Blood Defense

FIFTY

It didn’t take long for rage to crowd out the sadness. Maybe Alex shouldn’t have broken into Scott’s place, but he’d only done it because that dickweed was jerking me around.

Which made Scott the dumbest tool on the planet. Lesson numero uno if you’re a criminal: when you’re facing state prison, the one person you cannot afford to piss off is your lawyer. It was a lesson Scott was about to learn the hard way.

The next morning, I made an early stop at Department 125. I told the clerk I needed to put Scott’s case on tomorrow morning’s calendar to handle some “serious discovery issues.”

That left me with two minutes to get down to Department 106. The elevators were backed up, so I took the stairs and ran all the way. I knew Judge Traynor, AKA the Freight Train, wouldn’t hesitate to chew me out in front of the jury if I was late. I wound up huffing and puffing my way into court with just seconds to spare.

I was still breathing hard when the bailiff brought out Dale. He looked at me curiously. “You jogging to court now?”

I answered between breaths. “Just had another appearance up in Department 125. Had to take the stairs.”

Dale raised an eyebrow. “Maybe you should be jogging to court, then. You’re too young to be this strung out by a few flights-downstairs. You don’t smoke, do you?”

I shot him a dagger. “No. I don’t smoke.” Dale looked relieved. I stared at him. “But I do shoot up. That’s okay, right?”

Dale sighed and rolled his eyes. The bailiff stood up and announced the judge, and I quickly unpacked my briefcase.

Zack was putting on his DNA witnesses today to prove that the scrapings under Chloe’s nails and the small blood swipe on her neck had come from Dale. The case was moving fast. Too fast. I needed to slow things down and buy myself some time.

Zack had warned me that he was going to make a motion to get Jenny Knox’s murder into evidence when he finished his DNA witnesses. If the judge let that in, it was game over for us. And I wasn’t sure Ignacio would be able to sell Dale’s alibi. What Alex had said about him, as well as what Hank had dug up on him, worried me. I had to find more backup for his testimony-or at least make sure there wasn’t something really ugly in his background that’d shred his credibility. And now that Alex was laid up, I had to do my own digging. So I’d prepared some lengthy cross-examination for the DNA witnesses to try and stall the motion for a couple of days.

But for a change, I got a break. Zack had decided to do a whole dog and pony show, starting with, “What is DNA?”

By the end of the day, it looked like someone had blown sleeping gas through the air vents. The whole courtroom was fighting to stay awake.

I could tell the judge wanted to throttle Zack. But I wanted to send him a bottle of Patrón Silver. And that went on until Thursday-when I had my appearance on Scott’s case. I told Judge Traynor I had another appearance Thursday morning, so we’d have to start late. He didn’t like it, but he couldn’t say no.

When I walked into Department 125, I saw that my nemesis, Paul Wesson, was fired up with righteous indignation-which was just what I’d expected. And counted on. The judge called the case of People v. Scott Henderson. “Ms. Brinkman, you put this case on calendar for a motion to suppress. Do we have the defendant?”

I shook my head and cast a worried look behind me. “No, Your Honor. I called him several times and left messages, but he hasn’t responded. I even had my investigator go to his residence. It appears he hasn’t been there since his OR release.”

The pit bull was practically gnashing his teeth. “This is exactly why I opposed his release, Your Honor! I ask that his OR be revoked and that a bench warrant be issued forthwith!”

The judge raised an eyebrow. “Counsel? Any reason why I shouldn’t make that order?”

I gave a fake deep sigh. “None that I can think of, Your Honor.”

He banged his gavel. “OR is revoked; bench warrant to issue forthwith-”

Paul interrupted. “I’d ask that you make this a no-bail order, Your Honor!”

The judge looked at me again. “Seems a bit extreme. Counsel?” I shrugged. “I’ll set bail at one million for now. That should be sufficient. The bailiff will notify you when the defendant is picked up.”

I smiled at Paul. “Have a great day.”

He frowned at me, confused. I was still smiling as I headed downstairs. The payback wheels were in motion. What a nice way to start the day.

And another stroke of luck was waiting for me. Zack came over as I was unpacking my briefcase. “I hate to do this to you, but I left out a whole area on contamination. I’m going to ask to reopen direct.”

I pretended to be annoyed. “How long will it take?”

“A while. I probably won’t finish until around two or two thirty.”

Perfect. I shrugged. “It’s not like I have a choice. But thanks for telling me.”

And as it turned out, his estimate had been light. Zack didn’t finish until the end of the day. Tomorrow was Friday; the court was dark. That gave me three days. It wasn’t nearly enough time, but every extra minute meant another chance for something good to happen.

At the very least, I figured I’d get my hands on Scott. I’d given the bailiff every single bit of information I had on him. And sure enough, Friday morning at eleven thirty, I got the call. Scott was in custody. They were bringing him to court to reset bail and pick our next court date.

I gave Michelle the good news. She set her jaw. “What’re you going to do to him? It’d better be horrible.”

I stared at her. “Seriously? You’re worried I might be too nice to the little peckerwood?”

Michelle shook her head. “Really, what is wrong with me? I don’t know what I was thinking.” She sighed. “Anyway, make sure you get back by two thirty. Orozco’s coming in.”

My gangbanger Ricardo’s father. I wasn’t looking forward to it.

I nodded. “Got it.”

I headed to court with a little over a quarter of a tank of gas. I’d make it there, but I probably wouldn’t make it back. Michelle had forbidden me from using credit cards. But I had no choice. It was either use my gas card or leave Beulah on the street and take the bus home. That potential new computer-fraud client was looking like a better idea by the minute.

When I got to court, I told the bailiff I needed to see my client.

“Scott Henderson’s yours?” I nodded. “He’s pretty freaked out.”

“He giving you guys problems?”

The bailiff rolled his eyes. “He won’t shut up. He’s bitching and whining like a little tweeny whose mommy won’t let him go to the One Direction concert.”

I smiled. “I’ll see what I can do.” When Scott saw me, he ran to the front of the cell and gripped the bars. “You’ve got to get me out of here!”

“Is that right?”

“Look, I know I fucked up! I meant to get you that phone. But I had to lay low for a while. I’ve got some people-”

“Who’re after you. You owe them money.”

“How’d you know?”

“Because thanks to you, my investigator is in the hospital.”

His eyes got big. “Oh shit. He was staking my place?” I nodded. Scott hung his head. “That’s fucked up.”

“You’re about to be just that. And I assume whomever you owe has connects in Men’s Central.”

He swallowed and nodded. “Are you going to dump me?”

“No.” A surprised smile trembled on his lips. “I’ll be your lawyer until death do us part.” I gave him a cold stare. “Which also happens to be when I’ll announce ‘ready’ for trial. And I think your bail’s going to have to stay at one million. As an officer of the court, I had to tell the truth about how you dodged my calls and never showed up at the address you gave me. So I’d advise you to make some friends. You’re going to be there awhile.”

The tremulous smile faded as comprehension sank in. “No! Please! You can’t do this to me! I’ll give you the phone, I promise! I can get it to you in one hour-no, less!”

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you promise? Well, that’s a different story. I mean, why wouldn’t I trust you? It worked out so well before.” I glared at him but kept my voice low. “Tough shit. You jerked me around and put my investigator in the hospital. See you in court.”

I called for the bailiff to let me out and left him clutching the bars. Scott could make a motion to have me relieved as counsel. But I was betting he wouldn’t. If he got rid of me, he’d have to roll the dice with a public defender or a court-appointed lawyer-and that’s exactly what he didn’t want. Sure enough, when the judge called the case, Scott never said a word. Other than, “I apologize to the court.”

I said I thought the June twentieth date we’d set for trial was turning out to be way too optimistic. We reset it for August nineteenth. Scott looked pale and shaky as the bailiff escorted him back into lockup.

It was one forty-five by the time I got out of court. I headed for my car at a fast trot. I didn’t want to keep Orozco Senior waiting. Especially since Michelle was alone in the office.