By Reason of Insanity (David Brunelle Legal Thriller Series Book 3)

by Stephen Penner

  “Don’t forget her confession at the hospital,” Brunelle joked.

  “Oh, I haven’t,” Edwards replied. “Which is exactly why I can’t let her talk to you again.”

  Brunelle looked over at the table. Keesha was still sitting there quietly, looking up at the ceiling. Thompson was looking down at his notes. Robyn was looking over at him. She smiled again.

  Chen was just sitting there, arms crossed, and not really looking at anything.

  “Hey, Larry,” Brunelle called out. “Come over here for a second.”

  He had an idea.

  When Chen stepped up to them, Brunelle made a proposal. “What if we agree that anything Keesha says here can’t be used against her in my case-in-chief? Chen won’t testify about this at all. Just the stuff at the house and at the hospital. The only way it comes in is if she takes the stand and testifies contrary to what she says here today.”

  Edwards hesitated. That meant he had a chance. He pressed his advantage.

  “We do it all the time with snitches,” he reminded her. “They give us the info first, to convince us they have shit on their codefendants. If it’s good, we use them. If not, we don’t. But we agree up front, anything they say can’t be used against them personally. That encourages them to be honest.”

  Edwards shook her head. “And they usually still lie.”

  Brunelle smiled. She was right.

  “I don’t know, Dave,” she said. “Wouldn’t that impact the eval somehow? She’s not snitching to get a deal, she’s getting a psych eval.”

  Brunelle frowned in thought. “Dr. Thompson?” he said. “Can you come over here for a moment?”

  The psychologist looked up, then set down his pen and joined the powwow.

  “What are we discussing?” he asked.

  Brunelle never got to answer. It happened too fast.

  In less than a moment, Keesha had Thompson’s pen in one hand and Robyn’s throat in the other. The guard was one step too far away. Brunelle and the others were even farther. Robyn barely had time to yell, “Jess!” before Keesha drove the pen into her face.

  Chapter 22

  What happened next was a blur. The guard was on Keesha in a flash, with Chen right behind. Within seconds, Keesha was on her stomach, handcuffed, with a mouth full of concrete floor.

  Brunelle and Edwards went straight to Robyn. The pen had penetrated her left cheek, the butt of it sticking out just far enough to show that the point was several inches inside her mouth. Brunelle yanked it out and Robyn curled into a fetal position, hands covering her face as blood smeared the floor.

  The medical staff burst in, called by the corrections officer’s shoulder-mounted radio. They shoved Edwards and Brunelle out of the way. Robyn was whisked off to the jail infirmary and Keesha was dragged away by the team of guards who arrived right behind the medics.

  Brunelle, Edwards, Thompson, and Chen were left standing there, shocked and awed by what had just transpired.

  “Damn it, Jess,” Brunelle lashed out. “This wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t playing games.”

  “Me?” she practically screamed back. “This is your fault. Always trying to control everything and win at all costs.”

  Brunelle was about to fire back when Chen stepped between them. “Shut the fuck up,” he ordered.

  And they knew he was right.

  Chapter 23

  Judge Perry was appropriately horrified when he heard the news. Shaken, even. In a hastily convened hearing, he relented from his previous rulings, transforming from a pugnacious control freak into a passive handwringer. Edwards got exactly what she wanted. Adrianos would conduct an independent, and private, examination of the defendant. If he found diminished capacity—and of course he would—then Brunelle would be given his report. Thompson would be allowed to review and critique the report, but he would not do his own exam.

  Brunelle didn’t object to any of it. He was shaken too.

  Back up in his office, he sat in his chair and gazed out the window, imaging the scenery over Robyn’s red curls.

  “Penny for your thoughts.”

  It was Chen, standing in his doorway.

  Brunelle forced a smile. “I’m a lawyer, Larry. Those thoughts start at two hundred bucks an hour.”

  Brunelle abandoned his window and Chen took a seat. “What brings you by?” Brunelle asked.

  Chen jabbed a thumb toward the hallway. “I just dropped off my report on the pen-stabbing with Nicole. I figured you’d want to look at it as soon as possible.”

  Brunelle nodded. “Did you write it up as Assault in the First Degree?”

  “Naw, I went with Attempted Murder. You pull that shit inside the jail, in front of a cop and a guard—I’m writing that up as high as I can.”

  Brunelle nodded, understanding the detective’s point.

  “You gonna charge it Attempted Murder,” Chen asked, “or wimp out with Assault One?”

  “I’m not gonna charge it all,” Brunelle replied. “At least not now. I charge her up now and Jessica becomes a witness. That means my murder trial gets derailed. She’ll get pulled off the case and we’ll have to start all over with a new defense attorney. No, I’ll wait until the murder trial is over, then charge her up. Statute of limitations is three years. I’ve got time.”

  “You’re the boss,” Chen said. He grinned. “I’d say you knew what you were doing, but I know better.”

  Before Brunelle could respond, Nicole walked in with a manilla folder. “I opened a new file on Sawyer’s assault of that public defender.” She handed it to him, then looked at him appraisingly. She set a hand on his shoulder. “You okay?”

  Brunelle reached up and laid his hand on hers. “Yeah,” he insisted. “Just a little shaken. I feel kind of responsible for what happened.”

  “Nonsense,” Nicole replied. “You’re not responsible for what some crazy woman does.”

  Brunelle shrugged. “I hope Robyn agrees.”

  Nicole squeezed his shoulder. “I’m sure she does.”

  Brunelle managed a lopsided smile. He removed his hand from his secretary’s and tapped the file. “I’m going to hold off filing charges until after the murder case is over,” he told her.

  “Oh, okay,” she said. She started to reach for the file, hand still on his shoulder, resulting in her lowering her chest right in front of his face.

  Brunelle looked up at her. “No, leave the file with me. I’ll just stick it inside the murder file for now.”

  Nicole straightened up and headed for the door. Brunelle’s eyes followed her. She turned when she reached the door frame. “Let me know if I can do anything for you, David.”

  “I will,” Brunelle replied. Thanks.”

  Once she’d left, Chen leaned forward in his chair. “What the hell was that?”

  The question jarred Brunelle. “What the hell was what?”

  “I thought you and Kat were serious.”

  “We are serious,” Brunelle defended. “I mean, we haven’t talked about moving in together or getting married or anything, but yeah, we’re serious. I think.”

  “Then stop flirting with everything in a skirt,” Chen admonished.

  Brunelle felt affronted. “I wasn’t flirting,” he insisted.

  “Okay then.” Chen pushed back in his seat and crossed his arms. “Stop staring at every set of tits you see.”

  “I wasn’t staring at Nicole’s—” Brunelle stopped himself before he said ‘tits.’ It seemed demeaning to her. “I wasn’t staring at her.”

  “And you weren’t flirting with that young defense attorney either,” Chen challenged. “The pen-holder.”

  “Wow,” Brunelle half laughed. “Pen-holder? That’s just cold.”

  “And you’re just fooling yourself,” Chen replied. Then he leaned forward again and rested an arm on Brunelle’s desk. “Look, Dave. It’s perfectly normal. You’ve been single all your life. Now you’ve finally met someone you’re serious about and it’s a little
scary. It’s natural for you to want to confirm you still have it, even if you’re about to give it up.”

  Brunelle lowered his eyebrows. “What am I giving up?”

  Chen ignored the question and pulled out his phone. “I know just the thing,” he said as he starting typing. “I was talking with the wife about you the other night and she agreed.”

  “Agreed about what?” Brunelle asked. Then, “Wait. You talk about me?”

  Chen looked up with a grin. “Of course.”

  Brunelle was flummoxed. “What do you say? And what did your wife agree about?”

  “She agreed,” Chen replied, “that you’re scared of commitment because you don’t understand the benefits of commitment.”

  “I am not scared of commitment,” Brunelle protested.

  Chen raised an incredulous eyebrow. “Sure. Anyway, now you’re going to see the good side of commitment.”

  Brunelle was suspicious. “Oh yeah?”

  Chen hesitated for a moment as he read the responsive text he was getting. “Yeah. And confirmed.”

  Suspicious turned to anxiety. “What’s confirmed?”

  “Our double date. You and Kat and me and Evie.”

  Brunelle’s jaw dropped.

  “This Saturday,” Chen went on gleefully. “Dinner and a movie.”

  Brunelle just shook his head. “Wow. A double date.”

  “Excited?”

  “I think,” Brunelle said, still shaking his head, “I’d rather have a pen shoved through my cheek.”

  Chen laughed. “I know someone who could help you with that.”

  Brunelle regretted the joke, even though he appreciated Chen’s quick-witted reply. He looked down, a thousand thoughts rushing through his head, not the least of which were Kat bent over his desk and Robyn bleeding on the floor.

  “Cheer up, Davey. It’ll be fun,” Chen said. Then he winked. “Maybe you’ll even get lucky.”

  Chapter 24

  “Miss Dunn is in room E-397,” said the station nurse on the third floor of Seattle’s Swedish Hospital. “But visiting hours are almost over.”

  Brunelle glanced at his watch. He had ten minutes. He didn’t suppose it would take longer than that. “Thanks. I’ll be quick.”

  The room was at the end of the hallway, past several other rooms filled with the sounds of television game shows and loud telephone conversations. When he reached E-397, he found Robyn sitting up in her hospital bed, a blue and white hospital gown draped over her frame and a book on her lap.

  She had a large bandage over the left half of her face.

  “Knock, knock,” Brunelle said as he stepped into the room. He suddenly felt awkward and wished he’d brought a card or flowers or something.

  Robyn looked up from her book. “Mr. B.” She smiled—as much as the bandage would allow. “Wow. I didn’t expect you to visit me.”

  Brunelle wasn’t sure what to say. He supposed maybe she was right. So he avoided the topic. “How are you feeling?”

  Robyn slid the book aside. Brunelle spied the spine: James Joyce. He was impressed, although really, he didn’t know enough about Joyce to know why he should be.

  “Not bad,” Robyn answered. She hovered a hand over the dressing. “It still hurts, but the doctors said I can go home tomorrow.”

  “Well, that’s good,” Brunelle remarked.

  Robyn nodded. “Yeah. I think they’re just keeping me an extra night ‘cause I work for the county and our insurance is so awesome. Good thing I have a medical fetish.”

  Brunelle smiled nervously. “I never know when you’re kidding.”

  “No, really,” she winked. “We have great insurance.”

  Brunelle shook his head. Then he looked closely at her face. “I forget which side your dimple is on. I hope it survived in tact.”

  Robyn smiled broadly. The dimple was on the other cheek. “You noticed my dimple?”

  Brunelle nodded. “Yeah. It’s very endearing.”

  “I always hated it,” Robyn confessed. “How lame is it to have a dimple on only one side?”

  “I kinda liked the asymmetry,” Brunelle said.

  Robyn laughed. “Well, sorry. Now I’ll have a scar on the other side to balance it out.”

  Brunelle frowned. “Sorry about that.”

  “It’s okay,” Robyn said. “It’ll match the scars on the inside.”

  Brunelle’s frown deepened. “You’re too young to have scars on the inside.”

  Robyn surrendered a quiet, dark laugh. “I started young.”

  Brunelle regarded her for a moment. “There’s a lot more to you than just some pretty young attorney, isn’t there?”

  Robyn smiled again. “You think I’m pretty?”

  Brunelle felt himself start to blush. But he didn’t mind this time. “Well, I hear you think I’m dashing.”

  Robyn’s smile twisted into a frown. “I never said that. Peter’s a liar.”

  “If you never said it,” Brunelle grinned, “how did you know I heard it from Peter?”

  The frown wavered, then transformed into that dimpled smile again. “You’re good,” she said. “You should be a lawyer or something.”

  Brunelle laughed. “Yeah. I’ll look into that.”

  They were quiet for a few moments, but again Brunelle didn’t mind it.

  “Thanks for pulling the pen out of my face,” Robyn finally said.

  “The least I could do,” Brunelle answered. “Although I’m not sure it was the right thing to do, medically speaking.”

  “No, I’m pretty sure it’s okay to extract writing instruments driven into someone’s face by a crazy person. It’s a rule or something.”

  “She is nuts,” Brunelle agreed. “Are you angry at her?”

  Robyn sighed. “Of course I am. I could say I’m not, but I am. I’m going to have a scar on my face for the rest of my life. So yeah, I’m angry. But I’ll get over it.”

  “Will you?”

  “I’ve gotten over worse.”

  “Does it matter to you that’s she’s crazy?”

  “We’re all crazy, David.” Robyn meet his gaze earnestly. “Every one of us. Some of us are just more functional than the rest. The key is finding the right person. Someone who fits the crazy instead of making it worse.”

  “Sounds like you’ve thought about it a lot.”

  She shrugged and looked down. “I suppose. Thinking about it doesn’t always help though. I know why I fall hard for older men in authority positions, but it doesn’t make it feel any less intense.”

  Brunelle thought he might understand the intensity. “So what do you do?”

  “Hope,” she answered, looking back up at him. “Hope that you fall for a guy who doesn’t hurt you. For that older man in the authority position with the quick wit and the steely gaze, and maybe this time he’s also a nice guy. One who’ll accept you, and protect you, and not add to the scars. Maybe even help the scars heal.”

  “Scars don’t heal,” Brunelle pointed out. “That’s why they’re scars.”

  Robyn closed her eyes and sighed. “I know.”

  And visiting hours were over.

  Chapter 25

  Even though the double date was several days after his visit to the hospital, Brunelle still carried the conversation around with him. That was his first mistake.

  He also couldn’t stop thinking about the Sawyer case. He had a tendency to do that—fixate on a case as it came up for trial. That was his second mistake.

  And he hadn’t told Kat about Keesha’s attack on Robyn. He didn’t want to talk about Robyn to Kat—at least not until whatever infatuation he was feeling had faded a bit. So he just avoided any mention of her. Which meant not telling his girlfriend about one of the most memorable things ever to happen in front of him. That was his third mistake.

  Finally, Chen had selected the latest Hollywood romantic comedy for their date movie. It starred some young leading man all the women could pretend they were with, and the latest s
tarlet all the men could wish they’d been with. That wasn’t a mistake, but it put him in a bad mood. The worst mistake of all.

  Evie Chen waited for her husband to take a bite then jumped in where he’d left off.

  “So that’s why we always stay on the Big Island when we go to Hawaii.”

  “Sounds wonderful,” Kat remarked.

  Brunelle was lost in his own thoughts. He stared down at his steak and rice pilaf. Kat reached over from her seat next to him and took his hand. “We should go to Hawaii sometime,” she said.

  “Uh, yeah,” Brunelle knew to agree. “That sounds nice.”

  Kat squeezed his hand. He had to admit, he liked how her hand looked in his. It was a lot smaller. It fit just right.

  “You okay?” she asked.

  “Hm? Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Just preoccupied, I guess.”

  “Still thinking about the stabbing?” Chen guessed.

  “What stabbing?” Kat asked.

  Fuck, thought Brunelle. He knew the double date had been a bad idea.

  “Didn’t he tell you?” Evie said. “Larry said it was pretty gruesome.”

  “No.” Kat smacked Brunelle’s arm playfully. “He didn’t tell me anything. What happened?”

  “I didn’t tell you?” Brunelle feigned surprise. “Sorry. It must have slipped my mind.”

  “How does that slip your mind?” Chen asked. “She had a pen sticking out of her face.”

  “A pen?” Kat gasped. She grabbed her boyfriend by his shirt. “What the hell happened?”

  So Brunelle told the story. Actually Chen jumped in and told most of it, Brunelle offering the occasional comment along the way.

  “So it was jutting out of her face?” Kat asked even as she put a forkful of food into her mouth.

  Brunelle shrugged. “Yeah. It was pretty nasty.”

  “Davey here was the hero,” Evie said. “He pulled it right out. Got a face full of blood for his trouble.”