Hostile Witness

CHAPTER 33

CHAPTER 33

"Stop," Josie whispered, pushing Archer's hands away.

Archer rolled onto his back amid the tangle of blankets and sheets. Minutes ago they had been a tangle of arms and legs, lips and hands. They tried too hard to find love and found only sex and not very good sex at that.

Now they looked at the ceiling, seeing nothing through the darkness, overly aware of each other's disappointment, disenchantment, and disillusionment. Archer because he could do nothing to help Josie; Josie because she could do nothing to help Hannah.

"It wasn't your fault," he finally said.

"Exactly what isn't my fault, Archer?" Josie asked. "That Hannah ran away, or that she got hurt? Or that there's a guard on her, or that she's going back to jail? Or that Linda and I are in this bizarre tug of war over what's best for her?"

Archer stayed silent, unmoving, knowing the only way to heal her soul was to let her talk.

"Maybe the police are at fault? Her mother? Her father - whoever he is. Her stepfather? Rudy? Maybe it's Hannah's own fault, Archer. I really haven't ruled out that possibility. You know, maybe she's just a murdering, sociopathic kid who thought she knew how to work the system, got caught in the wheels and panicked." Josie turned onto her side, her back to Archer. "Maybe she was running out on me. It has happened before; people leaving me without a word."

Archer's jaw tightened. That was it. He swung his legs over the side of the bed. He loved Josie but he'd heard this song before, this self-pity, this little girl lament. People got over shit. It was her time.

"She wasn't running out on you - she was just running. The weird thing was that she was going north on Pacific Coast Highway. I took pictures when I checked it out."

"Well, aren't you just so damn efficient, Archer? Besides, which side of the road she was on doesn't mean anything. Rudy will argue she was fleeing. You should know that."

"Hey, Jo, I'm not the enemy and this isn't like you."

Archer walked toward the bathroom. In the dark Josie could just see his silhouette: big, filling her bedroom, taking up her space when she wanted to be left alone.

"Oh, Christ," Josie muttered before hollering at him as he started to close the bathroom door. "You don't know a damn thing about me."

Archer threw open the door. His arms held either side of it as if he was trying to restrain himself.

"I know what it's like to have a tough case. I know what it's like when you feel like your client royally screwed you."

"Hannah didn't screw me up. I screwed myself when I started caring about her instead of just working like a lawyer should." Josie sat up fast and reached for her t-shirt. She didn't want to be naked around Archer. She didn't want a shred of intimacy in a life that was feeling so cold and out of control. "You've only known me for a year, Archer. It's all been so good for us. You've never seen me when things aren't good. Now you are. I'm pissed and I'm sad and I'm torn up inside because something happened, and I wasn't there for Hannah. Her mother wasn't there. She's just a kid and she was trying. . ."

Archer threw up his hands in frustration.

"Jo, stop qualifying this thing. You couldn't have done anything about this. Hannah was bolting God damn it!" He walked toward the bed. He put out his hand and smoothed Josie's hair that had spiked where it rubbed against the pillow. He put his hands on her bare thighs and hunkered down, speaking softly. "I'm sorry she's hurt and I'm sorry she's going back to prison but shit happens, Jo. You can't make the world right, you can only try to make some things okay."

"I only had one case, Archer. I used to juggle ten. If only I had called Hannah once more last night. If I'd sent Linda home right away. . ." her voice trailed off. "But I didn't, did I?"

"Hannah made her choices. You didn't push her. You can't defend someone who doesn't want to be defended," he pointed out.

"Or someone who is guilty? Is that the next part of your little sermon, Archer?"

"Jo. Please. Don't do this."

Josie pushed his hands away. He retreated but didn't back down.

"Look," he said, "I gave you what I had and we both know what the prosecution's going to do with it. The fight between the Rayburns was about Hannah. It looks like Hannah was running. She admits to being in Rayburn's rooms, she admits hitting him. Call Klein. See if you can work a plea. The DA can't be too happy about the way things are going. It could be in everyone's best interest to make this go away."

"What do you want, Archer? Why are you here? I don't need anyone to tell me to throw in the towel. I already thought about it." Josie dug her hands into the pillow. "But that would make me a quitter, or a fool, because I believed Hannah. Isn't that just the way I want to think of myself, as a loser and a fool."

Archer found his pants and whipped them off the chair. He was an easy-going guy but even he had his limits.

"I'm saying you need to shake it off like a pro. Your job is to make the call, take care of your client."

"I'm going to take care of her. I'm going to defend her."

"You'll lose."

"You haven't even heard the defense. How can you condemn her, and me, at the same time, Archer? You of all people."

"I don't want her to go down for life, Jo, but I don't want you dreaming about that kid for the rest of yours."

Archer pulled his shirt on and sat on the edge of the bed with his shoes in his hands. He turned around so he could look at her. Even in the dark Archer knew that all Josie wore were a t-shirt and a look of despair.

"Once the prosecutor finds the gardener you won't be able to argue self defense. He was clear that Kip was aware his father was afraid of Hannah. The accident investigation shows that Hannah was in Huntington to meet Miggy Estrada, the man she was arrested with last year, the man who broke into Fritz Rayburn's apartments with her. Estrada has disappeared. Nobody is going to believe she's just a poor, sick kid anymore."

Josie raised her head defiantly. "I'm not going to do anything until I talk to Hannah. I want to hear it from her."

"You can't even talk to her! She is unconscious." Archer threw up his hands, exasperation getting the best of him.

"God, Archer, I thought I could count on you. I thought you told me to go for it, to find out what I was made of. Guess we're both finding out what we're made of. You can give up, Archer, but I sure as hell won't."

"Time for us to get on with our lives, Jo." He pulled on his shoes. He was ready to go. "That's all I'm saying. I already lived with one woman who suffered; I don't want to do it again. Cut your losses."

"I'm not throwing Hannah away," Josie insisted. "I'm not abandoning her, and I'm sure as hell not going to pass judgment when she hasn't had her God damn day in court."

"It's going to be worse for her if she does have it." Archer stood up, he towered over her. "You've proved you can get back in and fight, now prove you can do it right."

"That's what I'm doing. There are a million reasons to run. Maybe she was just scared. I'll work my butt off to prove she's innocent until she tells me different. I don't care about Rudy's circumstantial evidence or what somebody told you today. She's hurt, and someone's got to help . . ."

Josie's voice was lost inside her somewhere. Sentences weren't finished. Tears were lurking. She was a little girl again; fighting to stay strong while her world was falling apart for no reason. When Josie turned her back on him, curled up and left no room for him in her bed, in her life, in this case, Archer did the only thing he could do.

He left.