“Heather, you didn’t burglarize a jewelry store. Please tell me the truth about what you did for Beck.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. I drug-muled for him. Three times. I put cocaine up my ass and brought it over the border.” She sighed. “I don’t know why I told you that I burglarized a jewelry store. I guess I thought that it sounded much more decent than what I really did. More glamorous somehow.” She smiled. “You can imagine Catherine Zeta-Jones burglarizing a jewelry store, but you can’t imagine her putting dirty cocaine balloons up her hoo-ha.”
Great. Just great. Beck was a bad dude. Yet, it seemed that he hadn’t ratted on Heather yet, so I was going to have to help him out. I was going to have to try my best to get him off that charge. “So, what did you do? Did he help you dispose of the body?”
Heather nodded her head. “Yeah. That’s what happened. He came over, and between me, my mom, and him, we were able to wrap the body in a rug, put it in the back of Beck’s pickup, and then we drove two days into the Arizona desert. We dug a hole 10 feet deep, and threw him in. And that’s what happened to him. I’m sure you read in the paper about him being missing, right?”
I had to admit that I had not been reading the paper all that carefully lately, so I didn’t see that story about him. I thought he got what he deserved, considering all he did to hurt people, but that didn’t help Heather’s case at all. Heather was going to be in deep shit if any of this went south. Not just because she helped get rid of the body, but also because she killed a man. If she just did the right thing and called the police after she killed the Reverend, she probably could’ve gotten off scot-free. Her mother was there as a witness, and everyone knew that this guy was a bad guy. The cops knew it. After it became publicly known that his church, the Church of the Living Breath, was involved in killing gay and trans youth, the church not only shut its doors, but the cops investigated it and the shady Reverend. That was the reason why he went to prison in the first place. I was sure that the cops had his number, and if Heather would’ve just called them, she probably would’ve been okay.
But she didn’t call them. She acted guilty by getting rid of the body, and anybody would know that Heather had reason to kill him. Whether or not he was in her house, she had reason to kill him. After all, her mother almost killed her because of him. Louisa also had a reason to kill him, but Heather was the one who actually did the deed.
Wasn’t she? I wondered if Heather was not the actual person who killed the Reverend, but maybe it was Louisa. Heather might’ve just been covering for her. I took a deep breath. “Heather, did it really happen like you just told me?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, did you tell the truth about how you killed the Reverend? That he came to your house and was waiting for you with a gun? Or is there another story that I need to know about? Maybe you’re actually covering for your mother? Come on Heather, you have to tell me the truth here. I have to know how much liability you’re really going to be facing if all of this goes down.”
“Why do you think I’m lying to you?” She was getting defensive again.
“I think you’re lying to me because it doesn’t make any sense. You’ve been working for me and Harper doing legal research. You should know about the Castle Doctrine. You should also know that Missouri has recently passed Stand Your Ground. That would mean that you would have even more reason to have shot that man if he happened to be in your house. You should know all that. Yet, you acted guilty by actually covering up what happened, by taking this man’s body out to the desert and burying it. Why would you do that?”
“Listen, I don’t need to take this from you.” She crossed her arms in front of her and glared at me. Her lips, with the black lipstick on them, were pursed. She narrowed her eyes. “I’m not lying to you.”
“I think you are. I think you’re lying to me, because I think you’re covering for your mother. Why do I have a feeling that your mother went after him with a gun and killed him in cold blood? And then you told Beck that it was you who did it, and he had to help you get rid of the body, because you don’t want your mother getting into trouble. That makes sense to me. I would do something like that myself if someone I cared about got into some kind of trouble like that. So you can tell me the truth.”
“No I can’t. You’re not my lawyer. I can’t tell you the truth, because if I did, you can go to the authorities. I can’t have that happen.”
My hunch was right. “Heather, I’m not gonna go to the authorities.” She was right, though. I would have a certain obligation if she told me something about her mother killing the Reverend Scott in cold blood. I wasn’t her lawyer, so I could be forced to testify against her, or her mother, and I also had a duty to report these things to the police. I took an oath to uphold the law, so that would leave both of us vulnerable if she told me the truth.
It was bad enough that she was telling me that she killed the man in self-defense, but if she or her mother killed him in cold blood, there would be little that I could do for her. According to her story, she didn’t break any laws, as far as killing the Reverend. She did break the law, of course, when she went out to the desert to bury him. But that was minor, in the scheme of things.
But if there was cold-blooded murder involved – that would be a whole different story.
“I think you’ll go to the authorities,” Heather said. “So I’m not gonna tell you a goddamned thing.” She bit her lower lip.
“All right then. I’ve a feeling that this is all more serious than what you’re telling me. I’ll get the story from Beck. Even so, he’ll tell me what he knows, but I think that even he probably doesn’t know the truth. He only knows what you told him. And I have a feeling that you lied to him too.”
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Are you going to take his case or not?”
I sighed and looked at the window. Goddammit, I did not want to take this man’s case. That was the last thing I wanted to do. Yet, I knew I was going to have to. I was going to have to take his case, and try to win it. I was going to try to win it for her – Heather. I had to keep Beck happy, because if I didn’t, he had information that could really sink Heather, and/or her mother. I cared about Heather. She was a friend of mine. And I would always do anything for a person I cared about.
“Okay. I’ll take Beck’s case. I’ll take his case, and I’ll try to win it. However, I have to tell you that it doesn’t look good for him. He was the last one to see the victim, and I’m sure that there are plenty of witnesses from the bar where he was at that night who will testify that he and Adele Whittier left the bar together. Adele was found by the dumpster by his apartment. I’m telling you, this is not looking good.”
Heather seemed to visibly relax. “Well, you pulled a rabbit out of the hat before. You can do it again, can’t you?”
“Heather, I don’t know about that.” I took a deep breath. “I’ll do what I can, though. I just wish that you would tell me the truth. I know why you won’t, and I don’t blame you. When you tell me that I would have an obligation to perhaps tell the police about what happened, or testify against you, because I’m not your attorney, you’re right about that.”
“Thank you. I know what you’re saying, and I wish that I could tell you the truth. But, the less you know about it, the better off both of us will be.”
“I guess you’re probably right. At any rate, I guess I’ll go and visit Beck today in jail and tell him that I’ll take his case.”
Heather looked like she was about to cry. “I’ll pay you back. I swear to God I will. It’s going to take me years, but I will.”
“Don’t worry about it. Listen, if I have to take Beck on a pro bono basis, then I will. I have to do so many pro bono hours anyways, so I might as well just do it like this. Don’t worry about it, don’t sweat it, I’ve got this. Now, if I can just figure out how to defend this guy, we’ll be in business.”
At that, Heather actually did start to cry. Her tears ran down her face,
smearing her mascara, and I gave her a Kleenex. “Heather, it’s going to be okay. I promise you that. I mean, I can’t make promises, I shouldn’t have said that. But I’ll at least take his case, and we’ll have a chance. We’ll have a good chance.”
I was sorry that I was saying these things to her. I knew in my heart that we didn’t have a good chance. It wasn’t like we had no chance, but it definitely wasn’t looking good. I had to admit that.
“Thank you again. It seems like I’m always pulling my ass out of the fire, with the help of people. I feel like I owe everybody in the world.”
“You owe your mother. At least, you feel that way. She testified for you in your trial, and she was the reason why you were acquitted. And she took you in when you needed her. You repaid her by killing the Reverend, right? I mean, either you killed the Reverend in cold blood, or Louisa did. Either way, I have no doubt that you were actually protecting her. I just wish I knew the truth about what happened that night.”
“I wish you could know the truth too,” Heather said. “But I’m sorry, I can never tell you the truth. So please don’t ask me.”
“I won’t.”
I knew that it would be helpful to me if I knew the truth, but, at the same time, it would be dangerous if I did.
I might never know the truth, and I was okay with that.
Chapter 9
I went to see Beck after I spoke with Heather about what he had over her. He was in a jail, still. He had not yet had his next court appearance.
He came out to see me, swaggering as usual. He saw me sitting there, and he smiled. “Yo, dog, what’s up?”
I motioned to the seat, and he sat down. “I talked to Heather. I now know what you have over her. At least, I think I know what you have over her.”
He nodded his head. “Yeah, it’s something good, ain’t it? I told you. I told you I got something over that bitch.”
“Yeah, I guess that you do. So that’s what I need to speak with you about. Now, she told me that you helped her bury a body out in the desert. Reverend Scott. I did my research on the man, and I found out that he’s been reported missing for several weeks. He was awaiting his new trial, and it was a pretty famous case, really. So the fact that he’s disappeared is a big story. I don’t know why I missed it, but I did.”
“Yeah, so what? So what, some kook-ass dude goes missing? That guy was fucking insane, and he got what was coming to him.”
“I agree. That guy was insane, and he did get what was coming to him. But that’s a bit beside the point, isn’t it? Just because he was insane and he hurt a lot of people, doesn’t give anybody a reason to kill him in cold blood.”
Beck leaned back in his seat, and nodded his head at me. “Goddammit, I could really go for a smoke right now. You got any on you?”
“Now, come on. You know better than that. We can’t smoke here. Now, let’s get back to the topic of the Reverend Scott. What can you tell me about how he died?”
“Oh, that’s a mystery, now isn’t it? Wouldn’t you like to know?” He started to laugh. “Now you got two mysteries on your hands, don’t you? Who killed Reverend Scott and who killed Adele Whittier. I can tell you one thing. I killed neither of them. But that’s all I can really tell you. I don’t really know who killed Reverend Scott and I sure as hell don’t know who killed Adele.”
I thought he was lying. “You have a good idea about who killed the Reverend Scott, though, don’t you? I just have a feeling that it wasn’t Heather. However, I understand that it looks bad for her. I know that you probably think that you have enough evidence to go to the cops about Heather if it came to that. That’s the reason why I’m taking your case. That’s the only reason why I’m taking your case.”
“Yeah, you better do a goddamn good job of it. You better not be fucking hanging me out to dry. You don’t phone that shit in, do you hear me? I’m serious man, you better take this case to win. Don’t be judging me by my tattoos, by my past. You get in this case, you better go balls to the wall. Balls to the fucking wall.”
“Don’t worry. I don’t usually take cases in an effort to lose them. Now, here’s what I have to tell you. You have another hearing in a couple of days. It’s just an initial appearance. What that means is that the judge is going to read you your charges again and ask you to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty, and at that point I can probably try to ask for bail. Is there anything that you can even afford if you had a bail bondsman who can get you out? Is that something you would be able to do?”
He shrugged. “It depends.”
“What does it depend upon?”
“It depends on how much it is. I mean, if you get it down to a million dollars, I could probably come up with the 10%. I got some homeys, they got money, you don’t ask where they get the money, just that they got it. They might be willing to put the money up for me. But, if it’s more than that, no dice.”
“Okay. I’ll see what I can do about asking for $1 million bond, 10%, or the possibility of using a bondsman. However, I don’t think that the judge will go for that. This is a very serious charge. Strike that. It’s the most serious charge. It’s not like you’re being charged with jaywalking or something dumb like that.”
“Yeah, that’s bullshit.”
“Why is it bullshit?”
“It’s bullshit because they’re going by my past and assuming that this is a hate crime. Listen, my Aryan Brothers in prison, most of them don’t care about chicks with dicks or gay dudes. They couldn’t give shit less about that. Yeah, they be talking about faggots, and things like that, but they don’t want to kill them. They’re no threat to us.”
“Okay.” I nodded my head. I knew plenty of AB in my stint in prison, and, while they didn’t exactly like LGBT, they didn’t actively hate them. Beck made a point. “I’ll try to get the prosecutors off the hate angle, and I’ll try to make sure that your background isn’t used against you in trial. After all, if the Aryan creed says nothing about hating on LGBT, I can make the argument that your background as an AB in prison has nothing to do with the death of Adele. It’s not relevant.”
He shook his head. “Goddammit, you don’t listen to me at all, do you? Of course my background as an Aryan Brother has nothing to do with the death of Adele, because I didn’t kill her.”
“Regardless-”
Beck sighed and hung his head. “Dude, you don’t know what you’re talking about. But whatever. Seriously, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I guess you’re probably right. Anyhow, at this point, that’s neither here nor there. What’s important, at the moment, is getting you a bond, entering a plea of not guilty, and getting the show on the road. I have an investigator, his name is Tom Garrett, who can try to track down anybody who might’ve had it in for Adele. What can you tell me about her? Anything at all?”
“No, dude. I just met her that night. In a way, it’s kind of embarrassing that I didn’t figure out that she was a dude. I mean, her voice was pretty good. She sounded like a woman. She had a scarf covering her neck, so I didn’t get a chance to see if she had an Adam’s apple. You know, her boobs looked pretty real. There wasn’t nothing that really told me that she wasn’t a woman.” He shrugged. “And, you know, she was a pretty hot bitch. I wanted to tap that. I was horny. There wasn’t nothing more to it.”
“Okay, then. I guess I have my work cut out for me. You don’t know a thing about her so you probably don’t know of anybody who might have had it in for her. Right?” I thought he might be lying to me, but I wasn’t sure.
“No, I don’t.”
“And you have no idea how it was that she would’ve ended up by the dumpster next to your apartment complex? That’s the part of the story that’s not sitting right with me, I’ll be honest with you. You told me earlier that the two of you went out to your car, and you wanted to mess around with her, right?”
“Yeah, that’s what I said.”
“And you grabbed her crotch, which was when you found
out that she was a man. Right?”
“Yeah, that’s right. You got it. You must be taking good notes.”
I was. “Now, the Zoo Bar is a good 5 miles away from your apartment.”
“Yeah, so what?”
“So what? Listen, your story is that you went to the bar, you met Adele there, the two of you went to your car right outside the bar, and then you messed around. You found out that she was a guy, and you kicked her out of the car. And then you drove off.”
“Yeah. That’s my story. So what?”
“How did she end up 5 miles away from the bar, right by your apartment? It’s not like your story is that the two of you went back to your apartment, you messed around, and then you kicked her out. That would be one thing. That would explain how she would have gotten around to your neighborhood. But, what you’re telling me makes no sense to me at all. Your apartment is about 5 miles away from where she lives, and she lived 3 miles in the other direction. That means that she was not in her neighborhood when she was found, and she wasn’t near the bar, either. That means that either it was a terrible coincidence that she ended up in the neighborhood of the person who was last seen with her, or…”
The Hate Crime Page 6
