Sugar Skull by Denise Hamilton

Author:Denise Hamilton [Hamilton, Denise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Women Sleuths, General
ISBN: 9780752866604
Google: lfvXaeAHeSAC
Amazon: 0752866605
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2003-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Isat cross-legged on the floor and called Tom Thompson, sketching out my latest brainstorm. I didn’t mention that another squatter kid lay passed out on my bed as we spoke. That was more information than he needed. Thompson agreed it would make a great folo if I could get into the jail. He told me to go through the kid’s lawyer.

I knew a guy like Finch had no money for lawyers so I called the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s office to see if his court-appointed attorney would give me the okay.

It took the clerks a few minutes to find out who had been assigned the case, but they finally transferred me to the right PD. I laid out the facts, then pled my case.

“Absolutely not,” came the response. “We are not going to try this case in the media. He’ll talk to the jury, or not at all.”

“But it would give him a great opportunity to recount his side of the story,” I said, pointing out how I had all these other street kids and straight kids on the record, talking about how Finch couldn’t have done it. But the clipped female voice on the other end of the line wasn’t buying it.

“We’ve had a lot of media requests and we’re telling everyone the same thing. You’ll have to wait until the trial.”

“Have you even asked him whether he wants to talk? You’re supposed to be representinghis wishes.”

“No, Ms. Diamond, I’m supposed to be representing him to the best ofmy ability, and I’ve advised him it’s in his best interest not to talk to anyone.”

I hung up the phone and considered. He was a teenager. Accused of murder. Stuck in a jail cell. He’d be scared. Angry. No family to visit him. No Finch’s Angels either, since minors couldn’t get in without an adult. He’d be bored. Lonely. And maybe intrigued at the opportunity to talk to a stranger. It was certainly worth taking the chance.

I checked on Scout. She was snoring with her mouth open, but her color and pulse seemed good. Still, I was taking no chances. I knew that kids sometimes chased downers with alcohol, and I didn’t want an OD on my hands. So I went to the liquor cabinet. There were two bottles of wine, one of tequila, and one of rum. I stuck them in my trunk. I stood there for a minute, then ran back into the house and got Scout’s bottle of Vicodin out of her smelly backpack and threw that in the trunk too.

Then I drove down the hill to Sunset and headed east toward downtown. This Sunset was light-years away from the glamorous Strip. Yeah, sure, there were nightclubs on the eastern end too, but they had names like El Nayarit or Candelejas that harkened back to scorching desert or humid jungles. On this Sunset, storefront shops sold overruns from the downtown garment district. And instead of video screens displaying celebrity hotties, my Sunset had wall murals of

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