The Whistler

Father of four, with a newborn baby at home, Hugo is pleasant and easygoing. In addition to being Lacy’s work partner, he’s her friend, and they both know that any misbehavior on his part would get straight back to his wife, Verna. His senseless death and the tragedy of his loss to the family motivate Lacy to push forward on the case.

Ramsey Mix is the pseudonym of Lacy’s informant, Greg Myers. An aging beach bum with flowing gray hair who wears shorts and Hawaiian print shirts. Myers is a disbarred lawyer with a criminal history looking for a fat payout for turning in a corrupt judge.

Because his motive is only money, Myers is intimidated by evidence of Vonn Dubose’s willingness to kill. After Hugo’s death, Myers suggests that Lacy consider dropping the investigation, which has now become more dangerous than even he expected. When he believes that Dubose has identified him, Myers flees, leaving behind his frightened and helpless girlfriend, Carlita, which shows his lack of concern for someone whom he should be willing to protect. He doubts that Dubose will bother her but can’t be completely sure of that. Myers is an example of the corruption theme. To combat organized crime, the BJC must work with people whose motives are impure.

Beautiful and intelligent, Judge McDover has the morals of a crocodile. Vonn Dubose describes Claudia as having been pure before he corrupted her, but she knows she has never been pure. She went to law school in the first place to get revenge on her husband after a nasty divorce and recognizes that revenge is an impure motive. However, she lost interest in revenge when she came to recognize the power inherent in the legal system. In fact, she was more corrupt from the outset that even she realized. In the first trial, over which she presided—that of Junior Mace—she presumed the defendant’s guilt and conducted the trial on that presumption, which resulted in the conviction of an innocent man. Even after she realizes this many years later, she feels no remorse. Her prejudice itself is a corruption of how the legal system is supposed to work.

Dubose himself acknowledges that he was born and bred in an environment of corruption: “I was born into corruption, it’s in my DNA. I’d rather steal money than earn it” (72). He doesn’t understand people outside his own world like Lacy and the BJC or Lyman Gritt, although he believes he does. His biggest mistake is in trying to intimidate the BJC. He says that “sometimes these folks [the BJC] understand nothing but intimidation” (361). He is projecting his own limitations onto others; only he understands nothing else. If he were able to understand someone like Lacy, he might have chosen a different strategy.

Michael is more cautious than Lacy; as her superior, he has a sense of responsibility for her safety. He also recognizes that organized crime on this level is beyond the BJC’s usual scope. As soon as he feels they have enough evidence, he does his job and presents the case to the FBI. He continues to pursue it only after the FBI turns it down and Lacy insists that she won’t let it go. Even then, he continues to at least try to act as a brake on Lacy’s determination.

Young, good-looking, and eager, he would love to take on Dubose and his henchmen if only his bosses would agree. He also wouldn’t mind getting to know Lacy better, and if the case gives him an excuse to do so, that’s fine with him. He is the action guy to Lacy’s legal eagle role. They make a good team with an effective division of labor. He might even be forceful and energetic enough to be a match for her.