Read Online Presumed Guilty by James Scott Bell - Free Book Online
Authors: James Scott Bell
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He said he’d never heard of the place.”
Don’t be a lie.
“Dallas, hang on. They found carpet fibers in Ron’s car. They match the carpet in the room where the murder took place.”
Something hard and vicious scraped Dallas’s insides.
“Ron lied to the police, Dallas. That’s something we can’t avoid.”
“But why — ”
Because he did it.
No!
“He was scared,” Jeff said. “That’s what he told me. He went to the motel because she had called him on his cell phone. The police have a record of that call, on the night she was murdered. But Ron insists he just talked to her and left.”
“Yes. I remember something he said. This girl was scared that some bad people were going to get her. That has to be what happened. They followed her, or followed Ron, or . . .” She paused, trying to think. “Maybe they set him up.”
Jeff said nothing.
“Doesn’t it make sense?” Dallas slid to the edge of the chair. “This girl was in porn films. Ron’s a big enemy of the industry. He’s been working with our councilman, he’s been vocal.”
“Dallas — ”
“Jeff, that has to be it.”
He put his hand up. “Let me tell you the way it’s got to play out. We have to deal with the evidence as it is. No judge is going to let me argue a conspiracy theory unless we come up with something to show there is at least a shred of possibility.”
“Then let’s find it.”
“Believe me, Dallas, I have one of the best investigators in the city who’ll be on this. But right now you have to be prepared for some very bad days.”
And what’s it been until now, a cakewalk?
Jeff sighed and looked at the floor.
“Is there something else?” she asked.
“Yes. Some detectives went over to Hillside earlier today.”
“Detectives?”
Jeff nodded. “And they had a search warrant. They took Ron’s computer and a bunch of his papers.”
“But he’s got all his stuff on there, his programs, his work.”
“They have to preserve it all, under the law, but they can look at whatever they want.”
“Jeff, this is unbelievable. It’s so wrong.”
“It’s the way the law operates, Dallas. Sometimes it protects us, sometimes it invades us. Right now, it’s invading. It’s my job to get it all straightened out.”
But what if it doesn’t get straightened out? What then?
“What’s going to happen next?” Dallas asked.
“Ron’s entitled to a prelim within ten days of arrest. I’m not going to waive time. I’ll hold their feet to the fire and try to smoke out what the prosecution thinks it has. The sooner we force it the better. This is now a big, fat media case. The DA is out there on a limb claiming Ron is the murderer. They’ll fight every step of the way to make this stick. I just wanted you to be prepared. Don’t talk to anyone. Refer all questions to my office.”
Questions? She herself had a ton of them. Like, what really happened at the motel? And if Ron lied to the police, could he be lying to them all?
3.
My life was changed by fire.
It was like that famous account of Pascal’s conversion. I mean, there he was, living a worldly life in Paris in the 1600s, confused. What was life all about? he wanted to know. Is the sensuality I experience all there is to existence?
There he was, this genius in mathematics, founder of probability theory and advanced differential calculus. (I never even took calculus, I was too afraid.) His physics experiments led to the invention of the hydraulic press.
But he couldn’t figure out life.
One night he picked up his Bible and began reading the gospel of John. Suddenly, he was filled with a sense of God’s presence, so extreme and rapturous that he felt as if he were on fire. He grabbed a parchment and tried to record what he was feeling. When he died at the ageof thirty-nine, they found this parchment sewed up in the lining of his jacket, where he’d kept it close to his heart:
FIRE
“God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob,” not of philosophers and
Don’t be a lie.
“Dallas, hang on. They found carpet fibers in Ron’s car. They match the carpet in the room where the murder took place.”
Something hard and vicious scraped Dallas’s insides.
“Ron lied to the police, Dallas. That’s something we can’t avoid.”
“But why — ”
Because he did it.
No!
“He was scared,” Jeff said. “That’s what he told me. He went to the motel because she had called him on his cell phone. The police have a record of that call, on the night she was murdered. But Ron insists he just talked to her and left.”
“Yes. I remember something he said. This girl was scared that some bad people were going to get her. That has to be what happened. They followed her, or followed Ron, or . . .” She paused, trying to think. “Maybe they set him up.”
Jeff said nothing.
“Doesn’t it make sense?” Dallas slid to the edge of the chair. “This girl was in porn films. Ron’s a big enemy of the industry. He’s been working with our councilman, he’s been vocal.”
“Dallas — ”
“Jeff, that has to be it.”
He put his hand up. “Let me tell you the way it’s got to play out. We have to deal with the evidence as it is. No judge is going to let me argue a conspiracy theory unless we come up with something to show there is at least a shred of possibility.”
“Then let’s find it.”
“Believe me, Dallas, I have one of the best investigators in the city who’ll be on this. But right now you have to be prepared for some very bad days.”
And what’s it been until now, a cakewalk?
Jeff sighed and looked at the floor.
“Is there something else?” she asked.
“Yes. Some detectives went over to Hillside earlier today.”
“Detectives?”
Jeff nodded. “And they had a search warrant. They took Ron’s computer and a bunch of his papers.”
“But he’s got all his stuff on there, his programs, his work.”
“They have to preserve it all, under the law, but they can look at whatever they want.”
“Jeff, this is unbelievable. It’s so wrong.”
“It’s the way the law operates, Dallas. Sometimes it protects us, sometimes it invades us. Right now, it’s invading. It’s my job to get it all straightened out.”
But what if it doesn’t get straightened out? What then?
“What’s going to happen next?” Dallas asked.
“Ron’s entitled to a prelim within ten days of arrest. I’m not going to waive time. I’ll hold their feet to the fire and try to smoke out what the prosecution thinks it has. The sooner we force it the better. This is now a big, fat media case. The DA is out there on a limb claiming Ron is the murderer. They’ll fight every step of the way to make this stick. I just wanted you to be prepared. Don’t talk to anyone. Refer all questions to my office.”
Questions? She herself had a ton of them. Like, what really happened at the motel? And if Ron lied to the police, could he be lying to them all?
3.
My life was changed by fire.
It was like that famous account of Pascal’s conversion. I mean, there he was, living a worldly life in Paris in the 1600s, confused. What was life all about? he wanted to know. Is the sensuality I experience all there is to existence?
There he was, this genius in mathematics, founder of probability theory and advanced differential calculus. (I never even took calculus, I was too afraid.) His physics experiments led to the invention of the hydraulic press.
But he couldn’t figure out life.
One night he picked up his Bible and began reading the gospel of John. Suddenly, he was filled with a sense of God’s presence, so extreme and rapturous that he felt as if he were on fire. He grabbed a parchment and tried to record what he was feeling. When he died at the ageof thirty-nine, they found this parchment sewed up in the lining of his jacket, where he’d kept it close to his heart:
FIRE
“God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob,” not of philosophers and
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