“Both of them?”
“Yes.There was a fire one night.Neither of them made it out of the house.”
“When was this?”
“About a year before Adam and I moved here.”
“Where was Cooper at the time?”
My fork snagged in the tuna.Slowly I looked up.“Cooper was working on a boat two days north of here.It took the Coast Guard that long to reach him.No, he didn’t have anything to do with that fire.Arthur managed it all by himself.”
Rather than trying to catch Cooper in something, Peter seemed totally engrossed in the tale.“Arthur?”
“Cooper’s stepfather.He was an alcoholic.When he wasn’t drinking, he was abusing Cooper’s mother.He’d done both on the nightof the fire.According to the medical examiner, Mayjean was unconscious when the fire started.”
“How did it start?”
“He was smoking.Fell asleep.He couldn’t get himself out any more than he could get her out.”
“And Benjie?”
“Thank God, Cooper had sent him to stay with a friend.He often did that when he had to be away for more than a day or two.Arthur had been known to take his ugliness out on Benjie, too.”
Peter frowned.“How could Cooper stand by and let that happen?”
I was taken aback by his criticism, which was rash and unfounded.“What could he do?”I asked angrily.“He argued with his mother until he was blue in the face, trying to get her to bring charges against Arthur, but she wouldn’t.And she wouldn’t leave him.So there wasn’t much of a case.The best Cooper could do was to try to keep Benjie out of the line of fire.”I went back to mixing the tuna with greater force.“Cooper’s life hasn’t been easy.I’ve always admired his fortitude in the face of that.”
Peter was quiet.I dared a glance at him.He looked pensive as he stared out the window, but I didn’t have time to wonder why before he grew alert and met my gaze.“I take it Cooper took over the fishing business when Adam died.”
Satisfied that I’d successfully defended Cooperon the matter of his family, I felt comfortable moving on.“That’s right.”
“Do you still own the boat?”
“No.I deeded it to Cooper three years ago.It took me that long to get him to take it.”
“Strange.”
“Not if you know Cooper.He’s as loyal a person as I’ve ever met.Running the boat for me meant as much to him as running it for himself.He simply didn’t aspire to more.”I reached for the loaf of bread.“Which is what makes these charges against him so absurd.Cooper Drake doesn’t want or need money, so there’s no motive.Aside from a speeding ticket or two, he hasn’t broken a law in his life.He picks and chooses his friends with care, and he doesn’t mix with thugs.There is no way he had anything to do with the smuggling of those diamonds.”
“They were found on his boat.In his cabin.In a laundry bag with his name stenciled on it.”
My heart beat faster.“You’ve talked with someone.”
He nodded.“Assistant U.S.Attorney Hummel.We have a mutual friend in New York.When I told him I’d been asked to take the case, he filled me in one what’s happened so far.”
And that, I supposed, was why I was willing to overlook the bad vibes I’d had.A lawyer with clout could get things done.It was as simple as that.
“How is the State’s case?”I asked cautiously.
Peter shrugged with his mouth.“Not great.At least, based on what he told me, it’s not.”
“But Cooper was caught with the diamonds.Isn’t possession nine-tenths of a conviction?”
“All it takes is one-tenth to establish reasonable doubt, and with reasonable doubt comes an acquittal.”
“Do you think you can get one?”
“If I can establish reasonable doubt.”
