Fish Out of Water Read Online Free PDF Page B

If they do let him out on bail, that’s months for every crooked cop in Northern California to find a reason to stop him and beat the holy Mother of God out of him—”
    “You’re exaggerating,” Ellery rasped. Those things didn’t happen in Sacramento. It was one of the most diverse cities in the country—people had to learn to live together or the place would be a war zone.
    “Just because it hasn’t happened here doesn’t mean it won’t ,” Jackson snarled. “And if it does happen and shows up on YouTube going viral, wouldn’t it be convenient if the cop we see beating my brother to death is actually a dirty cop covering a murder.”
    Oh God. Yes. It was entirely possible. The penalties for policemen accused of racial bias were notoriously light. But—
    “Not here,” Ellery said, praying he was right. “We have a black mayor—”
    “We have a black president ,” Jackson retorted. “If the last two years since Ferguson have proved anything, it’s that old prejudices don’t go away just because liberals like to hope a lot. Kaden can’t go to prison—he’ll never make it. And he can’t go free unless—”
    “Unless we find out why this happened and all the bad guys are put away first,” Ellery said, his stomach knotting. Oh God. Jackson hadn’t been kidding—this was the case that could make a lawyer’s career.
    Or it could shatter it into a thousand teeny tiny pieces.
    Ellery could hear the three of them breathing in the silence that followed, and very quietly, Kaden make a soft groan of pain.
    Jackson backed out of Ellery’s space immediately, and Ellery had just a little more air to breathe.
    “K,” Jackson said softly, “we could let you go now to processing or—”
    “I’ll get him into the infirmary,” Ellery said, surprising himself. “Has he seen his family yet?”
    “In the hospital,” Jackson said. “Before they shipped him here and I got him into the interrogation room.”
    Ellery looked at him sharply, and Jackson shrugged. “You’re right—not every cop is crooked, and I’ve got some contacts. He’s seen his wife and kids—and if you can get him out on bail, he’ll see them again.”
    Ellery nodded. “I’ll see what I can do about getting him an overnight pass to the infirmary—to keep him out of general population. I can stay with him in there for a couple of hours.” Ellery glanced reflexively toward the door, where a guard waited patiently outside to take Kaden to his cell when his time with his lawyer was up.
    Jackson backed up another step, giving Ellery some more space to breathe, and perversely, he missed that body, throwing off heat.
    “So,” Jackson said after a moment that left Ellery adjusting his suit and looking surreptitiously at Kaden to see if he saw any… tension… in the way Ellery and Jackson were behaving.
    It was probably all in Ellery’s fevered imagination anyway.
    “So,” Jackson said again, taking a few steps toward the middle of the room. “We’ve got some leads. We need to trace the gun and the picture in the brief. We need to talk to Connie first; then someone needs to spend an afternoon analyzing that picture.”
    “And I need to get hold of the real crime-scene photos.” Ellery tried not to harbor dark suspicions of being left to swing in the breeze by the DA’s office.
    Jackson looked at him and swallowed, then closed his eyes. He turned to Kaden and said, “K?”
    K shrugged. “You need to let him know how bad it could get.”
    Jackson scrubbed his face with his hands. “Ellery, you need to type up your notes for your brief and let me see them—”
    “I don’t need to—”
    “We’re not doing this again, do you understand? Not with another lawyer. You need to type up your notes and let me see them, and then we can discuss whether you really want this case or whether you want to fucking bail.”
    “Why does—”
    “Because.” Jackson swung his arms wide, probably to relieve some of the tension. “You