Sly Fox: A Dani Fox Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

headlines. While Whitaker was a capable prosecutor, the real legal strategist in our office was an immaculately dressed fellow who could always be seen seated next to Whitaker at the prosecutor’s table or standing behind him at press conferences.
    Paul Pisani was the most successful assistant district attorney in the history of Westchester County. It had been years since Pisani had lost a criminal prosecution. Even his most hated rivals referred to him as “Mr. Invincible.”
    The two men had much in common. Both were handsome and razor smart. But there was one glaring difference. D.A. Whitaker rarely permitted the public to peek behind his well-crafted public mask. Paul Pisani didn’t give a damn about public opinion. If anything, he viewed the public with contempt. He was vain, condescending, and arrogant—except when he appeared in the courtroom. Pisani put his ego in check and transformed himself into whatever was necessary to win the hearts of jurors. He was especially brilliant when it came to interpreting the law and he knew how to lead jurors exactly where he wanted them to go. His opening and closing statements were delivered in eloquent bursts, aimed directly at the heart of the defense counsel’s case and the unlucky defendant who’d come into Pisani’s gun sights.
    Together, Whitaker and Pisani ran an efficient operation. Whitaker glad-handed the Westchester County power brokers and kept the public happy with his glowing news reports about his office’s successes while Pisani made sure the bad guys were sent up the river to Sing Sing. The third member of the triumvirate was Mark Steinberg, who was Whitaker’s chief of staff. Although he was an assistant district attorney, Steinberg had never tried a case. Rather, he oversaw the day-to-day operations, paying particular attention to anything that could impact his boss’s political well-being. Steinberg’s stress level was at its highest at reelection time. He handled the media, political polls, campaign management, and fund-raising.
    With Whitaker serving as the public face, Pisani as the legal mastermind, and Steinberg running daily operations and overseeing politics, the D.A.’s office performed much like a well-oiled machine.
    On paper, the prosecution of criminals in Westchester seemed straightforward. After the police made an arrest, the accused was taken before a judge for arraignment, advised of charges, told to get himself an attorney, and had a bail hearing. If the accused couldn’t post bond, he was remanded to jail. Next came a preliminary hearing at which the state was required to show it had sufficient evidence to seek an indictment from a grand jury. All grand jury hearings were secret, but if its members agreed that the prosecution had a solid case, the accused was bound over for trial. Next came a series of pretrial maneuvers by both sides that eventually led to a trial.
    At least, that’s how the legal system was supposed to work. What really happened was quite different. As soon as someone was arrested, charged, and got a defense attorney, that lawyer and a prosecutor from our office would begin wrangling. Ninety percent of all criminal cases filed in Westchester County would never make it to an actual trial. Deals would be cut at some point in the process. These plea negotiations were exercises in bluster, horse-trading, and strong-arming and had more in common with the give-and-take that happens each day on used-car lots rather than with our blind, lovely Lady Justice.
    Detective O’Brien had promised me that he’d get the criminal justice process started by interviewing Mary Margaret, doing a background investigation of her and Hitchins, and collecting sufficient evidence to arrest Hitchins on first-degree assault. But I knew O’Brien was a realist and he’d find a reason to drag his feet until he heard through the grapevine that D.A. Whitaker or Steinberg had agreed to let me move forward with my plan. O’Brien wasn’t going