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“What about the things he stole?”
“He personally didn’t take anything other than the cash, and he said he spent it.”
“Could be.” A hundred twenty bucks wasn’t a fortune. “But you and I both know that a confession without something solid isn’t going to put him in prison. No record, no real motive. It’s not—” I said when Andy cut in.
“Maybe not. But the confession plus the evidence from his clothing? And he has a juvie record. Minor stuff, mostly petty theft, nothing we’d even look at except it would come out in a trial.”
“His attorney might be able to get it suppressed.”
“Not if he negotiates a plea. The county attorney is satisfied with the outcome. The confession is going to save the time and expense of a trial.”
“Did police search his apartment?”
Andy nodded, finished the last of his beer. “Nothing there. No evidence of the crime, no cigarettes or even beer in the refrigerator. Sergio claimed he dumped the gun in the canal south of West Campbell. He could have. It’s out of his usual stomping grounds, but not that far.”
“I don’t know what you want me to do,” I said.
Andy looked pained, and I could see the lack of sleep in his eyes. He was wrestling with his conscience. I knew how that felt.
“The county attorney handed this to me,” Andy continued. “Told me to negotiate the plea, work it through the system. Suggested thirty years, but I could go down to twenty if he gave up the other two. The kid won’t budge. I’ve been a prosecutor for three years—I know that doesn’t seem very long, but I’ve sat down across from dozens of killers, hundreds of thugs who wouldn’t give a rat’s ass about anyone. But Sergio—he’s polite, he’s intelligent, he’s respectful, he’s worked at the same job for three years. He doesn’t fit all the slots, not for me. Maybe—maybe it was the look in his eyes. He seems lost, worried, defeated.”
“Guilt?” I suggested.
“Maybe. We both know the weight of Catholic guilt.” He tried for a smile at his light joke, but it barely made his lips twitch. “Anyway, I wanted to go back to Barrios and ask her to reopen the case, see if there’s something more to it, but my boss wants the plea—it looks good on his numbers. A confession with no hint of police coercion.”
“You don’t like Hawkins?” George Hawkins was the county attorney and had been endorsed by cops, lawyers, council members on both sides of the aisle. Even my mother, who was the outgoing county attorney three years ago, gave her blessing when Hawkins ran for the office.
Andy didn’t say anything.
“I’m not going to gossip about it,” I assured him. “Who would I tell?”
“It’s not that I don’t like George—he’s a good boss for the most part, fair and evenhanded. I just think he’s wrong about this. He has big shoes to fill, I don’t have to tell you that, and his numbers haven’t been as strong as the previous county attorney.”
My mother definitely had very big shoes. Sometimes just being Ava Morales Angelhart’s daughter was daunting, so I could just imagine taking over a position she’d held with esteem.
“Why me?” I asked bluntly.
“Three reasons. First, I know you.”
“I’m sure you know a lot of private investigators.”
“None I can use. They all contract with either my office or the public defender’s office. Second, your ethics and reputation. I know your family.” True, Andy even came to my grandfather’s retirement party last year, when he left the bench. He continued, “I trust you to find the truth as well as be discreet. George can’t know I’m doing this behind his back. I made my case, he disagreed, and I have to start working on the plea deal. I have to get it signed, sealed, and delivered by next Monday.”
“Even if I get the kid to tell me he’s innocent, that isn’t going to mean squat to the cops or your office. I know killers who confess and are one hundred percent guilty, then backtrack when their lawyer tells them they were idiots to confess because the case was weak.”
“You’ll have to prove it, and I don’t think Sergio is going to be a big help in that.”
“You said three reasons,” I noted.
“Do you remember when Doug Johnson was accused of stealing the money my class raised during spring break to pay for the prom?”
“Sure, but that was a long time ago.”
“You believed him. You were the only person who believed that he didn’t do it.”
“Doug didn’t do himself any favors when he lied about where he was when the money went missing.”
“You convinced him to tell the truth, even though he didn’t want to.”
