Night Talk by George Noory

coming clean.” He offered a business card.
    Greg ignored the card. “My attorney will be doing the call.”
    â€œAsk your attorney if he’ll do the time, too.”
    â€œWhile you’re hounding me, somebody is getting away with whatever Ethan took. That seems to be the plan and you’re falling for it.”
    â€œFunny thing about that. So far you’re the only ‘somebody’ whose name pops up everywhere we turn, not to mention your pal the hacker fingered you as the guy who drove him to it.”
    Mond paused on his way out. “You may think you have some news-gathering protection, but you’re wrong. Stealing government secrets is punishable by life in prison. Smart people make deals.”

 
    17
    Greg stood in the middle of his apartment feeling violated, even more so than after the search at the studio when they took his business records. This was personal. His home life was in that computer. His financial history. His love affairs. Prides and prejudices. They took everything electronic except his phone. But it wasn’t an oversight. Like Rohan said, phones leak. Every call made or received was registered by the phone company and it was easy enough for the feds to capture every communication.
    He called Liz Tucker again and got her this time. “I was just going to call you,” she said.
    â€œThey searched my apartment, been to my beach house, holding my passport; I feel like I’m swirling in some kind of crazy vortex. I woke up in the Twilight Zone.”
    â€œMore like Dante’s Inferno . What a horrible mess. Unbelievable,” she said.
    Liz was blond, anorexic and, unlike Soledad, was airbrushed to blow away the years. She sometimes had the finesse of an ax murderer when dealing with issues she didn’t like.
    â€œYou should never have spoken to the police. You should have called me.”
    â€œThey ambushed me. I thought I was just a witness to a suicide. I didn’t know I was suspected of stealing secrets until they suddenly dropped the accusation on me. But all they got from me was my jaw dropping because I don’t know anything. Liz, they never told me my rights, the Miranda stuff. And they handcuffed me when they searched my apartment.”
    â€œThey didn’t have to give Miranda rights. You get rights before being questioned if you’re arrested. They didn’t take you into custody. But they can handcuff someone during a search for officer safety or just for failing to pass their attitude test. Knowing you, you probably let the cop know he was a dirt bag.”
    â€œDo I have any rights?”
    â€œYou have the right to keep your mouth shut. So do it. Don’t answer any questions from anyone, don’t talk to anyone but a lawyer about the case. Cops, newspeople, your bartender or whoever you’re sleeping with, all you give them is a ‘no comment.’ Better yet, don’t even say that.”
    â€œHow do we handle this? What’s my next move?”
    â€œI don’t do criminal cases, so I can’t give you any advice about the allegations. You need a criminal defense lawyer.”
    â€œCriminal defense.” He hadn’t thought of it that way despite the seriousness of the allegations. He wasn’t a criminal.
    â€œYou realize, of course, that the network can’t be involved in any form or manner.”
    He got the message. He was on his own. What kind of crazy turn had his life taken that he was ending up facing criminal charges?
    â€œOkay, how about some nonadvice.”
    â€œI called a classmate who’s a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s office in L.A. This is definitely a federal matter; the locals will be out of it. She hadn’t heard anything about the case yet but it sounds to her that you are in a world of trouble.”
    â€œI caught that much myself from the cowboys with badges who questioned me and tossed my studio and apartment. Is anyone