Page 29 of Fifty-Fifty

‘The fact is we would need to run almost two identical prosecution cases against your clients, and that puts unnecessary financial strain on the city. It will be a joint trial. I am pushing very hard for this.’

‘Pushing who?’ I said.

Levy didn’t mind me asking a question, in fact he nodded along. We waited for the answer. It never came.

‘Mr. Flynn, Mr. Levy, if either of you want to split the trial you’ll need to apply to the court with the proper motion. We will resist that motion. That’s all I’ll say on that matter. I want to get to the substance of this meeting if you don’t mind.’

He looked at both sides of the table. Levy and his team were quiet, I leaned forward ready to listen.

‘Thank you. The District Attorney’s office recognizes that your clients are both blaming each other for the murder. We feel that a joint trial will result in at least one conviction. It will be open to the jury to convict both defendants and you don’t need me to tell you that a joint conviction is the most likely verdict.

I’m offering a one-time deal. Twelve years in exchange for a full confession and a statement implicating the co-defendant. If one of the sisters confesses, they walk out of jail in six years, maybe four, with good behavior, while the other will be there for life. This is a one-time deal, available to only one of the defendants. This offer is on the table for forty-eight hours, starting now.’

And people wonder why ordinary citizens plead guilty to crimes they didn’t commit. Dreyer had called it pretty well. It was likely both women would be convicted in a joint trial. The odds of one of them winning was very small when both would call each other liars and murderers. Most juries in joint trials don’t believe either defendant, and convict both. In that situation, it made sense to take a plea – do four years instead of a life sentence.

Neither Levy nor I spoke. I watched Dreyer pinch the sides of his watch, and it took me a second to realize he was actually setting a timer. For real. Both Levy and I had a professional obligation to take this offer to our clients. Let them make the decision. I didn’t want Sofia under that kind of pressure, not this early, but it looked like I didn’t have a choice.

‘If neither defendant pleads guilty, confesses and assists in the prosecution of the co-defendant, then we go to trial. There will be no more offers and no extensions. Forty-eight hours. If there’s no confession, and we’re going to a joint trial, then I expect both of your clients to take a polygraph test.’

‘What?’ said Levy.

‘You heard me.’

‘Polygraph results are not admissible evidence in this state,’ I said.

‘The old methods of polygraph testing were not admissible. Technology has moved on. Polygraphs are admissible evidence in eighteen states now. We’re pretty sure we can prove our examiner’s expertise in New York. As it stands, they are recognized as an important investigative tool for law enforcement. So much in this case comes down to the credibility of your clients. Who will the jury believe? One or neither of them? We will inform the court that a polygraph was offered and if it is refused we’ll exploit that refusal. The judge can refer to it in his summing up to the jury.’

I’d underestimated Dreyer. That was damn smart. A real chess move. If one sister refused the polygraph, it made her look guilty. If both refused it, then it would appear as if both were in on the murder together. If one passed the polygraph, and one failed, then Dreyer could use it to convict the sister who failed it.

I put my hand in my inside jacket pocket while I watched Levy’s face turn purple. He looked how I felt. Except I didn’t show it. I kept my cards tight and close. A murder trial required the ultimate poker face. Levy was talking so loud and so fast at Dreyer that spittle catapulted from his lips and landed in small white clouds on the desk. I put my elbows on my knees, and beneath the table,

out of sight of Dreyer and Alexandra’s defense team, I opened Levy’s wallet and began going through it. I’d lifted it when I bumped into him. I genuinely didn’t mean to collide with him that hard. My pocket dip was executed clumsily and if

I hadn’t tipped him off balance he would’ve felt the move. As it was, he hadn’t noticed a thing. I’d meant to grab his phone, but I felt it vibrate just as I put my fingers close. No way to lift a vibrating phone without him feeling it. His wallet would have to do.

Inside the brown leather wallet I found four one-hundred-dollar bills, two twenties and a five-spot. The usual array of credit and debit cards. There were membership cards for a gym, loyalty cards for different stores and a business card that read ‘Discretion Supplies.’ As business cards went, it looked expensive and well designed. The ‘D’ and the ‘S’ were large and in an ornate spidery font.

The card itself was textured and plastic. There was no phone number and no website on the card. On the back there was a barcode for a smart phone. I put the card in my pocket, then closed the wallet and tossed it a few feet to the floor, beneath the table.

I raised my head, Levy was still in full flow, pointing a finger at Dreyer who looked on with composed distance.

‘Mr. Levy—’ said Dreyer.

‘I’m not finished, not by a long way, the Mayor will hear about this abuse of —’

‘Mr. Levy, you are finished. This meeting is over …’ said Dreyer, inching back his chair.

‘Wait, Levy, shut the hell up for a second,’ I said.

The look on Levy’s face amused Dreyer enough to keep him in his seat. I saw Levy’s lackey, Scott, furrow his brows in a scowl vaguely aimed at me. Kate bit her lip, suppressing a satisfied smile.

With Levy still catching flies in his open mouth, I got down to the main reason I came here.

‘Whatever offer you’ve made won’t have any weight in court if you don’t share some more of the prosecution evidence. The accused have a right to know

the case against them. Let us see what you’ve got – that way our clients can make an informed choice.’

‘Agreed,’ said Dreyer, simply, and got up. He left the room, but only for a few seconds. When he opened the door he revealed half a dozen Assistant District Attorneys gathered in the corridor outside. They must have heard Levy’s rant and come to listen. They quickly dispersed when Dreyer came out, except one of