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"Why not a private attorney? Was Bailey indigent?"

"In essence He didn’t have the dough hial fees" Clearette

"Had Bailey been in trouble as a juvenile?" "Nope His record was clean He probably figured all he’d get was a slap on the wrist This is aruess Bailey thought somehow that let him off the hook Unfortunately for him, the statute doesn’t read that way Anyhen they offered hiuilty, and went to trial instead Needless to say, the jury convicted and the judge got tough Back then, robbery was one to ten in the state prison"

"That was still indeterht Back then, they had a Bureau of Prison Terms that would meet and set parole and actual date of release We had a very liberal board of prison terovernment in California Those people who ran the board were appointed by the governor and Pat Brown Junior… well, skip that tale Point is, these guys get one to ten, but they’re out in two years Everybody starts screa nine or ten years on a one-to-ten Bailey only served eighteen months"

"Up here?"

"Nuh-unh Down at Chino, the country club of prisons He got out in August Ca for ithout ain, only it was cocaine this tirass Uppers, downers, you nah, senior year I don’t know if anybody filled you in on this girl"

"Not at all"

"She was illegitiht want to talk to her She had a reputation as the town roundheel, the uess she had a lot of proble froarette

"She worked for Royce Fowler, didn’t she?" "Right Bailey got out of prison and she took up with hiood friends The DA maintains they were lovers and Bailey killed her in a jealous rage when he found out she’d hooked up with Tap Fowler says not so It had nothing to do with Granger, even though Tap got out two er? Is he still around?" "Yeah, he operates the only gas station in Floral Beach Owned by soer, which is about all he can handle He’s not sh He was a wild one in his day, but he’s er and the Timberlake wo about Bailey’s relationship with the girl after he got out of jail"

"Well, Baileyout together and that was it They were both outcasts anyway, Bailey because he’d been in prison, the Tiirl because her mother’s such a slut Besides which, the Ti to a as she was stuck in Floral Beach I don’t kno much experience you’ve had with towns the size of Floral Beach We’re talking maybe eleven hundred people max, and most of ’em have been here since the year zip Anyway, she and Bailey started running around together just like they did before He says she was dallying with this other guy, involved in soht-lipped about Claiht she was killed, the two of ’e Hit about six bars in San Luis and two ht, they came back and parked down at the beach He says it was closer to ten, but a witness puts ’eht Anyway, she was upset They had a bottle and a couple of joints with ’em They had a tiff and he says he left her there and sto and he’s in his roo all over the beach down below, doing clean-up detail as part of so… so hung over he was pukin’ his guts out She’s still down on the beach, passed out over by the stairs… only when the clean-up crew gets close, they can see she’s dead, strangled with a belt that turns out to be his" "But anybody could have done it" "Absolutely Of course, Bailey was favored and theyof wins and he didn’t want to take a chance Lehto saw an opportunity to bargain and since Bailey’d been burned once, he went along with the deal On the arot himself nailed This time he claimed he was innocent, but he didn’t like the odds so when they offered hihter, he took it, just like that" Cle of a hollow stick