Crash Test Dummy

Chapter 19

The next couple of days were a haze. I slept a lot on account of the pain meds. And I didn't care. Sleeping was better than the alternative.

On the third day, Grady showed up. I heard Momz and him talking in the hall before he came in the room.

"Any change of attitude?" he asked.

"No, CW's still certain his friends are going to stick by him. And he still says he can't remember anything after he drank the coke."

"Let me talk to him alone, Patty," he said.

"Don't try to strong arm him," she said. "He's just a scared kid."

"Like she knows anything," I thought. "I wasn't afraid of a couple of cops. Jake and Marlow had my back."

Grady came into the room. He pulled a chair up beside the bed. "We need to talk about a plan of defense," he said.

"Why? I'm not under arrest."

"You may be soon. Jake is being moved to the infirmary in the jail today. The police are under a lot of pressure to make their case. If you stay mum, they will include you in the charges."

"So?"

"Let me read you a list of the charges being levied against Jake and Marlow," he said. "Breaking and entering, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, reckless driving, vehicular negligence, driving under the influence, possession of stolen goods, and possession of schedule II narcotics with intent to distribute."

"They're just bluffing," I said. "I told the cops I let Jake and Marlow in F2. I gave them permission to drive Popz bike. That gets rid of the first two charges and the stolen goods thing. We didn't drink enough to be over the legal limit, so the DUI is bogus. Where'd the narc charge come from? Did they have something in their pockets?"

"The police are not bluffing," Grady said. "I'll take your statements one at a time. You told the police that Jake and Marlow broke through the fence and climbed through a window. That makes it a B&E. It doesn't matter that you knew they were doing it. It's not legally your shed. All your knowledge does is make you an accomplice. The motorcycle isn't legally yours, so it doesn't matter if you gave them permission to drive it. It still belongs to your Dad, and he didn't give anyone permission to ride it, including you. Your alcohol level was not over the legal limit, so you don't have to worry about that charge. Both of theirs were over the limit. They'd evidently started drinking before arriving at your place and spiking the drinks. The narc charge came from this." He handed me a photo. It was a picture of about 10 bottles of Oxy sitting on the saddlebag of the fallen Blue Ox.

I stared at the picture. "It's a setup," I said. "Somebody planted these. Uncle Clarence cleaned out Popz stash. They couldn't have had these pills on them."

"The pills were in the saddlebag," Grady said. "They have your Dad's name on them. That makes you the prime suspect. Since they were on the bike, your friends share the charge, unless you want to claim they were yours and they didn't know anything about them."

"So are they coming to arrest me?"

"Not yet. They are giving you two days to 'get over,'" he made parentheses in the air, "your amnesia. If your memory doesn't return, they're going to charge you. If they charge you, they're going to petition the judge to try you as an adult."

"Isn't it your job to make sure that doesn't happen?"

"To make sure what doesn't happen? You getting charged or you getting tried as an adult?" He didn't wait for me to answer. "I'm sitting here trying to make sure you don't get charged with the same things as your homies. No matter what, I imagine you'll get charged with something. If you cooperate with the police, though, you can probably get by with some probation time."