AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He shrugs. "I don't know. His political career is over, for sure. Folks draw the line at murdering your own kid. But if by put away you mean prison time?” He shrugs again. “Clara’s copping to the act of murder. She’s probably going to say that he helped cover it up, and he obviously did, but his legal team is going to fight hard to make her look untrustworthy and him look like a caring husband duped by a drug addict wife. They’re probably going to succeed. I think he gets hit for obstruction of justice, attempt to destroy evidence, and maybe conspiracy after the fact. Unless we find something that unequivocally connects him to Derek Hill, he gets a suspended sentence of eighteen months and a few years of probation.” He hooks a thumb back into the house. “She’s going down though. Involuntary manslaughter at best, but since Julian’s legal team is going to want to paint her as a banshee to make him look good, I think she’ll get murder in the second. She’ll get twenty-five and serve fifteen.”
“That’s it? That’s all she gets for killing her child?”
Harris gives me a tight-lipped smile. “You were wrong about cops not giving a shit about the victims of rich people. But you were close to right about the fact that rich people get away with murder. It’s one of the shitty things about the world that hasn’t been fixed yet and probably won’t be fixed for a long time. But she’ll come out broken. She’s forty-three, and if her record is to be believed—and I think it is—she’s been on cocaine for most of her life. Fifteen years without in a maximum-security prison, and she’ll come out a shell. If she’s lucky.”
“Still seems like a cakewalk compared to what Lila got.”
Harris shrugs once more. “We take what we can get.”
I look back at Julian. He’s crying now, but I doubt it’s guilt. He’s shown no guilt at all. Clara’s shown guilt, but Julian? Nothing. I don’t even think he’s capable of worrying about anyone else. The tears he cries now are for himself.
“So what happens now?”
“We take them to jail and book them. They post bond before the day’s over. Then they confer with their fancy lawyers, who try to intimidate Clara into walking back her confession and claiming duress. They file a motion to dismiss, then a motion to delay, then a motion to transfer jurisdiction. When all those motions are denied, we finally get started with the court process.”
“How long does all that take?”
“Two years at least before a verdict.”
“Jesus.”
“Yeah. Be grateful you don’t have to deal with that part.”
We fall silent for a while. Harris finishes his cigarette and lights another. "You don't want to be inside?” I ask him.
He shakes his head. “Nah. I’ve seen it all before. They’re so sorry for what they did, they’d give anything to take it back, they were so upset they weren’t thinking clearly. It was the drugs, it was the alcohol, it was everything but their own fault. Lena will fill me in on the details I need to know. Besides, I think Mrs. Kensington will be more comfortable talking to her without us men in the room.”
“Ah. Got it.”
He looks at me and says, “You got damned lucky, kid. There are a thousand reasons why you should be either dead or in jail right now. You very nearly ruined our chances of finding justice for Lila Kensington.”
I lower my eyes, and he puts his hand on my shoulder. “But, that little bit about the diary probably saved our asses. Officially, I can’t condone your choice to burglarize someone’s home, but unofficially, you did good.”
I lift my head again and smile at him. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. One more thing: quit using. Seriously.”
I chuckle sheepishly. “Yeah. I will.”
“I mean it. That’s a one-way street to the only kind of life that I can confidently say is worse than death. Drugs don’t fix anything. They just numb you so you don’t have to face the pain. But they eat away at you until all that’s left is pain.
“You just have to face the pain. It sucks. Bad. I know it. I lost my sister when I was fifteen. Ex-boyfriend caught her kissing a new boyfriend. Shot her, the new boyfriend and my mother. My mother survived, but my sister and her new boyfriend didn’t.”
My eyes widen. “Damn. I’m sorry.”
“Me too. But you get through it. Maybe you don’t ever get over it, but you get through it. But only if you choose to.”
The door opens and Clara Kensington walks out, hands cuffed behind her back, head bowed. She doesn’t look at me.
Harris grimaces. “Shit. I forgot to call for another car.”
“Take her inside,” Detective Ramirez says. “You can wait for the other car there. I don’t want her anywhere Julian can see her. I’m going to talk to the kid.”
Harris nods and turns Clara around. With surprising gentleness, he says, “We’ll take a seat on the couch, ma’am.”
Maybe the gentleness isn’t surprising. Maybe I just don’t like that she’s receiving anything even close to sympathy.
Detective Ramirez waits until the door closes, then grabs my arms and leads me to the side of the house. “Where are we going?” I ask.
