Ehrengraf for the Defense Read Online Free PDF Page A

moment. The strain, no
doubt. Will you take a glass of water?”
    “No, I don’t think so.” Gort lit a cigarette,
inhaled deeply. “I’m fine,” he said. “I feel good about everything.
You know, not only am I in the clear but ultimately I don’t think
your fee will cost me anything.”
    “Oh?”
    “Not if that rotter really and truly killed
her. Lattimore can’t profit from a murder he committed. And while
she may have intended to make Grace her beneficiary, her
unfulfilled intent has no legal weight. So her estate becomes the
beneficiary of the insurance policy, and she never did get around
to changing her will, so that means the money will wind up in my
hands. Amazing, isn’t it?”
    “Amazing.” The little lawyer rubbed his hands
together briskly. “But you do know what they say about unhatched
chickens, Mr. Gort. Mr. Lattimore hasn’t been convicted of anything
yet.”
    “You think he’s got a chance of getting
off?”
    “That would depend,” said Martin Ehrengraf,
“on his choice of attorney.”
    * * *
    This time Ehrengraf’s suit was navy blue with
a barely perceptible stripe in a lighter blue. His shirt, as usual,
was white. His shoes were black loafers—no tassels or braid—and his
tie had a half-inch stripe of royal blue flanked by two narrower
stripes, one of gold and the other of a rather bright green, all on
a navy field. The necktie was that of the Caedmon Society of Oxford
University, an organization of which Mr. Ehrengraf was not a
member. The tie was a souvenir of another case and the lawyer wore
it now and then on especially auspicious occasions.
    Such as this visit to the cell of Barry
Pierce Lattimore.
    “I’m innocent,” Lattimore said. “But it’s
gotten to the point where I don’t expect anyone to believe me.
There’s so much evidence against me.”
    “Circumstantial evidence.”
    “Yes, but that’s often enough to hang a man,
isn’t it?” Lattimore winced at the thought. “I loved Ginnie. I
wanted to marry her. I never even thought of killing her.”
    “I believe you.”
    “You do?”
    Ehrengraf nodded solemnly. “Indeed I do,” he
said. “Otherwise I wouldn’t be here. I only collect fees when I get
results, Mr. Lattimore. If I can’t get you acquitted of all
charges, then I won’t take a penny for my trouble.”
    “That’s unusual, isn’t it?”
    “It is.”
    “My own lawyer thinks I’m crazy to hire you.
He had several criminal lawyers he was prepared to recommend. But I
know a little about you. I know you get results. And since I am innocent, I feel I want to be represented by someone with
a vested interest in getting me free.”
    “Of course my fees are high, Mr.
Lattimore.”
    “Well, there’s a problem. I’m not a rich
man.”
    “You’re the beneficiary of a
hundred-thousand-dollar insurance policy.”
    “But I can’t collect that money.”
    “You can if you’re found innocent.”
    “Oh,” Lattimore said. “Oh.”
    “And otherwise you’ll owe me nothing.”
    “Then I can’t lose, can I?”
    “So it would seem,” Ehrengraf said. “Now
shall we begin? It’s quite clear you were framed, Mr. Lattimore.
That blazer and those trousers did not find their way to your
closet of their own accord. Those shoes did not walk in by
themselves. The two letters to Mrs. Gort’s sister, one mailed and
one unmailed, must have part of the scheme. Someone constructed an
elaborate frame-up, Mr. Lattimore, with the object of implicating
first Mr. Gort and then yourself. Now let’s determine who would
have a motive.”
    “Gort,” said Lattimore.
    “I think not.”
    “Who else? He had a reason to kill her. And
he hated me, so who would have more reason to—”
    “Mr. Lattimore, I’m afraid that’s not a
possibility. You see, Mr. Gort was a client of mine.”
    “Oh. Yes, I forgot.”
    “And I’m personally convinced of his
innocence.”
    “I see.”
    “Just as I’m convinced of yours.”
    “I see.”
    “Now who else would have a