The Racketeer

interrogators, in which they respond to the allegations. As you will see, they say that the defendant mentioned a lawyer on a couple of occasions but never specifically demanded one. He never stopped the interrogation. He wanted to talk.”
    Stanley and his men scanned the affidavits. After a few minutes, Stanley said, “Okay, point number two. The defendant claims he was repeatedly threatened with the death penalty by both agents. If true, this of course would be highly improper and would probably kill the confession.”
    Westlake replied as he shook his head. “Look at the bottom of page seven, both affidavits. The agents state, under oath, that they made no threats whatsoever. These are very skilled interrogators, Stan, and they know the rules as well as anybody.”
    Stanley and his men flipped to page seven and read the text. Perfect. Whatever Quinn claimed in his affidavit, there were two FBI agents willing to tell what really happened. Stanley said, “Looks good. The third point is that the agents promised the defendant he would not be put on trial for capital murder.”
    “Page nine,” Westlake said. “Our agents know they do not have the authority to make deals. Only the U.S. Attorney can do that. Frankly, I find such an allegation ludicrous. Rucker is a career thug. He should know that prosecutors make deals, not cops.”
    “I agree,” Stanley said quickly. “The next allegation is that the FBI agents threatened to prosecute other members of Rucker’s family.”
    “Don’t they always say that, Stan? They give a confession, free and voluntarily, then can’t wait to tear it up and say they were threatened. You’ve seen this many times.” Of course Stan had, though he really had not. Westlake went on, “Though I must say it wouldn’t be a bad idea to round up all the Ruckers and give ’em the needle.”
    Westlake’s men laughed. Stanley’s men laughed. A regular party.
    “What about the allegation that the interrogators were abusive and pushed the suspect past the point of exhaustion?”
    “Here’s the truth, Stan,” Westlake replied. “The agents repeatedly asked Rucker if he wanted to stop and continue later. He said no because he did not want to spend the night in the county jail.We checked and the jail was packed, badly overcrowded. They informed Rucker of this, and he didn’t want to go there.”
    This made perfect sense to Stanley. He said, “Okay, the next three items need to be addressed, but I don’t think we’ll say much about them in our response. There is the allegation that the FBI agents lied about having a ballistics report that linked the murders to the Smith & Wesson handgun confiscated from the defendant. Unfortunately, as we now know, the ballistics excluded this weapon.”
    “Lying is permissible, especially in a high-level interrogation such as this, Stanley,” Westlake said, much like a wise old professor.
    “Got that, but just to satisfy my curiosity—did your agents actually lie about this?”
    “Of course not. No, definitely not. Page twelve of their affidavits.”
    “Didn’t think so. What about this next allegation—that your agents lied about the existence of a crime scene boot print that matched some boots taken from the defendant?”
    “Not true, Stan. The imagination of a desperate lawyer and his guilty client.”
    “Do you have a boot print?”
    Westlake glanced at one of his agents, as though there just might be a boot print that he had somehow forgotten. The agent shook his head. “No,” Westlake admitted. “There’s no boot print.”
    “And next we have the allegation that your agents lied about a couple of eyewitnesses. The first supposedly saw the defendant in the town of Ripplemead about the time of the killings. Any truth to this?”
    Westlake shifted his weight from one ass cheek to the other and offered a condescending smile. “Stan, look, I’m not sure you appreciate what it takes to break down a guilty suspect. There are tricks, okay, and—”
    “I get it.”
    “And you have to instill fear, to make the suspect think you have a lot more proof than maybe you actually have.”
    “I’ve seen no report from such a witness.”
    “And you will not. He doesn’t exist.”
    “We’re on the same side, here, Vic. I just need to know the truth so we can respond to the motion to suppress, understand?”
    “I understand.”
    “And the second witness, the one at the country store near the cabin. He doesn’t exist either,