I wondered if there were any bars that served ice cream.
27
I went into the office, Teddy sucking on an ice cream cone next to me, and was about to ask Kelly to watch Teddy when she said, “I got something.”
“A home?”
“No. A school. When he turned eighteen, the school his parents sent him to required reenrollment, but his parents never reenrolled him, and all the deadlines have passed. But this is a special-needs school for adults who are out of high school. It’s from nine to three every day, and his condition has to qualify. I need his guardians to sign some releases so I can send the school his medicals. I’ll get it done today. I mean, if they are still his guardians. We might need to get you power of attorney over him to do it. I’ll follow up on everything.”
“I could kiss you right now.”
“I told you I’d sue you for sexual harassment one day.” She rose. “Teddy, come with me. We have to have your parents sign something.”
Teddy looked at me and shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other. “It’s okay,” I said. “This is Kelly, and she’s a good friend of mine.”
He smiled at her. “Hi, Kelly.”
When they were gone, I collapsed into my chair and stared at the ceiling. This wasn’t a case I wanted. I wanted guilty people. I wanted to go in and work out a plea deal and make them happy they didn’t go to prison and then get on with my life and forget about them. Never, in a million years, did I think I would have a client living with me, and that I would be taking on an entire county and a district court judge.
I blew a raspberry at the universe in general, and then looked at my calendar. I had other hearings before Teddy’s next one, but I didn’t care about any of them. I didn’t even want to think about them. I would likely get them all continued so I could focus on drafting that motion to quash.
I took a bottle of Johnny Walker Black out of the bottom drawer of my desk, poured a drink, and then opened the last motion to quash I’d written to use as a template.
I don’t know how long I spent on the motion, but when I woke up, I was on my couch. I sat up and stretched my neck and back and then checked to see what I had. The motion was completed. I did a quick search for profanity and found “shit” twice, so I took those words out. Then I printed it and stuck a Post-it note on it asking Kelly to file it. Thinking of Kelly made me think of Teddy, so I texted her.
Where are you guys?
He fell asleep in my car. I’m at your house and just let him sleep. Got everything filed with the school. Waiting to see if Medicaid will cover the cost. Going down there tomorrow to get things moving quicker.
Fantastic! You’re awesome.
Don’t forget that when Christmas bonuses come around.
I left the office, thinking I would get over to the Lizard for a few drinks before trying to see Jack. I stopped before getting outside and thought a moment. The big question mark in this case was Zamora, and I hadn’t spoken with him yet. He wasn’t answering my calls. If only someone didn’t care about the Bar ethical rules . . .
I hopped in the Jeep and drove to Richardson, after texting Kelly that I would be late.
Zamora’s house was small and dilapidated. It looked like the type of place old rock stars went to die. I got out of the car and lit a cigarette, taking a few puffs while leaning against my Jeep and looking over the neighborhood. Not the worst place I’d seen, or even lived, but certainly not a place where it would be safe to look like a hapless visitor.
A pair of shoes with the laces tied together hung from a power line as a sign to addicts that there were several drug houses on the street. The color of lights on the porch told addicts what products they had. A red light was heroin, a blue light coke, a yellow light meth, a green light pot. That was the system now, but it would change in a few years. As soon as the narc units caught on, the dealers would change it up.
I tossed my cigarette onto the ground and headed up to the door. I knocked and put my hands in my pockets as I waited. Two men peeked out from behind the window curtains, and I smiled and waved. The door was unlocked, and one of them opened it. I could see the bulge of a gun underneath his shirt, tucked into his waistband right over his genitals. What was it with these homeboys wanting to blow off their own junk?
“Hola, amigo. Is Salvador here?”
“Who is you?”
“I’ve got some information for him. About the charges pending against him. He’ll wanna hear it, trust me.”
He looked me up and down. “Wait.”
I looked back over to the neighborhood. No one was out. No kids playing, no elderly sitting on porches, no people. Everyone cowered inside their homes for fear of being caught up in something they didn’t want to be caught up in.
The door behind me opened and a slim man with glasses and a tattoo poking out of his shirt onto his neck stepped out. I recognized Salvador Zamora from his driver’s license photo and said, “Hi.”
“What you need?”
“Man, is no one friendly around here? What happened to ‘hello’ and ‘how you doing?’”
He spit on the porch near my feet. “What you need?”
“I need to talk to you about Teddy Thorne.”
“Who are you?”
“Let’s just say I’m an interested party.”
“I ain’t talkin’ to no one.” He turned to go inside.
“Hey, just one sec. Listen, we both know you and Teddy are getting it the worst. You really think three rich white kids are gonna go down for this? It’s gonna be you and the black kid.”
He stared at me. His eyes were unblinking, the eyes of a predator. I instantly didn’t like him.
“Gimme five minutes. I think I can help both of you,” I said.
He nodded. “Five minutes.”
28
Salvador led me inside. The house smelled of South American cooking: fried beans and bread and some sort of corn dish. I saw an old woman at the stove stirring a mixture in a pot. Pictures of the Virgin Mary hung on most of the walls; there was a small bag of weed on top of a dresser.
We went into a room near the back. A water bed took up most of the space. Salvador sat and the bed waved up and down.
“So?” he said.
“Teddy didn’t sell you those drugs. We both know it. What I don’t get is why you’re covering for Kevin. The guy’s gonna screw you in the end.”
He looked amused. “How you gonna help me?”
“I need to know what you know, first.”
“Nah, it don’t work like that. You tell me how you gonna help me, and I’ll see if I wanna talk to you.”
I put my hands on my hips and looked around the room. A large painting of an ancient Aztec warrior, the obligatory half-naked woman on his knee, hung above his water bed. “Kevin set up Teddy. I might be able to get the drugs tossed. You’re all codefendants. If I get the drugs tossed, the case against you probably goes away, too. And like I said, they’re gonna come after you. Nice boys from nice families, or you and Teddy? Who do you think will get thanked, and who’s gonna get shafted? You’ll do some time, for sure.”
He shrugged as he lay back on the bed, his hands behind his head.
“You really think they’ll let you off, with your record?”
He made a clicking sound against his teeth. “I ain’t got no reason to talk to you. I’m getting me a deal.”
“What kind of deal?”
“The none-a-your-business type. Time to get steppin’.”
“Just tell me one thing and I’ll leave—which cop was in charge of this bust?”
“The white dude. Not the other one. The bolillo.”
I left the house and looked up the file for the case. The white detective’s name was Bo Steed. He had been the lead on the takedown operation. I texted Will and said: I need you to get me everything you can on a detective with the Hoover County Narcotics Task Force. Bo Steed.
A minute later, he texted back. Your wish is my command. I headed to the Li
zard and the waiting drinks that would make me feel all warm and fuzzy for a while, before I had to go home to make sure Teddy was okay.
29
The Lizard was particularly empty, and Michelle wasn’t there. One of the guys tending bar slid a beer and a shot over to me without being asked. “Am I that much of a regular?”
“Yes, you are.”
“Shit. I better find a new place.”
“Michelle would kill you.”
I nodded as I sipped the beer. “She would. She’s a jealous little shit.”
I drank the beer and the shot. I wondered if I drank too much, so I ordered another beer and shot to forget that. I always knew when I started drinking too much because I would go for days wearing the same clothes, and then Will would mention something. It’d been a month since he said anything, so I must’ve not hit bottom yet.
On my second beer, I got a text from Will asking where I was. Half an hour later, he was sitting on the bar stool next to me. He tossed a file onto the bar in front of me. I opened it to the first page of the personnel disciplinary file for Detective Bo Steed.
“How the hell did you get this in three hours?”
“That’s what you pay me the big bucks for.”
“I gotta know.”
“Got a contact at POST. I pay him . . . let’s say a small bonus every time I need a cop’s disciplinary record.”
“Yeah, but I’m nowhere near your top priority.”
He smiled shyly at me and said, “You are my top priority, lady. Haven’t you figured that out yet?”
I lit a cigarette as I began flipping through the file. The guy had over a dozen complaints against him, ranging from excessive force to planting drugs. None of them stuck. Hoover County’s Internal Affairs Division consisted of police officers who would no sooner take action against another officer than they would arrest their own mothers. Not a single one of the dozen complaints had gotten past the investigation phase.
“There are few things I hate more than corrupt cops,” I said, blowing out a puff of smoke and squinting because the air-conditioning vent behind the bar just blew it right back into my eyes.
“What do you think this guy did, anyway?”
“I don’t know. Nothing about this case makes sense. The county’s doing something blatantly illegal to a kid who would normally be charged as a juvenile or not at all, and everyone who’s more culpable than he is is getting a deal to testify against him. It’s like they have some personal vendetta against him.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m getting worried about you. About how this is affecting you. The whole thing sounds like maybe you should withdraw.”
“From the case?”
“You told me once you only focus on the guilty ones because nine times out of ten, you settle those. They don’t want to go to trial knowing they did it. This kid might be innocent. Dani, I was all for this and I love the passion it’s brought out in you, but maybe it’s doing more harm than good. Withdraw, and let the next attorney have the headache.”
I stared at his dilated pupils and the slightly pink hue to his cheeks. “Will, are you high right now?”
He hesitated. “That doesn’t invalidate my argument.”
I chuckled. “Since when are we toking on the job?”
“Since I’m almost retired and about to become a permanent fixture on a sandy beach.” He put his arm around me and stared into my eyes like we were two lovers in Paris. “Come with me. Leave all this shit behind. Lay out on the beach all day. Write that novel you’ve always wanted to write. Forget Hoover County and Roscombe and all that bullshit.”
“Wish I could, man. You have no idea how appealing that sounds. But right now, there’s a hundred pounds of hipster teenager that prevents me from doing that.”
He shrugged and put his hands on the bar. “Well, at least withdraw from this case. It’s gonna give you an ulcer.” He picked up the remnants of my beer and took a swig.
“I’m missing something in this. Something happened that no one’s talking about.”
“Well, there are always ways to get people to talk.”
“How?”
“Leverage, my slightly dim Caucasian sister. Find something you can use to get some of these witnesses to tell you the truth for once.”
Will, despite being high, had a point. The prosecution was fighting dirty, so why shouldn’t I? There was one more thing to try before I went to the gutter, though: go to the top. I would meet with the county attorney tomorrow and see if I could talk some sense into her.
I polished off one more shot, and then decided to call it a night. Will was still drinking when I left, telling the bartender how he was leaving this nonsense behind for white sand.
30
When I got home, Teddy was awake again. He ran up to me and proclaimed, “I got to see a movie, Danielle.”
“Really?”
Kelly said, “Yup. We did, on TV. What a lucky boy, getting to watch a movie today.”
Teddy looked proud and held his chin a little higher.
“Can I watch TV, Danielle?”
“Of course.” He smiled and ran off.
Kelly watched him and then turned to me and said, “It’s really nice, what you’re doing.”
“What choice did I have? It was either this or drop him off back at the Road Home like his parents did.”
“I met his parents today when I got them to sign the release. Teddy was in the car and they refused to even see him.”
I lit a cigarette.
“So what’s the plan?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean this case isn’t going to go on forever. What are you going to do when it’s over? Is he going to live with you?”
The truth was, I hadn’t considered it. I hadn’t thought a bit about what would happen once it was over.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, you need to figure something out. He’s a human being and deserves to have a say in where he’s going to live.”
“I don’t have a clue, Kelly. I can’t drop him off at the shelter, but I can’t have him stay here long-term either. I couldn’t take care of him.”
“Couldn’t or wouldn’t?”
I shrugged as I took a drag of the cigarette. “He’s a great kid, but he needs constant care.”
“I think maybe you need to spend more time with him.”
“Why?”
“Because he can do a lot more than you think he can. A lot of people probably make the same mistake about him, thinking he constantly needs someone else. If you give him a chance, he’ll prove you wrong, I think.”
“And how do you know so much about it?”
She sat down on my couch. “My brother lives with a disability. You met him once, remember?”
“Right,” I said, kind of remembering a family reunion of hers I had received a pity invite to because it was Saturday and I had nothing to do.
“My mother was an alcoholic and couldn’t do anything, much less take care of a disabled child, so I basically raised him. His whole life he got sympathy from people. They wanted him to be inspirational. Do you know how insulting it is to be inspirational to people because of your disability? He could function just like everybody else. He knew how to take care of himself. Knew a lot more than most other people I knew, actually. Teddy’s the same way. He can grow if you give him the chance.”
I looked back toward the bedroom. Teddy was shouting that the television wasn’t working. “I’ll have to think about it once this whole thing is done, I guess.”
She rose and headed for the door. “Better run. Hot date.”
“Thanks for doing this,” I said.
“It was no problem. Good night, Dani.”
“’Night.”
I stepped out onto the porch and finished my cigarette before going back inside. Teddy sat on the bed, and the television was already on.
“I fixed it!” he said.
“Looks like it. You ready for
bed?”
“I’m hungry.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
We ate mac and cheese and watched a Pixar movie. Teddy laughed through most of it, but he would cover his mouth as though he’d done something naughty. One time he snorted and then looked at me and we both laughed. When the movie was over, we did our jammies, our SpongeBob, and the whole shebang before I could finally leave him long enough to go sit on my porch. I took out my phone and called Stefan.
Peyton answered his cell.
“Hello, Danielle.”
“Oh. Hi. So . . . how’s it hanging?”
“Stefan’s kind of indisposed right now. He’s actually showering for me. I saw it was you calling, so I thought you’d want to know. Maybe he’ll call you after we’re finished in the bedroom.”
That was the last image I needed right now: her plastic breasts and Botox-frozen face rubbing against the love of my life. I breathed out through my nose and said, “You already won. You got him. Do you have to be such a bitch about it, too?”
“Yes, Danielle. Yes I do. And by the way, I know it was you who stole my tiger head. I want that back.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m sure you don’t. Oop, he’s coming out. Need to get in the mindset, so you’ll excuse me. I think I’m going to ride him cowgirl tonight. What do you think about that?”
“Are you sexually attracted to animals?”
“What?”
“Just something I’ve been pondering lately. You seem downright obsessed with them, so the only thing I can think is that you must be turned on by them.”
“Good night, Danielle. Sweet dreams.”
She hung up. My heart raced, my stomach felt sour, and blood had rushed to my face. The skank had gotten under my skin. I didn’t usually let people do that.
“You look like a woman who needs a drink,” a soft female voice said. Beth stood on her porch next door. Though well into her seventies, she always struck me as having the spirit of a twenty-year-old and she looked it now with the wide smile on her face.
“And how, lady.”
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