A Father's Wrath by Phil Nova

the doctor
sees you.”

    One hour passed before Bradley was near the
front of the line. His feet were tired from standing so long and he
had a chill that wouldn’t go away. He could feel it deep in his
bones and he knew he was going to get sick after this.
    Finally, it was his turn. His hopes of this
being just a bad dream were crushed when he felt the sting of the
doctor’s needle. They took a blood test and injected some liquid
under the skin of his forearm for a TB test.
    Bradley followed another guard to a giant
concrete room with metal bars on two sides. There were two concrete
benches, both of them were occupied, so Bradley stood in the middle
of the room among at least thirty other men packed like
sardines.
    While standing for another two hours on his
swollen feet, Bradley kept thinking about how stupid he was to get
himself arrested. He had a feeling he could get out of it, but he
wondered if Yates would stick by him or turn their backs on
him.
    The man next to Bradley slammed into him,
knocking him down.
    Bradley looked up.
    Two men were pounding on another man. Everyone
else was trying to get out of the way. Even though the third man
was on the ground, the first two kept kicking him in the body and
the face.
    Bradley stood, but stayed out of the way. He
felt sick to his stomach when he saw two teeth floating in a puddle
of blood.
     

CHAPTER 32
     
    After breakfast, Richie sat in the day room
with all the other criminals. He picked up a newspaper that one of
the guards had left.
    The front page
showed Detective McCoy in handcuffs. The headline read, Bribery in the worst
degree . Richie flipped to the story and
read about Congressman Scott and Bradley Bedford. The article also
said that Ko Sin Lu had molested a young Polish boy in Switzerland,
but got away with it because of diplomatic
immunity.
    Richie felt relieved. Now the world would know
the truth. He hoped this new information would help his case, but
because he couldn’t afford a good lawyer, he wasn’t very
optimistic.
    He flipped to the back of the paper and tried
to concentrate on the sports pages, but instead, he turned back to
the article he’d just read, and he read it again.
    A guard called, “Carson! Richie!”
    Richie stood.
    The guard said, “You have a
visitor.”
    Richie wasn’t expecting anyone.

CHAPTER 33
     
    Joe sat down in front of the bulletproof glass
divider, and when Richie sat down on the other side, they both
picked up the phones on the wall. It felt good to be back on the
outside, but he felt for Richie.
    Richie said, “I saw your name in the paper.
Thanks.”
    “Thank my uncle. Without him, I’d probably be
your next cellmate.”
    “I heard you got fired.”
    “My career as a cop wasn’t going anywhere
anyway. I’m going back to practicing law.”
    “Back to practicing law?”
    “I went to law school after the core and worked
for the prosecutor for two years.”
    Richie said, “Do I have to ask?
Why?”
    “My father was a cop. He was murdered four
years ago. I guess I thought I could do more to help stop crime as
a cop than as a lawyer. But I guess the grass isn’t always as green
as it looks. Thank god my uncle always told me to keep my law
license up to date.”
    “Did they find your father’s
killer?”
    “No. The case is still open, but nothing’s
happening. Between me and you, I’m doing my own
investigation.”
    “I hope you find him.”
    “I will. But first I’m going to work on your
case.”
    “You?”
    “I’m better than a public defender. Don’t get
me wrong, you will do some time, but I’m hoping, with some sympathy
from the DA, to get the charges reduced to manslaughter in the
second degree. And then my goal is to get you the minimum, which
would be three years.”
    Richie started to say something, “But
I—”
    Joe interrupted, “It’s my fault you’re here,
and I’m gonna help you. At my expense.”
    “It’s my own fault I’m here.”
    It was nice of Richie to say that, but