[Disagreeable, Macabre, Healthily, Misfortune, Release]
I went over to the reading nook, Lucy was deeply entranced by the book.
“Well do you like it”
“Yeah, it’s really interesting. At first I was rooting for the scientists as the leaders, until Hardin came along and made them look stupid for such smart men, they just couldn’t wrap their minds around politics. I love the whole concept that a type of sophisticated math could predict what large groups of people are going to do hundreds to thousands of years into the future. Can I borrow this, I’ll make sure not to crack the spine or anything. I’d just like to finish it.”
“That’s your copy, you're an intern you are supposed to be learning about the book trade, The Foundation Series is an early science fiction classic. Lots of people hate it, because it was a series of short stories before Asimov joined them together to form the first book in the original trilogy. But it has grown and grown since then. With further books written by Asimov and then other popular science fiction authors. But I have to go and see Amy, can you watch the store please. Lis should be here soon to do the shipping.”
I can’t believe I’m getting involved in another investigation. But the only thing I can think to investigate is the scene of the ‘not’ crime and maybe the cop who arrested a perfectly nice person for sarcasm. It’s totally ridiculous, is what it is. But how do you prove a girl is not a prostitute? Well lets see a prostitute gets paid by the act, so why would she be sitting there letting this guy buy her drinks. She wouldn’t. So I need to talk to the bartender and hopefully he confirms that the cop bought her four beers, over the course of a couple hours.
Why should the court believe the cop over the defendant? They shouldn’t. But they do because they work together. They might not like each other, but coworkers cover for each other all the time. So unless Eve has some evidence to the contrary. It will probably be hard to convince the judge that the cop is lying. So we better find something. But it would be a lot better if Eve can get this dismissed. We are busier than we ever were, and my eidetic memory might pop back anytime, then there goes the pleasure of rereads.
I went up to the kitchen, to tell Amy the news. She was kneading bread dough when I arrived.
“Hi, Laura, how is everything going today? You are not going to be on the news again are you?”
“Nope, no sign of Donna today. But while I’m not on the news I do bring news if you would like to hear it.”
“Sure, lay it on me dude.”
“Whoa, Bill, you must now refer to me as Ted, got it dude.”
“Got it dude, er Ted.”
“Did you hear me talking about Faith Sinclair, a volunteer fire fighter here in town. She dated Lachlan and took his death quite hard. She went to Saranac, to forget her troubles and to pick up a stumpie. Instead what happened was that a cop arrested her for prostitution in response to sarcasm. She just showed up here when I was talking to Eve, asking me to help her.”
“Oh are we going to investigate, a cop who either doesn’t understand sarcasm or that thinks it’s illegal for some reason.”
“Well, I’m hoping that Eve will get the charge dismissed when she represents her in court tonight at six. But in case she doesn’t, I was going to go to the Waterhole in Saranac and just ask some questions to see if anyone has heard anything. I was wondering if you’d like to go. I was going to call Anais too, she can explain the legal stuff in court for us.”
“Yes, I’d love to go. Should I wear my old dispatcher uniform or do you want me undercover?”
“Amy, I think that undercover would be best. If we do have to go to the Waterhole to ask questions, you remember the Waterhole, we used to sneak over there when we were seniors in high school.”
“Yeah, it was the best, our high school boys would ignore me because I was the plainest girl in the school. But those stumpies hadn’t seen a girl they could speak to in so long, I felt like a princess the moment we walked into the bar.”
“Yeah well, their college did have a ratio of twenty four males to every one female. I would imagine those girls were just exhausted by all the attention they got. They were probably hiding in their rooms studying on a Friday night, just to avoid the men.”
“That was their loss and my gain, Laura. I don’t suppose I'll attract as much attention as I used to. Not since I got my superpower.”
“You mean when we turn sixty and become invisible to the world?”
“That’s it exactly, so we’ll try to use that superpower to our advantage if we do wind up going to the Waterhole.”
“I’m so excited Laura and no one had to die to get you to investigate.”
“No one died but a young woman’s dream of becoming a professional firefighter may be the fatality that we are investigating.”
“That would be a shame, this cop seems almost as bad as the one in charge of your last investigation.”
“Yeah, but I will say one thing for Jones, he may have been incompetent and a product of nepotism. But I’m not sure if he was corrupt. This cop who arrested Faith is almost certainly corrupt. No one could be that stupid, I think Faith just deflated his ego, along with another part of his body. That is one thing I am looking forward to going to court for.”
Anais picked us up at five pm, it only takes a little over thirty minutes to get there but I wanted to look around the court house. The court is in the Saranac Village Hall, a nice looking brick building on Main Street and almost directly across the street from the Waterhole. It has a large and rather impressive round clock tower. We went into the court itself and took seats in the very last row on the left hand side. Faith would be seated at the empty table with her attorney if things ran her the same as they had in Essex county court.
I do assume that village court is probably a little less formal then county court is. I wanted to get a look at the cop who’d arrested Faith, no doubt he’d be seated on the right side, in the first row, directly behind the assistant district attorney. Eve had informed me that the actual district attorney almost never appeared in these town courts. In fact he was mostly administrative, he had lots of assistant district attorney’s to handle the lower level offences. Usually the district attorney only appeared on TV when being interviewed about a case his department was handling.
A clerk appeared shortly in by the judges desk with a huge stack of files. She dropped them on the judges bench and then took a seat at a desk just to the right of the bench. Some cops in uniform came in, and milled about by the bench, chatting to the clerk. Then Eve and Faith arrived and took a seat with us in the back row.
“Eve why aren’t you at the desk up front?”
“This is town court Laura, county court handles just one arraignment. You see that big stack of files. Well, those are the cases that are on the docket for tonight.”
“Wow, that's a lot of cases. How do they determine who to call next, is it first come first serve?”
“No it’s completely random, a court clerk once told me that the first case the court receives goes onto the bottom and then as new cases come in they get dropped on top. But if the judge or one of the attorneys wants to see a file, the file gets pulled out and then dropped back on top. So we could be the very first case or we could be the very last. Unless we are very very lucky, you are about to learn just how much crime happens in a tiny village like Saranac. Ninety nine point nine percent will be very low level stuff.”
We were not very lucky, I watched the judge pull the first file from the stack. He called out a name and a young stumpie looking man stood up from his seat in the now very crowded court room. The judge read his charge, driving without a license, how do you plea, the public defender conferred with the man for a minute before announcing to the judge that he would be representing the man, that the ADA had made an offer of a one hundred dollar fine, along with a promise that the defendant not drive again until New York state motor vehicles issued him a valid license for a plea of guilty. The man pleaded guilty and then walked up to the clerk and paid the fine.
There were a few more cases with that charge, a few with driving without insurance, and a few who had neither a license nor insurance. A few DWIs, one speeding, two or three failures to stop at a traffic device. I learned later, they’d run a stop sign. A couple of J walking offences. The public defender handled every one of these cases and in each case the defendant took a plea bargain to a lesser offense and paid a fine. It was like watching a bank money machine but in reverse, the case is called the village gets a little richer.
Finally the judge called ‘Faith Sinclair’. Faith and Eve got up and walked past the swinging gates to stand at the table where the PD was standing. Eve whispered something to the public defender. He grabbed his stack of files and came out and sat on our side of the courtroom. I looked over at the ADA side to see which of the cops was handling the case. I saw Benjamin Jones approach the ADA, but he looked spooked to see Eve.
I couldn’t believe it. Jones's father, the county executive, must have gotten his son a job on the day that he got fired from the Lake Placid police force. Well I’d be firing off an article to the gazette, later tonight. Jones had wasted no time arresting the wrong suspect again. Just how many lives was this guy going to be allowed to ruin, before someone noticed what a horrendous employment history this man has had so far. Nepotism of this level just shouldn’t be allowed to exist.
I was turning over the phrases in my mind that would most inflame my fellow county residents. How the cops utter lack of talent, has caused innumerable pain and suffering for his victims. Cops are supposed to bring just justice to victims, not create another whole class of victims composed of the wrongly accused. Yeah I liked that line.
“Your honor I’m Eve Wittle, I’ll be defending Ms Sinclair. I would waive a formal reading of the charges, your honor.”
“How does your client plead to the charge Ms Whittle?”
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“She pleads not guilty to the charge, your honor”
“Very good, Ms Whittle, would you like a moment to confer with the ADA?”
“Yes, please, your honor.”
Eve went over and had a whispered conversation with the ADA, he started shaking his head no. Eve nodded her head in the affirmative. Then went back to her place alongside Faith, where she stood waiting for the judge to proceed.”
“Ms Whittle have you come to an understanding with the ADA?”
“No your honor, we have not. I request a jury trial at the court's earliest convenience.”
“ADA, Ms Whittle, please approach the bench.”
Eve and the ADA went up to the bench, there were a lot of heads shaking. Making it apparent that no one at the bench was happy about whatever was being said. Finally the judge just used his hands to shoo the attorneys back to their tables.
“Ms Whittle, will you be submitting pretrial motions?”
“I will, your honor.”
“You have two days, then the ADA will have two days to submit your replies. After I have received both sets we’ll meet here on Wednesday at noon for me to rule on the motions. If a trial is necessary it will be held Wednesday at six.”
I stared at Jones the whole time, he looked less and less happy as the Ada and Eve had had there say. Obviously he hadn’t expected Faith to come in here and plead not guilty. We went out and talked in the hallway of the court room.
“Laura, I need two things if you can get them. First any witness to the arrest, we need to show that this wasn’t a quick and fast exchange. Jones had bought beer after beer for Faith. That is not something an escort would ever allow, they need turnover to make money. Not casual drinks in a bar. The second thing I need to know is Jones, employment history. It’s not going to be easy, but we really need that info. Jones will have to testify, it’s their entire case, I need to know everything about him.”
Faith spoke up, “I work at the Firehouse with his wife. She’s been volunteering there for a few years. I can try and find out stuff about Jones.”
Eve replied, “No you have to stay out of this Faith, you can introduce her to Laura and let her take over. If you were seen actively investigating the officer that arrested you it would go really poorly for us. Do you understand? I was hoping to get this dismissed tonight. But that’s just the way it is in court, you are never sure of an outcome if you don’t plead guilty. Faith, no going out anywhere, stay in your house and in Placid until Wednesday night. Laura, we have little to no time, so keep me apprised of anything you do find out. Hopefully a lot, all good for us. Also it’s imperative we keep this out of the press, so of course don’t talk to the press about this at all. One last thing, Faith, you need to inform your chief of the arrest, ask for a week off to prepare your legal defense. That gives him an out of not having to suspend you. Tell him you’ll inform him immediately after the trial but that you expect to be fully exonerated.”
There was a twenty dollar cover charge to get into the Waterhole. Back in the late nineteen seventies, this was a hole in the wall bar named after a semi famous comedy western movie released in the late sixties, Waterhole Number Three. The stage is bigger now then the whole bar used to be back then. The cover charge was because they had a band tonight. The Grate Full, a Grateful Dead cover band. When we walked in the band was playing Touch of Grey, then followed that up with Wang Dang Doodle. It was crowded and loud, this was so not the relaxing experience that The Brew House provided for investigations. This bar offered high powered fun vs relaxing craft beers and video games. There were no tables left but we scored three seats together at the bar. I bought us three draft beers.
The band announced that they were playing the setlist used by the Grateful Dead the last time they played at Highgate in Vermont. The very last year before Jerry died. I’d actually been at the concert. We sat in bumper to bumper traffic for hours just trying to get into town. Then we abandoned our car at a farmers field turned into a carpark and campsite. The tribute band must have realized that a good many of the bar's patrons were probably at that concert. The band was good, the bar was good, even the beer was good. But the investigation was going nowhere, it’s not like I could go around asking people if they had seen an arrest, when they were listening to a band they’d paid good money to see.
So I hoped the Grate Full took the same breaks as the Dead had. I had a fuzzy memory that the band ended set one with Promised Land, but it might have been Loose Lucy. It was Promised Land. As that song ended I quickly made my way around the bar. Luckily my fuzzy coat had deep pockets and I had a stack of fifty to one hundred bookstore business cards. I asked everyone who would speak to me if they had been in the bar the night before. If they said yes, I handed them a business card and asked them to call tomorrow. I told them I was investigating a false arrest and any info they might be able to give me could help.
I handed out twenty to thirty cards in record time, many to people who hadn’t even been born before the Dead gave their last show. I sat down with Amy and Anais and enjoyed the second set and the encore. By now it was two am and most people streamed out after the encore. I asked the bartender if he had seen the arrest the night before. He said he had, but didn’t have time to talk about it now. Come back tomorrow, he said. He needed to pay the band, and cash out. I thanked him and we left.
“Okay, Laura, what’s the plan? What do we do next?”
“I have to come back here tomorrow night, it’s unfortunate that there was live music tonight and all I got to do was hand out cards. I’m sure most of those are dropped on the floor, or flushed. But the bartender saw the arrest and is willing to talk to me so that is a good sign. You both are welcome to come. Aside from that I need Faith to introduce me to Annette Jones.”
“I want to come.” Amy said right away.
“We’ll both come, I’ll drive, that is if we are lucky enough to make it home in this old beater car of yours.”
“She’ll make it, she is a fine old car.”
“Laura the only word in that sentence that was correct was old”
“Anais you can’t argue that she isn’t a car. She very much is, four wheels and everything.”
“Shouldn’t a hippie be driving an electric car?”
“No, how could they, electric cars are so expensive, besides the one I would have wanted is out because I refuse to buy anything from that man. I thought he was just weird before. Now I’m sure he is downright evil.”
“No rants please not while you are driving, hippie, it’s my fault for bringing up electric cars in the first place. Just forget I said anything. In any event, I will drive tomorrow night.”
I dropped Anais off at her house and then drove Amy and I home.
“Court was exciting, who would have thought there was so much crime in sleepy Saranac Lake. But I’m sorry we didn’t get to investigate more. I’m so glad I’m retired and not going to miss out on this case.”
Amy cooked a big Sunday morning breakfast the next day. She must have only gotten four hours sleep, but it certainly didn’t show in the quality of her breakfast. The writers were thanking her for the meal. When I arrived, Monique was on clean up duty so I grabbed a couple of pancakes and slathered them with peanut butter and jelly. While helping her to clear the table. Bread just can’t compare to pancakes, hot enough to melt the peanut butter. That would be enough to power me through till dinner.
Around noon I called Faith. Sarah, Faith’s roommate, picked up her phone.
“Hi, Laura, it’s Sarah. Faith was pretty depressed when she got home last night, we both hit the rum pretty hard, but Faith had a lot more than me. I don’t think that girl will be getting out of bed till tonight. Thanks for helping her out. She took this Lachlan thing way too hard. I really don’t understand it. He wasn’t half good enough for her. But the heart wants what it wants I suppose.”
“Would you just ask her to call me, when she gets up. I should be here at the store, till tonight when we are going back to the Waterhole. I have to talk to the bartender.”
Lucy was behind the counter and with nothing else I could be doing on Faith’s case I sat in the reading nook, reading the final chapters of Cuckoo’s Nest. Lot’s of people prefer Kesey’s Sometimes a Great Notion, but we had to read Cuckoo’s in high school and I just fell in love with it. Mainly because I love the silent ‘Chief’ and what an ending. The movie was pretty good too. The best Jack Nickolson movie I ever saw and he made some great movies.
Lucy was tidying up the store while Lis was boxing up the orders. I’d take them to the post office tomorrow morning. When Faith called me back. She sounded rough on the phone. I hoped she didn’t drink herself to death over worry about her future. It is the last thing I want to hear from people, who tell me not to worry, or to calm down, everything will be all right.
“Look Faith, there is nothing I can say to you right now that will make you feel any better. But I’m sure that you want to do everything you can right now to resolve this in your favor. Am I right?”
“Yes, Laura, but I just don’t know what to do.”
“That’s fine, because I’m going to tell you exactly what to do. Sarah is a hiker right?”
“Yes she loves to hike.”
“Good, beg her to take you on a good long hike, bring plenty of water, because you are already dehydrated from the rum. Have her hike you so hard you are exhausted. When you get home, take a bath or a shower and go to bed. No drinking. Tomorrow morning you need to be up showered and ready to introduce me to Annette. After that either grab Sarah or another friend and go hiking, hard. Shower sleep repeat. I’m not a lawyer but I’d be willing to bet that a jury is much more likely to find a pretty bright eyed blonde not guilty, then a beat down bloated drinker, who looks like she spends all day every day in a bar. The exercise will do you good and keep your mind off your troubles better than booze.”
“Okay Laura, I’m sorry I let you down today.”
“You didn’t Faith, you let yourself down but just a little, still plenty of time to turn this around. You just have to ask yourself, am I going to feel sorry for myself or am I going to do everything I can for the next four days to make my dream of becoming a professional fire fighter come true. I think fire fighters have about the toughest job in the world, so if you can’t make yourself tough enough for the next four days, you won’t need to worry about what happens because that would just prove that you aren’t tough enough to be a real fire fighter.”
“I thought you were my friend, Laura.”
“I am, honey, that’s why I’m telling you what you have to do, if you want your life back. I can’t coddle you and just hope for the best. Eve is going to fight for you, and I’m going to fight for you. But you have to be ready to fight with us. We are three badass women, we can win but not separately we all have to do our parts.”
“I get it Laura, you're right. I’m not going to blow my chance.”
“Perfect, that's just what I wanted to hear.”
“Call me tomorrow, My friends and I are going back to the Waterhole tonight and you can introduce me to Annette tomorrow. We’ll figure this out.”
