”We haven’t gotten that far.“
”I’ll bet you any amount of money that Drew will demand to tell the jury his side of the story.“
Quentin goes absolutely still. ”Tell me he’s not that stupid.“
”If he’s innocent, that’s what he’ll do.“
”If the police somehow tie him to the murder scene, Shad will have to let us know that before the trial. He has to, according to the rules of discovery. If that happens, I’ll still have time to put Drew on the stand and let him tell his story. At least that’s a margin of safety.“
”Is it? You said yourself that Shad would break the rules.“
”If he withholds evidence, it’s grounds for a mistrial.“
I mull this over. ”You’re forgetting that Sheriff Byrd is on Shad’s side. What if Byrd were to pretend that his men found such evidence
Quentin gives me a hard look. ”That’s not the road I want to take.“
”Your client may not give you any choice.“
The lawyer laughs bitterly. ”
I’m about to bring up another problem when my cell phone rings. It’s Caitlin.
”What’s up?“
”Judge Minor just set the trial date,“ she says. ”Next Wednesday.“
My blood pressure plummets. ”Did he make any official statement to the media?“
”No. I got this from a guy in the circuit clerk’s office.“
”Did you have to flirt to get it?“
”A little.“ She laughs. ”This is bad for Drew, isn’t it?“
”Not necessarily. Call me if you get anything else.“ I hang up and set my phone on the coffee table.
Quentin watches me expectantly.
”Next Wednesday.“
His mouth falls open. ”You’re shitting me.“
”Wednesday, baby.“
”I’ll give Shad credit. That little son of a bitch plays hardball.“
”I’m afraid we’ve got another problem. As soon as Drew was indicted by the grand jury, that put him into the state system. That means he has to be transferred from police custody to the sheriff’s department. The county jail. My guess is, Sheriff Byrd will move him today. He hasn’t yet, because Chief Logan promised to warn me about any problems. But we need to warn Drew.“
”Worst-case scenario,“ Quentin says.
”Billy Byrd locks Drew into an interrogation room without either of us there and sweats him under the lights.“
”Drew doesn’t strike me as the type who would crack under that kind of pressure.“
”He won’t crack, but his desire to explain his innocence might cause him to make statements against his interest.“
Quentin shakes his head. ”Do you really think he’d talk to the sheriff at this point without me present?“
”In a word? Yes.“
”Goddamn it.“ Quentin reaches down and begins strapping on his artificial foot. ”I thought doctors were supposed to save lives, not put you in an early grave.“
”I appreciate you doing this, Quentin.“
The old lawyer looks up at me, his eyes curious. ”Tell me this. Now that Doug Jones has stepped down, are you going to announce for mayor?“
I can’t help but laugh. ”My significant other is not in favor of the idea.“
Quentin finishes with the limb and sits up. ”Who wears the pants in your family, man?“
”That depends on the issue.“
”Well, no matter what you do, Shad has to wait until the end of the trial to announce. That’s why he’s rushing this circus, and why I’ve got less than a week to prepare for trial.“
”Yep.“
Quentin grins. ”Ain’t politics something?“
”Do you still feel the same about Cyrus White?“
”What do you mean?“
”You want me not to find him?“
Quentin folds his arms and fixes his eyes on me with unsettling intensity. ”Do you really think Drew is innocent?“
”I do.“
”Then I’ll tell you what I want.“ He picks up his car keys and jabs them at me. ”I want you to find me that girl’s killer. Fast.“
Chapter 31
At just after 9 p.m., I reenter Quentin’s suite, this time with Mia and a male friend of hers in tow. Quentin and Doris are sleeping in a smaller room down the hall, so that this one can be used for business at all hours. Caitlin is spending the night at my house with Annie. I feel guilty about asking her, but it was the only way I could free Mia to work with me and also be sure that Caitlin wouldn’t discover what we were doing.
Mia’s friend is a high school sophomore who dresses like a New York investment banker. The only openly gay student at St. Stephen’s, Lucien Morse is as slender as a sword and has short, glistening black hair. I met him only ten minutes ago, but I know one thing already-his eyes don’t remain still for longer than three seconds.
Lucien is here to hack Kate Townsend’s USB flash drives.
I’d planned to overnight the drives to a computer security firm in Houston, but when Mia heard me making the arrangements, she told me I could save at least a day by having a friend of hers hack them. I was skeptical at first, but she assured me that this particular tenth-grader was capable of doing the job. Mia’s price for arranging this service? That she be allowed to see what’s on the drives after they’re hacked. Desperate to see the contents as quickly as possible, I agreed. Computer hackers aren’t thick on the ground in Natchez, Mississippi.
Lucien Morse isn’t short on confidence. When I opened my leather portfolio downstairs and showed him what I had, he rolled his eyes and asked me where the nearest computer was. Now that we’re in the suite, I point to the Dell that one of Quentin’s young lawyers installed here yesterday. Lucien walks to the machine and plugs one of the flash drives into a USB port.
”The thing about these little wankers,“ he says, ”is that the security isn’t fundamental. It’s basically obfuscation. I ought to have it open in less than five minutes.“
”Remember,“ I tell him, ”the second you break in, you get up from the monitor and walk away. You don’t look at the files. Even if a full-screen picture pops up, you shut your eyes and walk away.“
”Touchy, touchy.“
”Your payment is dependent on that condition.“
”Five hundred dollars?“ Lucien says, rapidly tapping at the keyboard. ”Right?“
”Five hundred.“
”Easy money.“
I set my portfolio on the coffee table. It still contains Kate’s private journal and Marko Bakic’s flash drive. My plan is to have Mia try to put a time line to the list of men and boys in Kate’s ”hook-ups“ lists, but only after Lucien leaves.
”Can we order tea or something?“ Mia asks.
”Order whatever you want. Drew’s paying for it.“
She picks up the hotel phone and dials room service. She starts to order, then stops in midsentence and pulls
