Part 30 (1/2)
Gillian did not hear of the ruling until mid-afternoon. She was at the Center City store and Argentina Rojas, who came in for the late s.h.i.+ft at the counter, told her what she'd learned on her car radio. It was the first time Argentina had indicated any awareness of Gillian's prior life and she'd clearly broken her own taboo in the expectation she was bringing welcome news, after what had been printed about Gillian in the days following Erdai's testimony. Gillian did her best to thank Argentina, then went as soon as she could to the employees' lounge to phone Arthur.
”Alive,” he answered, when she asked how he was. ”Sort of.” He described the decision. ”I didn't expect to get slammed.”
”Why don't I take you out to dinner, Arthur?” She had not calculated this in advance, but her desire to console him was intense and she knew how badly he'd wanted them to escape the apartment. Even trampled by disappointment, he was clearly pleased by the prospect. She said she would meet him at the Matchbook, a Center City standby where Arthur could get the steak and potato that remained his preferred fare. When she arrived at eight, he was already slumped at the table, a visible wreck.
”Have a drink,” she told him. When they were together, he refused alcohol for her sake, but if there was ever a man in need of a brisk scotch, it appeared to be Arthur.
He had brought her a copy of the opinion, but he did not allow her to read much of it before he let loose his misery. He'd told her several times they would lose, but the reality of it was more than he could bear. How could the judges have done this?
”Arthur, I learned something on the bench. Lawyers see one another in far more accepting terms than they see judges. How many times have you forgiven another attorney”Muriel, for example”saying she's just doing her job? But when it comes to judges, lawyers express outrage. Judges, too, are merely doing their jobs. Doing their best. Someone has to decide and so you decide. You decide even though you're secretly convinced that several of the people whom you pa.s.s on the street on the way to work might do better on particular questions. You decide. At first you're terrified that you're going to make a mistake. Eventually you know you often will, that it's expected, that there would be no need for courts of review if judges were infallible. So you decide. Humbly. Humanly. You do your job. They've decided, Arthur. But that doesn't mean they're right.”
”That's comforting. Because it's essentially the last word.” Legally, there was more skirmis.h.i.+ng left. But as far as Arthur was concerned, only writing on the wall of Rommy's cell would have foretold a more certain doom. ”And I can't believe they had the gall to fire me,” he added.
”With thanks, Arthur.”
”Halfhearted would probably overstate their enthusiasm. And it was so slimy. They just don't want anybody who has the resources to devote to the issues to be handling the case.”
”Arthur, they were trying to relieve you and your partners of the burden. Nothing prevents you from representing Rommy directly on a pro bono basis. He can retain you, rather than the court.”
”Right. That's just what my partners want. Me in a p.i.s.sing match with the Court of Appeals.”
Accepting the fact that no words would comfort him, she fell to a familiar gloom. She was certain that what existed between Arthur and her was fragile. There were a thousand reasons”but now she saw one more. A beaten Arthur would not be able to maintain this relations.h.i.+p. In his misery, he would see less in himself and soon, in consequence, far less in her.
In the few hours she spent back home at Duffy's house each day, Gillian frequently asked herself the question that Arthur had not yet dared to pose. Did she love him? He was, without doubt, the lover of her life. But love? She was startled how quick she had been to conclude that the answer was yes. With him there was something renewing, eternal, essential. She wanted to be with Arthur. And it was with terrible sadness that she had realized again and again that in the long term she would not be. She had wondered for weeks if she would be willing to struggle when the inevitable unraveling began, or simply accept her fate. But no, she would not stand still to be mowed down again. Arthur at his best made better of her. She needed for both their sakes to provide some resilience.
”Arthur, may I ask you a question?”
”Yes, I still want to make love to you tonight.”
She reached across the table and slapped his hand. But she was encouraged that his libido had outlasted his disappointment.
”No, Arthur. Is the court right?”
”Legally?”
”Is your client innocent, Arthur? Truly, what do you think?”
Arthur's scotch had arrived now, and he cast a heavy-hearted look toward the gla.s.s, but did not touch it.
”What do you think, Gil?”
It was an apt riposte”although she hadn't antic.i.p.ated it. She had not tested herself with that question in weeks. In the interval, the reasons to disbelieve Erno, whom she'd suspected from the start, had multiplied. And yet for her the facts of the case remained a swamp”the records suggesting Gandolph might have been in jail, Erdai's account, Luisa's thefts, the question of whether Gandolph had violence in his character. Today, despite her effort to apply cold reason, there were doubts, reasonable ones, and thus, on the current evidence she could send Rommy Gandolph neither to death nor even to the penitentiary. By whatever means, Arthur had persuaded her of that much, although she would hesitate to vouch for Gandolph's innocence, or to criticize her decision of ten years ago, given the proof she saw at the time.
”But I'm of no account now, Arthur,” she said, after explaining her views. ”What's your opinion?”
”I believe Genevieve. Even Erno admitted that she'd told him that Rommy had threatened to kill Luisa. And every time I go over it, I see that Erno was lying about something else. But I still need to believe Rommy's innocent. And so I do.” He wrung his head in misery at the absurdity of what he had said.
”Then you have to go forward. Don't you? As an attorney? Could you really face yourself if you deserted an innocent client at this stage? Do what you can, Arthur. At least try,” she said.
”Try what? I need facts. New facts.”
Whenever Arthur spoke of the case, as he did constantly, she listened with interest but confined her commentary to encouragement. Yet she'd made her own calculations and there seemed no point tonight in keeping them to herself.
”You know I hesitate to make suggestions,” she began.
He waved off her apologies, inviting her to continue.
”You haven't told Muriel that Erno was also stealing tickets, have you?” she asked.
”G.o.d, no,” said Arthur. ”It only makes Erno look worse. What of it?”
”Well, Erno said that was why he confronted Luisa at Paradise”because he was afraid her activities might lead to discovery of his own. Correct?”
”So?”
”But Erno had had Luisa searched and found nothing. So why did he remain so certain of what she was up to? And if he wasn't having an affair with her, then what brought him out at midnight on a holiday weekend to confront her?”
”That's what I meant about Erno,” Arthur said. ”I can't even fight my way through his lies anymore.”
”Well, perhaps I'm fresher on this, Arthur. But thinking it over, I suspect Erno was watching Luisa”on his own, because he couldn't tell his underlings about his suspicions, for fear it would reveal something about his own thefts. And with his eye on her, he must have caught her in the process of stealing.”
”Makes sense. He said he went to Paradise to stop her.”
”But why didn't Erno stop her at the airport?”
”He probably wanted to see who she was delivering the tickets to. That's the usual routine in a surveillance, isn't it?”
”Which brings you back to her buyer. Pharaoh?”
”Pharaoh. What about him?”
”Well, he must have been there, Arthur. At Paradise. At some point.”
She could see Arthur, almost against his will, revive. His posture improved and his face brightened, but after a second he once more shook his head.
”We can't find him. Rommy said Pharaoh took a major conviction, but Pamela matched the name against court records and we got nothing. Even Erno said he's vanished.”
”I know, but one thing caught my attention. Genevieve said she couldn't figure out how Luisa and Pharaoh were able to get away with this. Is that right?”
”That's what she said.”
”So Pharaoh had a far more sophisticated means of disposing of the tickets than peddling them on a street corner.”
”Rommy said he was pus.h.i.+ng them through some company.” Arthur took a second to follow her. ”What are you thinking? A corporate travel department?”
”Something along those lines.”