“And that’s all you need to know.”
“Do you have a different story?”she asked.
“You know he was released.”
“After taking an Alford Plea,” she countered.
And he was done.“Deputy, if you aren’t familiar with whythey sometimes use that plea and the only real reason they would use it after aconviction, then I suppose you’re like the rest of them.Which room is myclient in?”
Her jaw tightened, and for a moment he thought she wouldargue with him, but she finally pointed to the end of the hall.“First door onthe left.He’s waiting.I am sorry for what happened to him.They shouldn’thave used those Tasers.”
“I’ll want a full report, and I want the Tasers used putinto evidence.Though I suspect they’ll check out fine now,” Garrett said.Hestarted to walk away.
“I’ll get your report,” Deputy Morgan promised in a lowvoice.“And I already have one of the Tasers.I’ll make sure no one can tamperwith it.And Garrett, I will think about what you said and I’ll read the fullfile.”
He didn’t turn around.It was all he could ask from her.
He strode to the door, stopping where a deputy stood,yawning.
“Is he cuffed to the table?”Garrett asked.
The deputy nodded.“Yeah, he tried to resist arrest.Wecan’t let him run around.He’s violent.”
He was not going to kill anyone today.“I’m his attorney.Iwant him out of the cuffs.Now.I already have a lawsuit over the Taser use.DoI need to add this?”
“Do it, Tommy,” Deputy Morgan said.“I think Mr.Rollinsreaction was more about past trauma than a current violent state.I think it’ssafe enough.”
Tommy nodded and opened the door, walking in.
Garrett’s heart sank as he walked into that dank room andsaw Keane.He sat at the table, perfectly still.His eyes were on the wall infront of him, and there was a blank stare that let Garrett know he wasn’treally here.He didn’t show signs that he registered the deputy was uncuffinghis hands.When they were free his hands simply laid on the table.
Garrett waited until the door closed and he was alone withKeane.He quietly pulled the chair back and sat across from the man who hadbeen the only solid thing in his life for the last fifteen years.
How sad that a large part of that had been spent in a tinycell for a crime that should never have been considered a crime at all.
“Keane.”
Keane blinked and his eyes closed.He took a deep breath andthen he seemed to be back.
Meditation.He learned it those years in prison.At leastthat’s what the outside world would call it.Garrett would call it survival.
He didn’t know everything that happened in prison, but heknew the Keane who went in wasn’t the one who came out.He’d gotten better overtime, but it took therapy that Garrett had to force him into at first.
Garrett had thought he would lose him.When he’d come backthere had been too much drinking, too much silence, too much sitting andstaring and not letting anyone know the horrors marching through his head.
“I’m not going to let them railroad you,” Garrett promised.
Keane flexed his fingers and took a long breath like he’dbeen holding it in, waiting to see if the air was poisoned.“I don’t thinkyou’ll be able to stop it if that’s what they want.”
His voice was so calm, but Garrett could hear theundercurrent beneath it.“I assure you it’s not what Olivia wants.”
Keane’s expression tightened.“This wouldn’t be happeningwithout Olivia.I don’t know what went wrong, but I overheard some of thedeputies talking.Jack Barnes wanted to make sure they arrested me.I think hewants both of us, but I’m the easy target.They say there’s a video of mespiking her drink.”
Garrett took a long breath.“You weren’t anywhere near herdrink.”
“They claim they have a video of me walking up to the barand ordering beers.When the bartender turns to pour them, they say I slipsomething into her drink.I suspect they’re going to find some kind of daterape drug in her system.”
Garrett went over the night in his mind.“You did go andorder the last round.We couldn’t get a server’s attention, which is weirdsince that one server couldn’t keep her eyes off Gabe.”
