Enemy in Blue by Derek Blass

Author:Derek Blass [Derek Blass]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780615481036
Google: n-kSjWtexGcC
Amazon: 0615481035
Publisher: Rogue Books LLC
Published: 2011-05-27T14:00:00+00:00

T H I R T Y-T H R E E

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Morning light spilled over Mason's desk as he sat in silence. Files, manila folders and case documents covered his desk. He organized the mess at the start of each day and by the end of each one it was like the same bomb exploded in his office.

He faced significant backlash from his own office since reaching out to Cruz Marquez. The local papers ran two articles on whether the state could try a fair case against Sergeant Shaver with Cruz in the loop. Attorneys in his office asked how Cruz could help on the case—shouldn't he be a witness? Then there was that prick Sphinx. That was all Mason needed on the other side of the ledger.

Sphinx and Mason knew each other well. They came up in the same law school class. Where Mason was measured, Sphinx was loose. Where Mason was ethical, Sphinx manipulated rules like a three-year-old with absent parents. The first time Mason argued a case against Sphinx was actually in law school. The two had a trial advocacy class together with a mock case called State v. Outlander. Mason initially represented Outlander, a young man who had hit and killed two pedestrians while driving drunk. Sphinx appeared on behalf of the state. The two were so lackluster in their representation that the trial advocacy teacher switched their sides. It was a battle from then on that continued to this day.

Sphinx graduated with a higher class rank than Mason, but only by a few percentage points. Both were in the top ten percent of their class. Both had offers from major downtown firms—the silk-stocking, mahogany desk, thirty-second floor types—and both turned those firms down. Mason on account of wanting to get into trial, Sphinx on account of “not wanting to be someone's bitch for the rest of his life.” Then, Sphinx incomprehensibly joined the public defender's office and he was the state's bitch, and a much poorer one at that.

The state's public defender and district attorney offices had a high turnover rate in common. The low pay, long hours and hugely stressful caseloads quickly culled the weak and half-hearted. Like Mason, Sphinx rose through the ranks quickly. He was trying felony cases within a year. Within three years he tried seven murder cases. That was when Sphinx got the thought that inevitably comes to all attorneys—“I can do this, do it alone and do it better.” Except there was a greater priority for Sphinx. “I can do this and make a ton of money.” Certainly, that feeling was further magnified by his paltry salary.

Mason remembered that just before Sphinx left the public defender's office, the two had a murder trial against each other. Sphinx was a master in the art of persuasion bordering on guile. Mason was polished, but always felt compelled to let the facts speak for themselves. After two days of deliberation, the jury returned a guilty verdict. Sphinx came over to Mason while he was packing up his documents.

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