Bitter Sweets

Chapter 3: Warning in Red

The envelope from Mrs. Todd was filled with basic police information, most of it clipped from the local papers, and some notes she had written down in her talks with investigators. I read through it as I carefully typed out my own documents. Max Todd was a man aged 45. A photo of him had been provided in the envelope. The man had dirty blonde hair, he was clean-shaven, and had a chiseled jaw. In the full-body photo, he wore a T-shirt with a baseball team on it and rough-looking jeans. His ocean-blue eyes had a hardness to them, and his smile in the photo seemed forced. This man would probably be handsome if life hadn't seemed to be kicked down by life so often. His face had wrinkled over, his teeth were not quite white, and his lip was blackened with black tar. It was subtle, but he clearly smoked. One other very compelling detail was his hand. He was missing a finger on his right hand. His pointer finger was almost completely gone; a nasty stub still remained.

I read into the details of the crime itself, wanting to gauge just how the police had labeled this an open-and-shut case. Max Todd was murdered in his house at around 2:00 a.m., according to the post-mortem report given by the coroner. Max was stabbed to death; his death was the result of blood loss. He had been stabbed in the stomach, chest, and abdomen. According to the disarray of the home, it showed signs that a struggle had occurred. There was blood not just in the kitchen but in the living room too. The knife that ended his life was left in his body. A knife that belonged to Edward Todd, the boy who had also conveniently visited that same day. According to police, Edward had met up with Max not to have a nice visit with his uncle, but to rob the man, and when Max fought back, he killed him.

This was an open-and-shut case for the police for several reasons. According to the report, Edward had an idea of where Max kept his money and would have had easy access to it, given that he was family. The knife had belonged to Edward and subsequently had his prints all over it. The disarray at the scene meant that the robbery went poorly, and Max had caught Edward red-handed. Lastly, Edward was the last person who had been with Max and therefore was most likely their culprit. The cherry on top was that Edward had also apparently told some friends at school that his uncle had won big gambling. The police suggested that Edward was bragging about it to the other boys, almost like it was his big win, not Max's.

He was taken straight to the Sweetwater Juvey Center with charges pending against him for murder. I put the file down and stopped typing. It was clear I would have to talk with Edward later today. His mom might be my client, but the person I was defending was a young, confused boy who was probably scared. His mother had promised to arrange a meeting with her son later today, and I would also speak with the boy. Mrs. Todd also had a list of detectives who worked on the case, and witnesses for me. I had no secretary, so it was lucky that Mrs. Todd was so proactive in her son's case. Otherwise, I would have had to do a lot more digging and legwork.

I put on my black coat, which was far too big for me, but it would help block out the harsh, cold October weather. That wasn't to say I didn't need to do any legwork—she had just made it a bit easier. Before her email later today, I figured the best place to start would be to talk with the gang down by the docks. The Red Hand Brotherhood was not a gang you just walk through the front door on. However, I knew the docks better than most, and the Brotherhood wasn't an organization that scared me—at least, not as much as it should have. Plus, I had a fast pass to talking with them. I had worked as a cleaner to pay for a lot of needs when I was studying to be a lawyer. I was still a kid, so I mostly just handled little tasks for some extra money at the bar down by the docks. My parents' fortune helped put me into school, so I hadn't really struggled in that way.