"Doesn't it get boring when you already know everything?" Hardy asked. "But I bet you haven't heard that Boscacci's filed him juvie."
"Sure he did. And next year I'm quarterback for the Forty-Niners."
"I'll expect great tickets. But it's true. Boscacci, I mean."
Silence. Then. "How did that happen?"
"Wu is having him cop a guilty plea in exchange for juvenile sentencing."
"And Jackman agreed? Jackman who likes to say if you're old enough to kill somebody, you're an adult? That Jackman?"
"The very same. And I've heard him say the same thing. But Wu says it's a done deal."
"I'd make sure before I go real large telling anybody. Like the newspapers."
"Well, that's what Wu and I are going to be talking about, so I'll let you know."
4
The name Youth Guidance Center, or YGC, had an avuncular ring to it, as though the juvenile detention facility were some kind of a counseling haven for wayward children, a rest stop filled with soft stuffed chairs and couches, pastel colors, New Age music in the background. And in reality, in simpler times when the place was new, it had pretty much been like that. Kids who stole hubcaps, or smoked a joint, or played hooky from school, would wind up at the YGC and receive counseling, maybe a day or so of lockup to impress upon them the serious consequences of breaking the law.
Nowadays these relatively petty crimes never hit the radar of the police department. Juvenile felonies were commonly every bit as serious as crimes committed by adults, so in today's San Francisco, the YGC's primary function was, mostly, to lock up seriously dangerous criminals who happened to be under the age of eighteen. True, the center had a suicide-prevention watch. It also held a few dozen abandoned or abused children while they awaited suitable outplacement to foster homes. But in the main, "the cottages," as the jail facility was called, housed murderers, rapists and a varied assortment of vandals, robbers, muggers and burglars. Most of the inmates were awaiting or in the middle of their respective trials or hearings, which occurred in courtrooms on the premises, just adjacent in the administrative wing.
Wu hated being late. This morning between Boscacci and Hardy, she had also talked to Hal North, told him about her success with Boscacci, and scheduled what she thought might be a relatively lengthy appointment with the North family before the detention hearing- they had a lot they had to go over. She particularly wanted to hear more about the results of Hal's discussions on the admission issue with his wife and stepson, about which he'd been disconcertedly vague, telling her that he and Linda hadn't had as much time as he would have liked to talk because of an event they had to attend at the yacht club. Wu shouldn't worry, though, he told her. He'd have it all worked out with Andrew and Linda by the time they got to court.
This was Wu's first formal court appearance at the YGC, and she had gotten lost on the way up, then caught in traffic. After the uphill half-jog from down the street where she'd managed to find a parking place, through the admin building and up the steep walk to the cottages, she fought to catch her breath for a minute just outside the gate in the razor-wire-topped Cyclone fence. A bailiff appeared in response to her ring and escorted her without a word into the building proper- a one-story structure that reminded her of a cross between a military barracks and an inner-city high school. Drab and institutional and depressing as hell, she thought.
The bailiff led her to a pocked wooden door in the hallway and opened it. Sitting in an old-fashioned school desk in the opposite corner of the tiny room, next to the one outside window, Andrew Bartlett lifted a hand about an inch in a halfhearted greeting.
"Here she is." Hal stood to Wu's right, leaning back against the wall, arms crossed and clearly unhappy. "At last."
"Hal." Linda shot a frustrated look at her husband, then turned and smiled at Wu. "It's all right. You're here."
"I'm sorry. Terrrible traffic. I even gave myself an extra half hour," she lied, then showed some more teeth, took a breath, turned to her client. "It's good to see you again, Andrew. How are you holding up?"
The boy dropped his head, lifted it, shrugged. " 'kay."
Confident and prepared, Wu smiled at him. "Good," she said. "Don't worry. We'll get you out of here today."
Linda piped in. "You think we can do that?"
"Oh, I think so."
"Really?" Hal asked.
"Probably," she said. "The hearing today is about whether they keep Andrew here until he's sentenced, and I don't see why they'll need to do that."
"So what happens?" he asked. "What about bail?"
Wu shook her head. "No. I thought I'd explained that. Juveniles don't get bail. The judge either lets Andrew go home with you and Linda, or he orders him kept here- detained."
"Just like that?" Linda shot a hopeful glance at her son. "One way or the other."
"Yes. And in this case, look what we've got. Both parents here showing support and concern. A minor with no previous record who poses no risk of flight- you'll both watch out for him, right?" She turned to Hal. "Then there's your standing in the community, sir. Beyond that, if the judge wanted more assurance, I'm assuming you'd be willing to pay for whatever private security, even a twenty-four-hour-a-day guard, that the court could want to be sure Andrew stayed out of trouble."
"He wouldn't need that," Hal said.
"No, I don't think so either. So I think…"
But Andrew finally spoke up, interrupting her. "What do you mean, 'sentencing'? Don't you mean 'trial'?"
Wu's startled glance went from her client to his stepfather, back over to Linda. "That's one of the other issues we're going to have to discuss. I thought you might already have…"
Hal cut her off. "I was waiting for you to get here…"
"To what?" Andrew asked.
"Just talk about the case."
"What about it?"
"The evidence, your plea, like that."
"What do you mean, his plea?" Linda, her voice suddenly very sharp, backed up a step so she could face both Hal and Wu together. "His plea is not guilty. It has to be not guilty, right?"
Wu drew a quick breath. "Well, as I said, there are a few legal issues…"
Three sharp raps sounded on the door to the room and it immediately opened to the bailiff. "Time," he said. "Let's go. Can't keep the judge waiting." Then, perhaps sensing the tension in the room, he asked, "Everything all right in here?"
"Fine," Wu said. She turned to Linda and Andrew. "We'll have all the time in the world to talk about everything after the hearing. It'll all make sense, you'll see."
Linda looked to Hal for support. "I hope so."
But the bailiff had his job to do. "Sorry, but you've all got to move out," he said. "Hearing's in ten minutes." He looked at Andrew. "You're going to want to hit the can first. And quick."
"Can't he walk down with us?" Linda asked.
"No, ma'am. He's in custody. Rules."
Out on the pavement, walking down to the admin building, Wu broke the uncomfortable silence that had been holding since the three of them left the visitors' room. "The main thing," she said, "is that we're all in agreement as to what's best for Andrew."
"Hon," Hal stopped and put a hand on her arm, "we went over all of this yesterday."
"I know, but I thought it was more hypothetical, all this about Andrew admitting something. But in there you both sounded like Andrew is going to confess and then go to prison. How can he do that?"
Wu forced herself to look into Linda's eyes, to feign a confidence she didn't feel. "The fact is, we have to face that as an option. If we plead him out as a juvenile, then there's no life without parole hanging over his head."
"But he's not guilty," Linda repeated. She turned to Hal. "We talked about this every time the inspectors came by with some new thing, didn't we? And then this terrible lineup mistake…" The voice wore down. "He just didn't do this, Hal. Don't tell me you don't believe that."