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Dan almost tiptoed as he entered the District Attorney’s office. Not that he’d never been here before. But most prosecutors saw defense attorneys as the enemy. The DAs were the thin blue line separating civilization from chaos—while the defense attorneys were the chaos. Some of that rep was deserved. The prosecution had law enforcement on their side, which gave them a huge advantage at trial. If defense attorneys didn’t attempt to undermine police testimony, they were likely to lose. So they used every trick they knew to make the police officers look foolish. Undesirable, but necessary.
Dan preferred to be respectful to police officers—and then once he had them off guard, drop the hammer.
Jake Kakazu sat in the outer office. “Hey, Dan, what brings you into the enemy camp?”
“Just got a meeting. Nothing important.”
Jake placed a hand on his shoulder, an uncommonly friendly gesture from a police detective. “Crazy days here lately, huh?”
“Agreed.”
“Hey—do you really have a sister?”
“I do not.”
Jake nodded. “Just as well. Don’t think we could handle two Pikes in the courthouse. We’d never convict anyone.”
Jazlyn’s assistant waived Dan inside.
Jazlyn was seated behind the biggest desk he had ever seen in his life, stacked with the tallest piles of paper he had ever seen in his life. The scene was less reminiscent of a law office and more reminiscent of the last scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
On a window shelf behind the desk, he spotted snaps of Jazlyn and Esperanza. Some were posed but all made it perfectly evident how much the two adored one another. What surprised him was the photo in the rear, a solo of Jazlyn in jodphurs—on a horse.
“You’re an equestrian!” he said, eyes wide. “An equestrianess. Whatever the term is.”
“Just go with—I ride horses.”
“How long has this been going on?”
“All my life.”
“How many horses do you have?”
“Two. I’ve had Buttermilk for years, but I just bought a pony. You know, for Esperanza. I’m teaching her to ride.”
“You’ve never once mentioned this.”
“Oh, I have many dark secrets.”
“Really? Spill.”
“Not a chance.” She glanced at the photo. “I don’t get out to the stable as often as I’d like. You remember what Ronald Reagan said, about the outside of a horse being good for the inside of a person? I used to write that off as homespun scripted balderdash. But actually—he was right. It’s my favorite spare-time activity.”
“I taught you to kitesurf.”
“Yeah...lots of splashing around. Not really my thing.”
“How do you like being in charge of everything? No boss. No one controlling your hours. Lots of time to...ride horses.”
“Almost everything you just said is wrong. I don’t like being in charge of everything. I have no control over my schedule, and I have little to no time to do anything fun. I can’t even try cases anymore. I have to assign everything out so I can deal with paperwork.”
“That sounds nightmarish.”
“It is. But you didn’t come to hear me whine. What’s up?”
“You’ve heard about my lawsuit against Sweeney?”
“Do I live in a cave?”
“We’re going to depose Bradley Ellison tomorrow. He’s the guy who testified that my father was the shooter.”
“Sounds like a good place to start.”
“Know anything about him?”
“Not really. He retired before I got out of law school.”
“Any chance he was dirty?”
“That’s not what the SPPD boys say. They still consult with him on cases. No, the one they say was dirty was...you know. Your dad.”
“Those are lies. They just say that because he was convicted.”
“I believe you. Who was your dad’s partner?”
“Don’t know.”
“You should find out. And talk to him. He might say things in a one-on-one convo that he wouldn’t say in a deposition with a court reporter and a bunch of guys in suits listening.”
“Exactly what I was thinking.” He paced around the perimeter of the office, drinking in the diplomas, the awards, and photographs of Jazlyn with two different governors. “I need more information about what happened to my father.”
“Aren’t all the files and transcripts public record now?”
“The court records, yes. But they don’t tell much. Bradley Ellison claimed he saw my father shoot a fellow officer, my dad didn’t take the stand, and the jury put him away for life. What I want are the police records.”
“Have you asked the police?”
“Yeah. That got me nothing. I filed forms, they made excuses.”
“Freedom of Information of Act?”
“Might get me docs in federal possession, but what I want are the files in the bowels of the SPPD.”
“They might not exist anymore. You should file a subpoena.”
“Already done. Opposed by the other side. They say what happened twenty-odd years ago isn’t relevant to the defamation.”
“They have a point.”
“Which is why I came to you.”
Jazlyn flopped down in her chair. “You want me to lean on the cops. To help a defense attorney.”
“I probably wouldn’t put it exactly that way...”
“You realize I have no authority there at all. You should be talking to the chief of police.”
“That’s a brick wall and we both know it. You decide whether the cases they investigate go to trial. They want you on their side.”
“How would I explain why I’m helping a defense attorney? Worse, helping an attorney trying to exonerate a guy accused of killing one of their own? I wouldn’t even know where to start.”
He looked her straight in the eye. “Jazlyn—if you’re going to sit in the big chair, you have to make the tough choices.”
“So now you’re a motivational speaker?”
“No. But you know it’s true.”
She let out a huge sigh. A moment later, she swiveled her chair and gazed out the window onto a busy downtown street. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Meaning?”
“I’ll talk to the records officer. But only because you’re a good friend, and I know if I needed anything you’d do it for me in a heartbeat.”
“True dat.”
She hesitated. “And I kinda like you.”
“Uh...you...”
“After all, it’s only because of you that I got the biggest source of joy I’ve ever had in my entire life.”
He smiled. “You mean Esperanza.”
“I do. Biggest source of worry, insecurity, and stress I’ve ever had in my entire life, too. But she has made my life so much better. She puts a smile on my face each and every day.” She grabbed the phone. “So no promises. But I’ll make the call.”