“I’m still not following,” Jezek said.
“What happened?”
“That’s the point,” she replied.
“Nothing. Next thing you know—after
the paperwork but before the mug shot
and fingerprinting—the trooper comes in
and tells Rust he has to go out on an emergency
call and that Rust has to wait for him
in a holding cell until he gets back to wrap
things up.”
“You’re pulling my leg,” the lawyer
said, his excitement audible. “They did
detain him?”
“For over four hours. Then the trooper
shows up again, they go through the
printing and mug shot portion, the trooper
offers to drive Rust home since he lives so
close by, and that’s it.”
“No mention of the blood test.”
“Not a word. I think they both forgot.
Like you said, Rust was distracted, not to
mention drunk, and the trooper had other
things on his mind, being fresh back from
that call, and probably hankering to go
home after a long shift. By the way,” Sally
threw in, “you ought to know that John
aced his roadside dexterity tests—the
walk-a-single-line, stand-on-one-foot, and
the rest. Being an Olympic-level drunk has
its advantages—what he had in his system
may have been twice the legal limit, but it
doesn’t look like it had the slightest effect
on him physically. That’ll help you in court,
too, I would guess.”
“This is textbook,” Jezek said. “If an
accused says he wants a blood test but is
being released, then you are absolutely
right. It’s up to him to get the test at a
hospital of his choosing, and in a timely
manner. But that emergency call means
John wasn’t released. And the law is crystal
clear. If you are being detained, but you
asked for that test, you have to be escorted
by an officer to a hospital or wherever
for the blood draw to occur. God, I love
it. So, since they both forgot about it, the
trooper’s oversight’s gonna mean that the
Datamaster results’ll have to be thrown
out. Them’s the rules. Jesus. The SA’s
going to flip out. Nice work, Sally.”
“You’re welcome,” she replied, smiling
at his enthusiasm. “You remember that this
only kills half the case against him, right?
The civil charge will no doubt be tossed,
but the criminal charge alongside it still
has meat on it.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” the lawyer said
dismissively. “I know that. But it gets
weakened. One supports the other, or not,
thanks to you.”
“Not me,” Sally corrected him. “Sadly,
we have poor Trooper Brennan to thank,
not that he could’ve done anything else.
He had to go on that call, and after he got
back, too much time had passed
for the blood draw to count, anyway. Talk
about a rock and a hard place. I hope to
hell they don’t jam him up.”
Jezek wasn’t sympathetic. “If they do,”
he said, “you can volunteer as a character
witness.”
“Okay, then,” Sally said, sensing
the conversation ending. “Well, if that’s
enough to do the trick, I can send you my
bill and we’ll part ways, unless you want
more.”
“I do,” he countered. “I’ve spoken to
John since you came to my office, and his
resolve to get out from under this has only
grown. I’m therefore thinking you could
dig in to the whole Peter thing, maybe
create a chronology, interview a few
people, and find whatever you can that’ll
cast John in a favorable light.”
He paused before continuing, “I’d
love to double-tag the SA on this one—
combine a technical legal glitch with a
legitimate sob story. But not to just score
points. I have no problem with holding
John’s feet to the fire. He’s a drunk and he
needs to straighten up. I’m just saying he’s
gotta have help to do that, not punishment,
and I don’t want election rhetoric
chewing him up.”
Once more, Sally was hearing why she
liked working with this man. “I got it, Scott.
You’re preaching to the choir.”
He laughed at that. “Okay, okay. You
got me all wound up. I’ll shut up and you
go find me a suitably sentimental story.”
“Will do.”
ALSO BY
ARCHER MAYOR
Bomber’s Moon
Bury the Lead
Trace
Presumption of Guilt
The Company She Kept
Proof Positive
Three Can Keep a Secret
Paradise City
Tag Man
Red Herring
The Price of Malice
The Catch
Chat
The Second Mouse
St. Albans Fire
The Surrogate Thief
Gatekeeper
The Sniper’s Wife
Tucker Peak
The Marble Mask
Occam’s Razor
The Disposable Man
Bellows Falls
The Ragman’s Memory
The Dark Root
Fruits of the Poisonous Tree
The Skeleton’s Knee
Scent of Evil
Borderlines
Open Season
Available through:
archermayor.com
us.macmillan.com
barnesandnoble.com
amazon.com
Independent Bookstores
VTMAG.COM FALL 2020 39