THE SOUND AND THE FURY

Sergeant Littleton had handled the initial tests with the thirty-eight. They had test fired it and then taken the bullet out for analysis. The gun was pretty much factory standard. Nobody had altered it by boring out the chamber or even changing the pistol grips. After he had finished with it he had sent it over to Thomas Menlow at the coroner's lab for further analysis.
Menlow studied the gun under a microscope hoping to find minute flecks of blood hair or anything else that could tie the gun in with the killing. He found several small strands of hair wedged under the pistol grip, which he pulled out. He knew it was barely enough for DNA analysis.
He had seen the news and couldn't help but feel somebody was railroading the young alien from El Salvador. He picked up the phone and called up to Captain O'Malley, the brass had kicked the investigation to the top. Phoenix police didn't take kindly to charges of cover-up from the media and they were intent on fast-tracking the case. Menlow had a feeling the investigation was as relentless as a steamroller and whoever got in the way was going to be crushed.
" Captain." Menlow greeted him. "I've done a complete examination of the gun as you asked. I found just a few strands of hair, strands from the cotton shirt it was wrapped in and bits and pieces of debris. Not enough for a DNA test."
" What about the t-shirt it was wrapped in. Did you examine that?"
" No." Menlow answered. "Nobody asked me."
" Well." O Malley was exasperated. "Suppose there is evidence on that?"
" I'll get right too it." Menlow hung up and went back to work. On the t-shirt he found more strands of hair and some small flecks of skin. Together with the others he had enough for DNA sampling. He labeled the samples and placed them into a courier package where they would be sent them to the nation's leading private crime laboratory in Falls Church, Va. run by former government employees. He called them to let them know what was coming. He didn't question the cost. They would turn it around in less than twenty-four hours.
He drove over to see Littleton and ask about the ballistic tests.
" Curious about the gun?" Littleton smirked. "This is bigger than OJ's glove. My phone has been ringing off the hook. I've got the etchings back from the lab. If it's not the same gun then it's sure close."
Menlow stepped up to the microscope. "Mind?"
" No go ahead."
Menlow studied the bullet that had been removed from Pete's brain and the bullet that Littleton had tested.
" Very similar. The pattern repeats itself on both. What are the odds of that?"
" Well." Littleton stated. "If the gun came from the same factory run there could be a lot of similarities but those patterns you are looking at are unique in their combination to that weapon. You enter those into the computer and it'll tell you statistically it's a match. But that is statistically. It is possible they could have come from different guns."
" How possible?" Menlow asked.
" Million to one." Littleton answered. "My money is on the gun. It's the murder weapon. I haven't told anybody else. It just doesn't make sense why a kid would come forward that wasn't even a suspect and then in nearly broad daylight stash the gun in the bushes outside of a church. Nobody can be that stupid."
" That's the point. Most criminals are stupid."
" Did you see the kid on television?" Littleton asked. "Do you really think he looks like a killer and what about the missing gold coins? If he had stolen that much in gold who did he sell it to and where is the money? There are too many unanswered questions. I'd say whoever killed Big Pete planted this gun and is trying to make this whole thing go away by framing him. Who better to take the fall than an illegal alien with no money and no alibi? This circumstantial evidence alone is enough to convict him. Just between you and me the guys upstairs want to put a lid on this quick. This case isn't good for any of us. It makes the police department look like bumbling idiots. Did you see the story New Times ran mocking us because of the hot car ring operating in broad daylight less than a mile from our precinct?"
" Yes." Menlow answered. "We still can't buckle under because of pressure. Everyone deserves the right to a fair trial. You don't go convicting someone just because it is convenient."
" It's different, this kid's head is being handed to us on a platter. I don't see anybody wanting to push away from the table."
*

Garcia got word that the ballistic test showed within a reasonable doubt that the gun was the one used to kill Big Pete. He got an arrest warrant and went out to apprehend Paco. He phoned Rita from his cell phone.
" If you weren't my sister in law Rita right now I wouldn't even be talking to you."
" I know." Rita said. "I messed up I'm sorry."
" The gun matches. I'm going now to pick the kid up on murder one."
" How about fingerprints?" Rita asked.
" None, the gun was wiped clean." Rudy answered. "It's still circumstantial but the D.A. going to fly with it. I gotta go."
Rudy hung up the cell phone and popped his hood cherry onto his roof. Something inside told him to turn around. He ignored it. Outside the church a crowd was gathered. A podium had been set up and a singer was entertaining the crowd. Several men were helping kids fix bicycles and ladies of the church were handing out sodas and tortillas filled with beans, cheese and chicken.
There were no parking spots so Rudy double-parked in the street leaving his hood cherry flashing. People moved out of his way when they saw the gold badge swinging around his neck. He walked up into the middle of all the action. He looked around for Chi Chi and spotted him talking to a group of teenagers.
Chi Chi greeted him. "You here officially or just for our fiesta?"
Rudy studied him wondering if it was too late to turn around. "I'm going to have to bring Paco in, the gun that was found outside his room was the murder weapon."
" You don't possibly think that he would have left the murder weapon outside his room do you?" Chi Chi looked amazed that the police official was even considering it.
" It doesn't matter what I think. Evidence is evidence. Where is he?"
" He was helping the kids fix bicycles. Right over there." Chi Chi pointed and at that moment caught Paco's eye. Paco saw the flashing light and the gold badge and panicked.
Paco picked up the bike he was working on and jumped on it and started pedaling for all he was worth. Several people were surprised at his actions and barely got out of the way. They shouted after him.
Rudy yelled. "Stop Paco. You're under arrest!"
Paco took off across the church parking lot and hit the street full speed. The bike he was on was a small size mountain bike so he ran it across the field and headed for South Mountain Park on the other side of the freeway. He looked back over his shoulder and saw that no one was yet giving him chase and he pedaled up to a small pickup truck and held on to the back tailgate traveling across the overhead highway bridge at about thirty miles per hour.
Rudy realized that if he didn't catch him he would get away clean. If he slipped back across the border they would never find him. He ran to his car and after a few maneuvers managed to get it turned around. He careened down the road, making the hairpin turn almost on two wheels. Temporarily he lost control of the vehicle and landing hard on the other side of a small dry wash running in the middle of the road bounced his head into the roof of his Chevy Impala. His glasses fell off and he had a hard time seeing. He reached down to grab them off his lap and heard a terrible crunch. The police car collided head on with a large Dodge ram pickup truck. The steering wheel column shoved into his chest cage crushing him into the hard seatback there was no airbag to safe his life. He went into a nearly lifeless coma. Within minutes paramedics were on the way and a helicopter landed and took him to St. Joseph's hospital. He lost a tremendous amount of blood from where his ribs had punctured his right ventricle. They put him on life support repaired his torn lung and unsuccessfully tried to find a donor heart for him. After being kept alive for six hours on life support he died.
*

An APB complete with photos and physical description of Paco went out to all local news shows. Rita and her news team their ratings riding high from the murder weapon discovery broadcast jumped all over it and they went live following the helicopters and the Sheriff's posse as they searched South Mountain Park.
Paco had ditched the bike and broke into the greens keepers shack at the edge of a golf course. Periodically he furtively glanced through a small window in the door but there was nothing to see. He decided to wait until it was dark to make a run for it. In the corner of the shack he found a pair of green overalls and a cap. He changed into them and sat. After dark he went out onto the course taking a rake and a bucket with him.
When the first group of searchers came through he pretended he was busy raking the grounds. They paid him no mind. After they had gone further towards the park he walked back towards the parking lot hoping to find a ride. A maintenance worker was getting into his pickup truck and Paco approached him.
" Can I get a ride?" Paco asked in Spanish.
" Where you going?" the young man asked fortunately he spoke fluent Spanish.
Paco thought for a moment. "South?"
" Me too I'll give you a ride as far as Casa Grande. Will that be O.K.?"
Paco grinned and got in. "That's great."
They pulled out of the parking lot and out onto Interstate 10 Southbound. Paco sat low in the seat wondering why so much misery had befallen him. About ten miles south of the city they noticed the cars backed up, Paco didn't know about roadblocks. It was a police checkpoint one by one they were checking cars. Paco grew nervous when he saw the police but it was too late. He was trapped. They pulled up. A state trooper shined his light in on them.
" Can I see your identification please?" He asked.
The driver pulled out his license and the trooper turned his light on Paco.
The driver stated to the trooper. "He doesn't speak English."
" Ask him if he's got identification?" The trooper directed.
The driver asked Paco who replied. "I don't got no identification."
The trooper took a look at a photograph and shined the light on Paco's face. He pulled his gun. "Get out of the car please. Keep your hands where I can see them."
The driver interpreted and Paco opened the door and got out. Several other troopers came around him and handcuffed him. They shoved him in the back of a patrol car pulled across the median strip and with their sirens blasting rushed him off to jail.
*

The news media had all the scanner frequencies monitored and were immediately aware that Paco had been picked up and that they were taking him to Madison Street Jail. The manhunt had aired live on all the major networks and camera crews were waiting, as Paco was lead into jail.
The police brought in an interpreter and read him his rights. Paco didn't understand his rights to be represented by an attorney. The words had no meaning to him. He didn't ask for an explanation and none was given.
Paco had been arrested and charged with two counts of murder, one for Big Pete and the other for the death of Rudy Garcia who died while in felony pursuit. Paco thought his heart stopped. He turned white when they read the charges. He sobbed.
The burly police sergeant grew uncomfortable with Paco's emotional outburst and left him alone in the room. Interrogators asked him in Spanish if he wanted to talk. He didn't know he had waived his right to an attorney and legal representation.
" You understand you've been arrested in connection with the death of your former employer Big Pete?" A slickly dressed Hispanic detective told him. " This is considered a pre-meditated murder with mitigating circumstances crime-for-profit it could carry a death penalty. Why don't you tell us all about it? If you confess maybe we can get the D.A. to drop it to a lighter charge and you can plead to murder two."
" I don't understand what you are talking about. What's murder two?" said Paco. "I don't understand why I am here or why you want me to confess. I did nothing. I told the man who questioned me before I only worked for Big Pete one day and then was taken away in the middle of the night."
" We've had checks done on the cases and the impressions left by the missing gold coins. There was over 500,000 dollars worth. What did you do with all the gold?"
" I don't know nothing about the gold." Paco stated. "I came to the United States to work. I never stole nothing."
" But you worked for someone taking apart stolen cars." The cop knew he could trap Paco.
" I worked on one car. How could I know it was stolen. I swear I didn't know it was stolen. No one told me." Paco was jibbering. "I had barely been in the United States two days. It was a job."
" How did you find out Big Pete had gold coins? When did you kill him?" the officer asked.
" I told you I know nothin' about gold coins. I guess he had a lots of money. He took me out to eat and pulled out a pocket full of money. I saw it but I didn't steal it. He was letting me stay in his trailer. He hire me no questions asked. Why would I steal from someone like that."
The interrogation went on for hours. Paco was relentless about his innocence. They dismissed him from the interrogation room and sent him into general jail population. His cellmate was an old Hispanic gangster covered with tattoos with milky white skin from the years he had spent behind bars. He eyed Paco when he came in the cell."
" Hey hombre." Hose Ortega addressed him. "We saw you on television man. You were really making a run for the border man. Should have been a Taco Bell commercial."
" They trying to stick me with a murder I had nothing to do with." Paco replied bitterly. "Would you stick around?"
Paco's voice was already taking on tones of hopelessness. The weight of the legal system was smothering him like a bulldozer on top of a grasshopper.
" What did your lawyer say man?" Hose said. "Is he going to try and cut a deal."
" I have no money. How can I get a lawyer to help me? Lawyers are for the rich. I'm just a poor paesano."
" They got appoint you an attorney trust me. This is America everyone gets a lawyer. That's how deals are made. Tell me did you really kill him and steal all his gold coins?"
Paco looked at his cellmate like he was crazy. "No, I didn't come to America to be a thief Hose. I came to work for my family. That's the truth."
" What about the gun? How did you get the gun that was used to kill Big Pete?"
" I don't know where that came from. Why would anybody hang onto a gun that was used to kill someone? It is very stupid. Someone put it there not me. All I did was tell the police some information to help them. Everything was turned around after that."
" Well they think you did it no matter what you claim and now they are blaming you for the death of the police officer as well. He was killed trying to arrest you."
" That's not my fault?" Paco tried to explain as if Hose's opinion mattered at all.
" It doesn't matter hombre. Someone has to take the blame. You are the easiest one to pin it on."
Paco tried o sleep but with the light on it was very difficult for him. He tossed and turned all night dreaming of the pictures they had showed them. He tried to remember the faces of those who had abducted him and in his dream they came to him. He remember them talking to one another and recalled the fellow with the bandana over his face saying "Rollo" at first he thought it sounded like Chollo a common nickname but then as he concentrated in his dream he saw the face of Rollo and remembered looking down at his gun pointed into his chest. He woke up in a panic and rolled out of the small metal bed. In the corner he found a pen and a piece of cardboard. From memory he drew the face. It was a remarkable likeness. He stuffed the small piece of cardboard in his back pocket and went to sleep.
The next morning Paco woke up and went down to the mess hall for breakfast. The food was oatmeal, dry toast and a watery type of orange drink. Paco ate heartily and after eating approached one of the guards.
" Senior, por favor. Please to see a lawyer." Paco asked not sure whether or not the guard understood him. The guard understood and motioned for him to wait while he walked over to talk with his shift supervisor. The supervisor's nametag read. Lt. Enrico Orlando.
" The guard says you need to see your attorney." Orlando commented.
" I am Paco Mendez. Someone said I could get a lawyer. They didn't give me one. It is an American right to have a lawyer. Can I have one?" his sincerity touched Orlando.
Enrico was sympathetic towards illegals. He knew illegal aliens oftentimes were denied the rights granted to them under the American Constitution. Rights he understood full well having gone through the long process of watching his immigrant parents become citizens. "You're right. I'm going to pull your booking number and see why no attorney has been assigned to you yet. Follow me."
Paco followed him out of the mess hall through a series of gates and was shown into a small locked room with wire mesh on the windows. He was told to wait.
Several hours later, Paco looked up to see Orlando returning with another prison guard and a young well-dressed Hispanic woman.
" Paco, this is Marisa Lordes Ramiro. Your attorney." He commented. "I will leave you alone with her for thirty minutes. She is your public defender."
" I understand they booked you without an lawyer. I pulled your arrest file. I suppose they got you to make a statement as well?" She spoke rapidly in flawless Spanish.
" Yes." Paco replied shocked that such a beautiful woman was going to be representing him so quickly. "I told to them the same thing I told them to first time when I came in voluntarily with reverend Chi Chi. I worked for Big Pete for only one day forced out at gunpoint and never went back. I really didn't want to work cause I think car was stolen."
" You didn't know?" Marisa was surprised.
" No. I just came across the border. It was my first job. One hundred a week plus room and board. I had no idea I was dismantling a stolen car."
" Did the police ask you to identify the people who abducted you?" Marisa was concerned.
" No. They ignored it. Thought I was just making it up." Paco got up and struggled getting his manacled hands behind his back. "I can't reach but if you take that small piece of cardboard out of my back pocket that is the one I remember. I dreamed about him last night. I found a pencil and tried to draw what I remembered"
Marisa reached around and took out the small piece of paper. She sat it in front of him. "This was one of the men?" She asked.
" That is the one who was in charge when they grabbed me. I think they called him Rollo. He was driving. There were two others. One was wearing a bandana over his face. The other was sitting in the front seat. I didn't get much of a look at him"
" Could you draw him at all?" She questioned.
" I don't think so. I can't remember what he looked like. He was sitting up front I didn't see his face."
" I have a friend with the police department. I think I could get him to run through some photos for me. If you remember anything else just call me collect. Paco they are going for a murder one conviction with mitigating circumstances a premeditated crime for profit. Do you have any idea what that means?"
" No." Paco responded waiting for her explanation.
" It means they are going for the death penalty. To keep you from pleading down to a lesser charge they added the second charge of first-degree murder because an officer was killed when you fled arrest. Because of the serious nature of this charge I am going to petition the court to allow me an assistant and allow me to transfer off some of my other cases. I've never had a death penalty case before. Most everyone is able to plead down to life imprisonment or manslaughter. This one is going to be straight uphill."
" They want to kill me for a crime I didn't commit" Paco was really sweating.
" The news media already has. You've sold more papers than the ex-governor's impeachment trial. They need somebody to hang. You just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's important you don't talk about the details of your case with anyone except me. You got that?"
" Yes."
" This is my number. Call me collect anytime." Marisa stuck her business card in the pocket of his coveralls."
Marisa pulled out onto Jefferson Street and glanced down at the folder and wondered how a young kid had ever gotten mixed up in a first-degree murder rap. She reflected on her upbringing and how her parents had sent her to the best schools and watched her friends like they were their foster parents. She was thankful she had never mixed with the wrong crowd. She pulled in to get some gas and decided to contact the newswoman who had first filmed Paco with the murder weapon. She knew the prosecution hadn't submitted their witness list yet and figured she could talk with her off the record. Something didn't sit right with the story. As she stood at the pay phone she wished for the perks of the big law firms things like secretaries and cell phones.
" Rita Huang. Tell her the attorney for Paco Mendez is on the phone." As she sat waiting she wiped perspiration from her brow.
" This is Rita." The voice stated. "How can I help you?"
" I'm Marisa Lordes Ramono court appointed counsel for Mr. Mendez. I wondered if you were free for lunch. I wanted to ask you a few questions concerning the case."
" Off the record?"
" Yes. This is not a deposition. I'm fishing for anything that could help my client out."
" So it's true they really are going after murder one?"
" Yes. Miss Huang. There is no pleading down on these charges they have him on two mandatory charges one of which could carry the death penalty. Would one o'clock be fine? I can meet you at Macayo's on Central."
" I'll be there."
*

Marisa spent the next few hours making phone calls and trying to get ready for the official arraignment less than a week away. She knew bail was impossible but she hoped to get the felony flight and connecting murder charge dismissed. She decided it would be better looking down one barrel rather than two.
The restaurant was trendy, colorful and quite busy. She easily picked out Rita standing and talking on a cell phone and walked over next to her and stuck out her hand as soon as she finished her call.
" Rita Huang. I'm Marisa Lordes Ramono." Marisa noticed that Rita looked stunning even better in person than she did on television. Rita turned and gave her a firm handshake.
" Nice to meet you. I took the liberty of asking for that booth over there. Our station has a sort of permanent arrangement here."
Marisa admired the Hispanic professional so different from the stereotype of Hispanic women her mother had grown up with - haggard overweight taco pushers with children hanging all over them. She and Rita were part of the new breed. She knew they were going to hit it off right away.
Rita took charge and ordered two Margaritas which arrived without delay in the biggest glasses Marisa had ever seen appropriately frosted and the lip layered with salt.
" Very good." Marisa said telling herself to drink slowly. "You discovered the weapon didn't you?"
" Yes." Rita said. "Before we went live my assistant found it in the bushes then we pulled it out to give our piece a little more drama. Were you watching?"
" No. Television watching time is a luxury I don't have. With my schedule I am lucky to get to bed. Overworked, underpaid, fighting in the trenches for people the state would like to lock up and throw away the key. This case is different. Most of my cases the client goes away for three or four years. They get good food, exercise. This one is different. This one goes away in a casket. He is also different from most of my other clients. They're guilty. This kid is innocent. I know. Just by the circumstantial evidence I've seen so far, there is nothing to connect him to the crime. Somebody has got to be framing him. I just don't know why."
Rita studied Marisa closely as she spoke. She admired her positive convictions and overall classiness. Hispanic nose a clear complexion and dark thick hair. Rita couldn't help but wonder how good of an attorney Marisa was and realized most likely she must have had an uphill battle all her life. What Marisa said struck a chord, which prompted an unprepared response "I wonder about that myself? Sometimes as a reporter you go after the story. It's not about the people it's about the ratings. This time wasn't much different."
" Who tipped you off about the gun?" Marisa asked hoping to tip her off balance and get an honest response.
" I got a phone call. Some kid said he saw Paco stash something in the bushes. We left the station right then and drove down with a crew and went live on air."
" Before you even knew for sure it was the murder weapon?"
" Yea. It could have been my Waterloo. Luckily for me afterward they - ballistics, matched the bullets taken out of Big Pete"
" As I understand it they found no fingerprints on the gun?"
" It was wiped clean. No finger prints, no blood, no missing rounds."
" Didn't you find that kind of odd that a kid would be dumb enough to freely inform against himself to the police about a crime he wasn't even suspected of and then later wipe the gun free of all his prints and hide it right outside of where he was staying?"
" Yea. It was really dumb but criminals usually do dumb things. Most of them anyway."
" Did you ever wonder if the person who committed the crime might have planted the gun to take the heat off of himself? As I understand it from the news story your station had implicated Paco as a suspect even before the murder weapon was found."
" Yes. We did implicate him. The police officer who died - Rudy Garcia was my brother-in-law. He tipped me off after talking to the kid. He suspected him from the beginning. I just ran with the lead."
Marisa backed up a little bit. She was trying to be very careful and not create an enemy of Rita. "As I understand it Paco came in to the police station with a minister to volunteer information. It doesn't sound like criminal behavior to me."
" No it doesn't but sometimes people do confess to get it off their chests. Perhaps he had a sensitive conscience or he was trying to find out what the police knew."
The conversation rested a few moments as they ordered food and sipped on their drinks.
" What do you think your chances are for clearing him?" Rita asked.
" It seems to me all the information is circumstantial. I've got twenty other cases I am working on at the same time and that's after I drop half of my caseload. It's not going to be easy. They've got him on two murder charges. The kid has no money to even hire investigators. Furthermore, it is election time and the district attorney wants this conviction bad." Marisa reached into her purse and brought out the small cardboard drawing. " Would you like to see a sketch? This is one of the men Paco claims abducted him the night of the murder. He said he drew the likeness from memory."
" Sounds a bit far fetched." Rita commented taking the sketch out of Marisa's hand. "Did you ask the police to run this down yet?"
" I'm going to, the problem is they already think they've got their man. They're not going to be too gracious about looking about new leads that bolster my clients story."
" Self defeating for them."
" Exactly." Marisa replied. She pulled out an envelope with a copy of the drawing blown up.
" Maybe you can run this picture on the news. If this kid didn't do it then it's possible that whoever this is planted the weapon to frame him."
" I'll do what I can. Rudy had a friend Sergeant Marlowe on the force maybe he can run it with some previous mug shots." Rita said wishing she had never become involved with the case that had cost her sister so dearly.