Marcia Clark - Blood Defense

She returned my smile, and her face finally relaxed. “Yeah. I really loved it.” She tilted her head and gazed over my shoulder. “It kind of made me think… it might be kind of cool to be a detective.”

“Absolutely.” But I doubted she’d follow in Daddy’s footsteps. She didn’t seem the type-too soft, too nice. I guess that might’ve been my bias showing. In any case, it looked like Dale had been a positive force in her life. But in the next moment, the memory of those gruesome crime-scene photos flashed through my mind. It was hard to reconcile them with the man who’d shown up for Lisa. Hard-but not impossible. It’s a truth you learn early when you’re on the defense side of things: very few people are all bad. I once defended a serial killer who cared for a whole family of rescue dogs. “Sounds like it’s been good getting to know him.”

Lisa nodded. “It has-not that I don’t like my stepdad.”

“When did your mom remarry?”

“Three years ago. That’s why we moved back here. Lonnie’s a sound editor. He works at Paramount.” She paused and dropped her eyes, a guilty look on her face. “He’s a nice guy, but…”

“He’s a stepdad.”

She looked at me with relief. “Exactly.”

I could relate. I hadn’t met my stepdad, Jack, until I was a junior in high school. He was a great guy, but I’d had a hard time warming up to him-even without the competition of a real father coming into the mix.

We chatted for a little while longer about school and her plans for college. I let her do most of the talking so I could get a bead on her, see how she’d play in court or on camera. But there was one question I’d had on my mind since Lisa had walked into my office. I held off until she was about to leave. “What does your mom think about all this?”

Lisa pressed her lips tightly for a second. “She doesn’t believe he did it, either. But…” Lisa trailed off. “She said he did have a temper.” She added quickly, “Not that he ever hurt her or anything. She just said she didn’t want to believe it but that anything’s possible.” Lisa tilted her chin up, her expression defiant. “But I told her she’s wrong. I know he didn’t do it. Just because I haven’t known Dale all my life, that doesn’t mean I can’t tell.”

Her loyalty was as touching as it was painful. I did my best to give her an encouraging smile, and as I walked her to the door, I told her again that we’d be fighting for him. “It was great to meet you, Lisa.”

She stepped back and gave me a swift hug. “I’m so glad he has you. I know you’ll win.” She headed out through the anteroom and stopped with one hand on the door. She looked from me to Michelle. “Thanks for-for everything.”

I waved, and as the door closed behind her, Michelle said, “Nice kid.”

“She really is.”

Michelle and I exchanged a look: if we lost this case, it’d crush her.

I went back to work,feeling the weight of Lisa’s faith in me. At four o’clock, Michelle came into my office. “We just got another batch of reports from the DA, and one of them is an interview with Chloe’s sister, Kaitlyn. I think you should take a look at it.” She stared at my open window and rubbed her arms. “It’s like a refrigerator in here. Must you?”

“As always, yes. I must.” I like to leave my window open. It keeps me awake. And Michelle complains about it every time.

Michelle folded her arms, her lips twisted with irritation. “And we just lost our Wi-Fi connection.”

We needed to upgrade, but we couldn’t afford it. “Again?”

“Again.” Michelle sighed. “I’ll have to go down to Apex and use their computer.”

Our downstairs neighbor, Apex Printing, almost never had customers, but they had an industrial-strength connection, and they were pretty generous about letting us use it. But hanging around there wasn’t a smart move. The few customers they did have showed up only after five o’clock-sporting tats, piercings, and bone-crushing rings on most fingers. Michy and I pegged it as a drug front the day we moved in. I expected the DEA to raid the place any minute. “Let me call the carrier and see if I can get us a deal on an upgrade.”

“I tried, Sam. They won’t do it.”

“Can’t hurt to try again.” Michelle rolled her eyes and walked out.

I’d been down to Apex a few times in the past month, just being neighborly. And, of course, dropping off my business cards. Someone in that place-whether the employees or their customers-was bound to need my services sooner or later. The last time I was there, I’d asked an employee about their Wi-Fi carrier, saying I was shopping for a new one. He’d said theirs was the best and logged on to show me. Now, I remembered noticing the length of his password. These guys weren’t exactly tech wizards. I had a hunch. I used my iPad to find their network provider and typed in AP8182458989 . The business initials and their phone number. Stupid. Obvious. And right. I was in.

I went out and told Michelle. “Hey, good news! I got us the upgrade. Same provider as Apex.” I handed her the Post-it sticker with the password.

“That’s fantastic!” Michelle took the sticker and logged on. Two seconds later, she spun around and stared at me with narrowed eyes. “You stole their password.”

I shrugged. “A little. But hey, we deserve it.”

“If they catch us, Sam-”

I waved her off. “Please. Piggybacking on their Wi-Fi’s the least of their concerns.” Michelle shook her head. I put my hands on my hips. “What? Now you don’t have to go hang with a bunch of cartel mules and you’ve got a great connection. You’re welcome.”

As I headed back to my office, I heard her say something under her breath about us “winding up in a block of cement.”

I called out over my shoulder, “They’re not that creative, Michy.”

Michy called back, “Real comforting, Sam.”

I sat back down at my computer and jumped on with the Apex Wi-Fi. It was the fastest I’d ever connected to the ’net. I should’ve done this months ago. I scrolled down, looking for the e-mail from Zack.

I’d been hoping we’d get Kaitlyn’s statement soon. Dale had said Chloe was on the phone with her when he came by that night. I found the statement. “Damn it!”

Michelle came in. “What?”

“Chloe told her sister she was going to break up with Dale that night. Damn it!” Fighting over a drug habit is one thing. But fighting over a breakup is classic murder motive.

“I take it Dale never mentioned anything about a breakup?”

“No.”

“Maybe they got stuck on the drug thing and she didn’t get around to it.”

Maybe. Hopefully. Because I didn’t want to believe Dale was holding out on me so soon. “You know where to find Kaitlyn?”

“She works afternoons at a Starbucks near Santa Monica Community College. The four p.m. to nine p.m. shift.”

“Thanks, Michy. I might hit her up tomorrow.”

It was eight thirty when Michelle and I packed up to leave for the day. Alex was still in his office, hard at work. I stopped at the doorway. “Hey, don’t kill yourself. You’re not getting paid by the hour. And we need to get on the road early tomorrow.”

Alex smiled. “I already finished the discovery. I’m reading up on PI techniques now. What time?”

I’d so lucked out with him. “Make it eight o’clock. You’ll have to pick me up at my place. Beulah’s still not running.” I pulled out a ten-dollar bill. “And bring coffee.”

He took the money and saluted, and Michelle and I left. She was giving me a lift home.

My cell phone rang just as Michelle pulled out of the parking lot. The caller ID said Blocked. I knew what that meant. I could’ve let it go to voice mail, but I decided I might as well bite the bullet now.