The Advocate's Ex Parte (The Advocate Series Book 5) (35 page)

Sabre looked down and saw the blood. Her hand slid down and she felt her side looking for damage. “No.”

“Do you hurt anywhere?”

“Not really.” She started to stand up. “Wait, let’s make sure you’re okay,” the paramedic said.

Sabre stretched her arms out. “Really, I’m fine. A few bruises maybe where Clint…er…Tyson threw me down earlier.” JP’s face colored with anger. As Sabre started to rise, JP slipped his arm around her and helped her up. She saw the paramedics place Tyson on a stretcher. As he rolled past her, Sabre saw that he was bleeding on both sides of his body. The bullet must have gone right through him, she thought.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” JP asked.

She turned her face close to his. “I’m good now. How’s Robin?”

They both moved to where Robin sat on the floor. Officer Silva followed them. A paramedic was cleaning up her mouth where Tyson had hit her.

“Robin, are you hurt badly?” Sabre asked.

“No,” she muttered.

The paramedic said, “I suggested she let us take her in to be examined to make sure there’s no concussion, but she refused.”

JP was trying to convince Robin to get checked out when Klakken entered the room.

“Geez, Torn, you’re like a bad penny everywhere I go,” Klakken said sternly. Sabre wondered if he ever laughed because even his attempt at a joke sounded serious. “What are you doing here?”

“I live here,” JP said. Then, nodding at Silva, he asked, “Will you tell this officer that I’m not the bad guy here.”

“If I believed that, I would. There’s trouble everywhere you go. This is the second man shot in your wake tonight.”

Robin and Sabre both sighed.

***

Sirens blared throughout the city as officers were dispersed to several other San Diego neighborhoods: Linda Vista, Normal Heights, Clairemont, Kearny Mesa, and Mira Mesa. Each and every property, including Leland’s dry cleaners, was searched and arrests were made. Scott Le’s properties were also searched, and he left in bracelets.

Across town in La Jolla, David Leland was escorted out of his home in handcuffs to join his brother. He was placed under arrest for kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder, which were only a few of the charges he would be facing when the facts were all discovered.

Women and children were taken in droves to the police department for questioning. Among them was Mae Chu.

Chapter 62

The Tran Case

Child: Emma, age 18 mos. (F)

Parents: Father—unknown, Mother—Kim-Ly Tran

Issues: Neglect

Facts: Mother left eighteen-month-old girl in locked room and went to work. Apartment complex caught on fire.

Sitting at the table in Department Four attempting to settle their case were Marla Miller, the social worker; Tom Ahlers, the attorney for the Department of Social Services; Richard Wagner, Kim-Ly’s attorney, who sat tapping his pencil on his calendar; and Sabre, the attorney for Emma.

Sabre reached across the table to take the report from Marla Miller. A twitch from a nerve caught her in her side. She was sore from the tussling she had taken two nights ago from Tyson Doyle Cooper.

“They arrested David Leland, Scott Le, and several others,” Ahlers said. “They’re facing so many charges they’ll never see the light of day again.”

“They found seventy-four women and children; the youngest was two years old,” Marla said. “They had a mill in place. They would mostly bring children from Vietnam between four and ten years old because they could get good money for them. Then they’d keep them locked up and train them for either prostitution or the sewing/dry cleaning business. If one of them became pregnant, and had a baby girl, they’d keep the baby in the system. Or, if it was a boy, they’d sell him. So Emma would’ve been imprisoned if she wasn’t Leland’s love child. And nobody would’ve been the wiser if her apartment hadn’t caught on fire.”

“I don’t understand. Leland never acknowledged his daughter. He didn’t help Kim-Ly financially or anything,” Sabre said. “So, why did he let Kim-Ly keep Emma?”

“Kim-Ly said Leland didn’t really want the child, but he would let her keep her as long as it didn’t cause any trouble. Maybe he really cared for Kim-Ly. I don’t know. Who knows what these fools think?” Richard Wagner, Kim-Ly’s attorney, said. “Now, can we settle this case? My client is as much a victim as all the other girls involved with Leland, maybe even more so.”

“One more thing,” Sabre said. “They’ve charged Leland with Judge Mitchell’s murder. Does anyone know why he killed him?”

Wagner responded, “He was afraid if Mitchell connected him to this dependency case, the judge would figure out that Leland was center stage in a sex-trafficking ring and rat him out to the Feds. Leland didn't relish spending the next thirty years in Adelanto Correctional Facility trying to dodge every ‘Bubba’ who wanted to play ‘drop the soap’ with him.”

“That’s a big jump. How could he make a connection from fatherhood to sex-trafficker?” Sabre asked. Wagner always stopped short of completely answering a question.

“Because the two of them had met before. Years ago Mae Chu’s father had a case with Judge Mitchell. It was a simple battery, but it involved a neighbor near his property in Julian where he housed the illegal immigrants. It gets a little foggy here, but I think Mr. Chu paid Mitchell off and Leland knew that. Maybe Leland was even involved. I don’t know. I’m just telling you what my client has heard. All she knew for sure is that Mr. Chu’s case went away mysteriously.”

“So, if the judge was paid off once, why wouldn’t Leland just pay him off again?”

Wagner sighed like he didn’t have the energy or the inclination to explain it. Then he continued. “Kim-Ly thinks that Leland planned to pay him off, but maybe Mitchell wouldn’t take the bribe. I don’t know.”

“So, you’re suggesting that Leland confronted the judge and he wouldn’t take the pay-off, so he had to get rid of him.”

“That’s right,” Wagner said.

Sabre shook her head. “And that’s what Judge Mitchell was trying to tell me in chambers,” she muttered.

“Probably. Who knows how much he would have told you, or why he chose you.”

“So why did Leland go after Dr. Heller?”

“Leland also knew that if anyone ever found out that he was the father of Kim-Ly’s baby he would be investigated, especially if they learned her real age. Unbeknownst to me, she had already told Dr. Heller that Leland was the father. The day the judge was killed, this case was on calendar. Just before we started, Kim-Ly asked me if Dr. Heller would tell the judge everything that she had told the doctor. She thought it would remain confidential, just between the two of them. I told her that since her psychological evaluation was court-ordered the doctor would put everything she told her into her report. She got pretty upset. I didn’t realize it at the time, but when Kim-Ly saw Dr. Heller talking to the judge before we started the hearing, she thought Dr. Heller was telling the judge who the father was.”

“But Dr. Heller wouldn’t ex parte the judge like that,” Sabre said.

“We know that, but my client didn’t know any better. Dr. Heller wasn’t even at court about this case; she’d just finished another case and was speaking with the judge about who-knows-what. But when the judge asked Kim-Ly who the father was, she thought he knew, and she panicked.”

“What did she do?”

“After the hearing she went straight to Leland and told him that Dr. Heller and the judge both knew that he was the father. That day, Mitchell was killed. The next day, Dr. Heller’s office was ransacked by Leland or a couple of his flunkies, but they didn't get the tapes of her conversation with Kim-Ly. We know now that they were in the doctor’s briefcase which she had kept with her. When she returned to her office, she was hit and her briefcase stolen.”

“So Leland killed Mitchell because he knew about the sex-trafficking and he tried to kill Dr. Heller so she wouldn’t tell he was the father of Kim-Ly’s baby?” Sabre questioned.

“That’s what it looks like,” Wagner said flippantly, as if he didn’t have time for any more discussion. “Now, can we get started? I don’t want to be here all day.”

“What’s the matter, Wags?” Sabre asked. “Is the surf up?”

He ignored her. “My client is a minor. She’s only sixteen.”

“We’re aware of that,” Ahlers said. “We’ve filed a new petition on Kim-Ly. If you’re willing to make her a dependent, we can go forward with this petition today.”

“I’ve spoken with Mrs. Nguyen, the foster mother for Emma. She’s willing to take Kim-Ly in and provide a home for both her and her daughter. Kim-Ly would have to go back to school. Mrs. Nguyen is also willing to provide a home for her sister, Jade. Most of these kids will be temporarily housed until INS and all the other government organizations that are involved can sort it out.”

“I’ll talk to my client.” Wagner rose and walked out of the courtroom.

He returned shortly. “Let’s do it,” he said.

***

The Durham Case

Sabre felt beaten up, both physically and emotionally, as she waited for Mike McCormick to bring Matt Durham into the interview room. She hadn’t decided exactly what she was going to do at the 707 hearing this morning, but she was glad the case was finally on calendar.

Judge Porter was hearing the case. Sabre didn’t really know much about her. The judge had spent many years in felony court downtown and was transferred in to take over Scary Larry’s delinquency cases. Someone else would cover his dependency cases until Porter was trained. This judge was no stranger to murder charges and the consensus among the defense bar was that she would likely find Matt unfit to be tried as a juvenile.

Matt was wearing his “innocent child face” when he walked in with McCormick, who acknowledged Sabre, locked Matt’s cuff with his right hand to the bench, and walked out. Matt looked around nonchalantly

“How’s it going today?” Sabre asked.

“Okay.” Matt tapped his free hand on the counter in front of him as if he were keeping time to music in his head.

“Are you nervous?”

“Not really. Should I be?”

“No. As you know, this is the 707 hearing. The judge will decide which court you’ll be tried in,” Sabre explained. “There are a couple of other things I want you to know that we discovered in our investigation.”

“What’s that?” he asked, without looking directly at Sabre.

“First of all, your friend Ralph says he wasn’t with you the night Hannah and Mason were murdered. JP checked it out and in fact, he was at a bar and you weren’t with him.”

“That son of a….”

“Matt, it’s only a matter of time before the prosecutor finds that out, too. And then it will look worse for you if they catch you in a lie.”

“No one else knows about that alibi. I’ll come up with a different one.”

Sabre shook her head. “The truth will work better.”

Matt looked her in the eyes for the first time since he was brought in. “Will it?” he said sarcastically.

Sabre’s stomach felt queasy. This young man committed this horrible crime and had no remorse. “That’s not all, Matt. There’s a witness who places you in Coach Arviso’s office with the ‘missing equipment’ form the day
after
the murder.”

“Who?”

“It doesn’t matter who.” Sabre didn’t ask him if he was there. She didn’t really want to know. “The point is the DA is likely to find that out as well.”

“I’ll just lie when I testify.”

“I can’t let you do that.”

“What do you mean? You’ve got to let me testify.”

“I can’t knowingly let you lie on the stand.”

“Maybe I’ll be telling the truth. You don’t know for sure when I’m lying. I’ve lied to you so many times, how do you know when I’m lying and when I’m telling the truth?”

Sabre felt exasperated. How could she convince this kid that this wasn’t a game? This was his life he was playing with. “You’re right, I don’t know for certain, but it would be a lot easier to build a defense for your case if I knew the truth.”

“You don’t want to know the truth. Not really. I saw how you looked at me when I saw the photo of Hannah. You don’t want me to tell you how it felt to smash someone’s head in with a baseball bat.” He looked at her as if waiting for a sign of repulsion.

Sabre forced herself to not react.

“That’s assuming I killed them, of course, which I deny.”

Sabre checked the time. She felt claustrophobic, like Matt was sucking all the air out of the room. “It’s almost time for the hearing. I’ll see you inside.”

***

The fitness hearing went forward with all the usual arguments. The ADA Jane Palmer argued that the crime was heinous and that Matt Durham would not benefit from the rehabilitative services of this court because he couldn’t be rehabilitated before the jurisdiction of the juvenile court expired. She concentrated on the gravity of the offense and the sophistication of the crime.

Sabre’s arguments concentrated on Matt’s age and the fact that this was his first offense. She argued that he was an average or better than average student and an athlete and that the juvenile court system had never made an attempt to rehabilitate him. Basically, her argument was that he was quite remarkable in every way and as a result he was neither sophisticated nor treacherous.

Sabre sat down after she presented her case and took a deep breath. She wasn’t sure she had the energy to continue on this case, but she still had not made up her mind whether or not she would follow it downtown. If it stayed in juvenile court she wouldn’t abandon him. But not following the case downtown also felt like abandonment. How was it any different, really? He was still her client and he needed her services, no matter what he had done. She felt drained, and her body still hurt. In a few days, she would be at full speed again. Then she could handle anything. She had made up her mind.

Both sides rested.

Judge Porter didn’t need to take it under submission. She was ready to rule. “I find the defendant, Matt Durham, unfit to stand trial in juvenile court. The case will be heard in the Superior Court, Felony Division, 220 West Broadway, San Diego, California.” Sabre wasn’t surprised at the ruling, but her time had run out. The judge continued, “Ms. Brown, are you going to request to remain on the case?”