Due Process (Joe Dillard #9)(19)

I noticed he had some pretty deep scratches on both of his arms.

“Where’d you get those?” I said.

“Practice. I have scratches and bruises on me all the time.”

“Anything else you need to tell me?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Who paid the girl?”

“One of my roommates. We took up a collection from all the guys on the team that wanted to come to the party.”

“You contribute?”

“Twenty bucks.”

“Your fingerprints will be on some of the money, then, if the cops get their hands on it before it gets distributed or deposited in a bank account somewhere.”

“What does that prove?”

“Nothing, just a little piece of circumstantial evidence. Maybe it won’t come up. Did the cops say anything about having the money? Did they fingerprint you?”

“No.”

“Then they don’t have it. How many guys were at the party?”

“Probably sixty, seventy.”

“Any girls besides the one you hired?”

“I noticed maybe ten girls.”

“Know any of their names?”

“Yeah, I know a few of them.”

“People taking pictures with their phones?”

“Yeah. Videos and photos.”

“We’ll need a list of everybody you can think of who was at the party. What has your coach had to say?”

“Besides the cussing we took? He said we’ve endangered everything we’ve worked for, everything he and the other coaches have worked for, and everything the university administration has worked for. He told us they intend to cooperate fully with the police to the extent that the rules of privacy will allow them, and he said if he finds out that a rape occurred, he hopes whoever did it rots in the penitentiary before rotting in hell.”

“Doesn’t beat around the bush, does he?”

“Coach is a good man.”

“Had you had anything to drink that night, Kevin?”

“I don’t drink, Mr. Dillard. Never have. I’ve never smoked pot, never done anything like that. I take care of my body and I like to have a clear head.”

“Good,” I said. “You’re going to need it.”

“Have I convinced you I’m innocent?” he said.

“You haven’t done or said a thing that makes me think you’d kidnap and rape a stranger. I’ve been dealing with criminal defendants for more than two decades, and I’m a pretty good judge of when someone is trying to pull something over on me. I don’t get that sense from you.”

“So you’ll represent me?”

I nodded.

“How much is this going to cost?” Gerome said.

“I don’t know,” I said. “It depends on what the DNA tests find and what the district attorney does. If Kevin winds up being prosecuted, it’ll be expensive. Let’s just wait and see how it goes. We’ll deal with money when the time comes.”





PART TWO





THURSDAY, AUGUST 29

Jack hollered at me a few minutes after the Davidsons left.

“Come to the conference room!” he said.

“Why?” I yelled back.

“Just come in here. You have to see this.”

I walked out of my office and down the hall to the conference room. The television was on. Mike Armstrong, the interim district attorney general, was giving an interview to a Fox television reporter.

“Yes,” Armstrong was saying, “in my opinion, a rape occurred at a party thrown by the East Tennessee State University football team. The young woman who was raped was an exotic dancer hired by the players. She claims she was raped by multiple players, and I have good reason to believe her.”

“Have you identified suspects?”

“We’ve talked to the players who rent the house where the party took place. We’ve searched the house and taken DNA samples from those players at the house. We intend to take DNA samples from every player and interview as many of them as we can.”

“And is the university and football program being cooperative?” the reporter, who was one of the network’s better-known guys, asked.

“Not in my view. We haven’t heard anything from anyone other than the players who were living in the house,” Armstrong said.

I looked at Jack open-mouthed.

“What does he think he’s doing?” I said. “He’s giving interviews to the press on a case that hasn’t gone to the grand jury? There hasn’t even been an arrest and he’s giving interviews?”

“He’s talking to anybody and everybody,” Jack said. “The New York Times has a story on their website. Time Magazine has mentioned it. He’s talked to both of them. He’s talking to the local papers and television stations. He’s not only trying to convict them before they’re arrested, he’s poisoning potential jurors.”

“It’s unethical,” I said. “Totally against the rules. A prosecutor can’t just walk out and start flapping his gums about an ongoing criminal case in the press.”

“He’s trying to get himself elected right now,” Jack said. “And it might work. Did you see this story in the paper?”