Chapter 36

Andy Benedict, Hugh’s lawyer, took off his glasses, set them on the plastic table and dug his fingertips into the outer corners of his eyelids.

“Aaron Diaz,” said Benedict.

“Yes,” said Hugh.

“The grandfather is on the father’s side? Not maternal?”

“I’m . . . not sure.”

“We’ll start out with Diaz.” Benedict slipped on his glasses, took up his pen and made a few more notes.

“I didn’t take the photo.”

“Of course. Bad timing, that’s all.”

“I’ve got to get out of here,” said Hugh.

“You understand that this,” Benedict gestured, “is not a misdemeanor.”

Hugh met Benedict’s gaze. Hugh had been incarcerated for twenty-four hours, not a moment of which had he slept. He couldn’t think clearly about the crime he was charged with, and he could not think at all about the implications of a dead body resting one hundred yards from his home. He wanted to blurt that out to Benedict too. But it would be too much. Too much of a shitstorm.

“You said you’d check on bail?” asked Hugh.

“Right now it’s at a half million. I’ll try to get it down.” Benedict closed his notebook. “Never give a student a ride, right?”

Takumi and Hitoshi meant nothing to the attorney. Hugh was in the here and now. Anna’s photo. Benedict shook Hugh’s hand and told him not to worry.

Hugh worried.