The Gods of Guilt(21)

As it turned out, the caller was Ramsey’s former best friend—that is, until she felt she was unfairly left out of the riches bestowed on Ramsey. Court-ordered wiretaps ensued, and soon enough Ramsey, her boyfriend, and his partner in the robbery were arrested. The Office of the Public Defender took on Underwood’s defense, which put it in conflict with Ramsey’s, and so her file was shuttled to me. It was a low-cost, low-probability case, but Ramsey refused to plead it out. She wanted to go to trial, and I had no choice but to take her there. It wasn’t going to end pretty.

Being reminded of the hearing shot holes in the engine block of my day’s momentum. My groan did not go unnoticed by Lorna.

“You want me to try to postpone it?” she offered.

I thought about it. I was tempted.

“You want me to take it?” Jennifer offered.

Of course she wanted it. She’d take any criminal case I’d give her.

“No, it’s a dog,” I said. “I can’t do that to you. Lorna, see what you can do. I want to run with La Cosse today if I can.”

“I’ll let you know.”

Everyone was either grabbing a final doughnut or heading to the door.

“Okay, then, everybody’s got their assignments and knows what they’re doing on this,” I said. “Stay in touch and let me know what you know.”

I made another cup of coffee and was the last one out. Earl was waiting with the car in the back parking lot. I told him to head downtown to the courthouse and to stay off the freeway. I wanted to get there in time to talk to Andre La Cosse before they hauled him before the judge.





7





I had fifteen minutes with my client before he would be herded into the courtroom with several other custodies for first appearances before a judge. He was in a crowded holding cell off the arraignment court and I had to lean close to the bars and whisper so the other men in the cell wouldn’t hear.

“Andre, we don’t have a lot of time here,” I said. “In a few minutes you’ll be taken into the courtroom to see the judge. It will be short and sweet, the charges will be read and they’ll set a date for your arraignment.”

“Don’t I plead not guilty?”

“No, not yet. This is just a formality. After you get arrested they have forty-eight hours to put you before a judge to get the ball rolling. This will be very brief.”

“What about bail?”

“You won’t make bail unless that gold brick you sent us is just one of many. You’re charged with murder. They will set bail, but on the low end it will probably be two million, maybe two and a half. That’s a two-hundred-thousand-dollar bond. You have that much gold? You don’t get it back, you know.”

He slumped and pressed his forehead against the bars that separated us.

“I can’t stand this place.”

“I know, but you’ve got no choice right now.”

“You said you could get me into another module?”

“Sure, I can do that. Give me the word and I’ll get you on keep-away status.”

“Do it. I don’t want to go back there.”

I leaned in closer and whispered lower.

“Did something happen to you last night in there?”

“No, but there are animals in there. I don’t want to be there.”

I didn’t tell him that no matter where he was placed in the jail complex, he wasn’t going to like it. The animals were everywhere.

“I’ll bring it up with the judge,” I said instead. “Now I want to ask you a couple things about the case before we go in there, okay?”

“Go ahead. You got the gold?”

“Yes, I got the gold. More than we asked for but it will all go toward your defense, and if it doesn’t get used, the remainder goes back to you. I have a receipt for you if you want it, but I don’t think you want to carry around a piece of paper in Men’s Central that shows you’ve got money.”

“No, you’re right. Keep it for now.”

“Okay. Now the questions. Did Giselle have any kind of security that you know about?”

He shook his head like he wasn’t sure but then answered.

“She had a burglar alarm but I don’t know if she ever used it and I—”

“No, I mean people. Did she have like a bodyguard or somebody that ran security for her when she went out on calls or dates or whatever you call them?”

“Oh, no, none that she ever told me about. She had a driver and she could call him if there was a problem but he usually just stayed in the car.”

“My next question was about the driver. Who was he and how do I reach him?”

“His name is Max and he was a friend of hers. He had a different job during the day and drove her at night. She basically just worked at nights.”