He looked up, his blue eyes miserable. “Hey.”
“How old are you?” I whispered.
“Eighteen,” he whispered back.
“Objection, your Honor,” Alice said loudly. “This is inappropriate.”
The judge shushed her.
I leaned closer to the kid, looking up at his clean cut face. “Why are you pleading guilty?”
He shrugged narrow shoulders. “We were riding across old man McLerrison’s farm, and I guess we damaged the land by his pond. It was an accident, but we were trespassing, so I did the crime.”
Oh, what a sweetie. “Where are your parents?”
He blanched. “Dead. My uncle raised me and died a couple months ago. I just want to get this over with, you know? I don’t know how to do any of this.”
I patted his arm. “That’s okay. I do.”
He shook his head. “I can’t afford you.”
“Sure, you can. I take stuff besides money all the time.” I tried to look encouraging. “I need a bunch of heavy stuff moved, and you look strong. Don’t worry—we’ll work it out.”
He shuffled his feet, looking like that Opie kid from the Mayberry show on the old movie channel. “I don’t know.”
“I do. We’ll work it out. Do you have a dollar?” I asked.
“No.” He reached in his pocket and drew out a shiny copper penny. “I saw this on the way inside and thought it would bring good luck.”
I took the penny. “It will.” Then I faced the judge. “I’ve just been retained by Mr.…” I glanced at the kid.
“Duck. Oliver Duck,” the kid said.
I blinked. “Mr. Duck. He’ll be changing his plea, Judge.”
The judge looked relieved, and I swear a hint of respect shone in his eyes. Good. “Mr. Duck?”
Oliver looked at me before turning back to the judge. “I plead not-guilty?”
“Good.” The judge slammed down his gavel. “See you later.”
Oliver looked at me.
I smiled and tried to appear like I knew what I was doing. A notepad rested on the table, so I quickly wrote my name and number on the bottom edge and ripped it off. “Here you go. Give me a call later in the week, and we’ll figure things out. I can settle this one; I’m pretty sure.”
He took the ripped piece of paper and then grinned. “This is your business card?”
“For now,” I said, sharing his smile.
“Then you are the lawyer I can afford. Thanks, Anna. I’ll call you.” Looking much happier, he leaned over and wrote his number to hand over. “Here’s mine.” He turned and raced to the exit.
I pivoted to face Alice. “Seriously? What is wrong with you?” Her forced leave of absence had obviously gone to her head.
She rolled her eyes. “He destroyed property, Anna. The laws matter to some of us.”
Ouch. Fair enough.
I exited and went to retrieve my file folders and notes before the judge called our case.
