Page 48 of The Devil's Advocate

‘What about my mom? I don’t want anything bad to happen to her. Cody is missing, the sheriff got him. I know it. He’ll get you too. He said he was going to put a new guy in my cell tonight. Someone who would teach me not to talk to lawyers.’

Harry and Kate exchanged a look, then Harry knelt down beside Andy, said, ‘We’re not going to let anything happen to you or your mom. She wants us to help you. And we’re going to do just that. You’re a smart kid, but you’ve been tricked and frightened into doing some things that have harmed your case. That stops now. We are here to protect you and fight for you. And there’s nothing the sheriff can do to us. We’re a team, and we’re pretty tough. If you want to live, for your mom, pick up that pen and sign that paper. We need to get you out of here today.’

Andy thought about it for a while. Maybe too long. Then he took the pen, wrote his signature. He leaned so heavily on the page the nib was scraping the wooden bench.

‘Great, now that’s out of the way, I have some questions,’ said Kate.

‘What kind of questions?’ asked Andy.

‘The important kind. Let’s start with this one. There’s a witness, Ryan Hogg, says you were arguing with Skylar when you left work that night. Is that true?’

‘Skylar and I never had a cross word between us. We were friends.’

‘Did you see anyone else with Skylar that night, after work?’

‘No, she was thinking about meeting her boyfriend at a party, but I don’t know if she ever got there. I walked home.’

‘Okay, good. This one is a little more difficult. The police say you had a scratch on your back. Your skin and DNA was found under Skylar’s fingernails. Can you explain how that might have happened?’

TWENTY-FOUR

KATE

Kate had appeared in front of several judges in her short career so far. She could tell by the look on Judge Chandler’s face this wasn’t going to be an easy afternoon.

One of Eddie’s tips. Know the judges. Some are fair. Some are biased in favor of men, or cops, or business, and mountains are to be moved in an effort to avoid having them try your case. In law school they don’t teach you that even the best case can be lost in front of a bad judge. You have to learn that for yourself. Where Eddie hardly made any notes on his files, Kate made copious notes on everything. She had a notebook on judges. A dossier on each one she encountered or heard stories about. There were stories about Chandler. Some of them online, from the disaffected families of defendants that had been sent to jail by Chandler, or worse, to death row. They said he was too close to the prosecutor. That he hated defense attorneys and their clients.

She could believe it all.

The prosecutor, Korn, hadn’t even spoken to her. He was skulking behind his desk, like a great spider. Harry sat at the defense table beside Andy, whispering softly to him, keeping him calm and explaining to him what was going on in court.

‘Yesterday, Andy Dubois had representation on the scale of minus one. Now it seems he has a whole team of fancy New York counsel. Tell me, Miss Brooks, has your client won the lottery?’ asked Judge Chandler.

‘No, Your Honor. The disappearance of Cody Warren is still a concern to my client, and myself, as I’m sure it is to you,’ said Kate.

Judge Chandler remained still for a moment, then his eyebrows flicked upwards, like antennae, detecting an attorney who was of considerable talent.

‘I read your motions, Miss Brooks. Bail? Really? In a capital murder case?’

‘Yes, Your Honor. My client has no passport, he does have family and strong links to this community. He has never been so much as arrested before this charge, and he is a vulnerable young man—’

‘Who says he’s vulnerable?’ interrupted Chandler.

‘In my view, given his age and inexperience of the judicial system, Andy Dubois is vulnerable.’

‘Will a psychologist be appearing in court to testify at trial?’

‘If need be, yes, Your Honor,’ said Kate, more confidently than she liked.

‘Until they do, keep your opinions to yourself,dear,’ said the judge. ‘I don’t care what you think, or what you believe. You’re not giving opinion evidence, you’re a lawyer. Don’t ever make such a statement in my court again.’

She could feel Harry’s gaze on her. Harry had kind eyes. He was a gentle man, who could, when it suited him, summon a lion’s courage. She knew, without even looking, Harry was telling her to stay calm with those big, brown eyes of his.

In her one-inch heels, Kate wiggled her toes. Fiercely. Another one of Eddie’s tricks. No one can see you do it, and it takes away your nerves and anxiety. Kate found it worked on quelling anger too. Her jaw flexed, once, her toes went crazy and she returned to the business at hand. Best way to make the judge pay was to do a good job for her client.

‘As I was saying, Your Honor, my client—’

‘Is granted bail,’ said Chandler, leaning back in his chair with a smug look on his face. ‘For a cash surety of five hundred thousand dollars. The full amount to be lodged with the court before he sets foot out this door. That is the lowest amount I can conceive of on such a serious charge.’