Miracle Creek(97)
? Precedent for challenging own client’s guilty plea on competence grounds (Andrew) (Pull cases re: guilty plea as “fraud on the court”)
? Conflict of interest, need to withdraw first?—ethical rules (Anna)
? Mental competence evaluation—mtng Dr. C tonight! (Shannon)
Guilty plea. Mental competence. Challenging own client’s guilty plea. Her throat tightened, the collar of her blouse pressing into her neck, making her gag. She undid the top button and breathed in deeply to take oxygen into her lungs.
Let’s sleep on it, just to make sure, Shannon had said. If you still want to, we’ll go see the judge tomorrow, she’d said. But she wasn’t planning to let Elizabeth plead guilty. Not tomorrow. Not ever. Shannon was launching an offensive against her own client. She was planning to say Elizabeth was crazy, she was defrauding the court—anything she needed to keep the trial going. She was going to drag Elizabeth back and make her watch the rest of Henry’s video. She was going to force Teresa to testify about the shameful thoughts they’d shared in secret. She was going to lie about Victor or whoever was convenient and accuse them of abuse. She was going to blame Pak and drag him through the mud, and worse, she was going to use the protesters to do it.
The protesters. Ruth Weiss. ProudAutismMom. Thinking of that woman, she felt the familiar punch of hatred so strong that she got dizzy, had to touch the wall for balance. That woman had burned Elizabeth’s little boy, all because she wanted to make a point, to proselytize her “autism theory” (nothing more than a justification for her own parenting style, in reality). And it was Elizabeth’s own fault for not stopping her. That woman had stalked her on autism chat boards, threatening and bad-mouthing her, even going to CPS, and Elizabeth had ignored the escalation and let it get out of control, enabling that woman to take extreme action without fear of consequence. And now, because of her own inaction and cowardice, Ruth Weiss had gotten away with murder and was poised to bring more pain to another of her victims, Pak.
No. She couldn’t let that happen.
She stood up and paced. She needed to get out, but there was no window to climb out, and Anna was right outside the door. Even if she could somehow get out of the building, what could she do? She didn’t have a car, and it wasn’t like taxis were roaming the streets. She could call one, but it might not get here before people realized she was gone. Still, she had to try.
She went to get her purse. As she reached, Shannon’s purse next to it moved and its contents shifted. It was as if the jangling inside loosened some deep-seated image in Elizabeth’s mind. An image of herself doing something she should’ve done long ago.
She gripped Shannon’s purse and stood up. She knew exactly where she needed to go and what she needed to do. She just had to do it. Quickly, before anyone caught her. Before she could change her mind.
MATT
MATT AND JANINE WAITED FOR ABE outside the judge’s chambers standing side by side. Another couple stood nearby, younger, and from their frequent kissing and joint admiring of her ring, he guessed they were waiting to be married. They probably thought he and Janine were getting divorced—Janine’s face was all frown, and she kept whisper-yelling, “Tell me right now. What the fuck are we doing here?” while he stayed silent, shaking his head.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell her. The problem was, he knew Janine. Knew she’d argue for not telling Abe the full truth—her being there that night, for example, or his smoking with Mary. Knew she’d tell him to plan and practice his exact wording. And the thing was, he was sick of it, the hiding, scheming, enumerating facts, and on and on. He needed to face Abe and spew it all out, fuck the consequences.
Abe and Shannon walked out, each with an underling. “Abe, I need to talk to you, right now,” Matt said.
“Sure, we’re adjourned for the day. We can use this room.” Abe opened the door to a conference room across the hall.
Shannon raised an eyebrow, and it occurred to Matt: she needed to know, too, even more than Abe. But how much of his confession would survive Abe’s legal-technicalities filter and actually reach her? And wasn’t that why he hadn’t told Janine first, to bypass any conspiratorial shenanigans? He said, “Ms. Haug, you, too. I need to talk to you both, together.”
Abe shook his head. “That’s not a good idea. Let’s first—”
“No,” Matt said, sure more than ever that Shannon needed to hear this. “I won’t say anything unless we’re all in the same room. And trust me, you want to hear this.” He walked into the room, pulling Janine along, and Shannon followed. Abe stood in the doorway, glaring and fuming.
Shannon positioned her legal pad and said, “Shall we get started?” She said to Abe, “If you’re leaving, would you close the door behind you?”
Abe’s eyes scrunched into an I’d-like-nothing-better-than-to-kill-you-right-now look before he stepped in and sat across from Matt. He didn’t take out a pad or pen, just leaned back, crossed his arms, and said to Matt, “All right, let’s have it.”
Matt reached for Janine’s hand under the table. She snatched it away, pursing her lips like she tasted something bitter and was trying not to spit it out. Matt took in a deep breath. “The insurance call. You know, the one about arson.”