Майкл Коннелли - Law of Innocence

“I’ll be there. Maybe meet Hayley for lunch first.”

“Good. Sounds like a plan.”

The door to the assembly room opened and the jurors began filing down the two rows of seats in the box. It was the end of day two of prosecution’s case and by my count I was still ahead.

42

Sunday, February 23

They didn’t start moving me to one of the attorney conference rooms until almost three o’clock. The runner who took me down was wearing a mask that matched the green of his uniform. That told me that the face covering had been officially distributed by the Sheriff’s Department, a sign that the coming wave was a real threat.

When he walked me through the door of the interview room Maggie was already there and waiting. And she, too, wore a mask.

“Are you kidding me?” I said. “This thing is real? It’s coming?”

She didn’t say anything as the deputy led me to a seat and removed the handcuffs. He then recited the rules.

“No touching,” he said. “No electronic devices. The camera’s on. No audio, but we’ll be watching. If you get up from the chair, we’re coming in. Understood?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Understood,” Maggie said.

He left the room then and locked the door behind him. I looked up at the camera mounted in the corner of the ceiling. Despite the scandal and internal investigation that I had tipped off, it was still in place and we were expected to take it on faith that no one was listening to our conversation.

“How are you, Mickey?” Maggie asked.

“I’m worried,” I said. “Everybody’s wearing masks but me.”

“Don’t you have TV in the module? CNN? People are dying in China from this virus. They think it is probably here.”

“They changed shifts in the bubble, and the new people in there with the remotes only give us ESPN and Fox News.”

“Fox has its head in the sand. They’re just protecting the president, who still says everything’s going to be fine.”

“Well, if he said it, it must be true.”

“Oh, yeah, sure.”

I saw that she had some documents spread out on the table in front of her.

“How long have you been here?” I asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I got work done.”

“Did you see Hayley today?”

“Yes, we ate lunch at Moreton Fig. It was nice.”

“Love that place. Miss it. Miss being with her.”

“You’re going to get out of here, Mickey. We have a strong case.”

I just nodded to that. I wished that I could see her whole face so I could read her better. Was she just giving me a pep talk, or did she really believe what she was saying?

“You know, I don’t have it, whatever it is,” I said. “The virus. You don’t need to wear the mask.”

“You might not know if you have it,” she said. “Anyway, it’s not you I’m worried about. It’s the air recirculation in this place. They’re saying the jails and prisons are going to be vulnerable. At least you’re not on those buses going back and forth from court anymore.”

I nodded again, studying her. The mask accentuated her dark, intense eyes. Those eyes had been what first pulled me toward her twenty-five years ago.

“Which way do you think Hayley’s going to go?” I asked. “Prosecution or defense?”

“Hard to say,” she said. “I don’t know, actually. She’ll make her own decision. She did say she’s not going to classes this week. She wants to watch the trial full-time.”

“She shouldn’t. She’ll fall too far behind.”

“I know. But there’s too much at stake for her. I couldn’t talk her out of it.”

“Hardheaded. I know where she gets that.”

“Me too.”

I thought I detected a smile behind the mask.

“Maybe she’ll go into criminal defense and we could have a family law firm,” I said. “Haller, Haller, and McFierce, Attorneys-at-Law.”

“Funny,” she said. “Maybe.”

“Do you really think they’re going to take you back after this? You’ve betrayed the tribe, crossed to the dark side, all of that. I’m not sure they let you do that on a temporary basis.”

“Who knows? And who’s to say that I want to go back? I see Dana in that courtroom and I really ask myself, do I want that anymore? I don’t know. Once they moved me out of Major Crimes to make room for the young hard chargers like her, I knew my career … it wasn’t exactly over but it had … plateaued. It wasn’t important anymore.”

“Oh, come on. Environmental protection? What you do is still important.”

“If I have to go after one more dry cleaner for dumping chemicals down the storm sewer, I think I’ll just kill myself.”

“Don’t kill yourself. Come partner with me.”

“Funny.”

“I mean it.”

“That’s okay.”

I took that as a hit. Her quick no reminded me of what had gotten between us and ended things, despite our daughter inextricably binding us together for life.

“You always thought I was dirty because of what I do,” I said. “Like it rubbed off on me somehow. I’m not dirty, Mags.”

“Well, you know the saying,” she said. “Lie down with dogs …”

“Then what are you doing here?”

“I told you. No matter what I think about what you do, I know you and I know you didn’t do this. You couldn’t have. And, besides, Hayley came to me. She asked me to help you. No, she told me. She said you needed me.”

I hadn’t known any of that. That stuff about Hayley was new and it cut me to the bone.

“Wow,” I said. “Hayley never said anything to me.”

“The truth is, she didn’t have to tell me,” Maggie said. “I wanted to do it, Mickey. I mean that.”

A silence followed that. I nodded my thanks. When I looked up, Maggie was pulling the elastic straps off her ears and removing the mask.

“Should we get down to business?” she said. “They only gave us an hour.”

“Sure,” I said. “Anything back yet on Milton’s phone?”

“They’re stringing that out but I’ll go to the judge if I have to.”

“Good. I want to burn that guy’s ass.”

“We will.”

“Sanctions?”

She wore no lipstick and I guessed that she had wanted to keep the makeup off her mask. Seeing her face now, I got that pang in my chest. She had been the only one who ever did that to me. Mask or no mask, makeup or no makeup, she was beautiful to me.

“I say we go big or go home,” she said. “We tell the judge to put bail back on the table.”

I snapped out of my reverie.

“As a sanction?” I said. “I doubt Warfield would go for that. The trial will be over by the end of this week. She won’t let me out just to possibly yank me back in if there’s a guilty verdict. And then I don’t think I want to put up a bond for what might amount to just four or five days of freedom.”

“I know,” Maggie said. “The judge won’t go for it and it’s a losing argument, but that’s just it. It’s an argument and we start the week with it and Dana has to expend all her Monday-morning energy on it.”

“Takes some of the wind out of her sails,” I said.

“Exactly. It’s a big distraction from her trial plan.”

I nodded. I liked it.

“Smart,” I said. “Let’s do it.”

“Okay,” Maggie said. “I’ll write it up and get it to all parties before six. Tomorrow I’ll handle the argument too.”

I had to smile. I admired how Maggie was justifying her McFierce reputation on both sides of the aisle and for my benefit.

“Perfect,” I said. “What do we ask for when Warfield shuts us down?”

“Nothing,” she said. “We just bank it.”

“Okay.”

She seemed pleased that I did not push back on her plan.