Edited Out by E J Copperman

Author:E J Copperman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC022070 Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Cozy
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Chapter 18

“A murder.” Ben Preston sat in the passenger seat of my tiny Prius c, and even though I was mostly watching the road, I stole a glance at him. He looked absolutely bewildered. “A murder,” he repeated.

“That’s really all I know,” I said. “They arrested Duffy, and he said he didn’t have a lawyer to represent him, but when they suggested getting someone from the public defender’s office, he said they should call me.”

Ben shook his head. “Why would they think he killed Damien Mosley?” he said, no doubt thinking out loud. “There’s no evidence at all that Duffy ever met Damien Mosley.”

“They were high school classmates,” I reminded him. “Whether Duffy admits to it or not, they might very well have known each other back in the day.”

We were taking my car because Ben has one the prosecutor’s office lets him use, and since he’d taken half a day off from work to come with me on our Duffy quest, he didn’t feel comfortable using his work car. The drive wasn’t going to take long, but it felt like hours had passed since O’Rourke had called me.

My first impulse was to call Ben. He’s much better steeped in the criminal justice system than I am. I deal strictly in my fictional version, which strives to be accurate but doesn’t mind bending the occasional rule in service of a good story. Ben has to work in the real world, which has its drawbacks. It does mean, however, that he knows how this stuff works.

Besides, the last thing I’d wanted to do was go confront Duffy in jail on my own.

“If they’re charging him, not just questioning him, that is serious,” Ben said. I still wasn’t sure whether he was talking to me or to himself. “That means they have sufficient evidence to merit an indictment, or at least they think they do. It’s not just speculation.”

“What do we do when we get there?” I asked, both to get an answer to the question and to remind Ben that I was in the car with him. He was staring out the side window now, and I was navigating our way to North Bergen. They hadn’t had time to transfer Duffy to county lockup yet, in preparation for his arraignment.

It was hard to think of Duffy in those terms.

“First, we need to find him a lawyer,” Ben said, snapping out of his reverie and realizing action was required. “Do you know anybody?”

I thought about it. I’d dated a lawyer once, but he was not someone I’d care to call again, even for professional reasons. I had a lawyer who looked over my contracts with my agent Adam Resnick, and Adam advised me on all the contracts I signed with my publisher. Neither of them was a criminal attorney.

“Not really,” I told Ben. “You must know some.”

He nodded. “Most of them are prosecutors, but I do know a few good defense attorneys. They’re not all crazy about me.”

“Hard to believe,” I said.

Ben ignored that.

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