Page 110 of The Wrong Side of the Law

Chapter Thirty-Five

Emily

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Anderson says, shaking his head in disbelief.

It’s the same thing he said when I handed over my copy of the CD-ROM with all the other case files on it and explained the theory that Gabriel and I had formed about Robert Ferry setting people up to get busted simply so that he could get on the news and see a bump in his ticket sales.

Now that he’s reviewed the files, though? Now that we’ve taken depositions from the other poor, stupid,gulliblesuckers that got busted for MDMA when Ferry played them for fools?

When he says it now, it takes on an entirely different tone.

“How is this even possible?” the attorney asks. “I mean, c’mon. This is just…” His voice trails off and he waves his hands around, searching for the right word.

“Insane?” I offer. “Yeah. It’s nuts. But it’s the only thing that fits.”

“I know, I know. But how has nobody caught on? This has happened, what, twenty times now? At least?” Anderson is on fire over this. He’s found some of the idealism and passion that he lost along the way.

“Who was going to look for it?” I smile sadly at him. “Remember, just a couple weeks ago you were trying to get Frank to take a deal.”

“Yeah. I know.” He shrugs off the gentle rebuke. “Not anymore, though. I guess… I think maybe I’m just not used to believing a client is actually innocent. That they’re really telling the truth.”

Maybe he’s not shrugging it off, after all. Hopefully this will stick with him.

“And you say Cooperknowsthat he’s innocent?”

“That plea offer? A guilty man would have taken it in a heartbeat,” I answer. “An innocent man wouldn’t. That’s when Gabriel really believed.”

“Then why in hell’s he still prosecuting?”

“Because if he doesn’t, then someone else will. And that someone else might not be so… easy to work with.”

Anderson snorts.

“You think Cooper’s easy to work with, you don’t know the man very well.”

Oh, Mark. If only you knew.

It hurts to say his name, still. It’s been two weeks since I saw him. Since I felt his touch; since I felt safe and loved. Two weeks since I took his love and his trust and stomped on them and threw them away to help my brother. But I can’t afford to deal with that right now. It’s not what matters this instant. I’ll think about that later; cry about it in the middle of the night when I’m tossing and turning on the couch in Rita’s studio apartment.

“He’s given you more advantages here than you realize,” I say. “And jury selection is coming up, so make the best of that, too.”

I wish I could tell him just exactly howmuchof an advantage Gabriel’s going to give him there, but I can’t. By intentionally allowing the jury selection process to work against his prosecution, Gabriel is crossing an ethical line. Giving away that secret would open him up to consequences. It would be even more of a betrayal than my foray into evidence tampering.

God. Why can’t I get you out of my mind?

Mark presses play on his laptop, and Michael Griffin’s recorded deposition plays. It’s at least the fifth time we’ve watched it, and I know the words by memory now. My head is pointed at the screen, but the truth is I’m a thousand miles away.

Just being here in this room is a betrayal in its own right. I’ve gone to the dark side; I’m working for the enemy, even if he is innocent. Even if he is family.

At this point, I might as well change my name to Judas.

“I wish we could have brought these guys here for the trial,” Anderson sighs. “Lot more impact if he’s telling this story live and in person.”

“Yes,” I answer, blessedly jolted out of my self-recrimination. “But who’s going to pay for it? I couldn’t afford to make it happen, and I don’t think you’re going to pay out of your own pocket.”

“Yeah, no. I can’t afford that either,” he says. “Still. These stories are absolutelyidentical. I mean, the only difference is the name of the guy that got arrested. How could anyone look at these cases and not find them to be suspiciously similar?”

“Because nobody’s ever forced them into the spotlight before.”

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