Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
The judge stared at me for a moment. “Is there any other reason she refused to appear in court today?”
“Not to my knowledge,” I said honestly. “I truly believe she’s afraid you’ll send her off to some stranger’s house, Your Honor. I thought we’d reassured her, but she panicked when we reached the courthouse steps. I apologize for wasting the court’s time.”
He rubbed his chin. “I don’t want to terrify some sixteen-year-old, but I can’t let an adoption proceed without following proper procedure.”
“I’m aware of that, Judge. Let me talk to her and see if I can reassure her and perhaps reschedule the hearing.”
“Fine. We’ll reschedule for first thing a week from Thursday.” He tilted his head to the side. “Would it help if we all met outside of court, for a coffee or a hot chocolate or something? It wouldn’t be an official proceeding, and we couldn’t talk about the case, but perhaps I could reassure her that I’m just a guy who likes to play basketball and works as a judge.”
My entire heart warmed. What a nice guy. “Judge, that would be fantastic. Let me talk to Violet and Yara and see if we can arrange something like that. I’ll let her know that we can’t talk about anything official, but just meeting you and seeing you as a human being might really help.”
He brightened. “You know what? I have a basketball game Friday night if you want to come and watch. I think seeing a judge doing something other than being a judge might be even better. Maybe we can grab a soda or something afterward.”
“That’d be wonderful, Judge,” I said. “Thank you.”
“All right.” He slammed his gavel down. “Bailiff, why don’t you open the doors since we no longer need a private, sealed hearing?” He reached for a stack of files. “You have two other cases in front of me this morning, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do, Your Honor. I have two cases against the prosecuting attorney’s office.” One was a timber criminal trespass, and the other was a misdemeanor battery case in which my client was innocent. He had been defending a woman being picked on at a bar. I was quite ticked about the whole situation.
The door opened, and Nick Basanelli strode inside dressed in a silver-gray suit with a red power tie.
I blinked. “Hi, Nick. I thought Brad Boxer was handling these cases.”
Nick sighed, walked into the well, and slapped his file folders on the table. “Boxer got in a snowmobile accident yesterday and broke his leg in three places. Orrin is out of town. I’m covering for everybody today.”
“Sorry to hear that,” the judge said. “We’re just here to set trial dates, aren’t we?”
“Yes.” Nick quickly rattled off his available dates.
I rifled through my phone to look at my calendar. “Both dates work for me, Judge.”
“Alrighty, then. Trial dates are set.” The judge banged his gavel and stood. “Maybe I’ll see you at my game Friday, Miss Albertini.”
“I’ll do my best, Judge.” It’d be fun if we could make posters or something and get Violet involved. “Are you guys any good?”
The judge frowned. “We’re there to play for fun.” He walked out, the bailiff following him.
“That means no,” Nick said.
I grinned. “Yeah, no kidding. But he had a good idea.”
Nick turned and opened the swinging partition for me, moving easily, apparently not hurting from the arrow injury. “He’s a good judge.”
“I agree.” I grasped my files and walked out just as Detective Grant Pierce moved into the courtroom.
“Hey, Grant,” Nick said.
Pierce’s frown darkened the entire room, and the lines near his eyes had not dissipated any. Had he gotten any sleep? “Hi. I need you both to come with me.”
I needed time to work. “Seriously? We cannot go over the Cupid case again. I just can’t. Though Lenny dropped by my office earlier and...”
“He what?” Pierce asked, his chin dropping. “You can’t represent a suspect in a case where you’re a witness.”
I looked at him for several beats. He looked back. “I know that. I told him that and sent him on to Louise Fanahane’s law firm.”
“Oh.” Pierce kicked at an invisible pebble. “Sorry.”
I softened. The guy looked like he could sleep for a year. “I’ll take it. You’re forgiven.”
“Good. Now, can you both come with me?”
Nick glanced at his watch. “No. Sorry, I have another meeting.”
“I wasn’t really asking,” Pierce muttered.
I paused. “What’s going on? Do you have a break in the Cupid case?”
Pierce looked directly at Nick. “No, this is a different case. Basanelli, you’re going to want a lawyer there with you.”
Chapter 8
Steam pretty much rose off Nick as we settled in the police station’s second-floor interrogation room. I sat next to him, wondering what in the world was going on.
Detective Pierce held a blue file folder as he pulled out a chair and sat across from us. He clicked a button on the table, and I glanced up to see a red light blinking on the camera mounted to the wall as it began recording the interview.