Fish Out of Water (5 page)

“Nobody’s going to mess with me,” Kaden said, voice easy.

“Not in the infirmary,” Ellery interjected. “Kaden….” He grimaced. “So… you have a concussion?”

“Yeah.”

“Great.” Ellery could manage the infirmary thing if nothing else. “Can you have a stomachache a little later?”

“I could, but, you know, been there, done that.”

Oh hell—he didn’t
look
like a man about to throw up. “Wait, do you need to get sick
now
?”

Kaden looked at him blankly. “No, not now. I woke up barfing, but the doctor shot me full of something—”

And just like that, plans of having Kaden fake nausea to ensure an infirmary stay flew out the window.

“Mother
fucker
!” Jackson bit out. “Goddammit, son of a—”

Ellery had to agree with him. “You were going to the hospital for tox-screen results, weren’t you?”

“Right after I hit up Connie—I’ve got some connections. But if the doctor gave him something
before
the tests—”

“That means the tests will be tainted.” Ellery whirled on one foot and dented the fucking wall. He looked up and saw Jackson and Kaden staring at him like he’d grown another head. “God
dammit
, Jackson Rivers. Why me? That’s all I want to know. There are ten associates and four partners in this firm, and you had to walk up to me and say, ‘He! He is the one! I shall ruin his life in the name of truth and fucking justice!’”

Jackson regarded him with no pity whatsoever. “Because I’ve seen you in the courtroom,” he said. “You had Lofgren on the stand today again, didn’t you?”

Ellery nodded, surprised by how much Jackson knew about stuff that wasn’t his business.

“You make him cry?” Jackson asked slyly.

Ellery’s toe was starting to hurt from his largely ignored outburst of temper, and it made fidgeting more difficult, so he stayed still. “How’d you know?”

“Because Liv Getchell was a friend of mine.” Jackson’s full mouth turned up at the corners like he was enjoying a particularly cruel joke. “She was a sweet kid trying to take care of her own sweet kid, and her boss made her mule coke from her place in Del Paso to his place in West Natomas. And when the cops came down on that little shindig, she was the one who got burned. And you kept her out of jail, and she didn’t lose custody of her kid, and she may be on welfare and living with her mother now, but you went after the right guy to break. And she was pro bono. I was there for the whole trial, because her mother made me promise, and you didn’t let up once. You may not have believed she was innocent—hell, you may not even have cared. But you got her out of that, and you did it without a plea, and I
know
the pressure must have been huge to plead out. So I know you can do it, Cramer. I know you’re capable. But I know you need to commit.”

“I’ll do it,” Ellery said, hating himself. It was stupid—he knew it was stupid. Stupid and juvenile and dumb. But his own mother had never come to see him in court. His sister the actuary had never come to see him in court. Not one damned boyfriend had ever come to see him in court.

But this man—this arrogant, irritating, bossy, smug, superior asshole—had come to see him in court.

And he’d liked what he’d seen.

God, Ellery would
die
for that sort of praise.

He might very well have to. The thought drew him up short—as did the memory of the scars on Jackson’s chest.

He looked straight into those piercing green eyes, green as beer bottles, green as spring grass, and said it again. “I’ll do it. Go to the hospital anyway—the nurses know what the doctors don’t tell.”

“Got it,” Jackson said dryly, and Ellery had no doubt that had already been on his list.

“Go interview Connie immediately afterward, and do you use our computer specialist, or do you have a contractor?”

“I got Crystal her job at the firm,” Jackson said flatly. “She’ll do fine.”

“Jesus!” Ellery burst out. “Is there anybody here you
haven’t
slept with?” He’d seen him—Jackson Rivers, God’s gift to every lonely horny single person for a ten-block radius, had all the scruples of a tomcat. Ellery had seen him walking in with junior associates in the morning and walking out with the witnesses in the evening. Ellery
knew
he was sleeping with Kaden’s sister in the same way he
knew
Jackson was responsible for the debauching—and happy coming out—of the intern they’d had working there the summer before. Rich, poor, black, white, or brown, male or female, cis or trans—discrimination was
not
in Jackson’s vocabulary.

But he was apparently surprised that Ellery had noticed.

“Anyone here I haven’t slept with?” he repeated. “Yeah. I haven’t slept with Kaden.” Kaden gave him a fist bump, even as he carried on. “And I haven’t slept with
you
.”

Ellery let out a frustrated growl. “Excellent. We know where you draw the line.”

Jackson rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well you’re not bad-looking, but you’ve got that stick up your ass and I always top. It’d get crowded, trust me. Now can we get back on task? You get Kaden to some peace and quiet, and I’ll run to the office and see Crystal. It would be
awesome
if we knew where that not-crime-scene photo came from. If you lose your nerve before you send K back, you buzz me and let me know who you’re giving the file to, in case anybody asks.” He whirled on his heel and, to Ellery’s surprise, sank to his knees in front of Kaden like a supplicant, touching his knee with the familiarity of a family member—or a child. “K, you hang in there, okay?”

Kaden nodded and palmed the back of Jackson’s head, bending practically in half so they were touching forehead to forehead. “Jacky, I know you’ll do your best, okay? So even if this goes south, I don’t want you to—”

“Shut up.” Jackson’s voice was thick and cracked, and Ellery had the uncomfortable realization that this was a family meeting in the middle of a criminal case interview, and he was not prepared. “You’re going to be fine,” Jackson muttered, and Ellery felt the lie in the pit of his stomach. Ellery knew the dangers of Kaden going into prison if law enforcement wanted him dead. Or if he had enemies in there from high school. Or if he was just a young street tough who’d stepped wrong.

“I am,” Kaden said, with confidence Ellery didn’t feel. “Because I know you and Jade’ll take care of Rhonda and the kids. I’m going to be peachy—I’ve got all the faith in the world.”

Jackson nodded and scooted back far enough to leverage up on Kaden’s knees. “I’ll see you at the bail hearing tomorrow.”

“I’ll wear my good orange jumpsuit,” Kaden cracked, but even Ellery could see the tightness in the corners of his mouth and the way the sweat beaded on his shaved head. Kaden knew what Jackson had known when he’d grabbed Ellery by the scruff of the neck and hauled him into Interview Room 4: that they had a limited amount of time to prove Kaden had been set up by Officer Scott Bridger for the murder of Officer Collin Miles before Kaden was killed by the cops who’d put him in jail or the people he’d meet when he got to prison.

“Rivers,” Ellery said as Jackson neared the door. “Look, I know this should go without saying, but… you know. If you talk to anyone from law enforcement, try to figure out why Bridger would want his partner dead. And why frame Kaden—or Connie for that matter—to do it.”

Jackson regarded him blankly. “Yeah, Cramer, and I’ll be sure to wipe my ass the next time I cop a squat on the john. Would you like me to report back on
that
too?”

Ellery’s face heated. “This just….” He shook his head. “I need those crime-scene photos. I don’t even have a signature here from a CSI, just the police report and this damned picture. I’ve got a crime scene
release
signed by some guy named Owens, and I’ve got to tell you, I have
never
heard of him. And I need the interview with Connie. And the interview with whoever took that picture. And
five minutes
of alone time with Scott Bridger. So the sooner you can get back to me with information, the better chance we’ve got of getting the case against Kaden dismissed, you understand?”

“Like I said. Not stupid. In fact, I think I see the bigger picture better than you do. But you let me know when the catch occurs to you, okay? In the meantime, let’s get K cleared and home safe.” He turned and looked over his shoulder. “I’ll check in on them for you, so don’t worry, K.” And then he was gone.

The door closed, and Ellery took a moment to lean against the doorframe and breathe a sigh of relief. Kaden’s solid chuckle from across the room forced him to open his eyes.

“Feel like a tornado picked you up from a picnic and spit you out in a tsunami?”

Ellery felt a reluctant smile curving at his lips. “Something like that. Why?”

“Because that’s our Jacky. He coaches my son’s soccer team—the kids call him Captain Crazy.”

“I don’t think he’d respond too well if
I
called him that,” he admitted and then made his way to the center of the room and sank into the chair next to Kaden. “How’s your head?”

“Hurts like a motherfucker. Why?”

“Why’d they let you out of the hospital so quickly if you’re still hurt?” Ellery asked, suddenly curious.

Kaden shot him an amused look. “Because Jackson is loud, persistent, and doesn’t take bullshit for an answer. I told him my story once, and he had me on the jail transpo outta there within thirty minutes.”

“Ah.” Ellery swallowed against the irritation. “He’s very quick,” he said weakly. “He didn’t need me for direction at all.”

“Yeah, well, he could probably take—and pass—the bar exam tomorrow if you forced him to,” Kaden said, not surprising Ellery.

“Why doesn’t he do that?” Ellery didn’t know what Jackson’s accounts looked like, but he was pretty sure Jackson’s mortgage payment could fit inside Ellery’s Lexus payment. Why wouldn’t he try to advance himself?

“Because Jackson didn’t want to be a lawyer when he grew up,” Kaden said.

Ellery wished these people would stop making him feel stupid with just a tilt of their head and a few emphasized words. “Let me guess—”

“You don’t have to guess. You know what he wanted to be because he
was
one. Local po-po, homegrown on his home turf. He was good at his job. Fast track, in line to becoming a detective—Rhonda and Jade stayed up for a week helping him take his lieutenant’s exam. I’m betting after a couple of years, they would have rec’d him for Quantico because that boy—that boy worked
hard
.”

“Until….” Ellery wanted the story, but he didn’t want to beg.

Kaden knew it. “Until you ask him yourself. Or find someone who wants to dish dirt on my brother. But I’ve got too much to say for
myself
to want to spend time satisfying your little crush there.”

“It’s not a crush,” Ellery said weakly. “I’m potentially putting my—”

“Life,” Kaden supplied, his voice hard.

“Career,” Ellery corrected, because God help him, he couldn’t imagine it another way. “I’m potentially putting my job and my career on the line for him. It would be nice to know—”

“Let him give the orders,” Kaden said. “Let him make the decisions. You’re a good lawyer—I mean, he wouldn’t have shanghaied you if you weren’t—but whatever skills you think you have in the courtroom?” He nodded so Ellery would nod too. “You’ve got to forget the hell out of those, you hear me?”

“Yeah,” Ellery said, acid turning in his stomach. A part of him wanted to know what kind of Kool-Aid Jackson was giving people in their water bottles, but most of him had been damned impressed by Jackson’s reasoning—and his ability to make lightning-quick decisions. “I hear you. Jackson’s calling the shots for this one.”

Kaden gave another one of those unexpected barks of humor. “Yeah. And I’m telling you, my sister is a shameless, shameless woman, and she swears by the guy in bed. If you ever feel like taking that stick out of your ass, you may want to rethink your stand on him. I understand he’s like a religious experience.”

Ellery had no comeback for that. “How about we concentrate on saving your life,” he said, feeling like an asshole for dodging that whole subject. “And you know, maybe my career while we’re at it.”

“And not getting Jackson hurt again,” Kaden said, like this was a deal breaker.

Ellery understood that maybe, for this little family he’d seen in action, it really was.

JACKSON REALLY
hated the system sometimes.

He’d run to the offices, which sat square in the blocks of downtown that housed the courthouse and the jail, and gotten Connie’s address from Crystal. She promised to spend the rest of the afternoon rendering the photograph into something larger and more detailed and looking for clues to see if they could find the eyewitness to their very convoluted crime.

Unfortunately Connie’s house was down by Del Paso Heights, and they’d taken Kaden to where they took
all
the criminals, whether they were from Folsom Prison or a local gang throwdown, and that was UCD Medical Center.

Jackson figured he’d do the med center first, Connie second, and then end up with a chance to catch the police station while they were changing shifts. He still had some contacts there, and he’d like
very
much to know what was going on.

It was funny that Ellery had cautioned him to question the nurses and not the doctors—Jackson hadn’t been very excited about authority
before
it had tried to kill him.

This section of Stockton Boulevard had been cleaned up considerably in the past fifteen years—Jackson remembered, because he’d been part of the cleaning crew. He’d been a patrol officer when a city councilman had been busted having a crack-and-whore party a little down the road at Johnson’s Greenbrier Hotel, and he’d also been the first on scene for a murder in the little convenience store across from the hospital.

But then gentrification had truly taken hold, and the Stop-and-Rob had been gussied up by a uniform store next door, and the hospital had been expanded. And Jackson’s favorite part, the Cancer Survivors’ Park, had been added. The bronze statues of the happy family holding hands in the corner had always given Jackson hope.