Con Law Part 18

Chapter 12.

Padre's Marfa on West El Paso Street across from the G.o.dbold Feed Store had once been the place to die for in Marfa. It used to be a funeral home. It was now a restaurant/bar/live music venue. Outside, the white adobe gave it the appearance of an old Spanish mission; inside, the wood bar and neon signs gave it the appearance of an old Texas honky-tonk. Book fully expected his intern to break out latex gloves, but she apparently satisfied her sanitary concerns by wiping down the entire table and then her gla.s.s, utensils, and chair. They sat at a table along the wall opposite the bar; Sean Lennon sang onstage.

'He's John Lennon's son.'

'Who's that?'

'Ms. Honeywell, please tell me you're not serious.'

Her innocent expression.

'What?'

'John Lennon? The Beatles?'

'Wait, don't tell me. He's dead.'

'He is, shot by an insane fan in nineteen eighty.'

'I wasn't born until nineteen eighty-nine.'

'Still, you haven't heard of Rock Hudson, James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, Donald Judd, Andy Warhol, or John Lennon?'

'If it's not on Twitter, I don't need to know it. And, Professor, I can name a dozen people everyone my age knows but you've never heard of.'

'True enough, Ms. Honeywell. But what about the events of the day? What's happening in China, North Korea, the Middle East ... or the east and west coasts of America?'

'I especially don't want to know that stuff.'

'Why not?'

'Because it's all bad stuff. Last time I watched the news on TV, I had to get a prescription for an antidepressant. A ma.s.s murder at an elementary school ... politicians pus.h.i.+ng the country over a fiscal cliff ... suburban stay-at-home moms reading p.o.r.n, which really creeped me out, by the way. Who wants to know that stuff? My generation turned off the TV, Professor.'

'Willful ignorance.'

'Willful ignorance' is a legal term, also known as 'conscious indifference,' for intentionally not knowing some fact, typically CEOs intentionally avoiding knowledge that their companies' subcontractors produce their apparel in Asian sweatshops or that nicotine is addictive, thus allowing the CEOs to testify under oath, 'I didn't know,' when in fact the correct response was, 'I didn't want to know.'

'Exactly,' his intern said. 'We live our lives that way. It's safer.'

Book gestured at her hand sanitizer. 'You sanitize your hands and yourself from all the bad things in life.'

'What's wrong with that?'

'You're not experiencing the world you live in.'

'It's your world. Not ours. Your generation screwed it up. Not us.'

'You could change the world. Make it a better place.'

She appeared bemused. 'Please, Professor.'

'You're a law student.'

'I'm in law school because I possess the two attributes required to gain admission to the finest law schools in the country: A, I'm book smart, which allowed me to score high on the LSAT'-the Law School Admissions Test-'and B, my daddy can pay the tuition. Anyone with those two attributes can get into any law school today. You don't have to know what's happening in the world ... or care.'

She was right. And a typical law student. A few students like Ms. Garza and perhaps Mr. Stanton seemed engaged in the world outside the law school, but only a few. Most were singularly focused on grades: those in the top ten percent of their cla.s.s would have jobs upon graduation; those who were not would not. So they had no desire or time to keep up with current events. They did not watch the news or read newspapers. They read casebooks. Torts. Contracts. Property. Civil Procedure. Criminal Procedure. Con Law. For three years, the study of law const.i.tuted life.

'Well, John Lennon was a musician, singer, and songwriter, one of the best ever.'

'If you say so.'

They had first tried the outdoor patio with Christmas lights strung overhead and gravel underfoot and Willie Nelson on the jukebox, but the tables were taken by artists on iPads and hippies past their prime and a young woman who looked out of place in a glittery red c.o.c.ktail dress; her black cowboy boots said she was making a fas.h.i.+on statement. A pit bull wearing a red bandanna lounged beneath her long crossed legs; a metal sculpture of a sombrero-clad mariachi stood behind her. The dance floor and adjacent game room with pool tables, shuffleboard, and foosball were crowded with young women in short-shorts and young men in jeans and boots and T-s.h.i.+rts. Of course, Book also wore jeans, boots, and a T-s.h.i.+rt. But he was a skinny law professor; they were thick-bodied roughnecks who worked the fracking rigs. Some wore red jumpsuits with Barnett Oil and Gas stenciled across the back. Their waitress was an artist; waiting tables was her night job. Book had ordered the tuna melt on sourdough, a cold pickle, and iced tea. Nadine went for chips and queso, frito pie with cheese and onions, chili cheese fries, a chocolate soda, and a moon pie. Book circled Becky Oakes's face in the funeral photo then consulted his pocket notebook.

'What did we learn today, Ms. Honeywell?'

'Are we going to have a pop quiz every night, Professor?'

'We are indeed.'

She exhaled dramatically.

'A, Tom Dunn is a creep.'

'Agreed. What else?'

'B, either he's a liar or Nathan Jones was a liar.'

'Nathan said he showed his proof to Dunn, but Dunn denied it.'

'My money's on Dunn. He's the liar.'

'Agreed.'

'We talked to the sheriff, Nathan's senior partner, and his secretary, but we uncovered no proof of contamination or evidence of murder. All we have is coincidence.'

'Nathan's wife seemed convinced that he was murdered.'

'She's emotional about his death. Which is to be expected. But we can't be. What did you always say in cla.s.s? "We're lawyers. We must keep our heads while everyone around us is losing theirs."'

'You took my cla.s.s?'

'Last year.'

'At least you listened.'

'Can I eat my moon pie now?'

From across the room, Jimmy John Dale watched the professor and the girl named Nadine eating dinner. You don't generally see white girls eating moon pies like that. He sat at a table with five other roughnecks who also worked for Billy Bob Barnett; they had just gotten off their s.h.i.+ft and still wore their red jumpsuits. While he was watching Nadine, they were watching another woman across the room.

'I'd love to jump her bones,' Mitch said.

'I'd love to beat the s.h.i.+t out of her,' Sonny said. 'She's trying to shut down fracking, take our jobs.'

'Still, Carla's got a great body.'

Mitch was always practical like that. Jimmy John rubbed his temples. The headache was coming back.

'Can we go home now?'

'No.'

The band took a break. Book was watching his intern devour the moon pie when a young woman walked up and sat down at their table across from Book and next to Nadine and scooted in close. Nadine frowned at her then moved her chair over a bit. Book read her s.h.i.+rt: Fracking is for Gas Holes- 'Funny,' he said.

-and she read his Tommy Bahama s.h.i.+rt: I Plead the Fifth with a bottle of rum.

'Yours, too.'

She seemed familiar. He had seen her before. He looked at the funeral photo in front of him. She was the young woman standing off to the side during the burial of Nathan Jones.

'Professor Bookman, I'm Carla Kent. I need to talk to you.'

'I'm listening.'

'Nathan came to me.'

'Where?'

'My teepee at El Cosmico.'

'You have your own teepee?'

'Long-term stay.'

'What did he come to you about?'

'Fracking.'

'Why you?'

'Everyone in town knows me. I'm trying to shut down fracking.'

'You're an environmentalist?'

'From Santa Fe. Professor, Nathan was scared. Now he's dead. Because he knew something he wasn't supposed to know.'

'What?'

'Billy Bob's fracking is contaminating the Igneous Aquifer, the sole water source for this whole area-Marfa, Fort Davis, Alpine. Nathan said he had proof. They killed him to prevent that proof from becoming public.'

'It was an accident,' Nadine said.

'It was murder.'

'Billy Bob Barnett is a murderer?' Book asked.

'He is.' She seemed deadly serious. 'Professor, help me put that b.a.s.t.a.r.d in prison where he belongs.'

'Do you have any evidence of murder?'

'No.'

'Did you see Nathan's proof of contamination?'

'No.'

'Ms. Kent, I'm not here to shut down fracking. I'm just trying to find out how my student died.'

'And I'm trying to tell you how he died-he was murdered!'

Her emotions resided close to the surface. She took a deep breath to gather herself.

'Professor, I cared about Nathan.'

'You were at his funeral.'

'And Nathan cared about this land. And the people who live on it. The water they drink. He didn't know what to do, but he said he knew someone who would help us-he said us-a professor at UT. I thought he meant a petroleum engineering professor. Not a law professor.'

'I have other skills.'

'The paper said you came here for Nathan.'

'I might've come for the art.'

'Can I see it?'

'The art?'

'The letter.'

'Ms. Kent ...'