Chapter 69
As the day drew to a close, Billycan was asked once again to elaborate on any evidence that had been presented during the day. Having established that the prints on the rifle belonged solely to Agent Meshullam and that the same weapon had been used in both crimes, Billycan stressed that it was unlikely that the Mossad agent could have been a passenger in Mr. Assor’s SUV at the time he was shooting the man. The only conclusion that the members of the jury could draw from these facts was that Agent Meshullam was indeed the sniper who had shot and killed Mr. Assor in the first instance, and shot and injured Ms. Kartz in the second instance.
Given that his corroborating witness—the person who had supposedly seen Agent Meshullam come out of Mr. Assor’s vehicle after the accident—had disappeared suddenly, Simmons didn’t object to Billycan demonstrating that Meshullam was the person who committed both felonies.
Once court was adjourned, Marcel rushed to the US Attorney’s office to make sure everything was ready for their meeting with Meshullam and his solicitor. They would use the conference room rather than Billycan’s office this time. Meanwhile, Billycan decided he had time to swing by the newspaper’s office and told Carl, his driver, to take him to the ‘Staff Entrance’ of the building. He didn’t want to be noticed by anyone, if he could avoid it. When he came out of the lift on the top floor and walked through the aisles leading to the Editor-in-Chief’s office, he noticed that most of the staff had left for the day and that the night employees had not come in yet, which was exactly what he hoped would happen.
“Well, well, look at what the cat dragged in,” said the Editor as he pulled himself out of his chair. “Come in, Mr. US Attorney, and have a seat. This is quite a surprise. What are you doing here?”
Billycan plopped himself into the chair and looked up at the man looking down at him. “You know why I’m here, Bill, so don’t ask.”
“I gather our front page this morning stirred quite a few emotions, didn’t it?”
“As you say, yes it did. One in particular, I was curious to find out why you let this person go so easily. None of your reporters chased him after he proffered his little warning to me. I found that very strange and led me to conclude that perhaps he was a plant…”
As Bill went around his desk to sit in the swivel chair, he shook his head slowly and gave Billycan a chortle. “No, Lucien, nothing like that.”
“How do you account for your reporters not chasing after him then?”
“Because the guy came to us beforehand and told us what he wanted to do.”
Billycan recovered from the shock quickly. “Well then, I suppose you’ve given his description and particulars to Van Dams when he called you today—at least, I hope you did—otherwise I’ll have you up on charges for obstruction so fast it’ll make your head spin.”
Bill didn’t answer right away. He reclined so far in his seat that Billycan wondered how long it would be before he fell backward. “I told Mr. Van Dams what I will tell you. The guy introduced himself as a CIA agent. He said he had something to tell you that night and if we were interested to hear what he had to say, to be there when you came out of the courthouse.”
“Is that it?”
“Well…, not quite... He said if he was asked questions afterward, the CIA was ready to make trouble for us—so we didn’t.”
“Okay, but what about the other reporters, why didn’t they chase after him either, do you know, or did you alert them of what was going to happen?”
“Huh-huh, I got one of the guys in here to call around and tell his colleagues not to make waves, otherwise they’d be in trouble same as we would.”
“All right, thanks for seeing me...” Billycan got up, stopped and then turned around. “One more question; did Van Dams confirm this guy was CIA?”
“No.” Bill exhaled a breath of dismay. “As a matter of fact, he was fuming when he hung up this morning. And I shouldn’t wonder, they sure don’t like impersonators—especially now, when one of their men is on trial for murder—not very good for their reputation, is it?”
Billycan smirked and walked out of the Editor’s office without another word.
Short of asking Lypsick to attend this evening’s gathering, Billycan decided to have Mark Gilford attend the meeting. Mark held information regarding his and Lypsick’s first interview of Samuel, and he thought it would be a good time to confront the CSIS agent with it.
Mark was in the hotel lounge, sitting in front of a tall drink reading the paper. Billycan cringed when he saw him. He was not intending to broach the subject of the article with Mark this soon. He strode to where Mark was sitting and stood in front of the table. “Good afternoon, Agent Gilford.” He stood still, looking down at the agent.
Mark raised his head slowly and smiled, closing the paper. “Mr. Billycan, this is a surprise. Why don’t you join me?” He indicated a chair beside his.
“No time, Agent Gilford. I came to invite you to attend a meeting in my office in a half-an-hour. If you have no other plans, your presence would be of considerable assistance to me.”
Mark shook his head and smiled again. “Why don’t you have a seat anyway?” Billycan did but reluctantly. “I don’t like to raise my voice in a public place to answer a question, you understand.” Billycan nodded imperceptibly. “Yes, I’ll attend your meeting, but could you tell me who other than you and I will be there, so I could be prepared?”
Billycan sat back and crossed his legs, putting his gloves on the raised thigh. “Samuel Meshullam does not trust his lawyer to do his job, and I believe you have information that could eventually demonstrate to the shyster that he’s got nowhere to go if he tries to show that Sadir is innocent of the crimes he’s accused of. That’s why I want you there.”
Mark looked down at the paper beside him. “Why not invite Agent Lypsick to the meeting then? He seems to know a lot more about this than I would.” Mark knew the answer to the question. He raised his gaze to the US Attorney.
The latter threw a quick glance at the paper. “You’ve read the article. All I want to know is if I could count on you to assist me in this matter”
“Okay then, as long as I don’t have to put myself in an awkward position, from which I would have to extricate myself later.”
“As long as you tell the truth, you won’t have anything to worry about,” Billycan replied, smiling.
Mark got up and so did the US Attorney. “That’s a phrase I heard before...” He chortled. “Let’s go then.”