“They haven’t set one.”
I shook my head. “I figured as much — but we can force them to. Since you’re a transient, however, no bondsman in this county will touch you. You may have to post a cash bond.”
He sighed. “In addition to the towing charge on the car, a repair bill, and a hotel bill at the Daniel Boone, where I just checked in.”
“Also,” I said, “if you’ll forgive my mentioning it, your attorney’s fee.”
“Yes, of course.” He shrugged helplessly. “At the moment my fluid resources are severely limited.”
“What about this bank you’re director of? Can’t you get some help there?”
Frowning, he said. “Unfortunately, we had a shakeup at the bank. I resigned and withdrew my funds. Most of my assets are now in gold and oil stocks. It will take a day or two to come up with cash.”
“I’ll need a hundred dollars as a retainer,” I said. “Cash. If you want me to get a bond set and start negotiations with the attorney general—”
“My dear lady,” he said, “I will definitely pay your fee. My father is quite wealthy.”
“Would you like to telephone him and reverse the charges?”
“I’ve already tried. He’s off hunting tigers in Nepal. I have other possibilities, but it will take a little while.”
“Well, I’ve got to have a retainer, and I don’t take checks.” I was sick and tired of working for nothing and was damned if I’d let this smoothie talk me out of my fee.
He smiled. “I understand. How about a twenty-dollar gold piece? Hey, there’s one!” Opening his eyes wide and reaching out to a point near my left ear, he produced a gold coin out of the air. Or so it seemed.
“How did you do that?”
He took my hand and pressed the coin gently into the palm. His hands were remarkably soft. “I created it,” he said, “out of the rich energy lodes in your lovely aura.”
I examined the coin. “It looks real.”
“It is real. Whoops, there’s another one coming out of the other ear.” Reaching, he plucked another gold piece out of the air.
“Don’t stop now,” I said. “Between your magic fingers and my rich aura, we can make a fortune. First my fee; then the bad checks; then — Acapulco.”
He laughed. “I wish it were that simple. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of energy to make gold. About two coins a day is my limit.” He took my hand and pressed the second coin into my palm. “Take my advice,” he said, “and keep these in a safe place — after the government takes the ceiling off gold prices they may be worth a hundred dollars each.”
“But it’s against the law to keep gold.”
“Technically.” He shrugged. “You’re the lawyer. Would you rather wait until I have currency?”
“No. I’ll hold onto these until you redeem them with long green.”
“Fine. But don’t leave them lying around. Put them in a safe place.”
I nodded and pulled out the bottom drawer in my desk. Placing the coins in my cash box, I wrote him a receipt while he watched with a funny kind of smile.
“Now,” he said, “what I want you to do first is get a writ of habeas corpus. Kathy is being held for investigation with no formal charges. Let’s force them either to release her or to set a reasonable bond.”
I looked at him in surprise. “That’s exactly what I planned to do. How do you know so much about habeas corpus?”
Waving a hand carelessly, he said, “I went to law school for a while, before Dad talked me into studying geology. He thought geology would be more valuable in our business. He heads Barrone Oil Wells, Limited.”
“Good for him. O.K., Mr. Barrone. I’ll draw up a petition this afternoon and see if the judge will schedule a hearing for tomorrow morning. Then we’ll find out what kind of case the prosecutor has.”
He nodded. “Time is of the essence.”
“Absolutely.” Giving him a sideways glance I said, “Just in case there might be some other checks floating around, we’d better get Kathy out on bond before the attorney general’s office is deluged by bad paper.”
“My sentiments exactly, ma’am.” He smiled. “You’re very perceptive, Miss Murphy. I knew in a flash today that you should be our lawyer. I have certain psychic abilities, as you may have suspected.”
“Do you really?” I said innocently. “How did you happen to come to me? I’m curious.”
“Elementary, my dear. I simply looked in the yellow pages under Attorneys, then closed my eyes and moved my hand slowly across the page. A special vibration told me you were the one.”
“I don’t know whether to believe you or not.”
He held up his right hand. “God’s truth. Already my intuition has been confirmed. I can tell from your deep blue eyes that you are intelligent, warm, and compassionate.” He placed the tips of his fingers lightly on my arm and stared intently at me. “I can sense,” he said slowly, his voice vibrant, “that you have great empathy for people. You will help me... you want to help me... and you will be richly rewarded for doing so.”
His eyes were hypnotic and his voice made me feel strange. With an effort I turned my head away.
“Perhaps you’ll have dinner with me tonight,” he said softly.
I was tempted — he had a certain charm, even if he was a crook and a bounder. I don’t meet many interesting men in Balsam Gap. But there was something in his eyes that disturbed me. Besides, he was a paying client — and a married man.
“No,” I said. “I have to start earning my fee and get your wife out of jail. But since you don’t have transportation, I’ll give you a ride to the Daniel Boone. Telephone me in a few hours and I’ll tell you when the hearing is scheduled.”
We went down the steps and through the alley to the back of the building where I parked my 1941 Studebaker. “Since you’re accustomed to touring in a Packard convertible,” I said, “I hope you won’t mind slumming for a few blocks.”
“Not at all,” he said. “Actually, this is quite nice.”
“I use it only for driving back and forth to court,” I said facetiously, glancing at the courthouse directly across the street from my office.
But Parrot Barrone was absorbed in his thoughts and failed to catch my little joke.
The writ of habeas corpus, Blackstone said, is the greatest protection the common man has under the common law. In America today, just as in England five hundred years ago, it safeguards the individual against flagrant abuse of police power. And also, of course, it sometimes allows a scoundrel to beat the system.
Habeas corpus gives a confined person an absolute right to have a judicial inquiry into the legality of his imprisonment. This means that no one can be held under an “open” charge or “for investigation.” Not for long, anyway, if he can get word to a lawyer or even smuggle a note to a judge, who has a sworn duty to honor the application and order a prompt hearing.
Besides these advantages, the writ is the criminal lawyer’s best friend. At a habeas corpus hearing, the accused has everything to gain and nothing to lose. He can find out everything about the prosecutor’s case without tipping his own hand.
The hearing was held in Judge Lively’s courtroom. Sheriff Rex Ricketts brought Kathy Barrone over from the jail and she took a seat beside her husband and me. The sheriff and the attorney general sat at the other counsel table. Kathy had long black hair and flashing eyes. She didn’t look delicate or frail to me. In fact, I’d bet she could pin Parrot two falls out of three. I didn’t sense as much affection between them as I’d expect to find between honeymooners who had been forced to spend the night in separate beds. But maybe they had other things on their minds.