Townsend that you shouldn't have a problem sticking with this as a non
capital case. You're in a liberal county where most people feel the
same way he does about the death penalty. In fact, according to our
research, your office seeks the death penalty in only a third of your
agg murder cases. Let me be blunt here; I'm not real impressed with
what I've seen so far in your office.'
I shouldn't have changed seats. Talking me down to my boss was bad
enough. But doing it in front of my coworkers was definitely
shin-kick-deserving behavior.
'Until we essentially served Jackson to them on a platter, the police
were content to sit back and assume this was a textbook case of 'the
husband must have done it.' I'm sure you have fine lawyers if given
the appropriate resources, but I also know what can happen when people
are overworked. Maybe to save resources, you go for the death penalty
hoping to plead it out to a life sentence. Given how this case
started, I would hope you would defer to Dr. Easterbrook's wishes. If
anyone has a right to dictate what happens to Melvin Jackson, he does.
If I feel like you've continued to ignore him, I'll follow up again
with the media.'
When I was with him, I had actually been attracted to Roger's
confidence. I understood now why everyone else had called it
arrogance, and I felt responsible that he was unleashing it on my
office. I couldn't stand another minute of it.
'Even for you, Roger, you are totally out of control.'
The table went silent. Roger looked smug, Duncan looked embarrassed,
every one else looked shocked, and I couldn't stop myself. 'What kind
of person can take Townsend Easterbrook's pain and parlay it into
billable hours and a chance for a few minutes in front of the cameras?
Stop thinking about yourself for one minute and you'd realize that the
screw up you keep rubbing in our faces had as much to do with the
owners of the office park who happen to be your clients as with the
police.'
'Samantha, you're embarrassing yourself,' he said.
'No, she's not.' It was Russ. 'What's embarrassing is your attempt to
bully this office. You assume that because we're prosecutors, we're a
bunch of bloodthirsty rednecks. As for the bureau's delay homing in on
Jackson, your client wasn't exactly forthcoming. The cops had to get
their information from the workers on the site, and funny they seemed
to be under the impression that it was union work.'
Talking about the Glenville development project brought Mrs. Jackson's
words back to me.
'Who is your client anyway, Roger?' I asked.
'I told you,' he said. 'Dr. Easterbrook came to us through OHSU.'
He knew exactly what I was talking about. 'Who's in charge of the
construction in Glenville?'
'I wasn't aware that the DA's office had taken over the operations of
the National Labor Relations Board. For what it's worth, the nonunion
work on the site was permissible.'
'So tell me who the client is. I want to know how they came to hire
Melvin Jackson. From what I've heard of him, I'm not sure I'd want him
to mow my backyard, let alone hire him on a major development
project.'
But Roger was done talking to me. He stood up and offered Duncan his
hand. 'Duncan, unless you have any more questions, we'll be on our
way. Please let me know your decision once you've made it.'
Then I got a glimpse of how Duncan Griffith had earned his political
reputation. When he took Roger's hand, I could tell his grip was firm.
'The decision was made before you interrupted me with the theatrics,
son. We'll be asking for life without parole. You might want to
consider knocking the last twelve minutes off Dr. Easterbrook's bill.
Now, if it's all right with you, I'll walk you out so I can thank your
client for coming in.'
We were still rehashing the events of the meeting when Duncan returned.
'Anyone got a problem with that?'
No problems. 'Very good then,' he said, knocking on the table as he
walked out. 'Oh, and by the way, Samantha, your ex-husband's a major
asshole.'
I don't think Duncan realized he was dropping a bombshell. I
hightailed it out of the room while my coworkers were still begging for
the tawdry details of my short-lived marriage.
A few minutes later, Russ came into my office.
'I hope you didn't mind me sticking up for you back there. I know you
had everything under control, but, Jesus, what a prick.'
'And they say chivalry is dead,' I said.
'Yeah, well don't let the word out. I've got a reputation to
protect.'
