Tia slowly came awake. She wished she could force herself to stay asleep forever, but wakefulness pulled her back to the reality she didn’t want to face.
She was in jail.
For a murder she did not commit.
On top of it all, the girl she loved, who had appeared to love her in return, may believe she was guilty, and she had no real family or friends who could help her in any way. She never felt more alone and helpless than she did at the moment.
A sneeze startled her. It was her cellmate on the bunk below her. She wasn’t sure what her name was or what she was in for, but Tia didn’t want to know. Upon being placed in the cell yesterday, she had tried to be polite yet kept to herself. This wasn’t exactly an easy thing to do in a six-by-ten room, and so she couldn’t dodge the barrage of questions and requests the woman had for her. What was she in for? How old was she? Where was she from? Would she be willing to call her friend who was in some other state and didn’t accept collect calls if she got out soon? Would she give her some of her dinner? Did she know anyone on the outside with some good pot for her husband?
Hey, I’m just as stuck here as you are, Tia had thought. What do you expect from me?
The woman, dressed in a standard orange jumpsuit, pushed her pants down and sat on the cold metal toilet. Tia quickly rolled over and faced the wall, repulsed. A moment later, she was thankful the woman had only peed.
A key was inserted into the metal door, and then it swung open. A plain-looking officer with short hair and no makeup then looked up at her and said, “Karson?”
“Yes?” said Tia.
“You have a legal visit.”
“Oh, ok.” Tia sat up and then climbed down from her bunk. “What do I do?”
“Just slip on your shoes and follow me. If you have any legal papers, take them with you.”
“I don’t have any,” said Tia, slipping into the plastic sandals they’d given her.
“Then come on.”
Neither one spoke as Tia followed the officer down the metal stairs, out of the pod, and to the dorm’s main entry door. She then spoke into the walkie-talkie that was clipped to her shoulder. “I got Karson ready.”
A static-filled reply which Tia couldn’t make out followed.
“Stay here. Someone will get you soon.”
“Ok,” Tia said as the officer returned to the tower in the center of the dorm. She then gazed through the square window and into the hall beyond, where an occasional officer or inmate would pass by. There was a large open dorm across from her that she could see into. There didn’t appear to be any cells in it. Just rows and rows of bunk beds that weren’t built-in, as the ones in her cell were.
After a few minutes, a more pleasant-looking officer approached the door, spoke into her walkie-talkie, and then Tia heard a buzzing sound. Next, the officer pulled the door open and abruptly said, “Let’s go.”
Tia practically had to run to keep up with her. They went down a corridor and then around the corner where there were various doors. The central station buzzed one open, which led to a shorter, narrower corridor with many doors along one side set close together. Tia realized they were small rooms for inmates who were in protective custody to see their visitors in; only the visitors were in their own rooms with a bulletproof divider in between, which they entered through the general population visiting area.
They passed two rooms, the first of which was occupied. Then the officer unlocked the third door and gestured for her to step inside. She did and then the door was slammed shut behind her. Tia took in the woman on the other side of the divider. Even sitting down as she was, she could tell that she was tall. She was in her late twenties or early thirties. She was also slender with dark hair and eyes. Her hair was pulled back with a scattering of loose wavy strands framing her face. Tia’s first impression was that the woman was ordinary-looking. She wore a dark blue business suit and had a stack of folders and papers spread out on the metal counter-like table that was built in and spanned the length of the tiny closet-like room. Tia was glad she wasn’t claustrophobic as she sat on the round metal stool that was bolted to the concrete floor.
“Miss Karson?” said the woman, flashing a quick, business-like smile.
“Yes?”
“I’m Lorelei Connors, and it looks like I’m going to be representing your case.”
Tia’s brows knotted in confusion. “I thought that’s what that guy – Bill something – was supposed to do.”
“Uh, no, Mr. Johnston is a public defender.”
“And you’re not?”
“No, ma’am. I’m a criminal defense attorney.”
“Oh,” said Tia, still not sure what was going on. “Aren’t you a rather expensive commodity?”
The woman smiled again as she shuffled through some papers. This time it was long enough for Tia to see that she had beautiful white teeth. “As a matter of fact, I usually am.”
“But there’s no way I could possibly afford you.”
“That’s ok,” said the attorney. “Whoever retained me has taken care of that.”
“Whoever retained you?”
Lorelei Connors nodded and looked directly at her.
“I don’t understand.”
“Well, someone retained me anonymously and requested that I represent you, so here I am.”
Now Tia was more confused than ever. “Who in the world would do such a thing, not that I don’t greatly appreciate it.”
“I don’t know. I was hoping you’d have some idea.”
“I haven’t got a clue. Morgan thinks I killed her husband, and her daughter probably thinks so, too. I have an aunt up in Oregon and a few other distant relatives, none of whom I’m close enough to receive help from, not that they could afford to if I were.”
“Ok, let’s back up a minute here. I want you to start from the beginning. I want you to tell me how you met these people and what you recall happening before you awoke in the hospital, and to answer any questions I may have for you along the way.” Lorelei Connors pulled a pen from a briefcase of sorts that had been on the floor by her feet and added, “Oh, and don’t bother bullshitting me if you want even the slightest chance of getting out of here. Now, when did you meet and how?”
Tia leaned on her own table and told Lorelei of how she came to California, met Courtney and her mother at the store, was hired to work there, and then moved in with Courtney.
Lorelei studied her intently as she spoke, sometimes clicking her pen as she did so.
“All I remember in the end is Morgan calling me up to see something she had gotten for me. Some sort of skirt. I remember that much specifically.”
“And that’s it?”
“That’s it.”
Tia watched as the no-nonsense attorney scribbled some notes down. When she looked back up, she asked, “So Morgan’s house is on the same property as your friend’s trailer?”
“Yes, and we weren’t just friends. I hope you’re not prejudiced, but we weren’t…”
“I don’t care about your orientation, Miss Karson,” the lawyer interrupted. “What is the approximate distance between Morgan’s house and her daughter’s trailer?”
“It’s hard to say because there were a few levels of hills on the land. Morgan was higher up, but I guess if you drew a diagonal line from one place to the other, it would be close to two hundred feet.”
The lawyer nodded slightly, arms resting on the table, still clicking the pen at times, taking in what Tia had told her.
“And there were no problems?”
“No, none at all. I never felt more accepted and cared for in my life.”
“Did Morgan know the true nature of your relationship with Courtney?”
Tia nodded. “Yes, and she seemed like a very open-minded individual. Even Courtney said so, and she seemed quite proud to have her as a mother.”
More contemplating on the attorney’s part. Then, “How often did you see Stanley Hagan?”
“I only saw him twice. Remember, I hadn’t been there very long.”
“And were there any problems there?”
“Nope. None.”
“What was your impression of him?”
Tia thought a moment, then shrugged. “I don’t know. He was just a guy. There was nothing that really stood out about him, good or bad. Do you think you can help me?”
“I don’t know. What did Stanley do for a living?”
“I have no idea. No one ever told me, and I never thought to ask.”
Tia tried not to squirm under Lorelei Connor’s gaze. She understood that she was just trying to get a sense of her, but it made her a bit uncomfortable just the same. She could see that the lawyer wasn’t sure what to believe. There was a mixture of curiosity and skepticism on her face, but Tia simply didn’t know what else she could tell her. Finally, she asked, “What do you think happened?”
“I think the most likely case is that a burglar killed Stan. I just don’t know why Morgan or I were spared or why a burglar would pick that place unless it was someone that they knew.”
“Why is that?”
“Because it’s so out of the way. Not remote, but secluded. You could only get to it through a long, winding driveway. So being as deeply set in the woods as it was, people didn’t just drive or walk by it.”
Lorelei nodded.
“So you don’t know if you can help me or not?”
“I don’t know,” the lawyer said again. “I’ll be flat-out honest with you. I don’t know. But I am going to try my best.”
Tia didn’t feel any more reassured as she watched the attorney gather her papers. “Miss Connors?”
“You can call me Lorelei.”
“Lorelei, you never asked me if I did it.”
Lorelei paused long enough to glance at her. “That’s because I don’t know you well enough yet to believe your answer. What’s important right now is that I successfully defend you. Just don’t bullshit me like I said before. The more truthful you are, the more successful we’ll be at getting you out of here. You’d be helping yourself a lot more to tell me you did do it if in fact, you did, than for you to be innocent and hold back on other things. Anything else, Miss Karson?”
“You can call me Tia.”
Lorelei grinned as if she’d said something funny.
“I’d just like to know who retained you, and I’d really like to know who killed Stanley.”
Lorelei stuffed papers inside her briefcase and faced Tia once again. “I’ll do my best to find that out. For now, I need you to just hang tough, be as patient as you can, and keep your nose clean in here. You got that?”
“I got it. Do you know why I’m in segregation?”
“Probably because of the way you look. Would you like to be moved to general pop?”
“No, thanks. The fewer people I have to interact with, the better. What’s going to happen next?”
“Ever fired a gun, Tia?”
“No, never. I considered learning and getting a gun for protection, but never got around to it.”
“I’m going out to the property tomorrow to see what I can learn. I drop liars no matter who retains me, so if there’s anything you’ve been dishonest about, now’s the time to come clean.”
“I’ve been as honest as I can possibly be,” Tia assured her. “You don’t have a team of investigators or something like that?”
“Not usually. I usually prefer to do my own investigating. It’s easier to just go and see things for myself than it is to have someone else do it for me and then tell me about it. Besides, I also have police training that allows me to carry a gun on the job or make any necessary arrests.”
“So you’re a combination cop and lawyer?”
“You could say that. Do not contact your girlfriend in any way. If she writes to you, hang on to the letter and let me see it the next time I come to see you.”
“No contact? You mean I can’t send her a letter?”
“No. Absolutely not. I hate to break it to you, but we don’t know what she may know. If an intruder or her mother had anything to do with what happened, there’s no saying how involved Courtney herself may be.”
Tia felt sickened by the idea. “That’s a chilling thought. And very hard to believe. But I know anything is possible.” Then, “I wouldn’t go out there till after 5:00. That’s when you’ll have a better chance of catching them.”
“What are their work schedules?”
“Courtney worked Saturday through Thursday, but Morgan was in and out at random times every day.”
Lorelei snapped her briefcase shut, and they rose from their stools. “Ok, Tia, I’ll be back soon,” Lorelei said with a smile that seemed a little more genuine and less business-like. “Take care of yourself.”
“I’ll do my best,” Tia said with a weak smile and a faint stirring of hope. “Thanks for seeing me.”
Lorelei opened the door to her side of the visiting booth and walked through the large room where dozens of visitors were seeing inmates of the general population area, and then she disappeared through some doors at the far end of the room.
Tia tried to open her door but found it locked. Should she be surprised? She waited and waited, and just when she thought they had forgotten about her, a plump black officer with tight curls that looked wet came and opened her door. “My, my,” she said, “aren’t you a lucky one.”
Tia had no idea what she was talking about.
“The lady lawyer you got.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Don’t you know who Miss Lorelei Connors is?”
“No, I’m afraid not. I only know she’s my lawyer, mysteriously retained by who knows who.”
“She’s pretty pricey, so whoever it is has some dough.”
“So is she famous around here or something?”
“Kind of. She’s been involved in a few high-profile cases. She’s damn good, though, that woman. She doesn’t lose often.”
“Too bad the jail doesn’t have internet access so I could look her up.”
“Oh, we got access. It’s just not for you to access. Don’t worry. You’re in good hands. That is as long as you didn’t pop the guy yourself and leave a ton of evidence lying around.”
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