Ruben had been out of his mind with grief and wasn’t wrong that Kent’s intent was to kill Paggie. Which also was kind of against the law, but Nicole had always backed Kent’s play about that. Serial killers were non-redeemable. They only created more death, even from super-max prisons. Plus Kent was super strict about whom he killed.
He only killed absolutely confirmed, caught red-handed in the act killers. There was no chance he was going to accidently kill an innocent. No, he saved hundreds upon hundreds of lives by his actions.
Ruben’s actions hadn’t been nearly as noble, but she just couldn’t see him going to jail, losing his career and his freedom for a decision he’d made under the influence of a heroin overdose.
Besides Kent had survived, so no harm, no foul. Right?
“Take it they released you early?” she asked her husband.
“They? Me? Is there really a difference?”
Of course, Kent had discharged himself, probably against medical advice.
That was her husband.
“He doesn’t like me nearly as much as you,” Kent said, pointing to his chest. “I’m not nearly the bra size he is used to.”
Nicole chuckled as she took off her blouse. Logan was as demanding as his father.
Logan’s fussing made her breasts ache.
Kent rose carefully and allowed her to sit down, then handed their son into her arms.
Logan was a champ at suckling.
Kent cupped her face, stroking her face with his thumb.
She knew the moment wouldn’t last long, so she soaked it all in.
“I’ve got another case,” Kent admitted.
“Of course, you do,” Nicole replied.
She caught his hand as he turned to leave. “You’ve got a family now. Be careful.”
“As long as Ruben isn’t around, I should be fine.”
Nicole frowned at her husband. He might have let Ruben off legally, but Kent was never going to let the subject go. Not as long as he could needle Ruben about it, for eternity, she feared.
He squeezed her hand. “I’ll be fine. I’m just doing background.”
Nicole switched Logan off to the other breast. “Just come home, okay?”
Kent leaned over and kissed the top of Nicole’s head, then his baby’s forehead. “Always.”
Nicole really wanted to believe that, as her husband turned to leave.
“Remember two shots to the chest and one to the head if I find you ‘dead’ again.”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” Kent said, as he closed the door behind him.
She snuggled down with the baby, letting the day’s horror evaporate as she drifted off to sleep.
Finally, her maternity leave officially started.
SLOPPY 2nds – the bridge short story between Kill Joy and Debbie Downer
CHAPTER 1
“He. Is. Innocent,” Kent stated for the gazillionth time. He certainly understood the irony of the situation. He was the one that was usually beating the “He. Is. Guilty,” drum, but not this time. Not this suspect.
ADA Hannah leaned back in her chair, glaring at him. “Kent, the jury is deliberating. The trial is nearly over. What exactly do you want me to do?”
“Withdraw the charges,” Kent spat, looking over at his wife. Funny, Logan had been born three months ago, yet he could swear Nicole still glowed.
His wife sighed. “Hannah, I hate to say it, I mean I really hate to say it, but I think Kent is right.”
Ah, that was his wife. Always so supportive. But you know what? He’d take it.
Hannah sighed. “Mr. Alfred Lowe’s fate is now in the hands of the jury. There is nothing I can do about it.” She flicked a glance to Kent. “Besides shouldn’t you be slightly more concerned about your fate? The scuttlebutt around the office is that my colleague, Mark Wake, is drawing closer to convening a grand jury over your involvement in Paggie’s death.
Kent waved a dismissive hand. “Let ‘em try.”
He had to stay focused on the matter of hand. “If Wake does file charges it will be the end of his career. Just like this case could tarnish your reputation for years to come. You are on the verge of convicting an innocent man.”
“I’m not. The jury is,” Hannah said as the phone on her desk rang. She raised an eyebrow as she answered the phone. She listened for a moment then said, “Thanks.”
“The jury is back?” Nicole asked even though it really wasn’t a question.
Hannah didn’t even bother to nod. The ADA just rose and put on her jacket. “You coming?”
Kent wore the “hell, yes,” expression as he followed the ADA out of her office.
* * *
Nicole liked straightforward cases. You know the kind. Where there was a simple crime. You investigated the crime. You found the perpetrator. You either caught, or in Kent’s case, killed the suspect. Open and shut.
She hated these circumstantial cases. Cases where there was no clear proof of guilt. Alfred’s life hung in the balance.
They entered the courtroom just as the suspect was brought to the defense’s table. Even cleaned up, Alfred didn’t look like he truly knew what was happening. How some psychiatrist found him competent to stand trial, Nicole wasn’t quite sure. He had been homeless for a reason. Poor Alfred had suffered from severe PTSD after being discharged from the Army.
The dazed expression was from years of self-medicating his symptoms with meth. The stuff had destroyed not just his teeth but his mind. The number of PTSD sufferers who then turned to sadistic psychosexual rape and murder were zero in her husband’s opinion. And Kent had a pretty damned informed opinion. He had done the research. Meticulously, yet it hadn’t mattered. The judge hadn’t allowed any of it admitted into evidence since Kent’s opinion was not considered accepted by the majority of the medical community.
Judge Hiro Makio was a hanging judge. He danced to any tune that Hannah played for him. Excluding exculpatory evidence at every turn. Which was the only silver lining in this whole case.
Kent had already begun prepping Alfred’s Legal Aid lawyer for an appeal. The problem with that was that Alfred was suicidal. They all feared if convicted that Alfred would be dead within the month.
He looked so small. His suit, despite being custom fit by Kent’s tailor, the clothing looked two sizes too big. The fabric swallowed him whole. He looked like a lost child wearing his father’s clothes.
Hannah crossed the aisle and sat at the prosecution’s table.
Kent, of course, crossed in the other direction and sat behind the defense’s table. Her husband had sat on the defense’s side the entire trial. He hadn’t missed a single day. Not that the trial had been all that long. For a murder trial it had only lasted a few weeks.
Even though it went against all her instincts as a law enforcement officer, Nicole sat down next to Kent, right behind the defendant. She had vowed to love and support her husband for better or worse. Today was one of those worse days.
Besides she was still on maternity leave and not officially with the department at the moment. That made it slightly less of a betrayal, right?
Alfred crumpled down and laid his upper body on the table. How could anyone think he was an organized serial rapist-murderer who had evaded the police for five killings? The man looked barely capable of brushing his own teeth.
Nicole glanced over to the prosecution side of the gallery. The two detectives that had arrested Alfred were sitting over there, looking like they had swallowed the canary.
She hated to tell them, but they had done some of the laziest assed police work she’d ever seen. They’d arrested Alfred on vagrancy charges. They hadn’t even been looking at him for the rape-murders, but then one of Alfred’s shoes had shown blood. After a series of tests it was determined the blood belonged to the latest victim, Suzanne Boulder.
Even though Alfred led them to the dumpster where he claimed he found the shoe, just one mind you, they had arrested him for the murder. Because, of course,
Alfred had no alibis for any of the murders and one super sketchy older woman identified him in a line up where Alfred was the only one with a full scruffy beard.
Kent had tried to get Alfred a better lawyer, but Alfred refused to sign the paperwork, thinking it was a reenlistment form.
So here they sat awaiting the verdict. The longer the deliberations went, the more likely it was a guilty verdict would be rendered. People took longer to decide on a verdict when they were going to put a man away for life.
Judge Makio entered the courtroom in a flurry of black robes. The man did know how to make an entrance.
He sat down at his chair, high above the rest of the room. He looked down directly at Kent. “I don’t want any outbursts or disturbances.”
That was certainly directed at Kent. Her husband had mumbled his objections throughout the entire proceedings. They were both lucky the judge hadn’t cited him for contempt already.
Kent gave a wavy-fingered wave to the judge which made the man’s cheek go even more red. That was Kent’s “gift.” His ability to completely antagonize anyone.
Then her husband winked at the judge.
Nicole was pretty damned sure that Kent was going to be arrested right there and then.
And perhaps he would have been if it weren’t for the door on the far right side of the courtroom opening and the jury filed into the jury box.
Nicole shot her husband a look. Was he seeing what she was seeing?
* * *
Kent’s blood went cold. The jury had voted Alfred guilty. It was written all over their faces.
Most wouldn’t look at Alfred as they took their seats. While others openly glared at him. A great big “Eff you.” Only one man looked to Alfred with sympathy in his expression. And what else was lacing that look? Guilt? Fear?
It was juror number nine. An older man. A retired accountant Kent thought.
Before he could process the information, the judge clanged that great big gavel, compensating for anything, Makio? The court was brought to order.
“Mr. Foreman, have you reached a verdict?” Judge Makio asked.
“We have,” the Foreman answered.
While the bailiff walked over to take the piece of paper that sealed Alfred’s fate, Kent wished that he could go back in time.
There was just so much information that the jury never saw. Like the fact there were seventeen, count them seventeen rape-murders very similar to these current five, only they had been committed twenty seven years ago. The type of ligatures had changed from cotton rope to nylon line, but the crimes were eerily similar.
And if they were committed by the same man, it cleared Alfred completely. The guy would barely have been born. So what the fact that a man was behind bars for the first seventeen rape-murders? Mistakes were being made now, they could have been made then.
But the jury knew none of this because Makio had determined it “not probative.” It was like the guy got paid for each guilty verdict entered in his courtroom.
Finally the bailiff handed the paper to the judge who opened it, grunted and handed it back. Was that a ghost of a smile on the man’s face?
Bastard.
The judge informed the defendant to rise which meant the Legal Aid lawyer had to practically haul Alfred to his feet.
The bailiff walked the paper back to the jury foremen who then went through the official reading of the verdict. It was no great surprise that it was “guilty.”
It was like a surreal film played in Kent’s head. Alfred’s lawyer’s head hung low. Hannah smiled and rose, putting papers into her briefcase. Alfred showed no acknowledgement of the verdict.
Nicole grabbed Kent’s hand and squeezed like she was trying to tell him to take the verdict without incident.
Had she ever met him?
Kent leaned over and prodded Alfred’s lawyer. “Poll the jury,” he hissed as the judge was about to dismiss them.
“Judge, I would like to poll the jury!” the lawyer announced.
Makio frowned. “For what purpose.”
The kid froze. “To, um, poll them?” The lawyer had absolutely no idea why they were polling the jury. He had no idea that juror number nine looked ready to cry.
Kent cleared his throat. “It is his legal right.”
The judge clacked that gavel again. “On more word, Mr. Harbinger.”
Normally it would have amused Kent that Makio refused to call him a Special Agent, but not right now? Right now Kent only cared what juror number nine had to say.
Makio sighed. “Unfortunately that is true.” He turned his attention to the jury. “First let me apologize for this inconvenience but when you are called upon, please give your vote.”
Kent was completely not surprised by the first eight votes. All guilty without hesitation.
But when they came to the retired accountant. There was a palpable pause.
“Juror Number Nine?” the judge prompted. “Your vote?”
The man cleared his throat and refused to meet any of the other juror’s gaze. “Not guilty.”
The courtroom erupted into chaos. Makio banged his gavel over and over again with little result, frustrating the judge even more.
He poked Alfred’s lawyer. “Demand a mistrial.”
The kid was a rather effective parrot. “I demand a mistrial,” he announced over the loud murmuring.
“Not so fast young man,” Makio stated. “I want counsel in chambers. Bailiff please bring juror number nine along.”
Kent smiled as he rose. Today was turning out to be pretty okay.
* * *
Nicole snuck in behind Kent into the judge’s chamber.
Makio raised his eyebrow. “I don’t believe the two of you are lawyers?”
Kent was ready though. “No, but we were expert witnesses that weren’t allowed to testify. Alfred wants us here.”
Normally a judge would have laughed that reasoning out of his chambers, however Makio was in a very precarious position. He had a rendered verdict with a juror disagreeing. This could look very bad on his record and to excuse Kent and Nicole right now could make matters worse.
Finally Makio simply nodded then turned his attention to the retired accountant.
“Juror Number Nine, could you please tell me how you voted guilty in the jury room but then recanted in open court?”
The man’s fingers nervously played with the edge of his jacket. “I…I…never voted guilty in the jury room. I have voted not guilty every round of voting.”
“Why?” Makio asked.
“Legally, you can’t ask that, judge,” Kent stated, rather firmly.
Her husband had balls. That was for certain. How he used them though was at times questionable.
“So true,” Makio said, glancing over to the court reporter who was taking everything down. “Strike that from the record.”
Wow, the judge was nearly as ballsy as Kent. Makio had made a grave technical error and was just brushing it under the rug.
He turned to the juror again. “So how did the foreman come out with a 12-0 guilty verdict?”
The man shrugged his shoulders. “Can I answer your first question though? I did not want to see a miscarriage of justice, again.” The judge made a finger motion for the juror to hurry up. “The other jurors, especially the foreman, brow beat me for days. Keeping me from eating, drinking, blocking the bathroom.”
Makio’s frown deepened. “These are very serious allegations. Are you sure that you want to level them?”
“Judge…” Kent threatened.
“Do not push your luck, Harbinger,” Makio growled but Kent stepped forward.
“This is a clear case of jury tampering,” Kent explained. “There is only one recourse. A mistrial.”
“Now wait a moment,” Hannah interjected. “We haven’t proven anything either one way or another.”
“Kind of like the trial,” Kent shot back.
Hannah didn’t rise to the bait though. She turned to Makio. “I say we
have a recess until you can investigate this further.”
Makio looked like under any other circumstances he would have granted Hannah’s motion, but Kent’s posture made it clear that he was not going to drop the issue. A visit to the judicial review board looked very probable in the near future.
“I declare a mistrial,” Makio stated.
“Your honor!” Hannah objected.
Makio held up his hand. “Don’t get too flustered. I am continuing remand until the new trial.”
“Your honor,” Kent growled. “Alfred was nearly killed before trial. He is mentally ill. Put him into a locked down mental facility and we won’t object.”
Nicole watched as the two engaged in a battle of the wills.
* * *
Did Makio really think that he could out-stare him? Kent invented the terminal stare down.
The judge blinked first. “Fine.”
“Judge!” Hannah exclaimed.
“What are you objecting to?” Makio snapped. The first time he had been anything but deferent to the ADA. “He won’t be a threat to society. Problem solved.”
The legal aid lawyer hugged Alfred.
“What? What’s going on?” the defendant asked.
Kent grabbed Alfred’s elbow. “You are going to get the help that you need.”
“Oh thank god,” Alfred said, tears running down his face.
Kent glanced to Hannah. Was she seeing this? That was not the face of a hardened serial rapist-killer.
“So what is everyone still standing around for?” Makio grumbled shooing them out.
Most people would have taken this as a victory. More than likely the DA would not want to retry this turd of a case and the charges would be vacated. Although Kent wouldn’t want to rush the DA’s hand. The longer Alfred was in a psyche ward, the better in Kent’ opinion. He wasn’t kidding about the man needing help.
But a victory?
No way. No how.
There was still a rapist-murderer out there.
CHAPTER 2
Joshua had a love-hate relationship with Kent. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. He loved Kent, with his entire being. Like something out of an Adele song. Or a Michael Bublé album.
2nd Cycle of the Harbinger Series: The continuation of the #1 Hard-boiled/Police Procedural smash Plain Jane Page 19
