November 24th, someone had broken into Pamela’s house. This person had attacked her while she slept, raped her and cold-bloodedly left her for dead. She did not die, but she was now in a coma from which the doctors weren’t sure she would emerge.
Being the only suspect because of motive, the police had focused their entire investigation on Andrew and would most certainly be arresting him any day now if he couldn’t prove his innocence. But his alibi was weak. Someone who knew Andrew personally and never believed the young man could do such a thing had recommended Simon to him, and now they sat talking here in Simon’s office about what measures could be taken to help his case.
“Did the police speak to Jake?” Simon asked while making some notes on his legal pad.
“Yeah, they talked to him and he told them that I got drunk and passed out. He said that he finished watching the game, covered me up, turned off the television and left.”
“Okay. Do you know if they checked into this more thoroughly?”
“Actually, I don’t know. They seemed so focused on me that I don’t think they looked at anyone else too closely.”
“What about the man Pamela had been seeing? Victor Campbell?” Simon asked. “Did the police question him?”
“Yeah,” Andrew sighed heavily. “It turns out that the only thing that guy is guilty of is being an asshole. Do you know he went to see her in the hospital, took one look at her, and ran out of the room gagging? He hasn’t been back, either from what I understand. Can you imagine? The woman you’re supposed to love is that near death and you can’t even be with her? That’s disgusting!”
“Sounds like a true man,” Simon commented dryly.
“Look, Mr. Draco, I know that I made an ass out of myself more than once after Pam broke up with me. But it was only because I loved her so much and I desperately wanted to get back together with her! I would never hurt her! All I want is for her to wake up and be okay again. Of course, she also can tell everyone that I would never hurt her, true, but she must wake up and be okay. That is the most important thing to me.” His voice broke and he had to pause for a moment. “Even if she never speaks to me again, I still want her to wake up so she can have a chance to be happy whether that’s with someone else or not. I mean, the breakup wasn’t the high point of my life, but we don’t hate each other or anything like that. Do you think you can help me, Mr. Draco?”
Simon looked at this young man who was fairly trembling on the other side of his desk. He almost had it all worked out as to what had happened, but there were still plenty of blanks to fill in before he could help Andrew. But help him, he would.
“Andrew, I’m not going to lie to you. This isn’t going to be easy especially if Pamela doesn’t wake up. In fact, right now, the fact that she’s still breathing is the only reason you haven’t been arrested and charged with murder. It’s definitely in your best interest for her to wake up. Now the first thing we need to prepare for is that the police will be arresting you soon. Have they executed a search warrant on your home yet?”
“Yeah, and that was all kinds of fun,” Andrew replied glumly.
“Yes, I can imagine,” Simon said sympathetically. “I’ll be checking into what they found, if anything. I’m going to also check into what their interview with Jake produced. What you need to do is be ready for the cops to show up at your door with an arrest warrant. When they do, call me immediately. Do not, and I can’t stress this enough, answer any questions without me there. Now do you have any assets that you can use for bail if it becomes necessary?”
“Not really,” Andrew said. “I actually don’t have any money. Working in a body shop doesn’t pay quite as much as you’d think. But I’ll try to figure out something. I can’t stay in jail.”
“Well, I’m sure we can work something out if
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