“Fine,” Shelley said. “Claudia stays, and you, all of you”—she pointed to Tony, Aaron, Vic, and Chase—“will protect her. She’s your sister,” she added to her brothers as if she hadn’t abandoned them and Jerry so many years earlier but had in fact stayed their mother. “You all go to court. We’ll all go and get a read on the situation, and we’ll go from there.”
This was exactly what Claudia hadn’t expected from her mother.
“Isn’t she amazing?” was all her dad said as he gave her mom all his attention.
Tony reached for Claudia’s hand, pulling her away. “You know I don’t like this, and I’ve got an awful feeling I can’t shake. I would feel better if you left.”
She lifted her hand and rested it on his cheek, running her thumb over his lips, those full lips. She remembered how they felt kissing her, tasting her, and having the taste of him all over her. She wished they could slip away right now, just the two of them. “I’m not leaving, end of story,” she said before turning to her family. “And besides, I think you all have forgotten, while Tony was the one who wore the wire and got the confession, I was the one at the scene who saw Llewellyn plant the gun. So as much as I appreciate you all trying to protect me, Mom’s right. I need to stay, I have to stay. When do we leave for court?” she added, knowing her brothers weren’t happy with any of this, and then there was Tony, who took her hand again and gave it a tug.
“Now,” he said, then turned, taking in everyone. “We need to get going now.”
Chapter 27
The courtroom was packed even though they’d arrived thirty minutes early. Tony was still holding Claudia’s hand as they took a seat behind the prosecutor. Her brothers and parents slid into the row behind them, and she was still stuck on the horrors of everything, including the sudden vandalism of Tony’s car, which she’d noticed only when they all left the house.
He’d brushed it off, the damaged windshield, said it was nothing, just stuff—whatever that meant. Vic had chosen to ride along with Tony and had taken their dad, too, whereas she and her mom were tucked into the back seat of Chase’s car. Aaron was up front, riding shotgun to the crazed court house, where angry mobs were holding signs, yelling, wanting to crucify the cops for what they’d done. Now there they sat in the courtroom as they waited for the cops to be led in and face the charges for their heinous act.
She was sitting so close to Tony, pressed against him, her hand on his arm as she took in Hargraves across the way. There was something about the way he took her in; it was creepy, the way he was watching her, and it had her digging in to Tony’s arm to the point that his gaze went to her grip and up to her eyes.
“Stop looking at them. Turn away and look straight ahead,” he said to her as if that were the only answer. She could see he was pissed off. Having all those cops across the aisle, standing, talking, and staring their way, it was as if they were the guilty party, as if she and Tony were responsible for this entire mess.
“How can I not look at them, the way they’re staring over at us? Why is Detective Hargraves not under arrest, too? He knew what they were doing. He was part of it. He may not have said it in so many words, but his threat to me was received loud and clear. Can’t he be charged for how he treated me, too, keeping me chained to a table in the interrogation room and tromping all over my rights?” she said, feeling the tension ramp up inside her and in the room.
“No, he can’t,” Tony replied. “Yeah, they were wrong, but get over it. It’s small and inconsequential compared to everything else. Pick your battles, Claudia. That ain’t one of them.” She couldn’t believe he’d said that, and it took her another second to realize he meant every word. Tony was leaning forward, his elbows on his knees, taking in the courtroom, scanning it calmly. Of course, he was anything but, and she was a mess, glancing back at her brothers. If she didn’t know them, she’d have thought nothing about this bothered them, but there was something about them that said they could handle anything, and this here was something they could deal with.
And then there was Vic, who watched her closely and then slid his gaze over to the cops still staring their way as he leaned forward to her. “They’re just trying to intimidate you. Stop looking at them. It’s what they do.”
“Court is in session. Everyone rise for the honorable…”
The noise in the room as the four cops were led in drowned out the court clerk. Claudia saw Llewellyn along with the three others she vaguely remembered from the scene. Tony was already on his feet just like everyone else, and this time his hand reached for hers as if he could protect her from what this was. He squeezed it, and she stepped closer, wishing he’d slip his arm around her.
Then everyone sat back down, and she took in the lawyers, the light-haired prosecutor in front of them.
“Your honor,” the defense lawyer across the aisle said, “we petition the court to have the charges dismissed against these four decorated officers based on the fact that the evidence is weak at best, and we ask that the—”
There was yelling from the gallery, and the gavel banged. This was the first time Claudia could see the division in the courtroom, from the cops on one side to the civilians, likely friends and family of the victims, on the other. She took in the assistant DA, who was now standing and talking, and she was glad now to be in the front row so that she could see the judge, an older man who could have been someone’s grandfather, balding, with glasses perched at the end of his nose, sitting up high.
“Your honor, can we approach?” asked the assistant DA.
They were all now sitting, watching as the defense lawyer and the prosecutor approached the judge for a conversation that went back and forth, privy to only the three. The four defendants were also receiving support from many of the cops in the gallery. It was unnerving. How could they be seen as anything but animals for what they’d done?
“What’s going on, do you think?” she asked Tony, still taking in the heavy discussion underway.
“I have no clue, but I’m not liking it. Seems as if this entire case is disintegrating around us.” Tony sounded frustrated. Then the lawyers stepped back, and the prosecutor looked right at Tony as he approached. “What’s going on?” Tony asked in a low voice.
The prosecutor stood at the rail behind his table, leaning down to Tony. “The confession you got from the wire is out.”
Claudia wondered whether she wheezed, as she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned back to see Aaron. For a moment, she could see only the flash of his gold wedding ring. Then he was shaking his head.
“Shit, this is not good. Listen to me,” he said, leaning forward, his voice low, as the defense lawyer was now talking. “Those cops walk out of here, you can’t stay.”
She knew what he was saying, but then she heard the gallery erupt in yelling, and the gavel slammed down again. What the hell had she missed? The judge was trying to bring order. She turned back, taking in Tony, who was sitting straight, arms across his chest.
“Your honor, this is an arraignment on bail, not on the validity of all the evidence and the witnesses,” the prosecutor said.
“I disagree,” the judge said, “and it’s relevant when four officers of the law are charged with something so heinous, something that could destroy their reputations and careers. There is an element of leeway that has to be extended to law enforcement because they’re on the front lines. The state’s case is weak, as the defense has pointed out and as I can see here, considering that one of the witnesses is homeless and has been taken off the list, as he’s been relocated to another state and there’s no way to track him down. So I’m going to ask the DA again, in light of this, is the prosecution still prepared to go ahead with its case?”
She glanced back to her brothers, seeing Chase and the confusion that was written all over his face. She’d never seen him shocked, but evidently he was.
“Tony, I’ll testify,” she said, “and there’s you. Tell him.”
Tony was shaking his head, and
the woman next to them, whom she didn’t recognize, shushed them. He just reached for her hand again and squeezed. “Not now.”
There was silence, and the prosecutor rose, buttoned his coat, and fingered the papers in front of him. “At this time, your honor, the DA’s office wishes to withdraw the charges against Detectives Llewellyn, Jackson, Flores, and Patterson—without prejudice, your honor, and the state will be refiling charges at a later date.”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, and she thought she heard Vic, or maybe it was Chase, swear behind her. The judge slammed his gavel again, threatening to clear the gallery if there was another outburst. Then he took in the defense table, the officers, and the DA.
“Before I rule on the state’s ability to refile charges, I would like to speak to both counsels in chambers. The court will recess until tomorrow morning, when I will rule.”
The court was in recess, a hand touched her shoulder again, and Tony said nothing at all.
Chapter 28
“So is this all because of Alexander?” Tony said to Chase as he stepped into the large top-floor suite the McCabe brothers had booked at the M, a pretty fancy resort he’d never frequented. Vic and Aaron were also there, and Claudia was sitting with Shelley in the living room. The only one missing was Jerry, Claudia’s father, a man who Tony couldn’t picture having raised the three alpha brothers who seemed to be able to move mountains.
The entire room had floor-to-ceiling windows and looked out over the Nevada desert. It was, in fact, quite beautiful, and with the brightness and being so high up, he no longer felt like such a target. He wondered whether that was why the brothers had moved the family there now.
“I take it you didn’t hear,” Chase said. The man had a way of looking at him that had Tony wondering whether he was about to pull the rug out from under him. Power seemed to ooze from him, but then, none of the brothers was anyone he wanted to mess with.
“Apparently not, but then, maybe you didn’t get the memo that I’ve been completely cut off from the powers that be,” Tony said. No, he’d been relegated to moving the homeless, and in fact he’d driven past a police van used to transport prisoners at a park on his way to the hotel and had seen three uniformed officers shoving a group from the park and loading them into the back of the van, all the adults cuffed. He knew what was happening and had taken in all the people walking past, watching with their kids, and what sickened him was that as soon as the van left, they would likely carry on with what they were doing and move on to what was next, shopping, dinner, or maybe a little league game for their kid, all the while having a home to go to, with a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs. The homeless and less fortunate would no longer be the eyesore he was beginning to understand many saw them as.
Where were the cameras, the news, even all those human rights groups that had screamed at the violation? They were nowhere to be seen, and that alone said everything.
“Dawson was specially appointed this morning by the prosecutor of the state and is taking over for Alexander,” Chase said. “As long as I’ve worked in politics, and I’d like to say I’ve seen just about everything, this case from the start has had someone else’s stamp of approval all over it. I just don’t know why I didn’t see it then. Those four cops may have done that job, but with the fact that city council issued an order to clean up the city so quickly and to relocate the homeless as they have, which is a pretty drastic approach, we can see those cops weren’t the masterminds behind the shooting. I don’t know why I didn’t figure that out until now. This was already in the works behind the scenes.”
What was he talking about? Tony had been there with Llewellyn that night in the bar, and what he’d said… He had to stop and think, and he took in the way Vic watched him from the counter as he poured some amber liquor in a glass as if he already knew the answers. Aaron was downing a bottle of water, and Claudia and her mom seemed to be having a heart to heart.
“Sawyer’s gone, too,” Vic said. “I should’ve had my investigator sitting on him at the Hyatt, but he did find out that the local cops showed up this morning at the hotel and had him escorted out in handcuffs. The agent with him left, and Sawyer was tucked into the back of a cop car, gone.”
Tony took in the weariness that seemed to ooze from Claudia’s gaze as she lifted it to him from across the room. Maybe she wanted him to do something, but he couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that someone could disappear so easily. Aaron said nothing as he took him in, and Tony realized Aaron never looked away when under scrutiny.
“Zoe is still in jail,” Tony said, “and you’re suddenly not helping her get out?” He wondered if this was where Chase would throw up his hands and walk away. After all, what was in it for him? No money, no glory. She was just a nobody.
“No, I’m not walking away,” Chase said. “But having said that, she has everything stacked against her, and she’s been buried and pushed to the sidelines. I guarantee you that even getting her to a hearing on some judge’s docket will take months now, and then to have everything overturned, her signed confession? If the wiretap is out, it’s unlikely I’ll even be able to use it in her defense, and there’s the fact that she hasn’t been too willing to accept my help, considering the offer that was laid out to her.”
Tony just stared at Chase and then over to Vic and Aaron. Even Claudia and her mom were quiet and watchful.
“So, to answer your question,” Chase said, “yes, in some ways this is all because of Alexander, but not everything. This plan was likely orchestrated on the desk of some politician answering the call of those with power, and right now, as much as I would like nothing more than to have Zoe Doucette freed, there’s much more at play here. I guarantee you that the DA has already worked out details to make the charges go away for those four cops. The homeless will still be relocated, and everyone’s lives will go on as usual, and my sister over there will likely always have a target on her back from the Henderson PD, regardless of whether Llewellyn and the others go free or are recharged at a later date. As you’ve already noticed and experienced firsthand, nobody gives a fuck about the truth—not this truth.”
Tony took in Chase and considered what he’d said, then looked across the room to Aaron, who had finished downing the bottle of water and moved away from the wall.
“Welcome to the real criminal justice system. It sucks, doesn’t it?” Aaron said as he dumped the empty bottle in the bin.
“So what you’re saying is there’s nothing left to do,” Tony said. That seemed so much like defeat, and it wasn’t something he wanted to accept or could accept. “No, hell no! There has to be something we can do.”
He heard the key card in the door, and his hand instantly went to his gun, but when the door opened, Jerry McCabe stepped inside, dressed casually, pulling two suitcases. His eyes bugged out when he saw Tony’s gun, so he holstered it again.
“Whoa, just me,” Jerry said and tossed the key card on the counter, leaving the suitcases by the door. “This is all I’ve managed to get, clothes for your mom and me. Claudia, I just grabbed the bag you packed to go to Vic’s. When I loaded these in the back of the pickup, there was an unmarked cop car parked across the street, so I didn’t go back in.”
Tony couldn’t believe it, but at the same time he did, after everything that had happened. Then his cell phone rang. He pulled it out and took in the prosecutor’s office on display. “The DA,” he said before he answered it. “Martin.”
“Tony, just wanted to give you a heads up that the district attorney is taking over, and he’s just ordered the case closed,” Grieves said. “He’s reached a deal with the disciplinary department for the police, and the four cops will be put on a two-week suspension and will have to undergo counselling before they’re okayed for active duty again.”
Tony actually had to turn his back on Claudia’s family, because he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “So you’re saying they’re getting a paid holiday and will just have to
sit their asses on a shrink’s couch a few hours before they’re back on the streets without even getting their hands slapped? They murdered four innocent people and framed another with a crime,” he snapped, and he hoped he sounded like an asshole. He could hear nothing from behind him, so he turned to face the brothers, who were looking at one another. Their expressions said everything. They’d heard what he’d said.
“I’m not sure you’re understanding, Detective, so I’m going to say this clearly,” Grieves said. “No one ever convicts the police force, and you of all people should know how cops will not tolerate the DA’s prosecution of them. They’ll just stop cooperating in all cases that really matter. As you’ve already noticed, the evidence that was stacked against them has unravelled. The recording from the wire you wore was damaged, and there’s no copy. Zoe Doucette isn’t going to recant her confession, and the DA just announced to me that he’s personally accepted a plea deal through a public defender on her behalf, a temporary insanity plea because she was high on drugs and not in her right mind. She’ll be confined to a high-security mental health facility—”
Tony pulled the phone from his ear and took in Chase across the room, knowing he had no idea. He couldn’t believe Zoe would give up the fight like she had. Likely, the pressure that had come down on her was too much. “That’s a sweet deal for her if she actually did it,” Tony said, “but you’ve forgotten something, shithead. She didn’t take drugs, and she didn’t kill those people.” He waved off Chase, who stepped closer to him. He was furious.
“Well, that’s the thing, Tony. The tox screen came back positive for heroin.”
Dammit! The nail in the coffin. Of course it was rigged. Everything was.
“And then there’s you, Detective,” the prosecutor said.
Tony knew this would be something bad, being on the outs as he was. He had a target on his back, and getting rid of him could be as easy as ordering him to go first through the door at a scene, where he would get a bullet in the back of his head. It wasn’t a matter of if but of when.
Don't Leave Me Page 12
