Stephen Penner - Presumption of Innocence

Brunelle hesitated. He actually was curious after watching the entire story, like a television show in another language. Kat and her daughter sensed the hesitation.

"Over ice cream, of course," Lizzy added. "We always go out for ice cream after a show."

Brunelle smiled. "Well, I can hardly say no to ice cream, can I?"

They walked out to the parking lot and as they all settled into Kat's car, Lizzy tapped Brunelle's shoulder from the back passenger seat.

"So, are you mom's new boyfriend?"

Before Brunelle could overcome his shock, Kat started laughing. "We'll see how this ice cream and ballet thing goes, first."

***

"All right, all right," Brunelle was saying earnestly, small pink ice cream spoon pointed at Lizzy for emphasis. "So Odette is really a princess, but during the day she has to be a swan because of an evil spell?"

"Exactly," Lizzy answered. "Her and all her princess handmaiden people."

"And how many of those are there?" Brunelle asked, digging for more toffee caramel crunch.

Lizzy laughed. "Depends how many girls are in the studio. But usually a whole bunch so the dancing looks cool."

Brunelle nodded as he swallowed. "Okay, and the bad guy, what's his name again?"

"Rothbart," Lizzy answered. "He's an evil sorcerer who cast the spell on all of them."

"But why?"

Lizzy shrugged. "I don't know. Power? Control? Maybe just 'cause he's a dick?"

"Lizzy!" Kat yelled, but there was a smile not quite hidden in the corner of her mouth.

Lizzy just rolled her eyes at her mother. "Anyway, yeah, that's why he gets so mad when it looks like Sigfried is gonna break the spell."

Brunelle frowned. He was interested in the story, but had no idea how the ballet had told it. "How does he break the spell?"

"Well, he doesn't," Lizzy answered. "The spell will be broken if he pledges his undying love to Odette, but he screws it up."

"I thought he did that at the party scene." Brunelle recalled the dancer on one knee pantomiming giving his heart to the beautiful princess. "When Odette was dressed all in black."

Lizzy and Kat both just stared at him for a second.

Lizzy turned to her mother. "Where did you dig him up, mom?"

Kat narrowed her eyes at Brunelle. "I thought you said you saw 'Black Swan'?"

Brunelle grinned. "I wasn't really paying attention to the plot."

Kat rolled her eyes and Lizzy giggled at her mom.

"That wasn't Odette, Sherlock," Kat growled. "You might have caught that if you hadn't been looking at-"

"Of course it was Odette," Brunelle drew on his courtroom experience to block the next words. "It was the same dancer."

"Right," Lizzy agreed, returning momentarily to her ice cream. "But she was playing a different part. Odile, an evil twin of Odette, created by Rothbart to trick Sigfried."

Brunelle almost dropped his spoon. "Oh. Oh, my God."

Kat laughed at her date. "Pretty evil, huh?"

"No," Brunelle replied. "Brilliant."

"Brilliant?" scoffed Lizzy. "He's the bad guy."

"Yeah," Brunelle smiled. "But what if the good guy did it?"

He raised an eyebrow at Kat and motioned toward Lizzy. "Whattaya think? Her voice is a dead ringer for Holly."

"Holly?" Kat's eyes flew wide. "The girl from the reports? Oh, no, David Brunelle. No, no, no, no!"

Brunelle tried to turn on the charm. "So you'll consider it?"

Kat's wide eyes narrowed into angry slits. "I can't believe you'd even suggest something like that!"

Lizzy reached out and placed a hand on her mother's arm. "What is it, mom? Is there something I can do to help?"

Kat spun to face her daughter. "You are not, repeat not , going into the King County Jail pretending to be the girlfriend of some homicidal maniac in the hopes that he says something incriminating to you."

Lizzy's face squished into a frown, but she didn't try to argue any more. So Brunelle did.

"Odile did it," he tried.

Kat's scowl melted, despite her obvious effort to stay angry. "You idiot. Odile was the evil twin, created by the bad guy, to defeat the heroes."

Brunelle smiled back. "Yeah, but otherwise it's a great analogy."

Kat crossed her arms. "Mr. Brunelle," she said evenly, "you promise me right now you will not send my daughter into jail wearing a wire to get a confession from that psychopath."

Brunelle took a deep breath, then sighed. He raised his right hand. "I promise."

Kat nodded. "Good."

Brunelle looked at Lizzy. She shrugged at him. But instead of shrugging back, Brunelle smiled, and winked.

It was a bad idea, he knew. But it was better than the no ideas he had otherwise. Karpati was going to walk. They had no evidence against him other than Holly's testimony. But Holly wasn't going to talk, which meant Karpati would be on the street in a matter of weeks. There weren't even jail calls between them. None they could find anyway. She was just that damn scared of him. Without Chen and McCall browbeating her-something Judge Quinn was highly unlikely to allow-Holly wasn't going to say anything.

Brunelle couldn't even hope for a vengeful jury ready to convict with insufficient evidence. The judge would never let it get that far. Motion to dismiss granted, a murderer on the street, a girl in prison for something someone else did, and a smarmy defense attorney slapping him on the back on his way to his next big fee.

Which is why when his phone rang that Monday afternoon, Brunelle listened, considered his options, and then-against his better judgment-said, "Yes."

"Thanks again for offering to do this, Lizzy," Brunelle said the next afternoon as they stood in the jail lobby, waiting to be buzzed inside.

"I'm kinda surprised you said yes," Lizzy replied. "You promised mom you wouldn't do it."

"I promised her you wouldn't wear a wire," Brunelle replied. "Which is true. We're not gonna have you walk up to him and pretend you're Holly. He's not blind. We're gonna put you in the holding cell next to him and tell him Holly's in there. So, a wire wouldn't be any good for that anyway. Too far away."

Lizzy laughed. "Mom's gonna kill you."

Brunelle nodded. "You still sure you want to do this?"

"That's why I called you," Lizzy answered. "Mom told me what they did to that girl. If I can help, I want to help."

Brunelle was impressed by the girl's sense of duty and altruism.

"Besides," she went on, "I wanna be a detective when I grow up, so being a confidential informant at fourteen will look great on my resume."

Or not.

Brunelle nodded. Kids these days.

"So," Lizzy beamed, "what's the plan, boss?"

***

"I assure you, officer," Brunelle could hear Karpati telling the jail guard over the speakers, "I do not have court today."

"You're on the docket, Karpati," the corrections officer grumbled back. "That's all I need to know. Now get into holding cell number three and be quiet."

"Would you mind telling me the nature of the hearing?"

It really pissed Brunelle off that Karpati could speak so politely. He was gonna be a good witness. Damn it.

"Says here," the guard flipped through his sheaf of papers, "'Motion to Join Codefendants for Trial.'"

Brunelle was watching the scene unfold via the closed circuit television cameras that hung from the secure holding cell area behind the courtrooms. It was poor quality video, filmed at a strange downward angle, but he was pretty sure he saw Karpati frown.

"I don't have a codefendant," Karpati protested even as they reached holding cell number three.

The guard looked down at his papers again. ""Holly Sandholm,'" he read. "Says she's on for arraignment in adult court too. They musta transferred her case."

Karpati frowned again as he looked down in thought.