Love & Hate – Chapter 12: Attorney / Client Privilege

Chapter 12 by Matt Wall

Police Detective Melanie Granger, was just finishing up some paperwork when Chief Tim Dean, walked over and knocked on her desk. 

“My office,” he said.

“I’m just…”

“Now,” he said sternly, and darted off into his office.

Melanie’s jaw hung open as if she was still trying to finish the sentence that Chief Dean interrupted. 

“Damn it, Granger!” he shouted.

She jumped up from her chair and hurried into the room.

“Shut the door and sit.”

After complying with his demands, she said, “I was just finishing the intake paperwork on Brody and Allie. I think it’s really strange that…”

“Stop,” he said, leaning towards her from behind his desk. “We need to finish our conversation about Ed Gold. It’s leaving a real funny taste in my mouth and I don’t like it.”

“Okay,” she said, as she lifted her eyebrows, making her bright blue eyes seem to bulge from their sockets. “What do you want to know?”

“What case are you working on that you would want to look into the past of Ed Gold?”

“It’s not a case so much as it could end up as a case.”

“I don’t follow.”

Hesitation filled the air. “Someone came to me for advice. They are suspecting that Ed is going to do something to them, if they don’t do what Ed wants.”

Tim glared at her. “Why are you being so vague?”

She smiled nervously. “I don’t know. It’s a friend. I was looking into this for a friend.”

Tim leaned back in his chair. “Are there any witnesses to this threat? Can you bring Ed in on intimidation or…”

“It’s not that easy. I know that Ed Gold has the best lawyers in town. If we bring him in on something that isn’t concrete, he’ll be out in a matter of hours and I’ll have a very short career.”

Tim smiled. “So, you do understand?”

She shrugged, then nodded in defeat.

“What you should do, is make a note of this, and then wait for Ed to make good on his threat. At that point you will actually have something on him.”

She stumbled over her words, then finally said, “But then, that will be too late.”

“But then you’ll have him. If you go after him now, and let him slip through your fingers, he’ll go after your friend anyway and you won’t be able to do a damn thing. If you wait, it may be horrible for your friend, but at least you will have something to go after.”

She bit her lip and nodded.

“So, tell me about Brody and Allie.”

“Brody says that Allie lied about his alibi and wants to make sure that he is on record being as truthful as he can be. Allie, on the other hand, is sticking to her story and just cries a lot.”

“Let’s go see if we can dry those tears,” he said, sarcastically. 

They left the office and walked into the small jail, located in the back of the building.  He stopped at the front desk. “Hey Trudy, could you pull Brody Mills and Allie Newton out, separately, and put them in interrogation rooms one and two, please?”

Trudy smiled and batted her eyes at Tim. “Sure thing. We can move Newton now, but Mills is with his lawyer.”

Tim rolled his eyes and sighed. “Great. The bastard turns himself in and then lawyers up. Who does he have?”

“Let me see,” she said, as she ran her finger down the sign-in sheet. “Ah! Here it is. Looks like he got Al Jackson to represent him. That guy is a hard-ass all right.”

Tim and Melanie gasped. “That’s the victims father, you idiot! How long has he been in with him?”

“About ten or fifteen minutes.”

Tim and Melanie ran into the cell block.

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