26
Julia hustled down the aisle after the cops. Her heart pounded, her mind reeled. It horrified her that the cops could arrest Courtney for Kay’s murder. She was incredulous that it could happen, that it was happening.
The cops hurried Courtney out of the funeral home to a Buckley cruiser, its big engine idling in a line of others. The show of force shocked Julia. Courtney burst into tears. Mourners piled out of the funeral home, stunned at the sight.
The cops shoved a handcuffed Courtney in the backseat of the cruiser.
They took off, their sirens erupting into deafening sound, startling everyone.
The noise electrified Julia, spurring her into action.
She bolted to her car, fumbled in her purse for her keys, and jumped in.
She started the engine and took off after the cruisers.
Julia tried not to panic. Courtney needed her now. There was no one else to help. She accelerated behind the line of cruisers, their sirens rattling her brain. They traveled down winding roads like an emergency caravan. Drivers pulled over as they sped by.
Julia clutched the wheel, accelerating to keep up. She struggled to think, then remembered her lawyer from Mike’s case, Daniel Gross. Daniel would know what to do. She reached for her phone, scrolled Contacts, and pressed the number.
“Daniel Gross here.”
“Daniel, it’s Julia Pritzker, I have an emergency. My friend Courtney was just arrested for murder—”
“I’m sorry, I can’t help—”
“What?” Julia could barely hear him over the blare of the sirens. She pressed the phone against her ear.
“—I’m in the hallway at the courthouse, about to pick a jury.”
“Can you send somebody else from your office?”
“No, my partner’s with me.”
“Do you know anybody who could help me?”
“Yes, a great criminal lawyer who owes me a favor. I’ll text you the contact info, and you follow up. I’ve gotta go now. Good luck.”
“Okay, thanks.” Julia hung up. Her phone pinged with Daniel’s text. She opened it and read the name: Bennie Rosato, Esq. Julia prayed Bennie was a good lawyer. She called the number, and it rang once before it was answered.
“Rosato,” said the voice, clearly a woman’s, which took her by surprise.
“I’m Julia Pritzker, and Daniel Gross said you owe him a favor—”
“Fair enough, what do you need?”
Thank God. “My best friend Courtney just got arrested for her grandmother’s murder, and that’s crazy. I swear to you, she didn’t kill her grandmother, she’d never kill anybody.” Julia could hear her words running together. “And they arrested her at the funeral—”
“Excuse me, tell me where you are.”
“Outside of Buckley somewhere. I’m following the police wherever they’re taking her.” Julia sped up when the cruisers accelerated onto a wider road. Trees whizzed by, and billboards for McDonald’s and Parx Casino.
“I’m online and I think you’re going to Weaverton. It’s a bigger police station than Buckley.”
“That sounds familiar.” Julia remembered somebody saying Detective Kowalski worked in Weaverton. “Will you meet me there? I don’t know what to do—”
“I can’t get there till tonight. I’m in Philly and I have a hearing this afternoon.”
Shit! “What do I do until then? We can’t just let them take her! This is a nightmare!”
“Here’s what happens next.” Bennie’s tone remained steady. “They’re going to book her and formally take her into custody. When you get there, tell the police I represent her and give them my number.”
“But I doubt they’ll give her the number, I think they’re crooked. They searched our rooms as payback for—”
“They’ll give her the number. They have to.”
“How do I get bail? Where? I have money, I’ll pay anything!” Julia squeezed the wheel, driving fast. The cops zoomed ahead like a motorcade. Cars pulled over to let them pass.
“Unfortunately, murder is not a bailable offense in Pennsylvania.”
“What?” Julia asked, shocked. “Does that mean what it sounds like?”
“Yes, it means she can’t get bail. She stays in jail until trial.”
“Oh my God!” Julia cried, distraught. “This is wrong, so wrong! She has a job, she has a life!” Suddenly her phone screen showed a call from Gianluca on FaceTime. He’d be with Leni at the pediatrician’s. Her gut wrenched. She had to let the call go to voicemail.
“You can help her.”
“How?” Julia wailed, the sirens scrambling her thoughts. She tried to keep it together, driving too fast.
“They’re going to interview her there. A detective will do the interviewing, whoever’s on the grandmother’s case. Do you know who that is?”
“Yes, Detective Kowalski. Courtney’s been trying to get him on the phone—”
“Kowalski might interview her with another detective, a cop, or the on-call A.D.A. Courtney can’t talk to them, not a word. You know that, right?”
“Yes, right.”
“But you can talk to them. I want you to get yourself in that interview room.”
“Okay.” Julia got a grip. “I’ll go in with her, I don’t want her to go alone. She must be scared out of her mind.”
“The issue is it won’t be easy to get in. They don’t have an obligation to admit you because you’re not a lawyer and Courtney’s not a minor.”
“So how do I get in?”
“They’ll let you if they think they can’t get the interview otherwise.”
“Okay, what do I do?”
“Convince them.”
“How?” Julia gritted her teeth, driving at speed.
“Use your common sense. Tell them she needs her best friend. You’re two young women, freaking out because one of you was arrested. You’re upstanding citizens with no criminal records, I assume—”
“Of course!”
“—and we’re going to use that to our advantage. They’ll underestimate you. They’ll think they have the upper hand, but they don’t, right?”
“They don’t?”
“No. She has you and me. We’re going to fight for her, starting now.”
Whoa. Julia rallied, racing after the cops. “Okay, so you want me to get into the interview. Why?”
“First, make sure that she doesn’t say anything. If she does, tell her to shut up and—”
“I would never talk to her like that.”
“Okay, tell her that her lawyer said shut up.”
Julia let it go. “Okay, but again, why am I doing this?”
“Your job is to find out what they have that supports the murder charge. Any facts at all. Ask them any question you can think of.”
“Why can’t this wait until you get here? You’re the expert.”
“I know, and that’s why you’re the one to do this.
We have a unique opportunity here. The cops will want to interview Courtney and hear everything she’s going to say.
They would love to do it without her lawyer.
That’s where you come in. They’ll tell you more about their case than they’d tell me.
The more we know, the better for Courtney. Understand?”
“Yes,” Julia said, swallowing hard.
“If you’re not up to it, say so. Do you want to do it or not?”