“‘Why?’ you ask? Well, like I said, Franklin was the son of one of the judges. So not only did I receive an indictment for intoxication manslaughter, but also one for intoxication assault against Franklin. They showed images of Franklin’s injuries, even though there were none. He testified to the viability of these claims though. How he was newly married to the love of his life and after a dinner for their anniversary, some drunk came through the intersection, running a stop sign, causing him to hit their car, and his wife to be ejected through the windshield. He cried and put on a show, they all did. The things they said about me, I could not believe. They assaulted my character and accused me of things I could never do. I thought there was still a chance, until the State presented - would you believe it - a toxicology report that showed that I had a BAC level of .19, over twice the legal limit. Anyway, the rest of the trial was a blur after that, and they sentenced me to twenty years in prison. I’m still technically on parole to this day.”
“Wow, that’s the craziest shit I’ve ever heard. See, that’s why I fuckin’ hate cops,” I said.
“You hate cops?”
“Hell yeah. They’re so crooked.”
“Well, I think you’re overstepping your generalization a bit,” Law said with his hand slightly raised.
“How do you mean?”
“Well, there’re good cops out there, really good cops; then there’s really bad cops, but that’s not the point. There is no generalization to be made for the group, there’s just good and bad representations of every group. No group defines the individual.”
“What about the KKK or Nazis?” I asked.
“All right. Well, you got me there. Just try not to generalize people into this ‘all or nothing’ category. Nothing is that black and white.”
“I’ll try. . .” I replied, not committing to the idea, “So then Franklin rose to the top and is about to become the mayor, the guy who runs the city?”
“Yeah, he seemed to springboard himself off of that, became the widower, victim, and most eligible bachelor. I’ve tried to keep tabs on him for years. I’ve watched what he’s become. It’s like he saw how he could take advantage of the gifted after what he did to me, and began seeking them out and using them any way he could. He always gets what he wants. However, for some people, the truth can haunt them into insanity. Their conscience grows. They evolve to this new level of humanity where hiding the truth is no longer an option. They must be set free, at whatever cost, so they don’t have to look over their shoulder anymore, so they don’t have to wait for the ax to drop.”
“Jeffrey Hooker approached me a while back. He told me something had been weighing on him for many years. I, of course, remembered Jeff from the trial. He had aged significantly since the last time I saw him, but I remember him in the courtroom. He sat with the District Attorney but never said a thing. He did not close, he did not question, he simply had this disillusioned expression the entire time. He told me he knew I wanted to become a lawyer and he asked me if I still wanted to. I told him yes, now more than ever. He wanted to know why. I told him so no gross injustice like what happened to me would ever happen to anyone else, if I had the opportunity to prevent it. He asked me what my ideal job was and what I would want to practice. And I told him ‘Well, sir, I want your job’. He said that he thought we could change what happened; that he had a recording that he believed had the capability to exonerate me. He played me that tape.”
Law pulled a tape recorder from his pocket and placed it on the table. He pressed play:
“I need you on our team, Hooker, are you with us?”
“What are we even talking about here? You can’t frame someone for some little frat boy’s fuck up,” came the voice of a much younger Jeff Hooker.
“We can’t have the son of a judge go to prison for murder”
“Oh, please. The court would gladly give that twit probation.”
“Watch the way you speak about my son,” came a third voice.
“Carl, please forgive Jeff. I think he’s just a little worried about what possible effects this could have on his future.”
“My future?” Jeff retorted, “What about Lawrence’s future? He’s just finished Law school for Christ’s sake. We know what that takes, and we’re willing to take that away from him? To go against the reason we became lawyers in the first place, what does that say about our entire career? What’s the point if we’re willing to do this?”
“Oh, come on, Jeff. So we’ll have one less low grade public defender in the pool of attorneys. We’re talking about ruining the reputation of the judge, of our office, our law enforcement. Our future District Attorney.”
“Are you seriously bribing me right now? You disgust me, Richard. Are all the other District Attorneys this corrupt?”
“Well yes,” Carl said with a laugh, Richard laughed, at Jeff’s naivety too.
“How do you think you’re going to be able to stand up in a court and prove this case to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt?”
“One of our troopers did us a little favor at the hospital. See they took
