A Criminal Defense by Steven Gore Page B

“She was cheating on him. And he’s a hard guy. Real hard. Story was he grabbed her as she was getting cash out of the ATM to buy her boyfriend something. It was the boyfriend’s birthday and she didn’t want the payment for his present to show up on her credit card.”
    â€œWhat about your confession to the jailhouse informant?”
    â€œHe’s the guy who recruited me and sold the deal to Hamlin. He got five grand out of it.”
    â€œAnd the knife?”
    Madison smiled again. “You studied up. Hamlin’s PI got it from her husband and hid it in my sleeping bag for the police to find.”
    The fact that the story sounded like something Hamlin would do, didn’t mean to Donnally that he’d done it.
    â€œHow long have you been in remission?”
    â€œA year and a half, but I didn’t want to make a move until I was sure it was gonna stick.” Madison’s face darkened and he slapped the edge of the desk. “But then that asshole Hamlin tried to fuck me. He stopped putting the money on my books like he was supposed to.”
    â€œAnd so you sent him a letter threatening to file a motion to withdraw your plea.”
    Madison nodded. “A little sooner than I’d planned. I was hoping to wait until after my next scan. But I’d gotten used to the finer things in prison life, and doing without was pissing me off, so I made my move.”
    â€œHow do you know it wasn’t the husband who stopped paying Hamlin, so he had to stop paying you?”
    â€œBecause the deal was there would always be a hundred grand on account, in cash. I could draw out as much as I needed every month. The husband would add to it if it went under. Even if the guy stopped paying, it would’ve taken a couple of more years for the money to run out.”
    â€œI guess they didn’t expect you to live so long.”
    â€œSo what? That’s not my problem. A deal’s a deal.”
    â€œAnd you figure the husband killed Hamlin.”
    â€œHas to be. Only way for a surefire cover-up.”
    â€œWouldn’t it have been simpler just to take you out?”
    â€œThey tried.” Madison pointed out the window toward the prison blocks. “I’ve been in isolation for the last month, after an Aryan Brotherhood guy tried to shank me. Since then, if hubby was gonna break the chain, he was gonna have to do it at the Hamlin link. Ain’t no way they’re getting to me again.”
    Madison pointed toward the door. “That guard outside? He ain’t standing there to protect you from me, but me from them.”

Chapter 10
    T akiyah Jackson was sitting at her desk when Donnally arrived at Hamlin’s office.
    Donnally had called Navarro while he was driving back from Vacaville and got confirmation his earlier theory had been right. Navarro knew the players in town. He’d recognized the name of the victim’s husband, not because he’d worked on the Bennie Madison case, but because the husband owned a well-known biker bar in the mostly Hispanic Mission District. It now made sense that the husband could’ve sicced an imprisoned gang member on Madison.
    Navarro walked in a few minutes after Donnally had taken Jackson into the conference room.
    Donnally glanced over at Navarro, pointed at the two-foot-square safe in the corner, and said to Jackson, “I have reason to believe there is evidence related to Mark’s death in that thing and I wanted a witness when we opened it up.”
    Jackson swallowed and twisted her hands together on top of the conference table. Her daunted gaze shifted between Navarro and Donnally.
    â€œWhy do you need a witness?”
    â€œThere may be money in there and I don’t want anybody accusing me of stealing any.”
    She tilted her head toward the row of filing cabinets. “You tell him about the file?”
    Donnally shook his head, hoping Navarro wouldn’t react and give him