* * *
It was almostten before Colin left the courtroom. He stepped outside, drawing in one deep breath after another, then perched on one of the benches outside city hall. “Holyshit,” he muttered, then grabbed his phone and called Joshua, his hands shaking with excitement. “Josh! I did it! I just appeared in court and I kicked ass! It was amazing! God, I wish you could have been there.”
He heard Joshua’s soft chuckle. “Sweetie, I’m not a bit surprised. I knew you’d be amazing. And I wish I could have been there too, but you were nervous enough.”
“I did what you said,” Colin said. “I took a breath. I thought about my stance and you’re right! It helped!”
“Look out, Ben Stone,” Joshua teased. “ACA Campbell has you in his sights!”
“Campbell-Abrams,” Colin said. “I reminded the defense attorney of that today.”
“Youdid?”
“Damn right I did. The guy was a dick.” He paused for a moment. “Thanks, Josh,” he murmured. “You were beside me all the way.”
“Still holding onto that string,” Joshua replied.
Colin breathed out a soft laugh. “Gotta run,” he said. “See you tonight, bud. I love you.”
“I love you too. Be safe.”
* * *
Colin returnedto his office to find a new sheet of paper lying at the center of his desk listing his court appearances for the following morning.
In the days that followed he began to establish a routine. Court appearances in the early morning, mainly to set bail, followed later by appearances for motions such as requests for continuances or motions to compel. The afternoons were spent prepping cases for the next day, meeting with defense attorneys to negotiate pleas, and conferring with police to follow up on officer reports.
Afternoons also involved occasional meetings with Esther and his fellow Commonwealth’s attorneys to exchange information about ongoing cases. He also became better acquainted with the other lawyers on Esther’s staff.
Quentin Ingram, whom he had met on his first day, seemed a competent attorney and initially Colin was impressed with his win-loss record. But it didn’t take long to discover that Ingram maintained that record by backing away from any case which wasn’t a sure win. Further, he did everything in his power to foist those cases he sawas unwinnable onto his fellow attorneys.
Within a week of Colin’s arrival Ingram approached him with a felony manslaughter case which was certain to be thrown out of court due to an illegal search and seizure. “It’s afelonycase, Colin!” Ingram said as he shoved the file across Colin’s desk. “New guys usually wait a year to try a felony case. Here’s your chance to impress the boss!”
Colin glanced at the file, then cocked an eye and peered at Ingram. “And howimpresseddo you think she’ll be when she hears I let youbamboozleme into taking over this bullshit case?”
Ingram shrugged and threw Colin a sardonic grin. “Hey, it’s still a felony.”
Colin’s nose wrinkled in annoyance, but he reached for the file. “I’ll take it,” he told Quentin. “You’d be stepping all over yourself worrying about your precious stats and do a shitty job.”
Frowning, Ingram’s hand inched toward the file, but Colin snatched it up and added it to his stack of ongoing cases. “Igotit, Quent!”
Adylinn Clemons kept mostly to herself. The door to her office was usually closed and she was seldom seen in the common break area, though she often went out to lunch with Quentin Ingram. She kept her caseload up to date and won a fair share of her cases, but Colin watched her in court and her performance was often lackluster when prosecuting misdemeanor cases, bordering on disinterested. He also remembered Sheila’s warning that Clemons liked to run down fellow attorneys to their boss, and limited their interactions to polite greetings and farewells.
Norman Clayton was the oldest of the assistant attorneys and Esther Jackson’s deputy. He had been there the longest, had the largest office next to Esther’s, and got first pick of the cases in their jurisdiction. He and Esther shared responsibility for all high-profile cases, and he was the Commonwealth’s Attorney most members of the press sought out for comments or interviews.
Colin had little interaction with Clayton, though he had, on one occasion, seen him at lunch tossing back one shot of liquor after another. But because he habitually arrived at the office nearly two hours ahead of everyone else, Colin became an unwilling participant in a surprising exchange which involved Esther’s deputy.
It was midweek, and not yet 7:00 a.m. when Colin heard a soft knock at the door to the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office. Assuming it was a courier delivering reports or files, he opened the door to discover a woman standing in the hallway. A woman much younger than himself.
“Can I help you?” Colin asked.
“Is Normie Clayton here?” she asked, a smugness in her words which caused Colin to rear back in surprise.
“No, Mr. Clayton probably won’t get here ‘til after eight. Can I take a message?”
“Give him this, would you?” She said, smirking as she thrust an item toward Colin. “He left it at my place.”
Colin took the item from her hand and gawked in surprise. Every employee at city hall carried a security badge to identify them which also served as a key to unlock certain secured areas. And this was Clayton's. He glanced at the girl and nodded. “I’ll see that he gets it.”
