Page 97 of The Wrong Side of the Law

The pills I saw in the picture looked just like generic store-brand aspirin, but for one minor spelling error. I have a five hundred-count bottles of aspirin in my purse. Store-brand, because I can’t afford brand name luxury. A huge bottle of it, because it was only a dollar more for twice as much.

No cameras. Nobody paying attention.

I promised Frank.

But what about Gabriel? He knows that my brother’s innocent, and he said that a mistrial is the best that we can hope for, the way things stand right now. And even that’s not guaranteed.

But what if it was guaranteed?

Could it hurt him? I can’t see how it would. The police have the evidence in their custody. Gabriel Cooper can’t control how they handle it. If something comes up broken or disturbed or anything, it’s their fault not his.

Could it hurt me? Maybe. Would it be worse than seeing my innocent half-brother in prison for fifteen years? No. Not a chance in hell.

The tub of LSD is much larger than the pistol and the other drugs had been, so I take my purse off the table and set it on the chair instead. The big bottle of aspirin peeks out of the bag, taunting me, and suddenly it feels like the room is shrinking. The walls close in, and bars grow over window at the counter. In my head I can smell and hear everything from that holding cell again.

What am I supposed to do? I remember the case number. 682018CF000123. The coincidence of one-two-three makes it impossible to forget. The best we could hope for right now is a mistrial, and even that only if the public defender does a good job of jury selection. I can protect the ones I love, or at least it wouldn’t hurt them.

Another choice. Right… or right for my family. But he’s innocent. Isn’t it just plain right, then? Oh, God, I’m just rationalizing now.

I snap the lid back on the gray plastic tub of LSD and hoist it back up onto the counter.

“Y’all need anything else?” the clerk asks me without looking up.

“No,” I say, then close my eyes and take a deep breath. “Wait. Yes. There’s one more thing I need…”

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