Things You Won't Say by Sarah Pekkanen

Author:Sarah Pekkanen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Washington Square Press

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Chapter Ten

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JAMIE SAT BESIDE MIKE in the second-floor walk-up office of attorney J. H. Brown, looking at surroundings that didn’t inspire confidence. The small space was heaped with cardboard boxes that Jamie imagined contained paperwork from other trials. There wasn’t a receptionist, and the nameplate on the door was one of those metal slide-in ones, which seemed to suggest J.H. could load his boxes into a truck and disappear tomorrow. The smell of Chinese food from the restaurant one floor below lingered in the air.

The lawyer himself was nondescript—average height and weight, brown hair, pale skin that looked as if it spent too much time under the fluorescent lights in his office. Jamie found herself studying her reaction to him, wondering how a jury might respond. Would his low voice inspire trust, or the opposite? The lawyer wasn’t making good eye contact; he kept fiddling with a pen. Jurors might not like that.

But it wasn’t as if they had a lot of choice in the matter. He’d called and offered to represent them for a reduced fee, no doubt because of the publicity involved in the case. Their other choice was the union-appointed attorney, the guy who looked barely older than Henry.

“What do you think?” Jamie had asked, covering the phone’s mouthpiece with her hand when J.H. called. “Should we meet with him?”

Mike had shrugged. “Dunno.”

As if she’d asked him to choose cereal or toast for breakfast. She’d wanted to slap his cheek and snap him out of the daze that seemed to be thickening around him. She needed her husband to be by her side, fighting along with her. Jamie had had a chilling thought: If a second-tier lawyer was offering to represent them for a reduced rate, what kinds of attorneys might be flocking to Jose’s mother?

After they were seated and had declined an offer of coffee—Jamie’s nerves were stretched far too tight for caffeine—J.H. pulled a fresh legal pad out of his top desk drawer and reached for a pen. He’d said this consultation would be free. Afterward, they’d need to choose which lawyer would represent them if the case went to trial. J.H. had also let them know that if Mike were indicted, he’d lose his paycheck, which meant he would be eligible to be represented by a public defender at no cost.

“But you need me,” J.H. had said, more cockily than Jamie thought was warranted.

The lawyer took them through a time line of what would happen. The Metropolitan Police Department’s FIT team had already completed their investigation and given their findings to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. That was standard procedure. The next move would be the pivotal one. The U.S. Attorney’s Office would review all the evidence, do some investigating of their own, and decide whether to present the case to a grand jury and ask for an indictment.

If that happened and Mike was charged, he’d be arraigned and probably released on his own recognizance, J.H. said, his voice as bland as if he were reading a grocery list.

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