Chapter 34 - Art V
I did in fact, fairly well gorge myself on free pepperoni pizza and donuts and soft drinks. It was one of the techniques my lawyer had taught me at the other police station. As I had expected, I could hear her coming long before I saw her. She was making a beeline straight for me, and anything that was unfortunate enough to find itself between her and me? Was going to hear about it. This sounded like it was right around the corner.
"Are you going to get out of my way? Or did you eat a lot of paint chips as a kid. Move!"
I waved at her, standing in the doorway to what I was coming to think of as my little interview room off to the side of the main area. She stalked directly over.
"We're not talking in here. Lets go get something to eat. We'll come back. This looks like it'll be going on all night, anyways."
The other suit that was still there, stood up, and started to say something about... he thought investigator so and so was holding him for 72 hours, which naturally set her off.
"Oh. Is that what you thought, huh? That's, what. Bob, right?"
"Robert."
"Right. Hold on a second."
She took a few steps.
"Bobby!"
That main suit came trotting over.
"What?"
"What's with you and 72 hours."
"And, you must be his lawyer."
"How did you guess. I'll ask one more time. What's with you and 72 hours."
"Well, its like this. I got a peck sack of all the other witnesses. Everyone's talking. He? Won't say a word. Also. All the other witnesses, gave us access to their devices. He refuses to let us access his laptop."
"Whoop. Dee. Do. Do you seriously plan on holding him for suspicion? For 72 hours."
"I can."
"I didn't ask if you can do it. I asked if you would."
"Your client? Hasn't been at all cooperative."
"Really? I'm impressed. At least one of my clients, listens to me when I speak. Refusing to speak to you without an attorney present? That's not grounds for suspicion. But you know that. And you know, that I know it."
He rocked on his heels, arms crossed over his chest.
"Cooperation. All I want."
"Well, why don't you try this on for size. Bobby. You've been dealing with him now, for a couple hours. If you go down the road you're barreling down? Here's what happens. You? Exercise your 72 hour rule. Which will get you? Dick. You just had a preview, of the next three days. What makes you think that if you piss him off, just a little more? He'll just open up and start talking to you like girls at a sleepover party."
"And what do you suggest."
"Right now, he won't talk to you. And you have nothing. If you want the same nothing for three more days? By all means, go ahead. Or, you might try something else."
"Such as."
"I skipped dinner, to make this little trip. I need to confer with my client anyways, and that's before anyone talks to anyone. Now. After that? When we get back. My client will most likely talk to you, with me present."
"You have some nerve on you."
"Do you want results? Your way. You have no results now, and you have a brilliant plan. To get three more days, of no results. My plan? Best plan for results I heard so far. Now then. When I said we'll be back after we eat? I'm an officer of the court. If I tell you, that we'll be back after I eat? Then we'll be back, after I eat. Because if he's not under arrest, and you aren't prepared to show me something resembling well articulated suspicion? You have no right to limit his travel."
He looked around.
"An hour or two?"
She shrugged.
"Sure."
It took the better part of the first hour to explain what I wanted and why.
"I don't really at the present time, see a need for my firm's resources, do you?"
"No, I don't."
She calculated.
"Thing is. This, is high profile. Problem is, I can't get them to charge you with anything."
"As your client? That sounds so comforting, when you phrase it like that."
"I'm kidding. But, now that you explained your laptop to me? Now. That, sounds like it would be something that would get, oh... a lawyer, and her law firm? Free advertising, representing you on that. Not to mention. What real work do I even have to do, representing you on the laptop. This is a first for me, though."
"What."
"Just about all clients? Want trouble to go away. You might be the first client, trying to create trouble. Like I said, its a first for me."
"But, you'll do it."
"I told you what I think will happen. That? Is my legal opinion. In my best guess, all roads would lead to contempt. Which isn't a big deal."
"You think that will make me the martyr?"
She calculated.
"It might. You're basically pulling a publicity stunt, though you don't think of it that way. You honestly, might wanna give some thought to paying a publicity person, and hiring them. I'm a lawyer. I just know how to manage publicity, once it gets raised. I really never tried to whip it up from scratch before."
"I'm sure you'll do fine. Not to mention. While I can probably get myself put into jail, by disobeying a judge's order? You're the expert to make sure I eventually get back out."
"I'm also going to suggest something else."
"Hmm."
"I think I'd be more comfortable, if... you just hired me directly. While the possibility of seeing one of the firm's lawyers on TV is always there? This isn't defense work, not really. I don't see a need for research or investigators. Do you?"
"I don't either. I just want you. It honestly doesn't bother me, what card you pull out of your wallet."
"Well. Like I laid it out for you. You said, think like its a distraction. You're okay with me raising hell, filing appeals... knowing full well, I don't stand a chance in hell, of winning any of those appeals, right? You're going to look like you have an ineffective lawyer."
"You don't have to be effective. I just want you to put on a show."
"And you want me, to put you in contempt."
"If you can."
She laughed.
"Definitely. You need to hire me privately. I told my boss, before I left. I would either pick it up for us? Or, handle it privately."
"Can I afford you? I heard your firm charges by the minute."
"Privately? I charge by the second. I'm going to write a figure on this napkin. Its how much it will cost you."
She held it open for me to plainly see her figure, then took it back.
"Can you afford that?"
"Yeah."
"I'll file hearings then. On the cell phone and the laptop. They'll want to split the issues, the phone and the laptop. I'll call another hearing, on splitting a central issue."
I thought about it.
"You know how you approach a little kid? I got my technique all down and everything. I put the happy face on, sure... but I wiggle the candy out in front of me. Watch the goodies, kid. On some basic level, that's what you're really doing."
"You said its basically a diversion. The real mission, is to get them interested in the laptop. Then keep them interested in it."
I nodded yes.
"That's when the publicity will slowly start hitting. I can see that now."
"What do you see."
"Pure search and seizure question. This has nothing to do with anyone's cell phone or laptop, and they know that. They're just flexing their legal muscles. If you think you really are in a position, to defy them? This is like... paint by numbers."
"How do you paint it."
"You're not a defendant. You're not a guilty person. No one's claiming you are. The defendant, is automatically the bad guy. See, you're now on the artist's team. You're now, in the public eye. One of the creative people. And when the underdog doesn't give in? Seen this before, you know. The reporter, refuses to name their source. Does a month or three in county, and won't budge. It makes a little media circus. They count the days off, in articles."
"Sounds good."
We went back to the barracks when we felt like it. Ended up being a little over two hours. Bobby the suit said something, but kept it as a joke.
My lawyer wasn't terribly concerned.
After we went back, we ended up making good on her earlier hint that with his lawyer present, they could probably get their questions answered.
"So. Anything out of the ordinary? Anything at all. Making the statue."
Like any question, my lawyer if she stayed silent just gave me a little nod.
"The artist actually makes the statue. I help him do it. He's the one taking silverware, and moving the clay around, to make the first statue. I carry over another box of clay."
"You sound like a gopher, more than a... project manager."
I shrugged.
"Look. My buddy? He's a real artist. I mean, look at the fucking statue. Tell me, its not all artistic and shit. Well, there's a business side to this. There's money, time, materials, schedules. All kinds of stuff. He's good with art. I'm better with practical concerns. Being a project manager? Means what it sounds like. I managed, that project. It was successful, too."
They had a laptop turned around, and we could watch news clips and people's cell phones as they came out and went public. It didn't matter if it was an official news camera, a try hard amateur getting footage with their equipment they bought. Even the cell phone footage coming out? Same thing.
There's a statue. There's people talking, then... a far away explosion. People raise the alarm. Explosions have a way of doing that. Then, another explosion not too long after the first one. The cloud of smoke and debris seems closer, and the train of explosions slowly worked down the valley that the short stretch of highway was cut from. Explosions winding down the valley, going off on either side of the highway.
And that's what every movie clip shows. Dedication ceremony, big new statue. Dedication, statue. Dedication, statue... boom! And explosions that seem to be somehow animated and working towards you? Is disconcerting to say the least.
All eyes, were fixed on that statue and the people close to it. All eyes human and even mechanical, as well. But approaching explosions? Everyone looked. Watched. Ducked for cover. When attention came back to the statue? It wasn't clear what had happened. What looked to be former governor Basey, was now a heap on the cement altar. A sacrifice to a metal manifestation of a modern pagan god.
Not one single news camera or witness present, and those witnesses include police and state police as well among them... saw anything happen to the former governor. When the explosions end? He's laying there. You can see what looks like blood, where he had been standing up against the pretty metal statue encased in a clear crystalline display.
My lawyer, like all of us? Has seem umpteen of these clips by now.
"Okay. Is anyone going to tell me, what actually happened to the guy? I can't believe not one news camera, catches it."
"Well. Imagine that you're there. A big explosion goes off, just over the hill in the distance, just around the bend. Then? More are going off. Headed towards your position. Yeah. How would anyone notice anything else."
She scrutinized the screen, on yet another playback of one of them.
"Stop. That? Looks like blood."
She was pointing to the still screen, at the big stain on the clear covering of the encased but gleaming metal statue.
Bob sighed.
"We can't release anything? But, not like its not already on the news. This much, anyways. There were reports, that he was found with an arrow through his chest."
"That was true, then?"
Bob shrugged and the others with him nodded along.
"No hiding it. We have all the press there, as well as the cops present. You can't put a lid on anything this big, when people were there."
"Can I ask a stupid question?"
Bob grinned.
"There are no stupid questions. That's just something we say, when the same questions keep getting asked, over and over. Go on."
"Well. If you have an arrow. Where does it come from. I mean, I admit I'm used to seeing it on TV shows, but still. You know, there's red strings all around. The... experts are recreating it."
Bob shook his head.
"We had to look around, and make a preliminary statement. Then, we have to give updates every so often, or admit we're where we were at the last update. I can tell you what our preliminary statement had in it."
"Okay."
"The medical examiner will prepare a very thorough and detailed report. We have to wait on that to come out, to see. We did find an arrow at the scene. It does appear to have gone through the former governor's chest. Anything we could now state, would be preliminary in nature, and we might as well wait and see what the official report has in it."
"I can't believe it. You're out in the open, like that. An arrow?"
Bob nodded.
"An arrow. And before you ask, wondering where the shot came from."
"I was getting there."
"Ma'am? Join the club. We have a number of explosions, coming towards the crime scene. The FBI and the ATF have both volunteered to come in, and try to help out. We have the entire state police academy bused in, beating the bushes. We're hoping all this manpower and extra expertise? Pays off."
She watched another one, and had them stop that one now, too.
"Stop. Here. This, is him. Right here."
"Looks like."
"He wanders over there. Talks to some cop, it looks like. He said, he was going to take a leak."
"Actually? We confirmed that conversation. Trooper remembers him. He wanted to make sure he wouldn't get in trouble. Going over the guard rail, to take a leak."
"Do you find that at all suspicious, really?"
"Honestly, no. All cops spend some time on scenes sometimes. You go over guardrails and take more than leaks, to tell you the truth."
"So... why are we going through this, then."
"The FBI and the ATF both told us, we should get all cell phones and electronic devices in the area. The explosions? Seem to have some timing to them. They said its theoretically possible, that a cell phone or other electronic device... controls and sets off the explosions."
"I find that... thin. But, I admit I'm no expert at this."
"Same here. Most people seem to shoot and stab each other, push a few off of high places, poison a few others. Run someone over. Can't remember the last arrow homicide, really. There are a few hunting accidents. Most of the arrow accidents, seem to the be the bow breaks, and a piece of the arrow ends up in the shooter's own body. Or, I thought he was a deer, I shot my arrow. This is a new one, for us."
"Ma'am? Honestly, refusing to talk to us, then refusing to let us play with the laptop. It generates its own mild interest."
She nodded.
"So? Where are we. Me, my client. Bottom line it for me."
"Your client obviously needs a lawyer present, to answer even the simplest question. When I say, that makes him appear suspicious? Please, not a legal term. I'm saying that informally. Like, the average guy off the street would think of it. So try to see this from my end of the sewer pipe, on this one. Average guy on the street. Hey. That guy, he won't talk? He lawyers up? He's crying about his laptop? Why don't you concentrate on him. That right there? That's suspicious to me."
"We both know why my client won't talk to police. Not without me present."
"I understand. You understand. He understands. The guy on the street? Doesn't. I have to be doing something. Until something else pops up? That's him and his laptop. If I'm not seen to be very thorough, leaving no stone not turned over in my search. Its my ass."
"Welcome to the world of the lawyer. I have to file and fight you over the cell phone, and the laptop. Why? Because its a possible angle, and I have to have tried it. Nothing personal, you understand."
Bob nodded along.
"Fine. Then you understand, my fascination with his laptop and his attitude. Nothing personal back?"
"I'm mainly a defense lawyer, among other things I do. I don't feel you threaten my client, with criminal or even civil charges. At least not the way things stand now. We can both agree to disagree, then. We have to take jabs at each other."
He eyed her out of the corner of his eye, for seemingly dramatic or possibly even comedic intended effect.
"No hard feelings?"
She grinned back
"Nope. No hard feelings. I'm basically, as a defense lawyer? My client's bodyguard. I won't apologize for getting between him and anyone that wants to talk to him. With no credible threat at the moment, things are fine. For now. We're not in court, so its not game day."
"I just can't figure. Hiring an expensive lawyer. Having you spin your wheels, filing motions. Like we can't collect things at the crime scene, like phones and devices. What's the point."
She smiled.
"I can't tell you how to investigate, but... that's what you're interested in, right? Finding who killed the guy there for the statue."
"Sure is."
"I'll leave you to it. My legal strategy? Whatever it is or isn't... I wouldn't be very effective, if any cop off the street could guess exactly what I was up to and why. My client's directions to me? Are a secret. So... maybe I am just spinning my wheels. Maybe I am up to something. If I even wanted to share with you, though. I'm bound by the sacrosanct rules of the lawyer-client relationship."
"I know the drill."
"So. Is my client walking out of here tonight? Now, for instance. If you can't think of anything else you want to ask him."
"Honestly, he's about the least useful witness. Sure, he stands right there, but... he goes off to take a piss. He now doesn't see anything. I heard explosions. I felt, stuff raining down from the sky. Sand and dirt, it felt like. He wasn't even recording anything. I mean, other than refusing to talk, now the laptop incident? He's arguably the least valuable witness, out of all of them."
"So. He walks, right?"
"He walks. Sure thing. I would feed you the whole, don't leave town without telling me speech, but..."
"Without filing charges, you can't attempt to limit any of his actions or movements. And honestly, for what its worth. I wish you luck. Getting whoever did this."
Bob nodded along.
"I just can't believe my luck."
She cocked her head.
"How so."
"Live TV, all those recordings going on. Not a single one of them, shows so much as a single frame... of the former governor, actually buying the farm. If you wonder, I happen to know why I'm screwed on that point."
"What."
"Wind the clock back. Decades. When film was how you saved movies. The cameras all had film, too."
She nodded.
"Okay, I see that. Old times."
"Right. Back then? Film was expensive and difficult to develop. It was a high end process to operate a Japanese tourist camera, lens, light meter, flash. Then to compose a decent photo, then black-room it just right so it still came out good? This, was a process. They had these big tripods. You aimed it where you knew the action was going to be. It was over the heads of the crowd. You locked it in. Hell, we had these big tripods, that you locked in? Right into the digital age."
"What happened to the tripods, then."
"Technology. We don't need them anymore, and they're big and bulky. See, its a free app now, to digitally move the movie around, to eliminate the shaking of the hands holding the camera. So now? All the rolling cameras swing over to get the explosions. Back in the day, before the digital shaking hands app? Hell. Tripods would have gotten the footage, we'd have seen the arrow hit the guy."
She nodded her head.
"Progress."
He grinned.
"They call it that."
We left shortly after.