Harper Ross Legal Thrillers vol. 1-3

by Rachel Sinclair

  I inwardly groaned and hoped that neither Judge Greene nor Vince would pick up on the weird tone to Mick’s voice and question me about it. I looked at both of their faces and saw that neither man thought that there was anything amiss, so I felt relieved.

  “Mr. Calhoun,” Judge Greene said. “I’ve read the statement of information and I’ve reviewed the psychological notes on this case. Dr. Jansing is of the opinion that you are mentally fit to stand trial. I wanted to ask you a few questions before I decide the same.”

  Mick looked at me and I swallowed hard. “Okay, your honor.”

  Judge Greene nodded. “Do you understand, Mr. Calhoun, why you are here?”

  “Of course. Father Kennedy of Guardian Angels Catholic Church was murdered and I was in the rectory at that time with the murder weapon in my hands. I was arrested and charged with his murder.”

  Judge Greene nodded. “Do you understand the charges that have been leveled against you?”

  “Yes. I do know what murder in the first degree is. I understand that if a jury convicts me, I will serve life in prison without the possibility of parole. My lawyer, Ms. Ross, has explained all of this to me.”

  “Do you feel that you will be able to assist your attorney in preparing your case? I’m assuming that Ms. Ross has explained the discovery process with you and depositions and what they mean. Will you be able to assist her all the way with these steps?”

  “Of course.”

  Judge Greene nodded his head, satisfied that my client was lucid and sane. At least, he was sane enough to stand trial. I considered that to be my first hurdle and I thanked my lucky stars that I had Mick there talking to the judge, and not Jack. I wasn’t at all sure that Jack, with his incoherent thinking and meek affect, would have passed this test as well as Mick did.

  “Well, then,” Judge Greene said. “Let’s begin our pre-trial conference. Where are we on this case? Is it close to a resolution?”

  “No,” Vince said. “Both sides need to do depositions and exchange discovery. At the moment, I do not have an offer to give to Ms. Ross, and I don’t anticipate that I will before trial. Because of the brutal nature of the crime, my office has only authorized me to offer life in prison without the possibility of parole to Ms. Ross.”

  “Does the defendant plan to introduce an affirmative defense to the charges?”

  “No, your honor, I don’t.”

  “Do you plan on introducing any expert witnesses?”

  “No, your honor, I don’t.”

  “Okay.” He nodded his head. “So, you are telling me, Ms. Ross, that you do not plan on introducing a witness that would testify about whether or not your client meets the legal definition of insanity. Is that true? You are not going to try to introduce the possibility that I might find your client not guilty by reason of insanity?”

  Judge Greene looked over at my client. “I’m very sorry, Mr. Calhoun. I don’t mean to imply anything by that question. I must admit, it concerns me that, according to this statement of information, you stated that you don’t remember what happened in that rectory.”

  I shifted uncomfortably. I hoped and prayed that the strategy I was going to pursue was the right one. If I didn’t appoint an expert witness who would testify to Jack’s sanity at the time of the murder, then the NGRI defense wouldn’t be available.

  Was I willing to roll that dice?

  There was a part of me that didn’t. I couldn’t simultaneously try for NGRI and for SODDI – Some Other Dude Did It. I had to pick a lane and stay in it, because I couldn’t try to convince the jury both that Jack did it, but he was legally insane at the time, and that he didn’t do it at all. Those were two theories of the case that were incongruent to one another and I was simply going to have to pick one.

  Go big or go home. “Not at this time, your honor.”

  “Okay.” He looked at his calendar. “Let’s see, today is May 5. I’m going to set this case for trial on Monday, September 18. Both sides must have written discovery into one another by August 18, and must have a witness list into one another by July 18. That should give both sides plenty of time to depose one another’s witnesses. As for expert witnesses, Ms. Ross, you shall have until July 1 to name an expert witness in your case, should you decide to call one. If you do not have an expert named by July 1, then I shall assume that you are not going to ask for a not guilty by reason of insanity defense, which means that this option will be foreclosed at that time.”

  I felt my heart racing. I was going to have just under two months to try to figure this out. If I couldn’t figure out an alternative suspect by July 1, then I was going to have to give up and try for a NGRI defense.

  I almost cried when I thought about that possibility. It was just something that I never would have dreamed would be possible when I was a young child, floating lazily on the river while Uncle Jack clapped his hands every time I would pull a tiny fish out with my pole. When I was 10 years old and so excited over seeing palm trees for the first time, and then squealing with glee as I approached the ocean, I never would have imagined that I would end up here with my Uncle.

  All those nights around the campfire, telling ghost stories and roasting marshmallows and wieners on a stick…all those days hiking up a mountain, my Uncle Jack carrying a huge pack, while Albany and I carried our smaller packs…all those evenings where Uncle Jack came over to play penny poker and let me win…I shook my head and tried to hold back my tears. I wasn’t going to cry in court.

  “Is there anything else?” Judge Greene asked. “If there are going to be any affirmative defenses, I need to know about it now.”

  “No, your honor.” I hung my head. “We don’t have any affirmative defenses.”

  “Okay.” He smiled kindly. “Then I’ll see both parties back here on September 18, unless there is a disposition of this case prior to that. I would suspect, however, that if the prosecutor persists in offering life in prison without possibility of parole, this case will not be disposed of prior to trial.”

  “That’s correct your honor.”

  He nodded his head. “Okay, then, I’ll see the parties back here on September 18 for trial.”

  I turned around and saw the next group heading into the courtroom.

  I walked towards the door and Vince was walking next to me. We got outside the courtroom and Vince put his hand on my shoulder.

  “Let me talk to you alone,” he said, gesturing down the hall.

  I nodded. “Uncle Jack, you don’t mind, do you?”

  “Of course not.” His voice still had that odd intonation and stiff cadence. He was definitely trying too hard to sound like somebody different. I hoped that he wasn’t going to have that same tone of voice when I put him on the stand.

  Vince and I walked towards the end of the hall and I sat down on one of the benches. Vince sat down next to me.

  “It’s a tough break, having to defend your own Uncle,” he said.

  I looked into his eyes and I saw that he was sincere, so I nodded my head. “You don’t know how hard.”

  “I know. Listen, I’ll see what I can do about getting that sentence reduced. I don’t know if I can, though. Killing a priest is a pretty big deal. I talked my boss out of the death penalty when I found out that Jack Calhoun was your Uncle.”

  I smiled. “Thanks, Vince.”

  “Not a problem, Harper, not a problem. Hey, I don’t hate you. I hate most of your clients, but you’re pretty cool.”

  I nodded my head. “Well, see what offer you can come up with. Not that I’m going to take anything on this.”

  “You trying for SODDI?” he asked me.

  “Yeah.”

  He shook his head. “Even though your Uncle was found at the rectory, with the body and the murder weapon in his hand?”

  “Even though.”

  “You’re a braver person than I. I just hope that you’re doing your client justice. You can’t let your emotional ties cloud your judgment here. It looks bad for Mr. Calhoun.”
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  “I know how bad it looks. I know that. You don’t have to tell me.” I glared at him. “I’m not stupid.”

  “No,” he said. “You’re far from stupid. But you might be too emotionally attached to this case. You might not be able to see it very clearly. That’s all I’m saying. If I were you, I would appoint an expert to evaluate your client. Judge Greene is a decent, fair judge. He’s not a hard-ass. If your client is mentally ill, and he didn’t know what he was doing when he killed that priest-“

  “Allegedly killed that priest.”

  Vince nodded his head, acknowledging my point. “Allegedly killed that priest, okay, but if he met the legal definition of insanity at that time, Judge Greene will be more likely than most judges in this circuit to sentence your Uncle to a mental institution instead of prison. I know that you don’t want that, because he’s your Uncle and you love him, but you have to think of this case as if Mr. Calhoun is just another one of your clients.”

  I took a deep breath. I knew that Vince was right, but I didn’t want to acknowledge it. “I have until July to figure that out,” I said. “In the meantime, I’m going with SODDI.”

  “Your call, of course,”he said. “I won’t tell you how to do your job.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth on his heels. “Well, then, we have our marching orders. Let’s try to get our discovery to each other even earlier than the dates that Judge Greene gave us, okay?”

  I nodded my head and said nothing. I turned around and saw Mick staring at me, his hand on his chin. “I’ll see you later, Vince.”

  “See ya, Harper,” Vince said, motioning back to the courtroom. “I have to get back in there. I’m on the next case, too.”

  We walked back down the hall, and I linked arms with Mick. Mick put his head on my shoulder and the two of us made our way to the elevator.

  “What was that all about?” Mick asked me once we were safely on the elevator. We were the only ones in that space, so I knew that he felt confident enough to talk openly with me.

  “Oh, Vince is trying to get me to hire an expert so that you might be judged legally insane. That’s all.”

  Mick laughed. “Oh, honey. Honey. We are insane, of course. Jack himself had no idea what happened in that rectory. I can’t tell you what happened in that rectory, because somebody else took over before any of us got into that place, but I can tell you one thing – the person who walked into that rectory wasn’t Jack. It wasn’t me, either, but it wasn’t him. So, yes, Jack meets the legal definition of insanity. Jack literally didn’t know what he was doing at that time.”

  I sighed. “And you don’t have any idea, either, if Jack killed that priest, right? I know that’s what you’ve been telling me, but I just wanted to ask you again.”

  “That’s right, doll. I have no clue what happened in that rectory, either. Usually I know what those other alters are up to, but not always. Not always. In this case, nobody told me what was about to happen, and nobody’s told me since what did happen. Sorry.”

  “Mick, you need to let me talk to the others. I need to speak with the alter who knows what happened. Why are you not letting me talk to him?”

  “How do you know that it’s a him?”

  I rolled my eyes. “What is that supposed to mean? There’s only three of you, right? Right? You, Eli and Sam?”

  “Doll, those are the only two that I know about. And how did you find out about Sam?”

  I opened my mouth and shut it. I didn’t think that Mick should know about my visit to Steven. That piece of knowledge was going to freak him out for sure. “You told me about Sam. Remember?”

  I was lying, but I hoped that Mick didn’t figure that out.

  He shrugged. “Ok, I don’t remember telling you about Sam, but I guess I did. But, yes, there is me, Eli and Sam. But there might be others. I just don’t know about them.”

  I groaned. “How many others?”

  “How am I supposed to know? Listen, I’m not Jack’s secretary. I’m not the appointed scheduler of all the alters. I’ve only come in contact with Sam and Eli. They’re the only ones who talk to me. But that doesn’t mean that there’s not others. There might be. I just don’t know.”

  “Well, let me speak with Eli and Sam and ask them. Surely one of them knows what the hell happened in that rectory.”

  Mick raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

  We walked over to my SUV and I let Mick in the passenger side. “Let me be the judge. You’re being stubborn, Mick. Jack’s life is on the line, here. Do you get that? His life is on the line. All of you are going to end up in a psychiatric facility if I don’t get to the bottom of this, so I need to speak with both Sam and Mick to see if either of them can give me some goddamned answers.”

  Mick rolled his eyes and looked at his nails. “Doll, you don’t understand. I don’t want to let either of them out. I had a hard time making them leave before. Not Sam, though. Sam was just a one-time thing. But Eli…” He shook his head. “Eli is tough. He wants out, but he wants to stay out. And if he’s out, I can’t control him.

  Mick continued on. “Eli’s trouble, lady. I don’t think that you want Eli running around, screwing women, taking drugs and running away. Yes, I said running away. Because if Eli comes out, he’s going to run. And what happens if he runs? He gets picked up by the lovely bounty hunter and his ass is hauled into jail and the suckers who put that $150,000 up for Jack loses all of it. That’s what happens. You and Claire lose your money and we all have to go to jail to await trial. As much as I hate staying with Claire, it sure beats the hell out of having to stay in jail before trial.”

  I groaned. I didn’t want to hear that. Yet, I knew that he had a point. I didn’t need a wild, untamed alter who was going to run. That was the last thing that I needed. I also didn’t need an alter who was going to take drugs. Jack had to do random drug tests as a condition of his bail, so if Eli came out and started taking meth again, I wouldn’t be able to keep Jack out of jail.

  Yet, I needed Eli to come out. Even if Sam was the one who was out at the time of the murder, Eli might still know something. “Okay,” I finally said. “I won’t make you let Eli out.”

  “Thank you.” Mick looked at his nails again. “And I’m dying for a cocktail. Did I mention that earlier?”

  “Yes, several times.” I’m dying for a cocktail, too, but I can’t have one. Ever.

  “So, let’s go and get one.” He clapped his hands together. “I’m feeling so cooped up at Claire’s. She’s like a warden, you know. No cocktails, no men, no fun. No men for me and none for her, either. She’s like a nun, you know. A nun.”

  “Mick, I think that you know that-“

  “I know, I know.” He affected an even higher-pitched voice than his usual Mick voice, which told me that he was probably imitating me. “The conditions of your bail are that you can only leave your prison, I mean Claire’s house, to go to court and any court-ordered classes.” He switched back to his usual Mick voice. “Which there have been none. You try to stay in one house for months on end, only being let out to go to boring court. It’s maddening.”

  “It might be maddening, but Mick, it’s one helluva lot better than spending your pre-trial period in jail. And that’s where you’re going to be if that ankle bracelet detects that you’re going anywhere but home and to court.” I wagged my finger at him. “Staying at mom’s house might be boring, but you get three squares a day, a warm bed to sleep in, television to watch and books to read. And you can wear whatever you want. Plus, you don’t have to shower with a bunch of guys. Be grateful for what you have.”

  “Doll, at least in jail, I get a chance for some action. At Claire’s, there’s no chance of that happening at all. I’m like a cat in heat over there.”

  Well, that was the last thing I wanted to hear my Uncle say. I finally sighed. “Listen, Mick, I’m not going to take you out for a cocktail. I’m not going to take you anywhere but back to mom’s house. I’m
sorry about that, but when I get all of you off for murder, you can do anything you want. Okay?”

  Mick crossed his arms in front of him, pouting. “I guess. But you know, doll, I have the feeling that if you get us off for murder, Jack might want to come back again. I don’t want that. I like being out. I like living.”

  That worried me. Mick was strong and Jack was weak. I knew that Jack had really been weak since Mary was killed. I wondered if Mick was going to try to take control, period, once everybody was free. I knew that, no matter what, Jack was going to have to get intensive counseling from the best psychologist in the country after he was freed.

  If he was freed. I still didn’t know how I was going to manage that, and that thought terrified me.

  Mick looked out the window. “Well, I guess we’re here. Back to jail.”

  I followed him into mom’s house. Mom was standing in the kitchen, taking a casserole out of the oven. “I’m so happy you two are back,” she said. “I was worried.”

  “What were you worried about?”

  She shrugged. “I’ve just been worried, dear. I lay awake, night after night, tossing and turning. I just can’t sleep.”

  “I sleep like a baby,” Mick said. “I don’t know what you’re so worried about, Claire.”

  “How can you sleep like a baby, when I don’t sleep at all?” My mother was apparently getting into her hysterical mode, which was the only mode she had been in, really, since Jack was arrested. “I just don’t understand you, Mick. I don’t know how you can be so relaxed about all of this when Jack’s life and existence is on the line.”

  Mick shrugged. “What is there to be uptight about? Listen, Claire, you don’t have to worry your silly little head about us. If we go to prison, we go to prison. You really don’t have to worry about Jack suffering in prison, because he will never come out again. It’s going to be me, and I’ll be just fine.”

  At that, my mom started to cry. I went over to her and put my arm around her. “I know, mom, I know. What Mick said just now is the last thing that you want to hear – that Jack will just disappear if he goes to prison. I know. That’s why it’s so important that none of them go to prison.” I pulled her tighter, my arms enfolding her while she bawled. “I’m going to figure this out, mom. I will. I promise you that. I will figure this out.”