As I sat there looking at the walls of the same interview room I’d been in only the night before, he was all I could think about. He’s been given that name not because of his height or weight, but because he was a heavyweight in the local legal community. Normally, I wouldn’t be able to afford someone of his caliber, but I’d known him since he was just Clarence Knox of Studebaker Elementary. Nothing big about him—just another kid trying to make it through the day with his lunch money and his dignity. And in one of the few lucky decisions of my life, I had made a friend of him by stopping some of the other kids from picking on him.
And we were virtually inseparable since then. We were on the same little league teams. We went to middle school and high school together, played on the same varsity teams (though I got a lot more playing time). We took the same classes (though he did a lot better in them). We drank Icehouse or Hawkeye Vodka or Tortilla Tequila together as we went to the same parties. He went to college while I started at the academy, but we still stayed in touch. I visited him a couple times. He graduated his college class as valedictorian and went on to law school, as I was pounding my beat. And even as he’s become one of the more respected legal minds in the state and earned the nickname “Big Man” with high-profile wins and a boat load of the state’s biggest names as clients, we still have a weekly drink--unless either of us have a huge case that absolutely won’t allow it. He’s drinking good whiskey, and I’m drinking good beer, but other than that, things are pretty much the same as they were when we were sitting at the ugly orange tables in the cafeteria of Studebaker.
And now he represents me when I run into the occassional scrape. Won’t charge me either. That thought had me smiling widely even before I heard him walk into the police station and yell at either Edna or Chance, or both.
“He has the right to an attorney whether he’s charged or not, and you both know it. If either of you want to continue working in this department doing more than handing out jaywalking tickets, you’ll point me in the right direction and give me five minutes with him.” It’s hard to believe anyone ever tried to pick on Clarence. Sometimes I think part of the reason he’s such a passionate advocate is because he remembers having his face pushed in the grass and knowing there wasn’t anything he could do about it.
After a moment of silence, the door to the interview room swung open and Clarence walked through. His hand grabbed the edge of the door and he slammed the door behind him as Chance stood there looking in at the back of the Big Man’s head.
“I swear, if it weren’t for thug cops I wouldn’t even want to be a lawyer.” He said as the redness drained from his face and a smile snuck up the left side of his face.
“You always make an impression CK.” I’ve always called him CK. I guess I could call him Big Man, but it doesn’t really seem to encapsulate the man like the dumb nickname he’s had since he was 8.
“That I do.” He took a deep breath and let it out as he sat at the table across from me. “So. What’s this all about?”
I ran down the whole story for him, from the mysterious client to the check at the first crime scene and the arrival at the second crime scene. He took some quick notes and when I was finished he looked at me. “So,” he said quizzically, “they have nothing concrete on you, but they’ve dragged you down here twice to talk about it?”
“Basically.”
“Well. You should’ve called me last time, because then there wouldn’t be a this time.”
“Gotta be friendly with some cops in my business CK.”
“If you say so. Well, when they come back in, I want you to say nothing. If you say anything we’ll be here for another half hour. You stay quiet, we’re out of here in five minutes.”
“Got it.” We sat quietly for a second while we waited. “So how’s Brenda?”
“She’s good. You know, keeping busy.” Brenda was his wife. They’d met in college when they were working in the library together. First time I met her, she hated me. Couldn’t really blame her, because the first impression she got of me was when I called her husband to bail me out after my incident with Mindy James. But, I’d managed to win her over after years of trying. “She isn’t happy unless she’s working.”
The door swung open and Edna stepped through. “You two ready to chat?”
Chance walked in behind her slowly and closed the door quietly behind him. Clarence moved around to the seat beside me and sat smiling up at her. “As much as we’d like to cooperate with your investigation, we don’t think we can be of anymore help. So, we’ll be going.”
She smiled back at him. “I think you’re both gonna want to stick around.”
Chance sat down, quietly, intently staring at the Big Man. I’m guessing Chance hadn’t been talked to like that in a long while.
“Any particular reason for that?”
“We found his fingerprints at the site of the most recent murder.” The breath jumped out of my mouth as if I’d been punched in the chest, but Clarence didn’t bat an eyelash.
“That could mean just about anything.” It probably did mean I was staying around here a little longer, I thought to myself.
“Well. Finding his fingerprints at one murder. Finding him at the other. Yeah, that could mean something.” She said as she pulled her chair out slowly and sat down. “What it means now is that your client is sticking around for a while.”
She set a file down on the table and my eyes went to it. Plain brown paper file. No writing on it. I could tell there was something in it, but I couldn’t tell what. Which is just what she wanted. For all I know she’s got her grocery list and a phone bill in there.
“So, why would we find your fingerprints at the scene of a murder [gumshoe]?” Her face hadn’t stopped smiling since she walked in. Chance, on the other hand, hadn’t stopped looking at Clarence.
A good lawyer doesn’t let you answer a question unless he knows the answer or he knows you won’t hurt yourself. Clarence gave me a nod, knowing I wouldn’t be dumb enough to incriminate myself on this question.
“If I knew where we were talking about, I might be able to help you guys out.” I remained polite, as if what this was turning out to be wasn’t a worry to me.
“We’ll get to that.” Chance spoke so quietly I wasn’t sure he’d spoken for a minute.
“Yes,” Edna continued. “Let’s start with telling you some facts.” This was a game Edna liked to play with suspects. She’d lay out some of the facts, keep tight control over the information, and lay it out in a way that made the suspect look completely guilty. “First we’ve got evidence of you being at both crime scenes. Then we’ve got the similarities of this case to the one you were a suspect in not all that long ago. Then we’ve got your lame alibi, which doesn’t stand up and which no jury would believe. That’s almost enough to get you convicted right there.”
She paused. Clarence and I sat there quietly.
“Of course, then you visit the first crime scene. That doesn’t help you look innocent.”
“I’m sure I could make the case that it makes your partner look suspicious too. Or incompetent.” Clarence continued to speak even as Chance glared at him with an anger I was starting to find amusing. “And nothing else is anything more than circumstantial evidence that doesn’t add up to anything. Please, get somewhere or we’re leaving.”
“So, you don’t recognize the apartment complex?” Chance spoke, but still didn’t take his eyes off of Clarence.
Clarence shook his head and I stopped before I even realized I was about to answer. “Don’t answer that.”
“It’s always the innocent guys who hide behind their lawyer.” It was the first moment that Clarence actually took notice of Chance’s continued glare. For a second I thought they were gonna start punching each other, but then Clarence shrugged it off and turned back to Edna.
“Detective Muldoon, we’ve run into each other more than once and I’ve never jerked you around. And I’ve liked that you’ve never jerked me around. So please, let’s dispense with all this. You’re not going to get a confession from [gumshoe]. So, if you want to ask some questions, just give me a reason to stay.”
She sized him up. “We just found the body of Jane Hernandez.”
His voice trembled only a little bit, but it was enough for me to know the Big Man was worried. “I’m gonna need a moment alone with my client before we can answer your questions.”
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