Read Presumption of Innocence: David Brunelle Legal Thriller #1 Online
Authors: Stephen Penner
"You smell like beer." Kat wrinkled her nose at Brunelle as he stepped into the high school lobby. "You need a drink to sit through Swan Lake?"
"Probably," laughed Brunelle. "But no, I just had to stop by a bar to talk to a woman about a case."
Kat raised an eyebrow. "A bar? A woman? I don't need to hear about that," she laughed. "But don't try to tell me it was about a case."
Brunelle shook his head. "No, really. The Montgomery murder. Our murderer hung out at the bar. Just seeing if he said anything to anybody."
"Ahh," Kat replied. "And you had to drink a beer to ask that question?"
"I bought a beer," Brunelle defended, "because I wanted to talk to the bartender."
"The cute woman?"
"Right," Brunelle answered. Then he realized, "I never said she was cute."
Kat smiled. "You just did."
She looped her arm through his. "Come on, lover boy, the overture is about to start."
Glad for the change in subject, Brunelle accepted her arm. "Well, let's go then. I don't want to miss any dancing."
Kat stopped short, pulling Brunelle to a stop as well. "You don't know anything about ballet, do you?"
Brunelle grinned. "Nope. But I'm here anyway."
Kat smiled. "Oh, good answer, Mr. Brunelle."
She kissed him on the cheek, then handed their tickets to the usher and they went inside to find their seats.
***
"Four acts?" Brunelle ran his hands through his hair three hours later as they waited for Kat's daughter to come out from backstage. "I thought you were only allowed to have two acts."
Kat laughed. "Allowed? Oh, Mr. Brunelle, you
are
a prosecutor."
Brunelle grinned. "It might not have been so bad if I'd had any idea what was going on. Aren't there supposed to be supertitles or something?"
"That's opera, culture boy," Kat shook her head. "In ballet, the dancing tells the story."
"Well, I think I need a translator," Brunelle joked.
"Allow me!" It was Lizzy, running up on tip toe, stage make-up still on and hair still pulled back into a lacquered bun. "I totally know the whole story."
Brunelle looked to Kat.
"Whatta ya say, David?" she asked. "Want to hear the story of Swan Lake?"
Brunelle hesitated. He actually was curious after watching the entire story, like a television show in another language. Kat and her daughter sensed the hesitation.
"Over ice cream, of course," Lizzy added. "We always go out for ice cream after a show."
Brunelle smiled. "Well, I can hardly say no to ice cream, can I?"
They walked out to the parking lot and as they all settled into Kat's car, Lizzy tapped Brunelle's shoulder from the back passenger seat.
"So, are you mom's new boyfriend?"
Before Brunelle could overcome his shock, Kat started laughing. "We'll see how this ice cream and ballet thing goes, first."
***
"All right, all right," Brunelle was saying earnestly, small pink ice cream spoon pointed at Lizzy for emphasis. "So Odette is really a princess, but during the day she has to be a swan because of an evil spell?"
"Exactly," Lizzy answered. "Her and all her princess handmaiden people."
"And how many of those are there?" Brunelle asked, digging for more toffee caramel crunch.
Lizzy laughed. "Depends how many girls are in the studio. But usually a whole bunch so the dancing looks cool."
Brunelle nodded as he swallowed. "Okay, and the bad guy, what's his name again?"
"Rothbart," Lizzy answered. "He's an evil sorcerer who cast the spell on all of them."
"But why?"
Lizzy shrugged. "I don't know. Power? Control? Maybe just 'cause he's a dick?"
"Lizzy!" Kat yelled, but there was a smile not quite hidden in the corner of her mouth.
Lizzy just rolled her eyes at her mother. "Anyway, yeah, that's why he gets so mad when it looks like Sigfried is gonna break the spell."
Brunelle frowned. He was interested in the story, but had no idea how the ballet had told it. "How does he break the spell?"
"Well, he doesn't," Lizzy answered. "The spell will be broken if he pledges his undying love to Odette, but he screws it up."
"I thought he did that at the party scene." Brunelle recalled the dancer on one knee pantomiming giving his heart to the beautiful princess. "When Odette was dressed all in black."
Lizzy and Kat both just stared at him for a second.
Lizzy turned to her mother. "Where did you dig him up, mom?"
Kat narrowed her eyes at Brunelle. "I thought you said you saw 'Black Swan'?"
Brunelle grinned. "I wasn't really paying attention to the plot."
Kat rolled her eyes and Lizzy giggled at her mom.
"That wasn't Odette, Sherlock," Kat growled. "You might have caught that if you hadn't been looking at—"
"Of course it was Odette," Brunelle drew on his courtroom experience to block the next words. "It was the same dancer."
"Right," Lizzy agreed, returning momentarily to her ice cream. "But she was playing a different part. Odile, an evil twin of Odette, created by Rothbart to trick Sigfried."
Brunelle almost dropped his spoon. "Oh. Oh, my God."
Kat laughed at her date. "Pretty evil, huh?"
"No," Brunelle replied. "Brilliant."
"Brilliant?" scoffed Lizzy. "He's the bad guy."
"Yeah," Brunelle smiled. "But what if the good guy did it?"
He raised an eyebrow at Kat and motioned toward Lizzy. "Whattaya think? Her voice is a dead ringer for Holly."
"Holly?" Kat's eyes flew wide. "The girl from the reports? Oh, no, David Brunelle. No, no, no, no!"
Brunelle tried to turn on the charm. "So you'll consider it?"
Kat's wide eyes narrowed into angry slits. "I can't believe you'd even suggest something like that!"
Lizzy reached out and placed a hand on her mother's arm. "What is it, mom? Is there something I can do to help?"
Kat spun to face her daughter. "You are not, repeat
not
, going into the King County Jail pretending to be the girlfriend of some homicidal maniac in the hopes that he says something incriminating to you."
Lizzy's face squished into a frown, but she didn't try to argue any more. So Brunelle did.
"Odile did it," he tried.
Kat's scowl melted, despite her obvious effort to stay angry. "You idiot. Odile was the evil twin, created by the bad guy, to defeat the heroes."
Brunelle smiled back. "Yeah, but otherwise it's a great analogy."
Kat crossed her arms. "Mr. Brunelle," she said evenly, "you promise me right now you will not send my daughter into jail wearing a wire to get a confession from that psychopath."
Brunelle took a deep breath, then sighed. He raised his right hand. "I promise."
Kat nodded. "Good."
Brunelle looked at Lizzy. She shrugged at him. But instead of shrugging back, Brunelle smiled, and winked.
It was a bad idea, he knew. But it was better than the no ideas he had otherwise. Karpati was going to walk. They had no evidence against him other than Holly's testimony. But Holly wasn't going to talk, which meant Karpati would be on the street in a matter of weeks. There weren't even jail calls between them. None they could find anyway. She was just that damn scared of him. Without Chen and McCall browbeating her—something Judge Quinn was highly unlikely to allow—Holly wasn't going to say anything.
Brunelle couldn't even hope for a vengeful jury ready to convict with insufficient evidence. The judge would never let it get that far. Motion to dismiss granted, a murderer on the street, a girl in prison for something someone else did, and a smarmy defense attorney slapping him on the back on his way to his next big fee.
Which is why when his phone rang that Monday afternoon, Brunelle listened, considered his options, and then—against his better judgment—said, "Yes."
"Thanks again for offering to do this, Lizzy," Brunelle said the next afternoon as they stood in the jail lobby, waiting to be buzzed inside.
"I'm kinda surprised you said yes," Lizzy replied. "You promised mom you wouldn't do it."
"I promised her you wouldn't wear a wire," Brunelle replied. "Which is true. We're not gonna have you walk up to him and pretend you're Holly. He's not blind. We're gonna put you in the holding cell next to him and tell him Holly's in there. So, a wire wouldn't be any good for that anyway. Too far away."
Lizzy laughed. "Mom's gonna kill you."
Brunelle nodded. "You still sure you want to do this?"
"That's why I called you," Lizzy answered. "Mom told me what they did to that girl. If I can help, I want to help."
Brunelle was impressed by the girl's sense of duty and altruism.
"Besides," she went on, "I wanna be a detective when I grow up, so being a confidential informant at fourteen will look great on my resume."
Or not.
Brunelle nodded.
Kids these days.
"So," Lizzy beamed, "what's the plan, boss?"
***
"I assure you, officer," Brunelle could hear Karpati telling the jail guard over the speakers, "I do not have court today."
"You're on the docket, Karpati," the corrections officer grumbled back. "That's all I need to know. Now get into holding cell number three and be quiet."
"Would you mind telling me the nature of the hearing?"
It really pissed Brunelle off that Karpati could speak so politely. He was gonna be a good witness. Damn it.
"Says here," the guard flipped through his sheaf of papers, "'Motion to Join Codefendants for Trial.'"
Brunelle was watching the scene unfold via the closed circuit television cameras that hung from the secure holding cell area behind the courtrooms. It was poor quality video, filmed at a strange downward angle, but he was pretty sure he saw Karpati frown.
"I don't have a codefendant," Karpati protested even as they reached holding cell number three.
The guard looked down at his papers again. "'Holly Sandholm,'" he read. "Says she's on for arraignment in adult court too. They musta transferred her case."
Karpati frowned again as he looked down in thought.
The guard laughed. "Congrats, you've got a trial buddy. Now get in there."
He half-pushed Karpati into the small, windowless room, and secured the door. Then he turned down the hall and yelled, "Sandholm! Cell four!"
***
Lizzy walked confidently down the cement hallway to cell number four. Brunelle was impressed. Chen not so much.
"You sure this is a good idea?" he asked as they both hunched over the monitor. "She looks awful young."
"She is awful young," Brunelle answered. "But damn, she sounds just like Holly. If she sticks to 'Uh-huh's and 'Mm-hmm's, Karpati should buy it."
Chen nodded. "Welles is gonna be pissed."
Brunelle laughed a bit. "Good."
***
The cell door slammed behind Lizzy and now all they could do was listen, and hope Karpati said something stupid.
The whole gambit was based on some dubious psychological profile Brunelle had attributed to Karpati. Karpati was a control freak—among other things. That's why he'd hired Welles, the best of the best, and a control freak himself. As long as he was getting three hots and a cot and Welles was at his side for every court date, then he was in control. Like the psychopath in the movie, straight-jacketed and a hockey-mask over his mouth to protect the young cop. He couldn't move, but he was still in control. Polite and courteous and prepared to eat your throat out if the opportunity presented itself.
But control is all about knowing what's coming next. Take the psychopath out of his element, sever him from his expected lines of information (
Why hadn't Welles told him about this hearing?
), and the discomfort level rises. Control freak wants control back, and after all, he's still a freak.
"Arpad?" Lizzy whispered. Smart. A whisper would be harder to recognize as not Holly.
Karpati didn't reply.
"Arpad?" she whispered again, but louder so it was more of a raspy yell.
"Shut the fuck up," Karpati replied.
Lizzy waited a few seconds. "Sorry, I thought you'd know what's going on."
Nice. Appeal to that control freak vanity. Girl had a future as a detective.
Karpati only hesitated for moment before replying, "I mean shut the fuck up about the case. Don't say shit. They're trying to scare you into testifying against me."
"I am scared, Arpad." The whisper was working. She kept it up. And short sentences. Excellent.
"Don't be. You'll be fine. Just don't snitch me out."
If Brunelle had been impressed with Lizzy so far, he was amazed by the next level. She turned on the water works. Fuck detective, the girl had a future in Hollywood.
"My lawyer says I'll get life!"
"Shut up, damn it. Shut up!"
Control freak doesn't like crying. Brunelle filed that away.
"Just don't say shit and we'll both be okay."
"My lawyer says," Lizzy half-whispered, half-sobbed, "if I don't say anything,
you'll
be fine. But I'm going to prison for the rest of my li-li-life!"
Brunelle leaned toward the monitor. If this was gonna work, here was where it would work. Moment of truth. Chen leaned forward a bit too.
"Listen to me, Holly. You don't say shit. I tell you what to do and you do it. Period. That's how it's always been. You agreed to that. And nothing changes just because I'm in here. I say knock on the door, you knock on the door. And I say shut up, you shut up. Got it?"
Lizzy paused, being sure to produce a few audible sniffles.
"Got it," she whined. Then, improv-style, "I love you."
Brunelle saw Karpati's mouth curve into a smug grim. "Damn right you do. Now shut the fuck up."
Brunelle leaned back in his chair and gave Chen the thumbs-up to get Lizzy out of there. After Chen hung up with the corrections officers, he turned back to Brunelle. "So, what do you think?"
"It wasn't a confession," Brunelle smiled. "But it'll do. If nothing else, I've got an iron clad case of witness tampering."
Chen raised a finger. "Ah, but Lizzy's not a witness."
Brunelle's smile faded just a bit as he considered his inevitable conversation with the assistant medical examiner. "She is now."