Hardscrabble Road Read Online Free PDF Page A

dates. I know it’s practically dogma around here never to become enmeshed in a belief in a client’s innocence, but
     I do think Sherman is innocent. I don’t think he got prescription drugs for Drew Harrigan oranybody else. I don’t think he could have kept himself together long enough to do it, and if he did, I think he’d forget about
     why and take the stuff himself.”
    Kate thought about it for a minute. “He got stopped, didn’t he? Drew Harrigan. He was exceeding the posted speed limit in
     a residential zone and he got stopped by a cop. He had a couple of fistfuls of pills in a bowl of some sort sitting next to
     him on the front passenger seat.”
    “It was a Tupperware container, a small one. With the lid off.”
    “So the cop pulled him over and there were the pills. So then what? They took him down to the police station while they checked
     out the pills? What about Harrigan’s lawyer?”
    “Harrigan’s got lawyers,” Mr. George said. “A couple of dozen of them. But they did charge him that night, if that’s what
     you mean.”
    “That’s what I mean. And they arraigned him, when?”
    “About three days later.”
    “Is that when he started to accuse Sherman Markey of procuring the pills for him?”
    “Sort of,” Mr. George said. “It was odd, really. There was the arraignment. He entered a plea. He made the bail arrangements.
     He walked out of the courthouse door and held a press conference on the courthouse steps. I saw it on local TV. It looked
     like it had been planned.”
    “It should have been planned. If I was one of his lawyers, I’d have planned it to death. What did he do at the press conference?”
    “He did a twelve-step number,” Mr. George said. “He admitted to being addicted to prescription medication. And that’s where
     he did it. It was in the middle of this statement that he said something like, ‘For the last three years, I have used a man
     who works for me, Sherman Markey, to gain access to drugs I knew I would be unable …’ Yada, yada, yada. He didn’t actually
     accuse him. He just said—”
    “That Markey was getting him the stuff, yes. So the police arrested Sherman Markey.”
    “Not right away. That took a couple of days. First Drew Harrigan disappeared into rehab. And I do mean disappeared. We don’t
     even know the name of the facility, or its whereabouts, or anything.”
    “Does the court?”
    “It must, don’t you think?” Mr. George said. “I mean, they wouldn’t let him go off like that and not know where he was, would
     they?”
    “I don’t know,” Kate said. “He’s a celebrity client. It’s not as if he could disappear.”
    “He has disappeared.”
    “I meant in the long run. He’s a very recognizable man. He’s big. He’s tall. He’s loud. And even if they could manage to do
     something about all ofthat, he’s got that anomaly. ‘My heart’s in the right place, on the right side of my chest.’ ”
    “You can’t see that he was born with situs inversus.”
    “No, you can’t, but it’s a rare condition. He couldn’t go to a doctor without the doctor noticing it, or having to be told.
     It’s something everybody knows about. He can’t shut up about it. His heart is on the right side of his chest.”
    “So…”
    “So he couldn’t disappear for long,” Kate said again. “He’s the seven-hundred-pound elephant in the middle of the living room.
     How long is he supposed to be incommunicado in rehab?”
    “Sixty days. There are about forty, forty-two left.”
    “And in the meantime the legal case against him has stopped?”
    “I don’t think they’ve stopped investigating, but, yeah, they’re leaving him alone. Rehab is sacred. Instead, they’re going
     after Sherman as a dealer,” Mr. George said. “They’re going after him on federal as well as state charges. It’s insane. It’s
     as if he were a Colombian drug lord.”
    “Are they going to charge Harrigan with anything?”
    “They’ve