Chapter 42

I had no idea what they really thought of all the increased work I caused them. I know the district attorney, who was responsible for our cases. called me in before she arraigned the pot case of mine. The one with the survivalist and the grower from down east...

"Well Deputy Porter, we are going to trial with a pretty good case. The girl tuned on everyone in the county it seems," she said.

"Actually most of the buyers were outside the country. There are only two county residents," I said.

"Yes, I guess I knew that we took pleas from all the buyers and they all are serving 30 days probation. Pot is not a very important offense for the judge here. I think he really would rather not waste his time with them."

"Okay, how about the growers and distributors," I asked. I wasn;t happy but the judge's attitude matched those of judges all over the country these days.

"Those he is going to have to prosecute, or I'm going to nail his ass to a door," she said. That was a battle about publicity. It all boiled down to politics.

"Good for you," I said. "I was afraid you were going to let them plead to littering."

"Your cooperating witness is not going to serve any time for the growing. But she might do a few months for distributing. The survivalist is going to plead guilty in exchange for a promise not to do more than six months in a county facility. The work farm or the county jail."

"Then you really aren't going to need me," I said slightly miffed at the light treatment of my perps. It seemed like a huge waste of time. Maybe that how the others felt, which explained their lack of enthusiasm.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know that it might not seem like it, but you are doing good work and it does make a difference." she said trying to ease my disappointment.

"Well counselor, I had wondered why the cops here were all burned out, now I understand. They go out put it on the line and get zero positive reinforcement for their efforts." I said.

"That why cops piss me off. I called you in to give you positive feedback, and you take it wrong. What did you want me to do go for the death penalty for growing and selling a little pot." she asked.

"Well no, but a really nice charge is the manufacture of Marijuana, which has a five year sentence. That way I would feel like I did something good." I said. "sent the right message you know?"

"He would never plead to that and I would have meant a trial. The trial judge would have wanted to know, if we tried to reach a deal before we wasted his time. Then to teach me a lesson, he would have found him guilty, but given him probation and time served."

"Well then maybe we need to have us a talk with the judge," I said.

"Well good luck with that one," she said with a laugh.

"Oh, and why is that," I asked.

"He will probably ask you for a date, as he tell you there is no way for a tough sentence to hold up on appeals. Which is code for, you don't have a snowballs chance in hell," she said.

"Okay, I get it. Everybody would like to do better but the system is so flawed it wouldn't make any difference what they did."

"I would never admit to that," the very attractive slightly over forty Asst. District Attorney said. I wondered what her weakness was. Oh my god I was thinking like Mary Ellen.

We left it like that, and I got out of there quickly. Before I said something to give myself away. I went back and finished the shift. I had one more to go the next night and I was finished. After that shift I planned to at least have a drink, even if I had nothing else. And I wasn't opposed to a little something else. First I had to finish that night and one more.

That proved harder than it sounded. I was sidelined by Simpson. "Hey Silvia, I hear you were at it again," He said.

"That's old news it's been days," I said.

"Well I don't get down in the trenches as much as I should," he said.

"You seem to have gotten over the shabby way you were treated," I said.

"Yes, sometimes it seems like they really don't want us to do our jobs," he said.

"I guess," I said. I had a feeling that Simpson might be doing some spying. "Actually I was just leaving."

"Well I just wanted to say congratulations," he said. I walked off leaving him standing there. So Gypsy had taken the back seat. I wondered if maybe she was planning to drop the law suit in exchange for a shoddy investigation.

I frankly had just about given up on the Warren County Sheriff's office. I couldn't count on them, so I wondered why I was concerned about them being able to count on me. I decided that it was called integrity. Someone had to have some.

I got through that night with Jenny Allen on my mind. Someone owed to her to find out what happened to her. Even if nobody ever went to trial for it. I wondered who could tell me. The answer was simple the Boyle Brothers, but the making it happen, was going to be difficult.

I wondered what Monk really knew. I could convince him to give up all that he knew for a blow job. Of course then I would never be able to use it in court. I knew just enough, to know what I didn't know. I couldn't even decide who I needed to talk to first.

First I had to finish my shift I had one more night with that one came to an end, I rode off for home in the tiny Toyota, The one with the heater that took longer to heat up than it took to get to the motel. I was always cold, when I got to home, for that very reason.