The prosecutor sighed, the sound annoyed. “Why don’t we just plea this down? I’ll offer a misdemeanor with two months in jail and a thousand dollar fine.”
The kid squawked. “A thousand dollars?” It was telling she didn’t object to the jail time.
The prosecutor looked her over, tapping a finger on the file folder. “All right. Five hundred.”
The girl audibly gulped. “Um, well, we had the pot, yeah. But I didn’t take any. Timmy had it. But I guess, well, okay.”
“Whoa.” I shoved from my warm corner to the aisle, dropping a file folder. Grumbling, I reached over to pick it up, settled my hair, and hustled with the contents falling out to the front table. Not only didn’t I like the optics of all of these men against one girl, I didn’t like the law being used unfairly. “Um, no. Not in a million years.”
Judge Williams lifted a dark eyebrow. “Ms. Albertini. I didn’t see you back there.”
“That’s where the heater is.” I slapped my pile on the table and tried to regain my balance.
The prosecutor turned toward me. “We just had an agreement to a plea.”
My neck went up and my chin went down. “Well gee, buddy. That’s just great. Pick on the kid without the hotshot lawyer from Spokane.” He had to be, considering I didn’t know him. While I had complete faith that the judge wouldn’t have allowed the plea and would’ve helped Violet find a lawyer, I was here right now, and the kid didn’t seem to have anybody else. “Your Honor, I’d like to be assigned to the case.”
The prosecutor snapped his lips together.
“Great. Anna Albertini, please meet Brad Boxer, the new assistant prosecuting attorney.” The judge brought down the gavel. “Consider yourself assigned to the case, Ms. Albertini. Come back in a week if this hasn’t settled, and we’ll go from there.” Her voice more than hinted that we should settle this. I totally agreed.
Brad Boxer leaned over. “Brad.” He had light brown eyes and a very straight nose. In another world, I’d consider him good looking. Right now, I considered him to be an ass.
“Anna.” I took his hand and shook.
He smiled, full of assurance and grabbed his files. “I’m finished today, Judge. May I be excused?”
“Yes,” Judge Williams said, handing case files over to her clerk. “Ms. Albertini, since you’re here, let’s take care of your status conferences.”
Violet looked from the judge to me, her deep blue eyes full of confusion. “What just happened?” She was pale and dark circles hovered on her high cheekbones.
“We’ll talk in a few minutes.” I gave her my best encouraging smile. “Do you mind sitting in the courtroom and waiting for me for about thirty minutes?” It shouldn’t take longer than that to do everything I needed to get done for the day.
She gulped. “No. That’s cool.” She looked toward the benches. “Where did you say that heater was?”
I satacross the table from Violet at Smiley’s Diner and removed my coat, wondering if she had one. “You hungry?”
Her eyes were huge, and her fingers nervous as she settled into the booth, reaching for a napkin to start shredding. “No.”
Right. Tessa bopped up, tilting her head toward Violet.
I introduced them. “Are you a vegetarian or anything, Violet?” I asked.
She swallowed and paused as if considering if she was supposed to be a vegetarian. “Um, no?”
I’d take that as a no. “Two specials, extra fries, two sodas,” I said to Tessa.
“You’ve got it.” Tessa took off.
Violet continued shredding the napkin. “I can’t afford a fancy lawyer.” She spoke to the table, her shoulders bowed.
“Good thing I’m not fancy,” I said, reaching for my water glass. “How about you tell me whatever happened with Timmy and the pot?” When she looked up, I made sure to keep my voice level and my gaze serious. “I’m your lawyer, so you can tell me anything, and I can’t say a word to anybody. So please just give me the truth? It’s easier for me to help you if you do.”
She sighed. “Okay. So, Timmy and I started kind of hanging out last month. Nothing serious. Just met up after school to study, and that was it. Last Tuesday, he brought pot that he’d gotten from his brother, and he wanted to smoke it. I didn’t want to because I’m allergic to most smoke, and we argued, and Mr. Jorgenson caught us. He’s the vice-principal, and he said that he had to call in the violation because it’s the law. So we got notices to appear and I came to court.”
I nodded to keep her talking.
Her lips turned down. “I can’t believe his lawyer said I brought the pot. I don’t even have a car to go over to Washington, much less money to waste on drugs.” She shook her head. “Boys suck.”
