It was the most famous murder case in history, but one lawyer refused to play along.
Charlie Trust is doing well for himself.
He’s in a law partnership with Sandy Bouchier, once one of America’s most famous criminal lawyers who’s now up in years but looking to pass on his accumulated goodwill to Charlie. He owns a house on Malibu’s Carbon Beach left to him by an old friend. And he drives a cherry-red 1969 Mustang convertible in which he cruises the highways of LA with the Beach Boys pounding out of the stereo. Pretty cool, huh? Charlie thinks so, too, which is why he’s determined not to let it all come apart.
Along with everyone else in LA, and darn near everyone else on the planet, Charlie watches absolutely riveted as the slowest police pursuit in history unfolds live on television. O.J. Simpson has been accused of brutally murdering his ex-wife and a man named Ronald Goldman, and now Simpson is in the backseat of a white Ford Bronco driven by his friend Al Cowlings. He appears to be on the run, but no one knows where he’s running to. Besides, where could O.J. Simpson go? He has one of the most recognizable faces in the entire world.
If O.J. is running, he’s running really slowly. Crowds of people are gathered on the overpasses to cheer O.J. on, and there must be fifty police cars trailing behind the Bronco as Cowlings makes his way along the freeways of LA at a sedate pace. The cops hang back, because Cowlings is telling them over the telephone that O.J. has a gun and he thinks he’s going to commit suicide. And no one wants to be responsible for that.
Charlie is particularly mesmerized by the whole spectacle since he knows O.J. slightly. They’ve met a few times here and there around LA. Once O.J. even asked for Charlie’s business card. He said he wanted to be able to find Charlie if he ever needed a criminal lawyer. They both laughed at that back then, but somehow the joke doesn’t seem nearly so funny now.
Eventually, Cowlings works out a deal with the cops and drives O.J. back to his house in Brentwood to turn himself in to the police. Ironically, O.J. lives just a few doors up the street from where Charlie’s law partner Sandy Bouchier lives. Shaking his head, Charlie turns off the television and makes a mental note to ask his partner if he’s ever been to O.J.’s house.
For the rest of the afternoon, Charlie works on a brief that’s due next week in a domestic violence case he’s reluctantly agreed to take on. He’s just picking up his briefcase to go home when his secretary buzzes him to say he has a call.
‘I’ve had enough for today,’ Charlie says. ‘Tell them I’ve already left. I’ll call back tomorrow.
‘Oh, I think you want to take this call now,’ she tells him.
‘And why would I want to do that?’
‘Because it’s O. J. Simpson.’
The fourth explosive installment in the Charlie Trust series is a pulse-pounding legal thriller that takes you back to the year when American justice became American entertainment. The California dream meets the American nightmare, and they’re both trying to kill Charlie Trust.
Genre: Mystery
Charlie Trust is doing well for himself.
He’s in a law partnership with Sandy Bouchier, once one of America’s most famous criminal lawyers who’s now up in years but looking to pass on his accumulated goodwill to Charlie. He owns a house on Malibu’s Carbon Beach left to him by an old friend. And he drives a cherry-red 1969 Mustang convertible in which he cruises the highways of LA with the Beach Boys pounding out of the stereo. Pretty cool, huh? Charlie thinks so, too, which is why he’s determined not to let it all come apart.
Along with everyone else in LA, and darn near everyone else on the planet, Charlie watches absolutely riveted as the slowest police pursuit in history unfolds live on television. O.J. Simpson has been accused of brutally murdering his ex-wife and a man named Ronald Goldman, and now Simpson is in the backseat of a white Ford Bronco driven by his friend Al Cowlings. He appears to be on the run, but no one knows where he’s running to. Besides, where could O.J. Simpson go? He has one of the most recognizable faces in the entire world.
If O.J. is running, he’s running really slowly. Crowds of people are gathered on the overpasses to cheer O.J. on, and there must be fifty police cars trailing behind the Bronco as Cowlings makes his way along the freeways of LA at a sedate pace. The cops hang back, because Cowlings is telling them over the telephone that O.J. has a gun and he thinks he’s going to commit suicide. And no one wants to be responsible for that.
Charlie is particularly mesmerized by the whole spectacle since he knows O.J. slightly. They’ve met a few times here and there around LA. Once O.J. even asked for Charlie’s business card. He said he wanted to be able to find Charlie if he ever needed a criminal lawyer. They both laughed at that back then, but somehow the joke doesn’t seem nearly so funny now.
Eventually, Cowlings works out a deal with the cops and drives O.J. back to his house in Brentwood to turn himself in to the police. Ironically, O.J. lives just a few doors up the street from where Charlie’s law partner Sandy Bouchier lives. Shaking his head, Charlie turns off the television and makes a mental note to ask his partner if he’s ever been to O.J.’s house.
For the rest of the afternoon, Charlie works on a brief that’s due next week in a domestic violence case he’s reluctantly agreed to take on. He’s just picking up his briefcase to go home when his secretary buzzes him to say he has a call.
‘I’ve had enough for today,’ Charlie says. ‘Tell them I’ve already left. I’ll call back tomorrow.
‘Oh, I think you want to take this call now,’ she tells him.
‘And why would I want to do that?’
‘Because it’s O. J. Simpson.’
The fourth explosive installment in the Charlie Trust series is a pulse-pounding legal thriller that takes you back to the year when American justice became American entertainment. The California dream meets the American nightmare, and they’re both trying to kill Charlie Trust.
Genre: Mystery