Enemy in Blue (42 page)

“
Great, waste the Court's time,” Judge Melburn muttered.

Mason peeked up at the judge who was shuffling something around at his bench. The collar around Mason's neck felt like it was squeezing the breath out of him. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead. “The State calls Roman Martinez.”

Martinez stood up and walked hesitantly to the witness box. Mason mustered a nod of his head and pointed to him that he was going the right way. This was a farce, Mason thought to himself. Something was going on—he had never seen a judge act like this. He looked over at Sphinx who appeared to be similarly mystified. It couldn't have been him. This had all the smack of higher powers, people beyond both of them pulling strings.

Martinez was sworn in and Mason went through his direct examination. How did you know Max Silverman? Where did he work? When did you meet him? Did he ever give you anything? When, where? Martinez did well through the line of questioning. He described that Max was able to save the original video from the camera and that he protected it up until giving it to the district attorney's office.

Judge Melburn interrupted the direct examination, “So you are a material witness in the murder of several people involved in this case, as well as the arrest of the defendant.
And
you are testifying as to the veracity of that videotape?” Mason slammed his pencil down and stared at the judge. He tried to continue his direct examination but the judge interrupted him. “I would like an answer to those questions.”

“
I'm not testifying as to the veracity of anything, Judge,” Martinez answered. “I'm just testifying that he gave me what he said was the video of Shaver killing Livan Rodriguez.” Judge Melburn grunted and motioned to Mason to continue. Mason finished his direct examination and Sphinx didn't even bother with a cross. Why rock the boat?

“
The State calls Cruz...”

“
Another witness, counsel? I've told you what the outcome of this is going to be.”

“
We have a right to put on our evidence,
Your Honor!!
” The blood had boiled right up to Mason's head. Even Judge Melburn seemed taken aback—for a moment.

“
Counsel, one more outburst like that...”

Then Mason completely lost it. “One more outburst like this?!” he yelled as he flung papers over his shoulder into the gallery behind him. “Or
how about this!
” he screamed while kicking the podium onto its side. Two bailiffs rushed into the courtroom.

“
Take that man into custody. I am holding you in contempt of this Court...”

“
Screw your contempt! You've fixed this...”

“
...and if you stop now I will only give you one day of jail time...”

“
...you've fixed this hearing and the trial. You're a
coward
! An innocent man is dead and you're playing fucking games!”

“
That'll be two days.” The bailiffs had almost pulled Mason out of the courtroom, his mouth frothing. He grabbed onto a door frame and made one last, fruitless demonstration of resistance before he vanished. “Well, that was quite a display,” Judge Melburn said with a cough. “My ruling...”

Cruz stood up, turned his back to the judge and started to walk out of the courtroom. Martinez and Sandra saw him and also got up to leave. “My ruling is that the videotape be excluded. No further demonstrations such as the State's will be tolerated in this matter.”

Cruz got to the courtroom doors and pushed through them for some much-needed space. Sandra caught up to him. Her eyes were wide, outlined in black. “What happened in there, Cruz?” Martinez stood next to them silently.

“
I don't know. I've never seen a judge act like that. It was obvious that the judge was biased. He ruled before even hearing evidence. I just don't know.”

“
Man, it's no surprise,” Martinez said. “Shaver's a cop. Who knows how high his connections go. Or, who is implicated by things that man has done. It's no surprise,” Martinez said with a shrug of his shoulders. “The blue line—it's more like a blue mountain.”

“
What do we do now?” Sandra asked.

Neither Cruz nor Martinez responded right away. They didn't have the answer. Cruz finally said something, “We put Martinez on against Shaver. That's what it's come down to.”

* * * *

Shaver moaned and tried to roll over onto his side. A pair of unknown hands restrained him. He started to fight back but the person whispered, “Easy...easy. Take it easy, Mr. Shaver.” Shaver cracked his eye open to a flood of world. A black woman was leaning down in his line of sight.

“
Where am I?” he managed to ask.

“
Shoot, the prison. The hospital in the prison. Had a nice dream that you were out, did ya?” She coaxed him to relax on his back again. Then she got on her knees and put her elbows onto his bed. “The Warden says you did good.”

“
Oh yeah? Those spics get beat up?”

“
Oh no! Worse than that, Mr. Shaver. At least three of them have been killed since the first skirmish you started. Warden says a rival gang saw the attack as an opportunity to take over some territory. Now there are Mexican gangs fighting it out. The brothers won't let an opportunity like this pass either,” she said, almost with a sense of pride.

Shaver moaned again and turned his head to look at her. She was a mid-forties woman. Cleanly pressed nurse uniform. She had some gray hairs showing on the side of her head. A worn but cunning expression on her face. “Warden says your case went well.”

“
What's he know about that?”

“
Mr. Sphinx told him.”

This caught Shaver's attention. “He talked to my attorney?” The woman looked away as if she had slipped. “Well, what did he say?”

“
Said the judge did his job. The video is out.”

Shaver smiled. “Freakin' amazing. This trip to the hospital was definitely worth it then.”

“
Mr. Sphinx also said not to get better too fast. Said it would be better if you looked banged up.”

“
Wait, did the Warden or
you
talk to him? You seem to know an awful lot.”

The nurse flashed a coy smile at him and began to tuck the cover around his bed. “I was listening while Mr. Sphinx talked.” She finished tucking and then arranged his bed stand. “Your room number is #542, same as your phone number, if people want to call you. My name's Elysa. You can ring this button up here if you need anything.” She floated out of the room like an apparition. Shaver was left with only silence. Faint hums and beeps were audible if he concentrated.

“
My man!”

Shaver shifted away from the phone. “What the hell?”

“
Shaver, it's the Warden. Get me off intercom.”

Shaver picked up the phone. “That's really loud, Warden. Should watch where you burst into.”

“
Awww, get your panties out their bunch. You hear yet?”

“
Yeah, Elysa told me.”

“
So...anything to say?”

“
Sure, thanks. You got anything to say to me?”

“
Thanks to you, Sergeant. You really kicked this beehive good. Fuckin' spics are getting killed by their own and others. It's a lovely thing.” The Warden's voice brimmed with happiness. What a lonely place this must be for the Warden, Shaver thought. Sitting in the middle of five thousand angry, criminal men. Every one of them would choke the life out of him. Him sitting there all day trying to figure out ways to further subject them to his control. His cell was solitary in comparison to the rest of them. Then again, that could be said for most people. Shaver crumpled an empty cup of water in his hand while these thoughts flowed through his mind. Some people just had more lavish cages than others.

When Shaver returned from his daydream, he realized the Warden had been talking the whole time. He was one of those people that couldn't care less whether you responded or even whether you were listening. The sound of his own voice was enough to carry a twenty-minute conversation.

Shaver heard a bit of commotion outside of his room. “Warden, gotta let you go,” he said as he hung up the phone. No sooner had he set the phone down then Sphinx came storming in. Elysa followed close behind him. She tried to slow the hulking man down to no avail.

“
I tried to stop him!” Elysa exclaimed out of breath.

Shaver put his hand up to stop her. “It's all right Elysa.” She looked thankful and slowed to a stop before turning back out of the room.

“
What the fuck do you have going on here Shaver?”

Shaver spread his hands out on his bedsheet and rubbed his legs. “This is certainly no way to greet your best client Sphinx.”

“
You're my
worst
fucking client, Shaver. I've been involved with some scum but the things you've got going on are beyond all of them.”

“
Come over here, Sphinx, closer to the bed.”

“
Screw that, you maniac.”

Shaver smiled and shook his head while he looked down at the bed. “What'd you expect Sphinx? You expected me to sit here and play by the rules? Would you trust your fate to another man or someone else's system?”

“
Guess what, that's how...”

“
I wasn't actually looking for an answer, Sphinx. If you don't see that, problem number one,” Shaver said as he wagged a finger at Sphinx. “Problem number two: the system and the man are fucked. Never mind that I don't trust either of them even when they work right. When they operate as they do every day, no way. I ain't the one.”

Sphinx paced to the window and stood there with his hands on his hips. “You've got me in a crap position Shaver. What did you do to that judge?”

“
I didn't do anything—and that's the truth.”

“
Who did then? That was the craziest shit I've seen in a courtroom before. He ruled before I even rebutted the State's evidence.”

“
Look Sphinx, just do your best job. The place you're in, it's called by the balls. Your best bet is to ride it out. You can't withdraw. Just let the bigger forces work themselves out.”

“
I'll tell you what, Shaver,” Sphinx said as he left the window and moved towards Shaver's bed. “If I lose my license over all of this bullshit you're pulling, I'll have your heart for dinner.” He stopped by the side of the bed. Shaver feigned fatigue until Sphinx got within lunging distance. Then Shaver pushed himself onto his side and reached for Sphinx's collar. He grabbed it and pulled Sphinx down towards him. Sphinx returned the favor by wrapping his two enormous hands around Shaver's neck. The men froze there, grimacing as their strength collided.

“
Just try the fucking case,” Shaver spat. Sphinx pushed away and broke free from Shaver. He stormed out of the room just as he had stormed in. That's how Sphinx moved.

F O R T Y-T W O

__________________________________________________

C
ruz waited as the guard scanned him with a hand-held metal detector. “Lift up your pant legs.” Cruz complied and the guard nonchalantly waved him forward. He moved through a series of familiar corridors until he got to the “talking room,” as it was called. All of the seats were empty. He took one by an end of the row and waited. Almost as soon as he sat down, he heard a faint click and a door on the other side of the glass opened. It was Mason.

Mason picked up the phone, “Hi, Cruz. What'd you need?”

Cruz shifted on the circular stool as he tried to find a comfortable position. “How long did Judge Melburn give you?”

“
Two days.”

“
Ever been in jail before?”

“
No. You?”

“
Can't say that I have,” Cruz said with a smirk that wasn't returned. “I need a favor.”

Mason frowned. “You know, I don't exactly have spare time in here. I'm obsessed with protecting my asshole like the Holy Grail.” Cruz couldn't help but laugh. “When it's you in here I'll remember that. What do you want?”

“
The video.”

“
Oh come on Cruz. We lost, let's get over it and move on to the trial.”

“
I don't want it for the trial, Mason.” Cruz caught Mason's full attention.

Mason looked into his eyes and saw a bit of wildness. “You're a little crazed over this Cruz.”

“
Shouldn't you be, too? Isn't your job to strive for justice?”

“
That should be all our jobs, as lawyers.”

“
Well then fucking strive, Mason. We got blindsided in that hearing. I've never seen anything like that—the judge ruling without considering any evidence. Without giving us a chance to put on our side. It's a goddamn wake- up call, Mason. The system is broken. Either we play within the bounds of a broken system or we work around it. I say we work around it.”

“
That video is still evidence in the investigation and...”

“
Give it a rest, Mason. That videotape is never going to see the light of day in this trial.”

“
Could be an issue on appeal. What if we need the tape on remand?”

“
You mean, what if we need the tape in three years? You also mean that one of our appellate courts is going to find that the trial court abused its discretion? You know how high that standard is. Not gonna happen.”