Gideon - 04 - Illegal Motion by Grif Stockley

Author:Grif Stockley [Stockley, Grif]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, General, Legal Stories, Legal, Lawyers, Trials (Rape), Arkansas, Page; Gideon (Fictitious Character)
ISBN: 9780449183328
Published: 1995-01-01T13:00:00+00:00

“I wasn’t trying to sandbag you,” Binkie says, not quite apologetic.

“It’s just we’ve known for years the owner of Chuck’s Grill gives big-time players like Dade free drinks. A player with his reputation can’t go any where without somebody knowing who he is. And as far as drugs go, I can’t prove for sure yet that Eddie Stiles is dealing, but whether he is or isn’t, I’d make sure Dade stays as far away from him as humanly possible if I were you. Dade seems like a good kid. I’d hate to bust him for drugs, but I would. Real quick, too.”

“Tell me about Eddie,” I say, thinking I should pay him a visit before I get out of town. He and I could benefit from a heart-to-heart talk.

Binkie responds, his voice becoming slightly sarcastic.

“He’s one of those part-time students who never graduate and seems to have more money than he should. His thing is hanging with jocks. He pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana on a reduced charge in Oklahoma City a couple of years ago, but that’s his only record we know of.

Maybe he’s a wonderful guy and has a heart of gold, but I doubt it. I just hear his name a little too often to be convinced of it.”

Before I hang up, Binkie tells me that Eddie can usually be found at a bar named Slade’s, which is on the road to Springdale about five miles from campus.

“We talked to him during the investigation, but he didn’t give us any thing. He admitted he owned the house on Happy Hollow Road and sometimes let athletes use it. We know he rents a couple of other houses in Payetteville to students. That was it. That’s why we didn’t bother with a statement from him.”

I thank Binkie for the information and hang up, thinking he is probably one of the most decent prosecutors I’ve ever run across. What good will it do to put one more black male in prison? A lot of crime comes simply from being around the wrong people.

Instead of heading south out of town, I point the Blazer north toward the Missouri border. On both sides of the road is wall-to-wall commercial activity. Unlike the area of the state where I grew up, northwest Arkansas is booming, thanks in no small part to the thriving poultry industry. Still, the Arkansas Roosters doesn’t have quite the same ring. I find Slade’s in a shopping center that is crawling with customers. It seems an unlikely place for athletes, but inside it has student-friendly prices and its walls are lined with framed 8 X 10 pictures of Razorback stars all the way back to the sixties. I take a seat at the bar and order a beer from a pretty brunette in a football jersey and wait for my eyes to become accustomed to the gloom. With a mix of mainly guys ranging from obvious students to construction worker types, Slade’s is doing a healthy business for a weekday afternoon.

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