The Brass Verdict

asked.
    “I’ve never had an accident.” Patrick said.
    I nodded my approval. They say an addict is best suited for spotting another addict. I was looking for signs that he was still using. Heavy eyelids, slow speech, avoidance of eye contact. But I didn’t pick up on anything.
    “When can you start?”
    He shrugged.
    “I don’t have anything… I mean, whenever you want, I guess.”
    “How about we start right now? Today will be a test-drive. We’ll see how you do and we can talk about it at the end of the day.”
    “Sounds good to me.”
    “Okay, well, we’re going to get out of here and hit the road and I’ll explain in the car how I like things to work.”
    “Cool.”
    He hooked his thumbs in his pockets and awaited the next move or instruction. He looked like he was about thirty but that was because of what the sun had done to his skin. I knew from the file that he was only twenty-four and still had a lot to learn.
    Today the plan was to take him back to school.

Seventeen
    We took the 10 out of downtown and headed west toward Malibu. I sat in the back and opened my computer on the fold-down table. While I waited for it to boot up I told Patrick Henson how it all worked.
    “Patrick, I haven’t had an office since I left the Public Defenders Office twelve years ago. My car is my office. I’ve got two other Lincolns just like this one. I keep them in rotation. Each one’s got a printer, a fax and I’ve got a wireless card in my computer. Anything I have to do in an office I can do back here while I’m on the road to the next place. There are more than forty courthouses spread across L.A. County. Being mobile is the best way to do business.”
    “Cool,” Patrick said. “I wouldn’t want to be in an office either.”
    “Damn right,” I said. “Too claustrophobic.”
    My computer was ready. I went to the file where I kept generic forms and motions and began to customize a pretrial motion to examine evidence.
    “I’m working on your case right now, Patrick.”
    He looked at me in the mirror.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Well, I reviewed your file and there’s something Mr. Vincent hadn’t done that I think we need to do that may help.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Get an independent appraisal of the necklace you took. They list the value as twenty-five thousand and that bumps you up to a felony theft category. But it doesn’t look like anybody ever challenged that.”
    “You mean like if the diamonds are bogus there’s no felony?”
    “It could work out like that. But I was thinking of something else, too.”
    “What?”
    I pulled his file out of my bag so I could check a name.
    “Let me ask you a few questions first, Patrick,” I said. “What were you doing in that house where you took the necklace?”
    He shrugged his shoulders.
    “I was dating the old lady’s youngest daughter. I met her on the beach and was sort of teaching her to surf. We went out a few times and hung out. One time there was a birthday party at the house and I was invited and the mother was given the necklace as a gift.”
    “That’s when you learned its value.”
    “Yeah, the father said they were diamonds when he gave it to her. He was real proud of ’em.”
    “So then, the next time you were there at the house, you stole the necklace.”
    He didn’t respond.
    “It wasn’t a question, Patrick. It’s a fact. I’m your lawyer now and we need to discuss the facts of the case. Just don’t ever lie to me or I won’t be your lawyer anymore.”
    “Okay.”
    “So the next time you were in the house, you stole the necklace.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Tell me about it.”
    “We were there alone using the pool and I said I had to go to the can, only I really just wanted to check the medicine cabinet for pills. I was hurting. There weren’t any in the bathroom downstairs so I went upstairs and looked around. I looked in the old lady’s jewelry box and saw the necklace. I just took it.”
    He shook his head and I knew why. He was thoroughly embarrassed and defeated by the actions his addiction had made him take. I had been there myself and knew that looking back from sobriety was almost as scary as looking forward.
    “It’s all right, Patrick. Thank you for being honest. What did the guy say when you pawned it?”
    “He said he’d only give me four bills because the chain was gold but he didn’t think the diamonds were legit. I told him he was full of shit but what could I do? I took the money and went