Now I followed Mr. Yun through a doorway in the building next to the bookstore and up two flights of stairs. A legal assistant, who looked as if he could be Wire’s son, greeted us from behind a desk in a sunny room. Mr. Yun asked him about his family, and he mentioned that his aunt was doing well in her Asian market in Little Brookton. It sounded like the place where Minjae had taken Channing that day she had cramps.
I was suspicious when Wire walked in, not long after we did. How did he have time to see Channing and get the legal stuff done? He kept sighing as he invited us into a room beyond the waiting area. His assistant brought in another chair so the three of us could sit across from the attorney, who collapsed rather emphatically into his large leather swivel chair as if he were exhausted.
“Let me begin,” he said, sitting up straight and yanking his chair closer to his desk. “I’m sorry to say we’ve run into an unusual issue.”
Here we go, I thought. How much did Kent bribe him? How would we get another lawyer that Kent could not influence?
“What do you mean?” Harabeoji asked.
Wire tapped the surface of his wooden desk like a piano. “The bail commissioner is unavailable.”
“For how long?” Mr. Yun asked.
I looked at Harabeoji to see if he was as suspicious of this lawyer as I was. He was shaking his head at the floor. Then he got up and asked to use the restroom.
“I’ll let you know as soon as I hear,” Wire replied.
The palms of my hands began to tingle as I started to panic. “Do you know Kent Cho?” I asked.
“The mayor’s chief of staff? Yes, I’ve met him,” Wire replied.
“Did he ask you to lie to us?” I said.
The attorney leaned back. He looked nervous. Mr. Yun waved my words away and gave me a stern look. “Tell me, Jack, what about the judge?”
He sighed. “You’re right. In East End, a judge would be our next option. His clerk told me he’s away at a charity golf tournament. They expect him to be back tomorrow, so it’s really just one more day and then he’ll set the bail and Channing should be released.”
“And that’ll lead to another day and then another. What kind of justice system is this?” I shouted. I was on my feet.
Harabeoji returned just then and put his hand on my shoulder. “We can wait however long it takes,” he said to the room.
“My concern, quite frankly, is how high the bail will be set and if she would be allowed out since she doesn’t have a permanent address here in East End nor any family,” Wire replied.
“She has us,” Mr. Yun exclaimed, and patted my grandfather’s arm.
“Oh, I’m mistaken then. Are you family?” the lawyer asked, sitting back in his chair.
“We’re from the same town in Korea. That’s as good as family,” Mr. Yun said emphatically.
Wire shook his head back and forth in slow motion. “That won’t work for the judge,” he said. He removed a thick black-and-gold pen from hissuit pocket, shook his arm, and scribbled something on a form on his desk. That pen made him look like a real lawyer all of a sudden. Mr. Yun turned to Harabeoji and said in Korean, “This man doesn’t understand how close we are. You’re like a brother to me, anyone in Korea would know that.”
“It’s fine,” Harabeoji told his best friend. “We’ll pay.”
For Harabeoji’s sake I tried to keep my mouth shut and be patient, which felt like an impossibility. His message here was to endure, have faith. It would all be okay. Gwaenchanh-eulgeoya. Everything in me wanted to run to the police station, to the courthouse, to scream at everyone that my cousin was being held unjustly by a corrupt man in East End’s government. I wanted to tell everyone what he had done. Instead, I followed Harabeoji and Mr. Yun downstairs and out to the sidewalk. We had to walk back to Middle Street where Mr. Yun had parked his car since he’d driven us there that morning. “He’s a good lawyer,” Mr. Yun repeated several times to my grandfather.
Harabeoji nodded, but he seemed preoccupied with something else. He said he needed to use the restroom again. His stomach, he said, was upset. We were closest to Bike and Basket, so we stopped there. Paul and Ames weren’t around. Harabeoji said he couldn’t make it as far as Mrs. Ku’s bakery. “No worry. We’ll buy tea. That’ll settle your stomach,” Mr. Yun said. He insisted on opening the heavy glass door, then held it for him to walk through. My grandfather didn’t argue as he would have normally.
Mr. Yun and I ordered, and I wanted to be polite and offer to pay but didn’t know if he’d be insulted. How much of a fight should I put up? The Korean custom had always been confusing to me. My grandfather wasn’t around to guide me at that moment. He had headed rather hastily to the restroom. When our tea was ready and Harabeoji had yet to emerge, Mr. Yun said we should wait outside as the café was beginning to fill up withpeople. He handed me my cup of mint tea and set his and Harabeoji’s on the small table. We didn’t sit. He was busy greeting people who were passing by.
When there was a lull, Mr. Yun turned to me. “Whatever, whatever it is, we have to do everything Kent says to do. Jack is a good lawyer, but Kent knows the people who decide what happens in town. You have to convince your cousin to return the watch. Kent is willing to forgive her.”
“Have you heard anything I’ve said?” I heard my voice wobble in frustration.
He sighed and rubbed his chin. “You listen to me, Dahee. I hoped this would be simple, but you and Channing are stubborn. Now, your grandfather is my best friend, so I don’t mind if he stays with me in my house, do you understand? Because if it goes to trial, it will be many months. Mrs. Yun won’t be happy, especially if Channing’s father comes, and this town won’t be happy. Channing’s father caused a lot of trouble a long time ago. We Koreans don’t want this kind of bad attention. Do you understand?”
Understand?He could not have been clearer. “We can stay in a hotel; we will not bother you and Mrs. Yun any longer,” I said.
“No, you are not understanding me,” he said, and there was a sternness in his voice I recognized. Even though I was thirty years old, he was talking to me as if I were one of the eight-year-olds in my classroom. Looking down at my rumpled shirt, skirt, and scuffed sandals, I knew I looked a mess. Still, he was being unbearable. I looked for my grandfather to emerge through the glass door of the café. Why was he taking so long?
