Cal.E.'s Korner

C.: This is part four of D.C. Scott's short story...

MURDER OR MERCY?

“Is that name supposed to mean something to me?” Harry was baffled.

“I take it that you’re in the two percent of people in Texas who don’t follow high school football. Juaquin Salazar was a star defensive tackle for East Side High in Houston a few years ago. He was a four-star recruit who chose to go the junior college route. He’s a big man, about six feet three, and he weighs about 285. He would wear a very large boot, and he works for the Paynes now.”

“Okay, but how does that involve you?” Harry was still baffled.

“He’s here, working. I know that, at one time, Juaquin wanted to be a vet. That would mean that he has some medical knowledge.” Gerald took a breath and continued.

 I could save The State some time and money by just taking his case as his public defender. I could talk to him once he gets off his tractor.”

“What makes you think that he needs a p.d.?” Harry was still confused.

“Juaquin comes from a ranching family, but his family had to sell the ranch when his abuelo got sick. He suffered from a long illness and then died. Since he didn’t have insurance, his family had to pay for all of his treatments. Juaquin had to quit playing college football and come home to run the ranch when his abuaelo died because his dad took off when he was three. He lived with his grandparents and his mom for most of his life.”

“Why didn’t he go pro and save the ranch?” Harry at least knew enough about football to know that professionals were well-paid.

“He only played for two years. The NFL requires players to be three years out of high school to play in their league.”

“But don’t some players just sit out a year, and then declare for the draft if they're hurt? I have lawyer friends who double as agents, and they lend their clients money to do that if it’s necessary.” Harry did know a little about professional sports.

“Well, there were rumors that he’d failed the NFL’s drug test several times. No team would draft him because of that, so he ran the ranch-”

“Into the ground, probably, if he was on drugs. I do know a little about ranching. My grandfather owned a large ranch before he died. The larger the ranch, the larger the debt, usually. Pawpaw sold his ranch and gave what was left of the money to his grandkids after his loans were paid off. That’s how I paid for law school. 

“This is highly irregular, but I’ll see if I can manipulate some records and make you Juaquin’s p.d., if he agrees to it.”

Gerald spotted the large man jumping off his tractor and heading for the barn. He followed him cautiously. He knew that Juaquin had a bad temper. It had also been reported that Juaquin had developed paranoia from the drugs that he had taken, so Gerald was cautious as he approached him.

One thing that Joel hadn’t asked Harry was how Jim Payned had died. He did this on purpose because he wanted to see how much his client knew. He decided that his best modus operandi would be to approach Juaquin as a fan of his, so that’s what he did.