Fire and Justice_A Legal Thriller

by Peter O'Mahoney

  “Bill—”

  “Dammit, Jonathon!” he snaps. “I’m trying to help you here! We don’t have time for that!”

  The shock is clear.

  Kate reaches her arm across to touch her boss, but he pulls his arm away without looking at her. He can’t.

  One look at her and his wall of emotion will collapse under a flood of tears.

  “Jonathon, you’ve been charged with the first-degree murder of…” For the first time since he walked in the doors of the Metropolitan Detention Center, Bill opens the file that he picked up on the way in.

  He reads the name again.

  And again.

  “The first-degree murder of Gerard West.”

  Chapter 8

  Bill Harvey has had enough emotion for one day.

  Just when he thought the walls around his heart would collapse, just when he thought emotions would break through, the walls have been reinforced.

  The brick barricade around his heart is back.

  More solid than ever.

  “I didn’t kill anyone, Bill. You have to believe me. I had nothing to do with this. I wouldn’t call you otherwise.” Jonathon is begging his brother. “I don’t even know why they have locked me up. Nobody is telling me anything about this case. I have no idea what is going on.”

  “Did you know him?”

  “Did I know him?! I have no idea what they are talking about! I’ve never seen the guy! I have no idea what is happening!” Jonathon is desperate to convince his brother that he is innocent.

  Usually, Bill Harvey is thoroughly prepared. Before he steps into a case, he reads the police report over and over, knowing the details backward. He knows where the problems exist, and he knows where the opportunities lay. Research is one of the keys to his success.

  But this time, he isn’t prepared. He wasn’t ready.

  And it is the first time he has been caught out.

  “I knew him.” Bill’s eyes are still focused on the table. “I knew Gerard West.”

  The room goes icy, silent.

  “Oh, Bill.” The shock on Jonathon’s face is clear. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

  The silence sits in the room for one long minute, nobody quite sure what to do next. Despite all the terror he has seen, despite all the horrors, nothing Bill has ever experienced before has prepared him for this.

  He can’t react. He doesn’t know how.

  He sits emotionless across from his brother. Cold. Lost.

  With control, Kate grabs the file from in front of her boss. “Jonathon, I’m going to assume that you don’t have the one million dollars to post bail for a first-degree murder charge?”

  Jonathon shakes his head slightly, mouth still open, eyes focused on his brother.

  “Then what is going to happen is that you’re going to remain in custody. We will apply for bail on your own recognizance, but it will most likely be rejected. From reading this report…” Her eyes scan fast over the page. “It was a violent murder, so the chances of bail are probably next to none anyway. That means that you’ll be spending time in prison until this is done, one way or another. But from your file, this doesn’t appear to be your first trip to prison.”

  “It’s not,” Jonathon concedes, still looking at his emotionally distant brother.

  “Then get a good night’s sleep, stay out of trouble, and we’ll be back tomorrow for the arraignment hearing.”

  “Is that it?”

  “At this point in time, yes.” Kate is firm, almost as cold as her boss. “Bill will return when he has some more information, possibly this afternoon, or tomorrow before the arraignment. We’ll keep you updated, but for now, that is it.”

  She lightly grabs her dazed boss’ arm, and he looks up at her, understanding it is time to leave.

  “Bill.” Jonathon stands, softly calling out to his brother. “It’s good to see you again.”

  Bill slowly drops his head, nodding. When he lifts his head, he has a reflective smile.

  “You too, brother.”

  Chapter 9

  The car ride back to the office is one of complete silence.

  Not that there aren’t words to be spoken. There are many. But neither Bill nor Kate can bring themselves to start the conversation.

  Penny Pearson, holding up the fort at the office, waiting patiently for the return of her boss, looks up as they walk in silently through the office door. Without a word, without a gesture, Bill walks into his separate office, closes the door behind him, and reaches for the bottle of whiskey on his shelf.

  “Should I even ask how it went?” Penny quietly says to Kate as she sits down behind her desk.

  Kate sighs. “It went well from a client point of view. We met the client, we discussed the case, we took him through what is going to happen next…”

  “But from a family point of view?”

  “Bill barely even acknowledged that Jonathon was his brother. He was so nervous when he walked into that room, and then, bang! As soon as he stepped through the doors, the walls went back up. He didn’t even greet him with a handshake.”

  “Really? Should I go in and see him now? See if I can help?”

  “No.” Kate opens the police report on Jonathon’s arrest. “I’ll give him ten minutes to finish the glass of whiskey that I’m sure he has just poured for himself, and then I’ll pop my head in. It’s best to give him a few moments to process the information. He’s a quick thinker when it comes to work, but the opposite when it comes to emotions – it can take him days to process them.”

  “Like most men,” Penny quips. “So, his brother has been charged with murder?”

  “That’s right.” Kate sighs again. “Not only had Bill not seen his brother for twenty years, but he also didn’t know whose murder Jonathon was charged with. It wasn’t until we got into the room that Bill opened the file about the arrest and saw the name of the deceased – Gerard West.”

  “The drunk that Bill knew? The one that he was talking about yesterday?”

  “That’s right, the very one that he had a coffee with only two nights ago. Once Bill read that name on the police report, he couldn’t even open his mouth anymore. He was stunned. There was way too much emotion for him.”

  “I’m sure the homeless drunk had it coming to him.” Penny runs a nail file over her nails. “His brother should be able to walk away from the murder, I say. He’s done the world a service getting rid of that drunk.”

  “Penny!” Kate snaps in surprise. “I thought we talked about this. No more of that. That sort of opinion doesn’t belong in this office. You have to leave that sort of opinion at the door. Especially now.”

  “But it’s true.” Like all good opinionated twenty-year-olds, Penny doesn’t know when to stop. “If there were no drunks in the world, the world would be a much better place. We’d be able to walk down the streets without fear, less people would be homeless, there would be less assaults, less domestic violence, the list goes on and on. Drunks are the cause of so much pain in the world. The world would be so much better without them.”

  “Look at the big picture, Penny. Maybe drunks aren’t the problem. Maybe alcohol is the problem. Don’t just blame vulnerable people for the situation they’re in. The problem is so much bigger than that. It’s so much more than just a personal choice.”

  “The people are the problem,” she argues back. “If it weren’t alcohol, then it would just be another drug. These people just take whatever is available to them. These people are the problem. Get rid of them all. All of them.”

  If she were anyone else, Kate would walk her out the door right now and tell her never to come back. Opinions like that don’t belong in this office. They have no place in an office dedicated to justice.

  But Penny has an excuse for her loathing, a very good one, and Kate is willing to provide her some leniency for her past.

  “You really have to keep those opinions to yourself. You can’t work in this office with those sorts of opinions. If you kee
p it up, I’m going to have to fire you. I don’t want that, and Bill doesn’t want that, but we won’t have a choice if you continue to act like that. You need to keep your mouth shut.”

  Penny nods, knowing that she has overstepped the mark again. “I’ll try, but some things just trigger my emotions. Sometimes, I can’t control what comes out of my mouth. I just get angry about it all and then I can’t stop. It’s just… I’ll keep trying.”

  “I understand all that, but if you want to stay here, if you want to be employed here, you have to leave those opinions at the door. You can’t bring those opinions into this office, especially not now while Bill is going through all this. His tolerance for that sort of attitude will be next to none.”

  “I’ll try my best.”

  Kate shakes her head gently, staring at the girl who has been through so much. She knows Penny’s opinions come from a place of pain, from a well of agony and loss.

  But it’s the intensity that shocks Kate.

  Penny’s words are laced with hurt, pain, and pure venom.

  And maybe, just maybe, hatred.

  Chapter 10

  Knocking gently, Kate Spencer opens the office door without receiving a response. Lightly, she steps into the room, cautious about approaching the man she cares so much for.

  Sitting in his large chair, Bill Harvey doesn’t take his eyes off the view out the window. His eyes are locked into place, not staring at anything in particular, rather off into nothingness.

  This is his view, his own part of Downtown L.A., and it soothes his nerves to be a part of it.

  “Are you coping ok?” Kate asks as she sits down opposite him.

  “Of course,” he lies, taking his eyes off the view. It’s his automatic response to that question; he wouldn’t ever dare answer it any other way.

  “I didn’t know about Gerard West. If I knew, I wouldn’t have let you walk into that room. I’m sorry, Bill. And I’m sorry that you had to find out like that. I should have read the file first; I should have been prepared. It was a terrible way to find out. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault, Kate.” His chair swivels back around to the head of the desk, and he places his empty whiskey glass on the edge. “I thought Gerard had a chance. I thought he had hit rock bottom, and with the right people around him, I thought he had a chance to rebuild his life. I thought he could have put it all back together and gone on to better things, whatever that may have looked like for him. He looked like he was ready to do that. He was ready to build his life again. I saw that in his eyes.”

  “There’s nothing else you could have done. You should be proud of yourself, Bill. You gave him a little bit of light before the end.”

  Feeling reflective after the morning drenched in emotion, he leans forward, head down, opening up more than he has in a long time. “I always felt like that could be me. I always felt like if one more thing went wrong, one more moment of disaster, that could have been me on the street. I could have been Gerard. And if I was faced with the same things that Gerard faced, if I went through that level of hatred, then I don’t think I would have handled it any better than Gerard. In fact, I probably would have been worse. I would have been worse than him.”

  “You’ve seen a lot in your life. You’ve lived through a lot of pain, and you’ve seen a lot of death. More than most, Bill. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Everyone has their limits. Everyone has a breaking point.”

  “I could be one of those men, Kate.” His fist clenches as it rests on the table. “I could be sleeping on the streets each night, trying to dull all that pain with alcohol. Trying to forget about the world and sleeping rough. Living day-to-day. Drowning out the world full of emotions. I could be one of those men.”

  “I would help you if you were. I would be there beside you. You will always have my support.”

  He tight fist releases and he runs his hand along the edge of the desk, keeping his eyes away from Kate. “Thank you, Kate. That means the world to me.”

  A small wave of pleasure washes through Kate, happy that she has hit him with a touch of feeling. Finally, she feels like she is getting through to him.

  She has watched him at his best and comforted him at his worst, but she knows that this situation is going to hit him the hardest.

  “I’ll cancel my flights. I can’t leave you here like this while I’m on holidays. I—”

  “No, Kate. You need that holiday. You haven’t taken one in two years. I can’t have you here. I won’t have it. And your son would never forgive me. He’s been looking forward to that trip for a year. Eight-year-olds aren’t that forgiving when you cancel a Disney World trip.”

  “Bill, I have to be here for you. I can’t have you collapsing without me. This is—”

  “No.” Bill is firm.

  She stares at him for a long moment. She has learned that a one-word answer from her boss means business.

  There is no arguing when he’s so blunt.

  “Bill—” she pushes.

  “No.”

  Again, just the one-word answer.

  Firm. Direct. Decisive.

  “Then let me cancel one week. I’ll cancel the second week. We were just going to be driving the coast road down to Miami and back to Tampa anyway. We’re hitting all the theme parks in Orlando during the first week. Connor didn’t really want to do the drive. All he is looking forward to is the theme parks. I’ll be gone for only one week. You can’t argue with that.”

  Bill raises his eyes from the table to meet hers.

  “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  “Kate—” he tries to protest.

  “Bill, there has never been a harder time in this office and I’m leaving you with an inexperienced, highly emotional assistant. I can’t do that for two weeks. She might blow up during that time. One week. That’s all I’ll take off. You can’t say no to that.”

  He raises his hands in surrender. “If you must, but that has to be your choice.”

  “It’s my choice.” She checks that the door is closed before leaning forward. “Do you think you’ll be fine with Penny for one week? I can sack her and see if I can get someone else? It would be hard with this sort of short notice, but we could try.”

  “It shouldn’t be a problem. She just has to learn that she has to keep her emotions in check. And in case you haven’t noticed, my patience isn’t the best. She’ll know when she has overstepped the mark.”

  “You’re right there.” Kate laughs. “She should be fine. Just don’t mention her past.”

  Bill nods in agreement. “She had it hard. You and I could never imagine what that must have been like. We could never know. We should go easy on her.”

  “Her past doesn’t excuse some of her opinions though. She should learn to keep that sort of thing to herself, even if that is what she is thinking. She has to learn to hold her tongue. I will talk to her again and give her one final warning. If she does it again, she has to go.”

  “You’re right, but I understand her anger. She has every right to be angry.”

  “Other than the outbursts, she’s a great girl. She works hard, and she’s picked up most of the processes already. She’s the sort of person that if you show her a process once, then she’ll remember it for next time. I’ll ask her to keep her opinions in check, and if she does that, then she should be a great help while I’m gone.”

  “No one will ever replace you, Kate.”

  “Well.” She shrugs with a grin. “I am pretty special.”

  With a smile, he walks over to his small bar, hidden at the end of the bookshelf, and nods to the whiskey, offering Kate one. She shakes her head, but he refills his drink regardless.

  Once the drink is poured, his mind turns back to what he knows best.

  “Someone is killing those men, Kate. A serial killer in L.A., preying on the defenseless. Gerard is the seventh homeless man found killed in that area in the last twelve months. These men seem to be wandering out of Skid Row and into the hands of a kil
ler.”

  “You don’t know that it’s a serial killer. I’m sure that homeless people die all the time. There is nothing that connects the murders yet, other than the location and the way they were killed. I’m sure the police department has looked into the chances of it being a serial killer. And they haven’t said anything, so I’m sure that it’s all just a giant coincidence.”

  “Perhaps. But we do know that someone killed Gerard. My friend Gerard West. My friend that was once close to me,” Bill responds firmly. “And that person may be my brother.”

  The breath catches in Kate’s throat. She hadn’t thought of the possibility that Jonathon may be guilty. “You don’t know that. He also might be innocent.”

  “What if he isn’t? What if he’s the serial killer? What if he’s the one that is knocking off homeless guys? If I get him off, what happens when he just goes out and kills again? That’s on me. That becomes my responsibility. And what if I fall apart, and then see him on the street?” He sits back down. “That could be me, Kate. That could be me on the street. I can’t let that killer walk free. Not in this case. Not after what happened to Gerard.”

  “You don’t know anything about this case. You haven’t even looked at the evidence. People get wrongly arrested all the time, you know that. You’ve seen it. Give your brother a chance. Read all the evidence, talk to him, and then make up your own mind. Trust your instincts, Bill. They’re not often wrong.”

  He looks away, blinking back the tears that threaten to fill his eyes.

  The worlds of family and work have come smashing together. He wanted so badly to see his brother again, but he didn’t expect this. He didn’t expect to want to walk away the second he saw him again.

  Gently, quietly, he responds, “I don’t know if I can do it.”

  “He’ll spend the rest of his life behind bars if you don’t help him. No doubt about it. He’ll get some hopeless court assigned lawyer who isn’t even interested in helping him. Is that what you want, without ever finding out the truth?” Kate pleads with him. “If you ever wanted to help your brother, the time is now. Give him a chance.”