Chapter 34

Hawk stared at the face of the law officer, realizing he was facing his worst nightmare, going back to prison. In his mind the hardest part to accept was, yet again, it would be for something he didn’t do. At that moment his entire brain seemed to shut down, and he collapsed to the floor. The police officer / deputy immediately rolled Hawk over onto his stomach and cuffed him. Once he had Hawk subdued, he carefully checked his prisoner for weapons. Finding none, he picked Hawk up by the right arm, maneuvered him into a shoulder carry, and took him back to a cell. He laid Hawk on a small cot, and stood up. With his eyes on Hawk he backed into Dan, who’d been following the two. Gruffly, the lawman asked, “And who are you?”

Not knowing what else to do under the circumstances, Dan answered, “I guess for the moment, I’m Hawk’s lawyer.”

The man pondered that answer as he led Dan out of the cell and locked the door. Dan followed him to the main lobby, and into a small side office. Uncertain how to proceed, the man held out his hand and said, “I’m Juan Somoza. I’m head of the tribal police and an Otero County Deputy Sheriff.”

Dan responded by shaking the man’s hand, and said, “I’m Dan Cashman.”

“Well, are you really that good-for-nothing’s lawyer?”

“Juan, I have a law degree from the University of Alabama and, though I’m a member of the Alabama and California bar, I’ve never actually practiced law. As Hawk’s friend I’ll help until we can get proper legal assistance here to take over. Now, can you tell me what the charges are?”

“Rape, kidnapping, assault-and-battery, involvement with drugs with the intent to distribute, robbery, grand theft auto, attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, murder, along with numerous acts of brawling and the destruction of property.”

Dan scratched his head while trying to think how to best handle this without destroying Hawk’s cover. Finally, he said, “Well, it sounds like our boy here is a regular Clyde Barrow.”

The deputy chuckled, responding, “Since the next county up from us is Lincoln, I’d say William Bonney is more appropriate.

Note: The New Mexico County above the Mescalero Reservation, is Lincoln County, The scene of the famous Lincoln County War, 1878-1881, which has been the theme of many movies over the years. William H. Bonney was the given name of a young gunman who was better known as Billy, the Kid.

“Most of this stems from four incidences,” the officer continued. “The brawling and destruction of property came from a bunch of bar fights several years ago. The kidnapping, rape and assault involve a young lady named Maria Corsay. The drug involvement, is related to his parents being busted for possession to distribute. Finally, the rest came from a car jacking, which left an old woman bleeding from being shot in the shoulder and her husband dead.”

Dan smiled, “Juan, I think this can be straightened out fairly quickly. First, do you have any doubt my client is Robert Gray Hawk?”

“I’ve never met Robert Gray Hawk, but I’ve no reason to doubt he’s who he says he is.”

“Good. Then the purpose we came here for was to get a replacement tribal ID card. Can we get that done first?”

The big deputy laughed, and said, “Mister Cashman, you’re something else. Your client faces the potential death penalty, and you’re concerned about a replacement ID Card. To even ask tells me you’re either the stupidest lawyer on the face of the earth, or you’ve the largest set of brass balls I’ve ever heard of.”

Dan slowly answered, “Well, if my client isn’t Robert Gray Hawk then there are no charges against him, but if he is Robert Gray Hawk, then he’s entitled to a replacement ID Card. I’m trying to establish ID here, so I’ll know how to proceed.”

“Oh, so that’s your game. You want to raise doubts about Robert’s identity so you can use that to get him off. Well, Mister Alabama Attorney, I’m too smart for the likes of you. I’ll have his ID card made up in just a minute.” The deputy went back to the cell and brought Hawk out into the main room. He led him over to a digital camera on a tripod, and took several pictures. Finally satisfied with the result he led Hawk back to his cell. While the deputy was gone, Dan slipped out to the car, taking all the evidence of the face change with him and leaving it in the car. He advised Benji what was going on, and suggested the doctor find somewhere cool to relax, as this might take a while.

“Dan, I can do that. I found a brochure on ‘The Inn of the Mountain Gods.’ There are small buses that will take me there, so I will go and be relaxing. Also, why don’t I reserve a suite, if by chance we have to be spending the night?”

“That’s an excellent idea. I’ll call you on your cell phone when we’re finished. Also, that makeup of Hawks will it run or smear?”

“No. It has special polymer base that makes it function as a mask.”

“Excellent! Now I don’t have to worry about them discovering a third face is under there; a face that could put Hawk in more trouble than Robert’s face.”

“Do you want me to also call Miss Maria and be telling her what’s going on?”

“Not yet. At this point I don’t want her to worry about what might happen. Let me see how much of this we can take care of before we get her involved. This deputy is too smart, and too cock-sure, for his own good. I think we may well be able to lead him away from the most obvious answer, thus protecting Hawk’s identity.”

Dan watched Benji walk toward a shuttle bus. Satisfied Benji was going to be all right Dan returned to the tribal offices. When he walked in, Deputy Somoza said, “I was wondering what happened to you?”

“We had a third person waiting in the car, as we weren’t expecting problems. Rather than leaving him just sitting there I sent him up to the casino resort.”

The lawman nodded in acknowledgment and handed Dan a card, saying, “Here’s Robert Gray Hawk’s identity card. He’s now officially Robert Gray Hawk, so there can’t be any question regarding identity.”

“Thank you, deputy, for clearing up that matter for me. Now, do you have the authority to discuss the claims of the case, or are you just an investigator and warrant server?”

“What are you thinking, Mister Lawyer man?”

“I would like to see if these issues can be resolved without a long court battle that could wreck your county’s budget. I’m not asking to see him tried at this point, but to see if a trial is even warranted.”

The deputy had never heard of such a thing. But in a way, it did make sense. “Let me call the District Attorney’s office and see what he says.”

Dan replied, “While you’re at it, have him bring his evidence and any witnesses.”

“I’ll call the DA’s office in Alamogordo and discuss your idea. I doubt they’ll be interested, but if they were, I’m pretty sure they’ll want to have the meeting there. I’d planned to transfer him there, anyway, as soon as another deputy arrives to take over this office. I called for one while I was making Robert’s ID card.

“Where will we be meeting?”

“If the District Attorney’s office is willing to even meet, it’ll be in one of the conference rooms in the sheriff’s office. As I said, I would be very surprised if they are even interested in such a meeting.”

Dan sank the hook in a little deeper by saying, “If we can establish Hawk’s innocence then we save the county a lot of money. If I can’t establish that innocence, then I’ll advise Hawk, and whoever we get as a local attorney, to make a plea bargain.”

“So, are you saying you’ll convince the DA of your client’s innocence, or you recommend he cop a plea with no court room tricks, no discrediting of witnesses, and no attempts to get evidence suppressed?”

‘That’s correct. It’ll be ‘justice served, ‘ straight across the board.”

“Damn! No wonder you don’t practice law for a living. With that attitude you’d be disbarred in six months, or broke in three.”

“Deputy, you’re probably correct. Do you think they’d go for it under those conditions?”

“They’d be a fool if they didn’t. Let me call them right now.”

The deputy’s replacement arrived while Juan Somoza was talking to the DA’s office. A few minutes later Juan came out of his office all smiles. “They’ll be getting ready for us while we’re on the way.”

Speaking to the other deputy he said, “Mark, I need you to put the prisoner in the back of my patrol car.”

Dan asked, “Do I need to follow you, or do you need to draw me a map?”

“Just follow me. I won’t let us get separated. Besides, we stay on Highway Seventy the entire trip.”

Dan walked out to the Grand Prix the group had rented when they first arrived. At the same time the deputy climbed in a sand-colored four by four Explorer with the standard patrol lights on the top, and a row of off-road lights mounted above that.

The road out of the high country was quite winding, and they seldom traveled more than 45 mph (miles per hour). Fortunately, as they reached the lower elevations the road straightened out, allowing their speed to creep up. In a short time the two vehicles were consistently running 75 mph, except when they went through small towns. In a little over forty minutes they pulled in to the parking lot behind the Sheriff’s office. On the way Dan called Maria at the ranch and told her what had happened. She was very upset and crying until he explained his plans.

“Dan, do you really think they’ll fall for it?

“If they do, then he’s innocent, and if they don’t, he’s innocent. The key will be you and Jason, so you might bring him up to speed on this.”

“I will, and we’ll be waiting for their call.”

Dan parked the rental car, and followed the deputy and Hawk down a hall to a conference room. As he passed a large picture window that looked out onto the hallway he noticed an older lady arguing with another deputy and a man in a buckskin jacket, a red cowboy shirt, and a string tie. Dan smiled to himself, and thought, I’ll bet they just tried to pull a fast one. They planned to have the victim’s widow identify Hawk as the assailant when he walked down the hall. Instead, she’s now insisting he’s not the perpetrator. Doing it this way rather than in a lineup isn’t exactly kosher, but with her response, I’m certainly not going to complain.

Dan entered the room and gave Hawk a reassuring smile. Deputy Somoza was standing ‘at ready, ‘ in the corner closest to the door, just waiting for the prisoner to try to escape. After a few minutes the two men Dan had noticed earlier entered the room, and introduced themselves. The Deputy was Bobby Bright Feather, while the assistant District Attorney was Roger McKay.

McKay began like he was making opening arguments to a jury, but Dan quickly stopped him. “Mister McKay, this isn’t a court of law. It’s not even an inquest. There’s no judge and no jury, other than ourselves, so let’s put away all the legalese and legal sparring. What we must remember is we’re looking for the truth, not a legal victory, for Hawk here is a man, not a trophy deer. Also, we admit that while he made some mistakes in his youth he’s grown into a successful businessman; a man whose loving wife would like to see him back home with her this evening.”

McKay harshly responded, “Well, that ain’t going to happen, so you can tell her if she wants to see him for the next twenty-five to fifty years, she’s going to have to visit him in our prison.”

Dan shook his head, and said, “We’ll see. We’ll see. Though I’ll have to say, it doesn’t sound like you’re very open to the truth in this case.”

“Oh, I’m open to the truth, but it will be my truth, not something that’s manipulated by you.”

“Sir, I’m not trying to manipulate the truth, only establish it over preconceived judgments. Now, shall we begin? I figured the first thing you’d do would be to set up a lineup, so the widow who’d been shot could identify him. That would immediately settle your case in my eyes.”

McKay mumbled, “She didn’t recognize him.”

Dan responded, “I’m sorry. I didn’t catch what you said,”

Almost yelling the assistant DA said, “I said, she wasn’t sure!”

“She wasn’t sure! You’ve accused my client of this heinous crime, and your main witness isn’t sure! Well, certainly you must have some corroborating evidence.”

Deputy Somoza said, “We’ve the gun, with the accused’s fingerprints on it.”

Dan looked at the deputy, and asked, “You mean you’ve my client’s fingerprints on file and they match with those on the gun?”

“Well, we don’t have his actual fingerprints. We have those that were lifted from the drug area in his parent’s home, and they match. We know he was involved with his parent’s drug operation, so they had to be his.”

“And how do you know he was involved with his parent’s drug operation?”

McKay almost shouted, “Dummy, we have his fingerprints.”

Dan turned to Deputy Bright Feather, and asked, “Have you actually taken my client’s fingerprints and compared them?”

“No.”

“Then don’t you think that might be a good idea? Again, if they’re a match you’ve an open and shut case, but if they don’t match, then it’d be hard for the killer or the drug dealer to have been my client.”

The Assistant DA looked at the two deputies, and started screaming. That answer was so obvious he felt stupid, and he did not like to feel stupid. More importantly, he didn’t sense Dan was trying to make him look like a fool. Instead, his own desire to win, and the failure of the deputies to do the obvious, had accomplished that easily. Damn, he hated dealing with incompetence! In response to McKay’s tirade one of the deputies shot out of the room as if he was fired from a cannon. When he returned with their fingerprint expert Dan realized the one who’d left was Deputy Somoza, the one who’d first arrested Hawk. The new deputy had a fingerprint kit with him, but was soon followed by a fourth deputy with additional equipment. He carefully took Hawk’s fingerprints. By the time he’d finished a comparison microscope and a display monitor had been brought in and set up. Dan quickly saw this extra piece was designed to enable the image from the microscope to be displayed to all interested parties. The expert then placed the card containing the freshly made prints in one side of the microscope and another card in the second side. He must have been trying to match the same finger, as he had to make several adjustments with each of the cards before he put his eyes to the microscope’s eyepieces. He suddenly backed away from the microscope. His eyebrows were furrowed, and his forehead was wrinkled. It left his face in a classic look of confusion and deep thought. He took another card from a file folder and again studied each fingerprint carefully. Finally, he said, “Mister McKay, can we talk outside for a moment?”

The Assistant District Attorney impatiently said, “I doubt that will be necessary. Instead, just put the image up on the screen so I can do my imitation of a saloon gambler, and say, ‘read ‘em and weep fellows.’“

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Mike Lowe aka The Scot

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