Finding Isadora(25)

I shook my head quickly. “Jimmy Lee doesn’t own a lighter. He doesn’t smoke.”

“They found a lighter with his initials on it.”

“It’s not his,” I protested. “Anyone who knows him can tell you he wouldn’t touch tobacco.”

“There are other things than cigarettes, hon,” Grace reminded me.

I groaned. Of course I knew my parents used marijuana, but did she have to share that information with my dad’s lawyer? I rose and went back to my corner of the couch.

“Yeah, I know Jimmy Lee smokes pot,” Gabriel said. “Relax, Isadora, it’s not that big a deal in Vancouver. But Jimmy Lee says the same as the two of you, that he never uses a lighter. Could be someone else with the same initials dropped it, but my guess is it was planted. He’s being framed.”

“Framed!” Grace and I exclaimed at the same time.

“He’s an easy target. Loud-mouth picketer who has a bad track record with the cops. If picketing didn’t make Cosmystiques stop using animals, why wouldn’t he burn them down?”

“He wouldn’t,” Grace said firmly. “And he didn’t.”

“Yeah, I know. But you can see why the cops would be willing to believe it. They’d like to get him on something big, for once.” He leaned forward and gazed intently at her. “Who hates Jimmy Lee enough to frame him?”

“No-one,” she said adamantly.

He turned to me. “Isadora?”

I shook my head, baffled.

He sighed. “He didn’t have any ideas either. Think about it and let me know if you come up with any names.”

“How strong is the Crown’s case?” I asked.

“We won’t know until the scientific evidence is analyzed. Maybe there’s an argument to be made that it’s not arson at all. As for the lighter, I can say Jimmy Lee could have dropped it when he was out there picketing.”

Grace was shaking her head, but he went on. “I know it’s not his. But how do we prove he never used one? Call witnesses—friends—to say he always used matches? To say they saw him toking up, and they’d been doing it too? Yeah, the law isn’t really enforced, but I’m not sure we want to ask witnesses to flaunt marijuana use in court. Cops might view it as a dare and arrest them. That’s a lot to ask of a friend.” He sighed and ran his fingers through his long hair, pulling it back from his face. “Anyhow, that’s a ways down the road.”

I wanted to ask how long he envisioned this road stretching, but I was afraid to hear the answer.

“The first thing is to get him out of jail,” Grace said firmly, determination giving her cheeks color again.

“I’ll do my best. Onus is on the Crown to show cause why he shouldn’t be released. They may argue he’s a flight risk. I’ll point out he’s never skipped before. Not in Canada, anyhow.”

As he spoke, I watched my mother, and saw her eyes widen in anxiety. Then, as Gabriel said, “The only time he ran was when he left the States dodging the draft, and I don’t think that’ll count against him,” she relaxed again.

“The Crown may also say he’s a danger to the community,” Gabriel went on.

“That’s absurd,” she said indignantly. “He’s protecting the community.”

I groaned. “Yeah, but his idea of protection isn’t the same as the justice system’s.”

“The system operates as effectively as a water bucket full of holes,” Grace retorted.

“Save the philosophical arguments,” Gabriel said dryly. “Tomorrow I’m confined to legal ones. But I’ll certainly mention that he’s never harmed another human being.” He frowned. “Well, not seriously harmed. It doesn’t help that he’s scuffled with more than one cop.”

“They had it coming,” my mother protested.

He grinned at her. “I believe you, woman. Now let’s hope the Provincial Court judge does.”

She grinned back, and tossed her braid. “If anyone can persuade her or him, it’s you, Gabriel.”

Again I felt the rapport between them. Suddenly suspicious, I narrowed my eyes and studied Grace’s now-flushed face. My mother and Jimmy Lee, hippies from the sixties, didn’t believe in fidelity any more than they believed in marriage. Grace thought Gabriel was a hottie, and, despite their age difference, my mom was no slouch in the looks department herself. If Jimmy Lee wasn’t in jail, if I wasn’t here to play chaperone, would Grace and Gabriel be getting it on?

It always drove me crazy when one of my parents got involved with someone else. I couldn’t accept their opinion that fidelity was abnormal and unhealthy, and I always worried they’d break up and my family would fall apart.

Now I squinted at Gabriel. He was probably into that free love stuff, too. He’d never married Richard’s mother, and no doubt he’d had scores of lovers since then. He probably had scores of lovers right now. Not that his lovers were any of my business. I only hoped they wouldn’t include my mother.

With a start, I tuned back in to what Gabriel was saying. “I’ll try to get him released on an undertaking to appear.” He glanced between my mom and me. “The court may ask for a recognizance. That’s a specified sum of money Jimmy Lee would forfeit if he didn’t show up in court.”