Perri O'Shaughnessy - Unfit to Practice

After they passed through the metal detector and into the reception area, Paul looked around. In the left adjacent, windowed room, the chief trial counsel’s witnesses waited. In the right room, Paul caught a glimpse of Nina and Jack.

He took Carol by the arm and led her into the left room, throwing the door open wide. They entered.

Gayle Nolan, seated at a table, stood. “Who-?”

Brandy set a cup down and stood, too. “Why, what are you doing here?” she said.

“You know this woman?” Paul asked, holding tight to Carol’s arm.

“No. I mean-” Befuddlement blew across Brandy’s face and settled into confusion. “She was in the bathroom at the campground the night Phoebe died. Wasn’t she, Angel?”

Angel, remaining seated, stared. “You,” she said. “I noticed your haircut that night. Update on the old Vidal Sassoon,” she said. “You’re the one who tossed her cookies, right? That was such a mega-bad night.”

By now, Nolan had stepped behind Paul and was motioning the guard at the door for help.

Paul pulled Carol out of the room. “Sorry,” he said to Nolan. “My mistake.”

Nolan shut the door firmly behind them.

Paul touched Carol’s arm but she pushed him off, but not before he had a chance to realize how shocked she was. Her whole body was trembling, and the shadowy sockets of her eyes receded until her eyes were dark holes burnt into charcoal. “You set me up,” she cried.

At this point, they were joined by Nina and Jack, who had taken note of the commotion. Jack motioned them all back into the other witness waiting room.

“You lied to me!” Carol said, looking wildly around. “Where’s Cody?”

“He couldn’t make it after all,” Paul said.

Nina took over. “Look, as you’ve probably figured out from that little scene in there, we know everything.”

“Everything?” Carol asked.

“Everything,” Nina lied. “Now you go into that courtroom when they call your name, and you tell the truth. Tell them Cody didn’t do it, and how you know all about that. He didn’t, did he?”

“No.” Carol looked at her, looked at Paul, looked down at the floor. “I have to think,” she said. “Why don’t you all just leave me alone?”

The clock on the wall ticked and nobody breathed. Tears smeared through Carol Ames’s eyeliner and trickled like glue down her face.

Opening the door to the courtroom, the clerk announced that the judge was ready. Nina and Jack went in, Nina touching Paul on the sleeve as she passed him.

“It won’t take long,” Paul said. “They’re asking the judge to take you out of order. You won’t even have to wait.”

“Do I have to do this?” Carol seemed to be asking herself more than Paul, although he felt he should answer. Saving Paul from evaluating whether the truth would serve or a lie would get him into trouble, the clerk poked her head into the door again.

“Carol Ames?” she said. “Please follow me.” Jack wasn’t giving Carol time to think, Paul realized, assembling the last of his own little gray cells. Bravo, smart move, old buddy, now get Nina off and get the hell out of her life, willya? He handed Carol a tissue, and when she didn’t seem to know what to do with it, he wiped her face.

“I’m afraid.”

“Just tell the truth, Carol. Tell the truth about Cody.”

She hung her head again and followed the clerk into the courtroom. Paul put his head on the table and fell asleep.

Nina watched the young woman slump up to the stand to be sworn and waited impatiently through preliminaries that established her age, her place of residence, and everything else.

“You followed Cody Stinson to the campground the night Phoebe Palladino died, didn’t you?” Jack asked the young woman.

“Yes.”

Nina thought she looked awful, as though a tractor had run over her face.

“Why did you do that?”

“Love,” she said.

Nina felt Jack startle by her side, although his face revealed nothing. “You were in love with Mr. Stinson.”

“I never stopped loving him.”

Jack’s manner grew more elaborately casual, always a bad sign for the witness, Nina thought.

He consulted notes. He cleared his throat. He smiled a sympathetic smile. “You thought that night that he had come back to you, for good this time.”

Carol Ames lowered her head. “Yes. He told me he and Phoebe were history.”

“So when he left in the middle of the night-”

“I didn’t know what to think. I got in my car and I followed him. He parked his bike on Rufus Allen and walked into the campground, so I did, too.” Tears had started down. “He got her out of the tent and they sat down by the fire. He begged her to leave and take off with him, told her how much he loved her-I was out of my mind. Just an hour before that, he made love to me. He said he’d move in again in the morning. But he never stopped thinking about her. Phoebe.”

“You were upset, so-” Jack said.

“I ran to the bathroom. I threw up. I was feeling crazy. Those girls came in while I was cleaning up. I didn’t say a word to them, just went back and stood in the trees. Cody was just leaving.

“I waited. I went to the tent and pulled the flap open. After a couple of minutes, I took a look. The big guy was out cold, and she was, too. So I-I went inside. And I strangled her.”

“P ANDEFUCKINGMONIUM,” SAID JACK with satisfaction. He had recovered from the shock of Carol Ames’s testimony during the break called by Judge Brock after Carol was taken into custody by the bailiff. Nina watched as Paul uttered words of comfort and kept her steady.

She took Jack aside. “I’m having a hard time analyzing the impact of this,” she said. “I’m having a hard time thinking at all. I never imagined she would confess. She must have been working up to it, feeling guilty all these months. I know it’s a huge break for us, but a girl is dead-”

“An actual courtroom confession and we didn’t even know it was coming. Moments like this are why we practice law, Nina. Of course, it helps that we’re the side that benefits.”

“Paul came through,” Nina said, “as usual. He found her and brought her here and saved the day.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll clap him on the back just as soon as the marshal unleashes her.” The federal marshal had just arrived. Pinpoint eyes fixed on Carol Ames, he consulted with the judge. Paul, who had slipped into the courtroom when he heard the ruckus moments before, patted her hand. The marshal went over to them and quietly began telling Carol her rights. He took her by the arm and as she was led away, she cast one last glance back at Paul. Paul gave her a thumbs-up and a reassuring nod.

“I hope you didn’t promise to correspond with her from prison,” Jack said as Paul came over. “You know those relationships never work out.”

“I’ll make sure she gets good legal counsel,” Paul said. “We owe her that. In a way we tricked her into incriminating herself.”

“Whatever brings out the truth,” Jack said. They moved out into the reception area and huddled at the far end.

“Okay, ramifications,” Jack said. “Strategy adjustment. This girl killed the woman at the campsite. Ergo, Cody Stinson didn’t do it. Ergo, Stinson’s story that he was just trying to talk to these nervous Nellies is true. No attempted murder. No intent to assault. No intent to harm the clients. That’s the bottom line. The loss of the file, the fingering of Stinson as the killer by Brandy-she was wrong anyway.”

“But Cody Stinson says he did get a phone call from the thief,” Nina said. “And he scared these people as a result.”

“Only because they mistakenly thought he was a killer and made some wrong assumptions based on their fears and on the way he looks,” Jack said. “I think we’ve dodged this bullet. I sure as hell am going to argue that at the close of the hearing. I think we’re home free on this count, babe.” He grinned at Nina. “Your insurance company is going to be happy about this. They reserved half a million dollars in payouts to Bruce and Brandy and Angel, figuring they’d sue you for malpractice in civil court next.”