Perri O'Shaughnessy - Unfit to Practice

“Drink water with it, then, like the Italians do. We don’t want the judge to get the wrong impression of our upright young do-gooder tomorrow morning, rolling her bloodshot eyes at him.”

“I think Bob loved his birthday party. Thanks for coming. The guest list would have been awfully sparse otherwise. It probably isn’t your favorite kind of thing.”

“I had a great time. Bob’s a good kid. It was nice to relax and remember there is life outside the courtroom, and it’s a pretty good life.” He paused. “Isn’t it, Nina?”

But she was distracted. “I keep thinking I’ve handled things badly. I didn’t push you to investigate more over the last six months-even though you nagged me about that more than once.”

“I do not nag.”

“I wanted to believe things would magically resolve.”

“Entirely natural. You didn’t want to face trouble, so you ignored it. Everybody does that.”

“Don’t defend me,” she said. “I get enough of that in court from Jack.”

They laughed together.

She took a breath. “Paul, it’s been hard. I’ve had doubts…”

“Big surprise.”

“No, hear me out. Almost everyone in my life tells me this job is destructive. But I’ve thought it through. Law’s part of me. It isn’t everything, but I believe, when it all shakes down, I’ve helped these people, in spite of it all. I stood up for them.”

“Yes, you have,” he said.

“But here’s what I’m facing right now. These people I tried to help are trying to ruin me. It’s demoralizing.”

Paul took her hand. “Get up.” He got the waiter to come over. “Save the table? We’ll be back in five,” he said, slipping him a bill. The waiter nodded and left.

He put a finger to his lips, took her by the arm, and led her straight out of the hotel and onto Sutter Street.

Neon shivered in the puddles. A man in a torn sweatshirt staggered by, hit Paul up for a buck, and moved on. A taxi careened around the corner, loaded with laughing passengers. Way up the hill, a cable car clanged, beginning its precarious descent through a riot of traffic.

“Yikes,” Nina said. “Kind of a contrast to the piano bar.”

“Yeah, isn’t it great?” Paul said.

“It’s so clear after rain here. You can even see the stars.”

“Orion,” Paul said, pointing. “The one constellation I’m sure about.” He pulled her tight to keep her warm. “See what’s happening? Mad dashing to and fro. Chaos on the street. Stars exploding.”

“Guys peeing,” Nina said, watching one. “Ugh.”

Paul laughed. “You want life neat. It isn’t.”

“They’re saying I’m unfit to do my job.”

“You’re so much more than your job.”

They stood for a long time on the street. When they went back inside, Nina felt recharged, plugged into a power source. They warmed up again at their table. “I hate having the state bar after me. They’re my colleagues.”

“The bar court only operates based on the information it’s given-in this case, complaints that look perfectly legit. There’s a hidden agenda here, but it isn’t the California State Bar’s.”

“Yes,” she said. “We come back to that. My enemy.” She tinkled a spoon against her glass, took a sip, and tinkled it again. “Oh, Paul! Here’s an idea I had while we were celebrating with Bob.”

“Oh?”

“It’s about Mrs. Gleb. You know, after she testified she practically begged us to find something else for her to do.”

“What are you thinking?”

“I don’t want Jack to know about this, okay? I don’t want him to get into trouble.”

“Then I’m your man.”

She hesitated for a moment. “It involves Mrs. Gleb, and it involves you, and it involves some pretty shady stuff.”

“I’m liking this.”

She explained what she had in mind. Paul took out a pocket notebook. They took turns writing in it, erasing, and adding for several minutes.

Nina said, “I believe Kevin wouldn’t have lied about our relationship on his own. He had nothing to gain. It’s my theory he is being manipulated by someone smarter and more powerful. Lately I’ve been thinking maybe he and Lisa are in cahoots.”

“What a wild thought,” Paul said. “So she put him up to hiring you and then accusing you of the harassment for some kind of sick revenge? Boy, that’s damned nefarious. She didn’t strike me as that smart. I can see her better taking a bat to your car.”

“Maybe she offered him a better deal on the custody?”

“I guess that would be her bargaining chip,” Paul said.

“Anyway, for the moment, Lisa’s out of the picture because she’s in Tahoe. But Kevin’s here.”

“So we put Officer Scholl and Jeffrey Riesner on the short list,” Paul said.

Nina nodded. “Now, Scholl was Kevin Cruz’s associate in the past. She worked closely with him on the case that got him his first promotion. She hates me. Maybe she’s blackmailing Cruz into doing this. Maybe she knows something about that drug seizure that would get him kicked off the force.”

“He planted the drugs on those college students?”

“Could be. Everyone said it was a strange bust.”

“Hey, how come he isn’t fired already, considering Ali, the underaged wood chopper?”

“I hear he got himself a good attorney for a change,” Nina said with a straight face.

They cracked up.

“Okay, let’s move on to the subject of Jeffrey Riesner,” Paul said.

“Okay. He loathes me. He knows that Sandy and I know about past activities regarding a will that was rewritten in his favor that could cost him his job. Even though we’ve kept our mouths shut, he has to be worried.”

“Then there are the clients you stole.”

“And the way I mortified him in front of the big gaming guys. Oh,” she said. “Those were good times.”

“But we have to consider what his connection is to Kevin,” Paul said.

“Right. Well, the only thing that connects them is the custody fight. Riesner represents Kevin’s wife. This presents a real problem. What in the world could Jeffrey Riesner do to benefit Kevin in any way?”

“How about-he promised to throw Lisa to the dogs. Maybe he told Kevin he knew something that would definitely assure that Kevin would win his kids in the permanent-custody hearing.”

Nina shook her head. “No. Riesner would never intentionally lose a case. Ten angels couldn’t persuade him to do that. Maybe a million bucks would, but Kevin doesn’t have a million bucks.”

“Has the permanent-custody hearing come up yet?”

“I believe it’s set in two weeks. There have been some delays,” Nina said.

“Because of Riesner?”

“Why, yes, now that you mention it. Paul, I think you might be on to something. Maybe I’m just collateral damage in a fierce divorce fight. Kevin cares more about his children than he cares about me. He sacrifices my reputation to get his kids. Kevin is a fool if that’s it, because Riesner won’t come through with his end of the deal.” She thought hard about that. “He’s got the timing worked out so that Kevin’s final custody hearing comes up after this hearing. He can get me, then double-cross Kevin later.”

“Kevin’s a cop. He’s not that stupid.”

“He is stupid, Paul. Stupid with desperation. I think he’d consider suicide if he lost permanent custody. I think he might fall for it.”

“You’re actually saying that Jeffrey Riesner stole your truck?”

“Seems incredible, but-Riesner could have picked up my key that Thursday at court. I just don’t know. On the whole, I’d say Jean Scholl is the better suspect. It’s nothing for her to rip off a car and take the files at her leisure. And she makes sure there’s no forensic evidence to discuss. And she knows forgers, if it comes down to that.”