Chapter 12
At the end of a buzz-worthy day, I handed over all of the retainer checks I’d acquired to Clark. He sat at his desk, happily filling out the deposit slip and making notations. In fact, it was the happiest I’d ever seen him. “Good day?” I asked.
He looked up and his glasses slid down his straight nose. He pushed them back up. “We’re making money. I can’t believe it. That crazy newspaper article about the bar fight actually got us business.” His office was decorated in navy hues that were calming, and the big tree outside his window added to the sense of peace. Even so, he all but hummed with excitement. “I don’t suppose you could get in a bar fight once a quarter?”
“I don’t suppose I could,” I said dryly. “At least we’ll be able to pay rent as well as the boys this month.”
Clark nodded. “Yeah. Speaking of which, make sure you hand in billable hours end of the week, so I can transfer some of this money from the trust account to our actual account to pay those bills. We have to earn it first.”
I winced. One of the best parts of being a prosecuting attorney was not having to worry about billable hours. I missed that set salary. Hopefully we’d still have salaries after the next newspaper article revealed Sasha’s murder on my porch. “No problem,” I said. “What time do you want to meet tomorrow morning for our first case management weekly session?” It sounded so official, and I loved it.
He reached for a nearly empty mug of coffee set neatly on a coaster. “If tomorrow is anything like today, we’re going to be slammed starting at nine, when the office opens. How about seven? I’ll bring lattes.”
“Sounds good. I’ll take a Chai latte with almond milk.” I settled my laptop bag more securely over my shoulder. “I’ll let Pauley and Oliver know to be here at 8:30 so they can catch the end of the meeting, and we can give them directions for the week. They’re both doing a great job.”
“Agreed,” Clark said, happily turning back to his numbers.
“Oh. Also, I have a meeting in the morning at the prosecuting attorney’s office at nine to go over Kelsey Walker’s case. We just set it up an hour ago. But I’ll get right back to help you with a crowd if we get another one.” I hoped we did, and I wasn’t going to feel guilty about a bar fight that got us there. Life was weird. “Have a good night, Clark.” I turned and headed toward the door to reception, where I found Oliver typing furiously into his computer. “It’s quitting time, bud,” I said.
He looked up, his cheeks a cherry red. “I know. I was just finishing filling in your calendar for tomorrow and next week. We had twice as many calls for appointments as we did walk-ins. It’s crazy.”
I smiled at him and shook my head. It was crazy. “See you tomorrow at 8:30? You and Pauley can catch the end of our firm meeting.”
“Sure. I’ll put it on our calendars right now. Pauley checks his constantly.” Oliver turned back to the computer.
“We’re lucky to have you two,” I said.
He blushed an even brighter red, which I wouldn’t have thought possible. “Night.”
“Night.” I opened the door and strode down the quiet hallway and steps, where I found Kelsey Walker sitting on the floor by the back door. I paused. “Kelsey?
She looked up, her face pale. “Hi.”
“What’s going on?” I looked around.
So did she. “I don’t know. When I left your office, I was going to work at the flower shop, and they called and told me not to come. They found out about the charges against me and fired me. I only had that job for a week and I liked it.” She looked so lost and lonely on the floor. “So I just sat down. There’s nowhere for me to go. My folks sold the funeral home, my sisters all live out of town, and Krissy is in prison. So I just decided to sit.”
The poor woman had sat by the back door all day?
I set down my bag and plopped onto the floor. “Sometimes just sitting is a good thing.” What could I do to help her? Life really wasn’t being fair to her, not that I had many answers right now.
“What am I going to do?” she asked, plucking a string on her skirt.
The late afternoon sun beamed in through the windows, showing dust mites in the air. A sense of peace wandered through the quiet hallway, and the genuine and older wooden floor was warm. I took a deep breath and pushed my stress away so I could help her. She really needed help. “First thing you do is get up. Then go home and have a healthy dinner and then a decent sleep. After that, we’ll figure out your case, and then you can get another job. How strapped are you for cash?” I didn’t have any to share, but maybe I could find her a job if it was an emergency. Somebody in the family had to need something.
She finally smiled. “I have a good savings account, so there’s that. I’ve always been a bit of a miser with money, so I’m financially okay for a little while.” She bit her lip. “I can’t go to the Caribbean or anything, but I’m not starving.”
I nudged her arm. “See? That’s a bright side. We’ll learn more about your case during the preliminary hearing, and then we can come up with a game plan. Once we have a plan in place, you’ll feel better. It’s just this sucky state of limbo that causes so much stress.”
“Totally agree,” she said.
Yeah. It was the same place I was in with being a suspect in Sasha’s murder. Kelsey and I had more in common than I liked, and so far, the legal system wasn’t being fair to us. But I had to believe that it would all work out the way it should in the end. “I know how you feel, and everything is going to be all right.” I couldn’t tell her about my case, but I could commiserate a little bit.
“You promise I won’t go to prison?” Her eyes were a meadow green in the mellow light, and she looked younger than her twenty-one years.
The temptation to guarantee her that and ease her mind was surprisingly strong. “No. I wish I could promise you that, but I can’t. What I can say is that I’m good at my job and will do everything I can to make sure you don’t go to prison. I trust our legal system, and you’re innocent, so I believe this will all turn out okay. But I’d be lying if I made a promise I can’t guarantee.”
Her shoulders hunched. “I appreciate the honesty.”
