Homecoming (Downeast #1)

Chapter 23

Chapter

Twenty-Three

Walter drove Dan to Ellsworth for the meeting the judge had called in his chambers.

In the outer office, Dan met an attorney who handed him her card. “Assistant Attorney General Cori Brooks for the state.” She was tall, with brown skin and long, braided hair. Her handshake was firm and her expression no-nonsense. She wore a sharp-looking red suit and sky-high black heels.

He handed her his card. “Daniel Torrington for the defense.”

“Duh.”

“Just being polite.”

Cori smiled. “Despite being on opposite sides of this one, I’ve admired your career.”

“Thank you.”

An admin ushered them into the judge’s chambers.

Judge Collins sat behind a desk covered in a stack of files, other papers and a half-eaten salad. He had his shirtsleeves rolled up and reading glasses propped on the end of his nose. He stood to shake hands with both of them. “Thanks for coming in.”

“No problem,” Dan said.

They sat in his visitor chairs.

“I have signed conflict-of-interest waivers from both Ballard brothers, who wish to be represented jointly.”

The judge took the forms from him and added them to the pile on his desk. “I’ve thoroughly reviewed the reports on this case, and you have a problem, Counselor.” This was directed toward the prosecutor. “Your case is weak.”

Dan wanted to stand up and cheer.

“I’m aware of that, Your Honor, and the police are working to gather more information.”

“As are we, Your Honor,” Dan said. “So far, we’ve learned that the eyewitness is locked in a wrongful-termination lawsuit with Ballard Boat Works, which he’s probably going to lose because he was fired for cause after failing numerous drug tests. In addition, Keith Ballard had known Tanya Sorenson for months before the night in question and had a relationship with her over the summer. She reached out to let him know she’d be in town and wanted to see him. They had a fun evening together that included sex in the ladies’ room. She thought she spotted her ex-boyfriend in the crowd at the Barnacle, so when the bar closed, she asked Keith to walk her down the hill, away from the bar. She said she was sure she was seeing things at the bar and was fine to walk the rest of the way home.”

The judge frowned at Cori. “If it wasn’t for the seriousness of this crime and Keith’s criminal record, I’d immediately order the charges dropped.”

“Kirby Ballard never met Tanya or ever had anything to do with her. You have my motion to immediately dismiss the charges against Kirby or at least release him on bail.”

Collins sighed deeply. To Cori, he said, “I’m giving you until Thursday’s hearing to produce evidence that ties these men to this murder, or they’ll be released with the charges dropped.”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

The judge directed his intimidating gaze at the prosecutor. “Find out where the ex-boyfriend was the night in question.”

“We’re working on that, sir.”

“Work faster.”

“Yes, sir.”

Dan walked out with Cori.

“I suppose it’s too much to ask you to stay out of the press with your commentary about our case.”

“Yes, it is too much to ask. My clients are innocent men charged with the worst possible crime. I’ll do whatever it takes to see them exonerated.”

“Fair enough.”

Dan got into the back seat of Walter’s car. “I need to visit the offices of the Mount Desert Islander .”

“That’s right around the corner.”

“I need to do a few things before I go in there.”

“Whatever you need, Boss.”

Dan made notes about his meeting with Keith. He texted Judith and Chuck to let them know he was now officially representing Keith and that the judge had given the prosecution until Thursday to produce compelling evidence, or the charges would be dropped. He wondered who’d break the news to Matt that he’d been replaced and chuckled to himself when he imagined Matt finding out that he’d been replaced by Dan. He hoped it was as humiliating as possible for Matt.

It was funny because rarely in his life would Dan ever have described himself as petty. But mention Kelly or Matt to him, and all his inner pettiness came roaring to the surface.

He sent a text to Kara to update her as well.

That all sounds promising.

To me as well. I’m optimistic it’ll be over soon.

God, I hope so. Are you on the way home?

Not yet. Will be home in an hour or two.

I’ll be here.

Counting on that.

Dan sent a text to Carter. I need video from inside the Barnacle that night. Is that something you can help me get?

He wouldn’t get full discovery info until the case was bound over for trial, so he had to use his own network in the meantime.

On it, Carter replied five minutes later.

Dan next texted Clarissa in his LA office to ask for photos of Tanya’s ex so he could look for him on the video from the bar.

“This shouldn’t take long,” Dan said to Walter when they parked outside the Mount Desert Islander offices.

“Take your time. I’ll grab a coffee.”

“Sounds good.” Inside, he asked for Elias Young and was shown to his cubicle.

The young reporter’s eyes bugged when he realized who’d come to see him. He jumped up so fast that his desk chair smacked against the wall. “I, um, wasn’t expecting you.”

Dan extended a hand to the man he guessed to be in his mid-twenties. He was medium height with brown hair and eyes. “Dan Torrington.”

“Um, yes, I know. Ah, I’m Elias Young.”

“I was wondering if there’s somewhere we can talk.”

“Um, sure, we can use the conference room. Let me just get my stuff.”

Dan stepped back to give him some room and noticed that all eyes in the newsroom were trained on him. He gave a little wave to the others.

“Right this way,” Elias said. “Can I get you anything? I think we have some water in the kitchen. There might be some coffee left, too.”

“I’m fine, thanks.”

Elias closed the door to the conference room and set up across from Dan with a notebook, pen and digital recorder. “Do you mind if I record this?”

“Knock yourself out.”

“Okay… so what’s this about?”

“I wanted to bring you up to speed on what we’re learning about the case.”

While Elias took furious notes, Dan told him about Keith having dated Tanya during the previous summer, how she’d texted to let him know she’d be in town for the weekend and that they’d planned to meet up at the Barnacle. While they were together, she shared with Keith how her ex-boyfriend wasn’t going away and feared for a second that she’d seen him in the crowd inside the bar. She asked him to walk her out of downtown because she was afraid of running into him.

“If she was afraid, why do you suppose she didn’t accept the ride home the Ballard brothers supposedly offered her?”

“I honestly don’t know that. I can only assume she didn’t want Keith taking her to her parents’ home for some reason. Maybe because of the fight with the future sister-in-law over him earlier?”

“It seems like an odd choice.”

“To me as well, but the one thing I can assure you and your readers is that Keith and Kirby Ballard had nothing to do with her murder. In fact, I’m shocked they were charged based on the evidence I’ve seen thus far. There’s no way the AG has a case they can take to trial.”

“I’m allowed to quote you on all this?”

“I wish you would, and as soon as possible.”

That gave him pause. “Are you using me to stick it to the cops?”

Yes, Dan wanted to say, but instead, he said, “Not at all. I thought you’d be interested in an update on the case, but if you’re not, I can take it to another outlet.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

“How soon can you publish a story?”

“Later today online.”

“I’ll look forward to reading it. Call me if you have any additional questions.” He got up to leave and then stopped to look back at the reporter. “I’ve told you how their eyewitness is locked in litigation with Ballard Boat Works and the Ballard family. Have you looked into how he was fired for failing drug tests and is suing them.”

“I’m working on that.”

“Have a great rest of your day.”

“You do the same.”

“Oh, I will.”

Dan texted Walter as he left the offices, satisfied that he’d begun to sow the reasonable doubt that would soon exonerate his brothers-in-law and clear them of any involvement in Tanya’s murder.

He asked Walter to take him back to Bar Harbor to meet with his clients.

“This could all be over soon, so keep the faith,” he said to the brothers.

“We’re trying,” Keith said for both of them.

On the way out of the police station, he smiled as he took a call from Kara. “Hey, love. How’s it going?”

“All good here. How about with you?”

He got into Walter’s back seat. “I’m on my way back to the house now.”

“Are you working all afternoon?”

“Depends on whether I get a better offer.”

“I thought I might show you Acadia if you have time.”

“That definitely counts as a better offer. I’d love to see it with you.”

“And how do you feel about dinner at my parents’ house afterward?”

“I thought we were seeing Renata tonight.”

“My mom told me to invite her, which is a very big deal in light of the rift with her father.”

“Wow, that’s cool. If you’re sure that’s what you want to do, then that’s fine with me.”

“I’m not sure of anything, but after what my mom said, I want to give them the benefit of the doubt, even if they probably don’t deserve it.”

“I get it, babe.”

“It’s so strange to be back here and plunged back into everything that goes with this place, but a funny thing has happened since I left here devastated and demoralized.”

“What’s that?”

“Other than falling for a dark-haired, sexy, egotistical attorney…”

“Where is this stud? I’ll have him killed.”

She snorted with laughter. “Other than that, I seem to have discovered my backbone and my ability to dictate the terms of who I let in and what I put up with. They no longer have the power to hurt me the way they once did.”

“Good for you, love. That makes me so fucking proud of you.”

“It was a long road to get here, made significantly easier by having my very own person to lean on through it all.”

“Your person loves when you lean on him.”

“He never lets me down.”

“And he never will.”

“Are you going to get my brothers out of jail?”

“You can bet on it.”

“I love you.”

Dan closed his eyes and sighed. Those words from her made his entire life worth living. “Love you more.”

“No way.”

“We’ll have this fight when I get home.”

“I can’t wait.”

Kara showed him Thunder Hole and Sand Beach before directing him to drive the Jeep up Cadillac Mountain. She’d forgotten how incredible the view was from the top of the mountain and loved watching Dan experience it for the first time.

“This is really something.” He made a slow circle to get the full effect. “And the drive up was cool, too.”

“It’s funny how you take something for granted when it’s just there your whole life, but then you come back and see it differently.”

“That’s true. I feel that way about LA when I’ve been away for a while. I notice things I used to drive right by without seeing them.” He put his arm around her and brought her in closer to him to snap a selfie. “We need to come to Maine more often going forward.”

“Yes, we do. I want to spend as much time with Bertha as I can while I can.”

“I do, too. I just love being around her. She’s one of the most incredible people I’ve ever met.”

“Thank you for seeing that. Matt used to phone it in with her, and of course she could see right through that.”

“His loss, babe. She’s worth taking the time to get to know.”

“Tell me about how it went with Keith.”

“I had a nice chat with him earlier. He gave me a lot of useful information.”

“You know what the best part of that is?”

“What’s that?”

“He dumped Matt for you.”

Dan roared with laughter. “He did indeed, my vindictive little she-cat.”

“Me? Vindictive? Never. But I hope he went home and told Kelly all about how my brother threw him over for the much more successful—not to mention sexier?—”

“Not to mention…”

“Dan Torrington, Esquire. This is truly a moment to relish.”

“I want you to enjoy every freaking minute of it.”

“Oh, I will. Don’t you worry about that. Did you see Kirby, too?”

“I did.”

“How is he?”

“Not great, but he promised he’s hanging in there and keeping the faith.”

Her deep sigh said it all. “I hate this for him. He’ll never get over being accused of such a thing.”

“He will. In time. I’ve seen people convicted of heinous crimes come back to live productive lives after being exonerated. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it can and does happen. And he’s not going to get anywhere near a conviction.”

“Are you sure of that?”

“As sure as I can be about an unpredictable system.”

“Those words ‘unpredictable system’ make my stomach hurt.”

“Don’t think about it. We’re doing everything we possibly can to get them out of there, and I’m confident that we’ll introduce enough doubt at the hearing to get the charges thrown out.”

“How does this happen? How do two innocent people get charged with murder?”

“Happens all the time. Family members of victims are agonized, the community is anxious, law enforcement is under tremendous pressure to make an arrest… Sometimes there’ll be just enough evidence to justify an arrest, and then a case is made around that evidence that’s sold to a jury, and an innocent person is convicted and sent to prison. Often, the accused don’t have the resources to hire top-level defense attorneys with investigators who can uncover the truth. It’s a very imperfect system, but it’s the only one we’ve got.”

“That’s terrifying.”

“It is.”

A gust of wind had Kara shivering and zipping her coat.

“Let’s get you out of this chill.”

They drove down the mountain and through the lush forest that made up Acadia.

“Are Bertha and Buster coming to dinner?”

“She took a pass. She said she’s having a rough day with the arthritis.”

“I hate to hear that.”

“As do I. The thought of anything being wrong with her is beyond me.”

“She’s strong as an ox. You know that.”

“I do, but she’s still in her eighties and working full time.”

“She’s doing exactly what she wants.”

“Yeah, definitely.”

“You’re sure you’re okay about going to your parents’ house?”

“Will you be there with me?”

“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than with you.”

She covered his hand with hers. “Then I’ll be just fine.”