Trouble in Paradise

Thirteen

Abby Taylor was in Jesse’s office with another lawyer.

“I’ve been retained to represent Carleton Jencks,” Abby said. “This is Brendan Fogarty, who represents the Hopkins boys.”

Abby had on a maroon suit with a short skirt and a short jacket with no lapels.

“You a criminal lawyer, Mr. Fogarty?” Jesse said.

“I’m Charles Hopkins’ personal attorney,” Fogarty said.

“This is a criminal case,” Jesse said.

“Well,” Abby said, “that’s what we wanted to talk about.”

Abby would be wearing maroon lingerie. When he had been in a position to know such things, her undergarments had always been coordinated.

“Go ahead,” Jesse said.

“These are kids,” Abby said. “They made a mistake, but they have a life ahead of them. To press charges will just make matters worse.”

“You talk to Canton and Brown?” Jesse said.

“Yes. They came to me to ask if I could represent them in a civil suit, but I had already been retained by the Jencks family.”

“They don’t want to press charges?”

“The Jencks family and, as I believe Mr. Fogarty will confirm, the Hopkins family are prepared to make financial restitution.”

“If charges are dropped?”

“That would be the idea,” Fogarty said.

“And what about the kids?” Jesse said.

“They get a second chance.”

“To burn somebody else’s house down?”

“They’re kids, Jesse.”

“And they burned down a house because they don’t like the sex lives of the people who live there. What if they don’t like your sex life?”

Jesse thought that Abby blushed faintly, but maybe he was wrong.

“Wait a minute, Jesse,” Fogarty said.

“You don’t know me,” Jesse said. “Call me Chief Stone.”

“Don’t get hard-assed with me, chief,” Fogarty said. “You don’t have a case will stand up in court. You didn’t read them their Miranda rights.”

“They were read their rights when they were arrested,” Jesse said. “They confessed.”

“Under coercion. Questioned without an attorney. Thrown in a cell.”

Peripherally, Jesse saw Abby shake her head at Fogarty. “This is not a big building, Mr. Fogarty. I needed to talk to each of them alone. There was nowhere else to put them. Cell door wasn’t even locked. I offered them an attorney at every juncture.”

“Handcuffed?”

“Once charged,” Jesse said.

“You led them to believe that Jencks had implicated them,” Fogarty said.

“That I did,” Jesse said.

“You pretended to let him go, in order to reinforce that belief.”

“Yes, I did,” Jesse said. “He walked out the back door and sat in the patrol car for an hour with Anthony DeAngelo.”

“There is a conscious pattern of deception and coercion of three minors,” Fogarty said. “You better deal.”

Abby shook her head again more vigorously. She knew that Fogarty’s tactics wouldn’t work with Jesse.

“I think your case may be shaky, Jesse,” Abby said. “But that’s not really the point. The point is do you want to put these kids and their families through this? The parents make restitution. The two gay gentlemen rebuild the house. Life goes on.”

“And the ‘two gay gentlemen’? How do they feel?”

“They got their house rebuilt,” Fogarty said.

“People ought to be able to fuck who they want to,” Jesse said. “Without getting their house burned down.”

Abby knew Jesse was stubborn. But she had rarely seen him mad too.

“And you’re going to fix that by running three kids and their families through the criminal courts?”

“I’m going to run them through the courts,” Jesse said.

“To prove?” Abby said.

“That the kids can’t mistreat whoever they want and have their parents buy them out of it.”

The two lawyers were quiet. Abby knew it was a lost cause. Fogarty tried again.

“You won’t get the DA into court with this,” Fogarty said.

Jesse didn’t reply.

“You’ll look like a fool,” Fogarty said. “You don’t have a case.”

“No disrespect, counselor,” Jesse said. “But I guess I’m not willing to take your word on that.”