timmerman’s death, because I obviously got involved well after the murder.
    It’s not that the bureau “was” investigating Walter Timmerman. It’s that the bureau “is” investigating Walter Timmerman.
    The question is why.

A T FIVE O’CLOCK the nurse comes in to speak to me.
    It’s really just an update; she doesn’t have any new information to share. She reaffirms the doctor’s comments that the shorter
     the coma lasts, the better the prognosis is for future recovery, though she won’t come close to committing to specific time
     frames.
    What’s encouraging to me is her focus on Laurie’s chances for recovery, rather than survival. As the doctor said, one step
     at a time.
    Richard Wallace calls me to express his concern for Laurie, whom he knows fairly well. He apologizes for not having called
     earlier, but he was in court all day.
    “Andy, if you need to ask for a continuance on Timmerman, I certainly won’t contest it. Take all the time you need.”
    “Thanks, Richard. I appreciate that. Right now Kevin’s working on it while I figure things out.”
    “Kevin’s a great lawyer. Much better than you,” he says, trying to lighten the mood.
    “Right,” is my clever retort. While Laurie is down the hall in a coma, I am resistant to any mood lightening. “By the way,
     Richard, why is the FBI on Timmerman?”
    “What does that mean?”
    “They have a goddamn task force investigating Timmerman.”
    He is silent for a few moments. “I didn’t know that.”
    This doesn’t seem possible. “No idea?”
    “No idea, Andy. Are you sure about this?”
    “I’m sure, though please do not reveal where you heard it. Do you have a guess as to why they might care about him?”
    “You’ve got all the information I’ve got, Andy. Nothing has come up that should interest the feds.”
    Coming from certain other prosecutors, I would suspect that they were dissembling, or outright lying. Coming from Richard,
     I’m sure that he really is in the dark. I’m also sure that he must be pissed off about it.
    I call Willie Miller to make sure that Tara and Waggy are okay, and he assures me that they are. He also wants to help in
     the search for Laurie’s assailant, but when I tell him that Marcus is on the case, he backs off some. Willie knows that Marcus
     is usually sufficient, in the same way that a marine battalion is usually sufficient.
    I go down to the hospital cafeteria to have dinner, after telling virtually every employee of the hospital where I’ll be should
     there be any change in