RK02 - Guilt By Degrees by Marcia Clark Read Free Book Online Page B

Bailey and I jumped out of our seats and ran. Seconds later, we screeched to a halt at the side of the building—just as Charlie Fern burst through the back door. Bailey reached out, swiftly snatched a fistful of his T-shirt collar, and gave it a firm backward yank.
    She held on to his shirt and shook her head. “Dumb, really dumb.” She looked at him with annoyance. “You made me leave my sandwich.”
    I contributed a tsk-tsk of disapproval. “You know, Charlie, it really hurts our feelings when witnesses dodge us like that.”
    Charlie’s eyes darted between me and Bailey so rapidly I thought he was going to give himself a seizure. His voice came out in a squeak. “Look, man, I told the cops I din’t see who stabbed the dude!”
    “That’s not how the cop remembered it,” I said. “So let’s hear the whole truth and nothing but. Did Yamaguchi do the stabbing or not?”
    Charlie was breathing hard, and I could see he was facing a personal conundrum. Though I had a pretty good idea what it was, I decided to wait and see if he’d pop it out himself. We all stood there in silence for a few moments as Charlie weighed his options.
    Finally he gave up, and his whole body drooped. Unfortunately, since Bailey still had a firm grip on his collar, this meant that the neck of his shirt dug into his throat, slightly strangling him.
    Alarmed, he squeaked, “Okay! Let go and I’ll explain.”
    Bailey looked at him impassively and didn’t move.
    “Please,” he said beseechingly. “I promise I won’t run.”
    Bailey gave him a stern look as she moved her hand from his collar to his forearm.
    “Ever had a broken arm?” she asked.
    “N-no.” Charlie looked at her warily.
    “Hurts like a son of a bitch.”
    He nodded and cleared his throat. “I’m on probation for receiving stolen property,” Charlie said. “But I wasn’t guilty. I tol’ my public defender, man. That stereo receiver was mine. That ass…uh…guy, stiffed me, so I just went and took it back. My dump truck of a PD said to just take the deal. I was scared of going to jail, so I did. I never shoulda listened.” Charlie still looked aggrieved.
    I wasn’t buying the dump-truck story. My experience with public defenders, which was considerable, was that they’d happily fight a case that had any shot at all of winning. I’d bet good money our little Charlie was a thief. But I did buy the part about him being on probation.
    “You’re dealing out of here, and you got nervous about the cops watching your action, so you told them what you thought they wanted to hear,” I said flatly.
    Charlie gave me a wounded look. “No!”
    Which meant yes.
    “And you’re in trouble with your PO,” I said, sounding as bored as I felt.
    I hate the predictable. Which, I guess, is one of the reasons I love my job.
    Charlie sniffed. “It was a bullshit deal. I got caught with a little weed. But my PO said if I screwed up again, he’d violate me.”
    “So you figured you’d earn brownie points with the cops. That way, they’d leave you alone and maybe even help you out with your PO if you just happened to get unlucky enough to get busted again,” I said.
    Charlie nodded glumly. “I’m totally screwed now, aren’t I? You’re gonna bust me for lyin’.”
    Bailey sighed. “Just give us the truth, Charlie. No more bullshit. What’d you really see?”
    “I really did see that dude—whasisname? Yamashiro or something—”
    “That’s a restaurant, Charlie,” I corrected with a sigh. “I take it you mean the defendant who was in court?”
    “Yeah, him. He was there just before the homeless dude went down.”
    “You mean the victim?” I couldn’t stand hearing one more person call him the homeless guy.
    “Yuh, uh, yeah, the victim,” Charlie said nervously.
    “How close was Yamaguchi to the victim when you saw him?”
    “Real close, like from me to her,” he said, gesturing to Bailey, who was about seven inches away and still holding his arm.
    He