Client Privilege by William G. Tapply Read Free Book Online

same.”
    “You didn’t—?”
    “What, kill him?”
    “Don’t be ridiculous. That’s not what I was going to say. How’d you hear about this?”
    “The police visited me. Asked me some questions. Trying to figure out where Churchill had been, I guess.”
    “How’d they track you down?”
    “I don’t know. I was there and so was he. Only he was wearing a mustache and shades, so I didn’t recognize him. They showed me Churchill’s photograph, and I drew a blank. They told me his name and I couldn’t place it. Asked me where I was last night and what I was doing there. Queried me closely on my comings and goings. The thing is, I’m not sure I gave them good answers. I mean, they came in just trying to backtrack Churchill’s whereabouts. But I gave them lousy answers, looking back on it. I mean, for all I know they left with a new suspect. That’s how I’m beginning to feel.”
    “My God, Brady. I don’t blame you for being upset.”
    “I’m not exactly upset, Pops. I mean, mainly, it’s weird, thinking there I was, talking with the man, and he walked out of there and went home and somebody shot him.”
    “Murder is always weird,” said Pops.
    “I feel so—so guilty, Pops. They asked me these questions, and I couldn’t answer them very well, and somehow they made me feel as if I had done something wrong.”
    “Good cops can do that.”
    “These guys are good cops, then.”
    “So, what’d you tell them?”
    “I told them what I did last night. I mean, I just told them the truth, as best I could. You don’t pay attention to things when they’re happening. What time you do this or that, exactly who said what to whom. After a while they started to question me more closely, trying to pin down the times. Looking back, I think I was pretty vague. I felt as if I was being interrogated.”
    “I’ve got to ask,” he said.
    “You should know better, Pops. You don’t even need to ask. You’re my client, and you’re privileged. I didn’t utter your name to them. I did admit I was there with him on behalf of a client. But now I can see how damn suspicious I must’ve appeared to them. I mean, they got me to admit I’d had a drink with this Churchill just last night, yet when they showed me his picture I didn’t even recognize it, and I couldn’t place his name, which I guess makes me suspicious right there. I gather everybody in Boston’s heard of Wayne Churchill except me.”
    “Anybody who watches the news on Channel Eight,” said Pops.
    “I don’t. I like the sports guy on Channel Four. But how do you explain that? So anyway, then they asked me why I was there at Skeeter’s with him, what we talked about. Naturally, I refused to say. I must’ve sounded pretty evasive.”
    “You sound upset, Brady.”
    “It’s been slowly dawning on me how it seemed.”
    “Christ, what a mess. I’m really sorry I got you into this.”
    “Hey,” I said. “This is why lawyers make a lot of money.”
    “What can I do?” he said.
    “Nothing. Pat my head. Tell me I’m overreacting.”
    “Well, of course. You are. You know you are.” He hesitated. Then he said, “Brady, I know you realize how important our privileged status on this is to me. My God, if my name were connected with a murder just now, there’s no way that nomination would happen. I mean, a peccadillo a long time ago, that’s one thing. But a murder? After all the crap that’s been happening with judicial appointments…”
    I arched my neck against the stiffness that stress always brings. “Don’t worry about it, Pops. This is not an issue.”
    “I do appreciate it, Brady, and I know it makes things more awkward for you. But, hell, you didn’t kill the man, did you?”
    “Is that a question?”
    “No. Of course not.”
    “I’m not gonna tell them anything about you, Pops.”
    “Hell, I know that.”
    “I didn’t tell them that you and I talked on the phone last night, either.”
    “It never occurred to me that you