Home Invasion - J. A. Johnstone [15]
With a sinking feeling, Alex opened the door of the mayor’s office without knocking and stepped into the room. Ed Ruiz was behind the desk, with Dave Rutherford in one of the chairs in front of it. Both men looked up at her.
Alex didn’t waste any time. “What’s happened?” she asked.
“Just what we were afraid of,” Ed replied, blinking at her through his thick glasses. Despite the flow of cold air from the air-conditioning ducts, his mostly bald head had beads of sweat on it. “That fancy lawyer went over to the county seat and filed suit against Pete McNamara, the manufacturer of the gun Pete used, the city of Home, Hawkes County, the state of Texas, and the federal government. He’s made a clean sweep of it, and we’re in deep trouble, Alex.”
CHAPTER 8
“Calm down, Ed,” Alex told the mayor. “He can’t possibly win. He and his friend murdered Inez McNamara, for God’s sake. Navarre’s lawyer is just filing all those suits because he thinks it might help him in defending the criminal case against Navarre.”
Dave Rutherford shook his head. He was a slender young man who also wore glasses, though his weren’t as thick as Ruiz’s.
“Not necessarily,” he said. “Juries have actually found in favor of the plaintiff in similar cases in the past.”
“Cases where a criminal files suit against somebody he tried to victimize?” Alex had heard of such things, but she didn’t want to believe they were possible. Surely they were just some sort of urban legend.
“Exactly,” Rutherford said. “Not only have the plaintiffs won in such lawsuits, but they’ve also been awarded significant damages.”
“Millions of dollars in damages,” Ed Ruiz said with a shudder. “That could bankrupt the town, Alex.”
She held up her hands. “Hold on, hold on. We’re getting ahead of ourselves. A judge is liable to toss that lawsuit as soon as it comes up.”
“We can’t rely on that,” Rutherford said. “Just in case the suit ever does come to trial, we need to be very, very careful. Everything that you do in dealing with Navarre has to be strictly by the book and according to normal procedures.”
“It has been,” Alex said, not bothering to keep the irritation out of her voice. “It will be. That’s the way I run my department.”
“I know that. I just want to make sure that we don’t give Navarre and his lawyer any ammunition to use against us.”
Alex nodded. “I understand. And I’ll make sure that all my people understand, too.”
“Have you placed Navarre under arrest?” Ruiz asked.
“I have.”
“He was Mirandized?” Rutherford asked.
“Of course.” Alex tapped the little recorder in her pocket. “I have it on tape. Well, so to speak.”
Rutherford nodded. “Good.”
“He wants a bail hearing.”
“That’s his right,” Rutherford said with a shrug.
“Oh, come on. He’s shot up and in the hospital. Where’s he going? Besides, you know what’ll happen if he gets bailed out. He’ll be long gone across the border. Hasta la vista, baby.”
“Don’t say things like that,” Ruiz warned. “The news media would make them out to be racist and prejudicial.”
“Sorry,” Alex muttered. She knew that Ruiz wasn’t objecting out of any sense of political correctness or ethnic sensitivity. He was worried strictly about the city’s liability in the pending lawsuit.
Rutherford’s cell phone vibrated. He took it out of the pocket in his suit coat and answered it. His lean face grew even more grim as he listened. He thanked whoever was on the other end and closed the phone.
“That was my secretary,” he said. “Cochrum has convinced a judge over at the county seat to hold a bail hearing in absentia for Navarre at two o’clock this afternoon.” He stood up and reached for the briefcase on the floor beside his chair. “I need to get over there and meet with the district attorney so we can prepare for the hearing.”
“Navarre hasn’t been arraigned yet!” Alex protested.
“Doesn’t matter.”
Ruiz said, “We have to get that lawsuit quashed,