“This is fucking bullshit! I ain’t pleadin’ to no deal,” Beaumont said emphatically, dashing any hope he would take a plea deal. He plopped down in the plastic chair. His wrists and ankles were shackled.
“That’s fine,” Beckett replied. “I had an ethical obligation to let you know they offered a deal. They want you to serve-”
“No! Fuck no! No deal. I said ‘no deal’,” Beaumont barked in cadence.
“All right, you have the right to reject their deal.”
“’Course I got the right. I know my rights.” Beaumont frowned at Corbin. “You still here?”
“Where else would I be?” Corbin replied indifferently.
“Back at yo’ foundation.”
By this time, Beckett had warned Corbin to expect Beaumont to question his story about belonging to a foundation which represents people who are unfairly targeted by the police.
“I’m here to help you,” Corbin said without conviction.
“I ain’t never heard of no foundation.”
“You’ve never heard of the Magna Carta either, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. You want us to leave?” Corbin’s tone made it clear he didn’t care whether or not they continued to represent Beaumont.
“They’ve got a lot of evidence against you,” Beckett interjected, trying to change the topic before Corbin changed Beaumont’s mind about letting them represent him. He spread the file out across the table.
“Yeah, well that’s bullshit,” Beaumont replied with great hostility.
“Drop the act, partner. We’re here to help you,” Corbin shot back.
“Whoa! Everybody calm down,” Beckett commanded, placing his hand in the air between Corbin and Beaumont. “Beaumont, we’re here to help you. Just tell us your side.”
“There ain’t no side, man! Cops set me up.”
“Give me a break,” Corbin said, rolling his eyes.
“Give you a break?! You ain’t the one got the man kickin’ down yo’ door, waving his standard issue in yo’ face. Cops been on me for years.”
“Oh bull! I’ve seen the evidence. You’re guilty as hell. The jury’s gonna beg to convict you.”
“Calm down guys, this isn’t helping,” Beckett said. “I believe you, Beaumont.”
“Don’t gimme that!” Beaumont exploded again. “I ain’t no fool. You don’t believe me. You just here to punch some ticket.”
“That’s not true. I honestly believe you. That’s why we’re here.”
Beaumont stared at Beckett for several seconds. Then he lowered his voice and said, “The cops set me up. I did not do this thing.”
“Tell us what happened.”
“I didn’t do nothin’. First I heard about this identity shit, that cop come blastin’ into my place, jam his piece into the back of my head, and start beatin’ me while his buddies laughed. Then they drop all this evidence and haul my ass off.”
Beckett picked up Corbin’s notes and flipped through several pages. “Where were you on June 14?”
“Let me check my day planner,” Beaumont replied sarcastically. “How am I supposed to know where I was on June 14th? Do you know where you was on June 14th?”
“I do,” Corbin said, followed by a short cynical laugh. June 14th was the day Beckett and Alvarez opened the accounts.
Beckett shot Corbin a nasty look before refocusing on Beaumont. “Have you ever been in Penn Bancorp?”
“No.”
“The manager claims you opened an account there on June 14th.”
“Never happened. Never been in that bank,” Beaumont said rhythmically.
“How about First Regional. The prosecutor claims you opened an account at First Regional Bank on June 14th as well.”
“Never been there neither.”
“They have a teller who claims she can identify you.”
“She’s lying.”
“They have a video from First Regional with you on it.”
“Let me see the video and I can tell you.”
“This is a waste of time!” Corbin declared. He rose from his seat and reached for the file, causing Beaumont to pushed his chair away from the table.
“Everybody hold on!” Beckett commanded. He signaled Corbin to step outside.
“This is a waste of time,” Corbin repeated to Beckett, as Beaumont watched them through the glass. “He may not have done this, but he’s lying to us about being in these banks. How are we supposed to help him if he lies to us?”
“That’s what you get in the system. Every one of these guys lies through their teeth. They want to control the story. They come up with something they think they can sell and they stick with it. They lie to the cops. They lie to the jury. They lie to the judge. They even lie to their lawyers.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. We’re his lawyers. We’re here to help him.”
Beckett shrugged his shoulders and folded his arms. “Not in his world. I’ve met hundreds of guys like him. Every one of them lied. Not one of them trusted me, at least not at first. Every one of them thinks they can control what happens by lying. They all think they’re the cleverest liar on the planet and the story they’ve come up with is a better story than the truth.”
“Well this guy is lying himself right into a conviction. You’ve seen the file. You know they can put him in those two banks. If he sticks with his story that he’s never been there, then he’s doomed.”
Beckett swayed back and forth, something he did whenever he was deep in thought. “We need to rattle his confidence. We need him to realize he’s out of his league this time, that his lies won’t work. I hate doing that though, because it can ruin the attorney-client relationship.”
“I’ll do it. I deposed witnesses for my uncle when he was busy.” During law school, Corbin worked for his uncle’s law practice.
Beckett nodded his head. “Ok. Hit him with everything in the file, twist him around as much as you can. You need to shake him. I’ll play good cop when the time is right. Don’t worry about the rules of evidence or admissibility, he won’t know the difference, so I’ll let you get away with more than you could at trial.”
Returning to the visitation room, Corbin reviewed his notes as Beckett explained that Corbin would go over the prosecution’s case with Beaumont. Beckett would observe.
“You claim you’ve never been in First Regional Bank?” Corbin began.
“That’s what I said.”
“And you don’t have an account there either?”
“Of course not, I never been there,” Beaumont replied condescendingly.
“The prosecutor has a video that disagrees with you. It shows you in First Regional.”
“Let me see the video.”
“You’ll see the video at trial. I’ve seen it, and there’s no mistaking you,” Corbin lied. He’d only seen a description of the video at this point.
Beaumont glanced at Beckett. “This is all attorney-client shit, right?”
“Yes,” Beckett responded.
“You can’t tell nobody what I say?”
“No one.”
Beaumont folded his arms and returned his attention to Corbin. “I was there with a friend.”
“You’re alone on the video,” Corbin countered.
Beaumont shrugged.
“If you don’t have an account at the bank and you weren’t there with a friend, why were you there?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Was it because you have a fake account there in some other name?”
“No.”
“So you just like hanging out at First Regional?” Corbin asked snidely. When Beaumont refused to answer,
