Only the Truth by Pat Brown Page B

break out on my face and neck.
    "Quit?" I could hardly get the word out.
    Sheriff Hathaway slammed both fists down on the table. "Quit! Yeah, you
dumb ass, quit, like in sometimes even a defense attorney doesn't want to
defend his client."
    "He's gone?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Gone? Why?
When?
    "What? Why didn't he tell me?"
    The Sheriff stood up. "I don't know. Maybe he just doesn't like being
lied to, Billy Ray. At least not by people he is trying to help."
    He grabbed the door knob and, as if he had an afterthought, turned toward
me. "By the way, we know who Charlene is, so you can stop pretending you
don't."
    The Sheriff flung open the door and strode out. The door knob clanged
against the metal pole supporting the roof and came back and shut me in the
room.
     
    ********************

     
    I was stifling to death in that 12-foot-square box. I felt weighed down to
the chair, afraid to get up, terrified to open the door because I knew there
was an explanation on the other side I didn't want to know. I wanted to run
out, grab New Big Dog and go home, pretend I never met Charlene.
    I must have sat there for a long time, trying to decide which direction to
walk when I came out of the room. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the
light shifting on the wall and the room growing dimmer. I wondered how cold it
would be if I had to walk home after dark, if visiting hours were over, if New
Big Dog had given up on me and wandered off. I worried I might never see him
again.
    I became aware that someone had opened the door and was standing there
looking at me. A big man, dark-skinned, the hair that he still had on his head
trimmed close, blue trousers, white shirt overflowing the belt, a layer of body
fat behind it. Neat tie.
    The man sidled into the room and shut the door behind him. He plopped into
the chair the sheriff had left empty, dropped his briefcase onto the table and
offered his hand.
    "Joe Stanley, public defender," he stated. "I'm taking over
for Mr. Green."
    The man looked worn, like he'd done this work for far too long and he should
have retired ten years ago.
    "You Charlene's lawyer now?" I asked suspiciously.
    "Yeah." He breathed heavily.
    "And?"
    "And," he shrugged, "I will go to court, say a bunch of
meaningless stuff, and the jury will come back with a conviction. That's the
life of a public defender."
    I stared at him.
    He opened his mouth as though he were about to continue. Then he yawned.
    "What about Charlene's defense?" I asked.
    "You got one for me?" he shot back.
    "Mr. Green said Charlene was raped by John Doe. He scared her."
    Mr. Stanley drummed his fingers on the table, touching each dent he could
find in a row.
    He let his breath out slowly and looked at me. He seemed to be sizing me up.
I hadn't had many people do that since I never spent much time with any until I
ended up down at the court but I saw Mr. Green doing it to others. Then he
would tell me something bad about them.
    Mr. Stanley leaned back a bit in his chair, his gaze still steady on me.
Then he asked me a question.
    "Are you just stupid or are you in on this whole act?"
    I didn't understand what he meant.
    "What?"
    "Are you just stupid or did you help Kristen kill the old man?"
    "Kristen?" I couldn't understand this new lawyer. I wished Mr.
Green hadn't run out on Charlene.
    He groaned. "Kristen, Charlene, Kristen. Whatever you
want to call her."
    My eyes blurred. I couldn't breathe through my nose. I felt something
dripping out of my nose and water running down my cheek.
    Mr. Stanley's big hand reached out and grabbed my left shoulder.
    "Don't you know why Mr. Green quit?"
    I shook my head and rubbed my hand across my nose and then brought it under
the table to my pants' leg.
    The lawyer slumped back in his chair. "For Christ's
sake, Godallmighty . They told me you lived way
up on some hill with this girl for two years and said you never even knew her
name. I thought they were fooling me." He leaned forward, opened