Barely Legal

20

Dino and Viv were sharing a quiet moment in bed watching TV. It was a rare event that neither of them was busy. They’d spent the evening making love, and were enjoying the afterglow.

The phone rang.

Dino frowned at having his evening interrupted, but seeing Herb’s name on caller ID, he decided to pick up.

“Hi, Herb. Still worried about being shot at?”

“Hadn’t occurred to me. Do you happen to know a narcotics detective by the name of Marvin Kelly?”

“What about him?”

“Is he dirty?”

Dino blinked. “You call me up in the middle of The Daily Show to ask me if one of my detectives is dirty?”

“It’s not a casual question, Dino. I got fucked into handling a criminal case, and I’ve got a college-age kid facing jail time if I can’t save him, which I’m ill equipped to do. Kelly’s the key witness, so if he’s got a weakness, I need to know.”

“Is this a good kid?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want me to make a phone call, see if there’s something can be done?”

“The kid’s already rejected a plea bargain. I was supposed to walk into court and accept it, but the kid refused to accept the plea, says he’s innocent, and now I’m on the hook.”

“What was he caught with?”

“Half a kilo of coke.”

“What was the deal?”

“Two years’ suspended sentence, community service, and the kid walks.”

“Are you kidding me? And you kicked that deal in favor of badmouthing one of my cops?”

“I wanted to take the deal. The kid turned it down.”

“So beat some sense into him.”

“The kid makes a good case, Dino.”

“What’s that?”

“Why should he take the plea if he’s innocent?”

“What makes you think he’s innocent?”

“The fact that he won’t take the plea.”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake. What are you, a fucking idealist? We live in the real world, Herbie. Sometimes something is wrong and you can’t fix it. Sometimes you have to do something else so it evens out. Kid getting framed isn’t fair. Kid walking on a drug charge isn’t fair. It’s a wash.”

“You want to come down to court and tell him to take the plea? Maybe hearing the commissioner of police explain the pragmatism of law enforcement would have more effect.”

“Fuck you, too, Herbie.”

Dino hung up the phone.

Viv was about to snap the TV back on when she saw the look on his face. “What’s the matter?”

Dino sighed. “Ah, hell.” He picked up the phone. “Sorry to bother you this time of night. Get me everything there is to know about a Detective Marvin Kelly.”