He straightened up quickly; “Less than five percent.”
“And this from Levi Black and Associates?”
“Three—No. Three and a half times as many.”
“Why?”
He paused trying to think.
Too slow.
“Because a great lawyer isn’t afraid of court. Courts are your arena. This was a simple question, Mr. Logan, and not one you will be likely to come across again, especially on your final. You’re slipping.”
He nodded, and I could see him kicking himself.
Much better.
I only managed to get three feet away before I turned back. I just had to know, I had to ask. “How is she?”
“She is Thea,” he replied, “and just so you know, I’m gay. She’s the reason that I can tell you that… that I can tell anyone that now. So you don’t have to worry about me being around her.”
He didn’t linger, he just moved on with his work.
“When you’re done, Mr. Logan, she might need a friend to check up on her once she sees the news,” I said, kicking myself as I walked away.
This is what she’d meant when she said that it was impossible for them to physically be together… his orientation…
“Don’t even say it, Betty,” I told the older woman who sat behind her desk. She pretended to zip her lips, but her eyes were talking… laughing actually.
In my office, I sat at my desk checking my watch.
“You have an hour until the story breaks,” Tristan said, as he came in.
“I’m going to meet my mother and let her know in person before then. You coming?”
“To that slaughter? No thank you, I have over a thousand pages of case notes to look through. When will we start assigning people?”
“Tristan, they will try to bury us in paper work and red tape. Believe me when I say we are going to need every last person on this. Once this news breaks, we will feel a backlash like we’ve never felt before. You can still back out.”
“O Captain! My Captain!” was his only reply.
“Wish me luck?”
“From the man who believes you make your own luck?”
Too bad I didn’t feel like that man anymore.
THEA
“Ladies and gentlemen good evening, tonight we have breaking news out of Boston Massachusetts, where top criminal attorney, Levi Black, has now taken on the case of convicted murderer, Ben Walton.
“Seventeen years ago, Ben Walton was charged with the kidnapping, rape and murder of Boston socialite Savannah Van Allen… A charge that Mr. Black now wishes to overturn. In a statement to KYLM, Mr. Black says, ‘there is no doubt my mind that Ben Walton is an innocent man who did not receive a fair and just trial, as is his constitutional right, this is due to not only the blatant incompetence of the police, who did not follow basic protocol regarding the evidence, and but also his own legal representative. We are calling for a new trial and anyone who wants the truth and see due process done right should not be against this.’”
My phone rang nonstop, but I just couldn’t believe my ears as I listened to the radio. He was still going through with this?
“Hello?” I finally picked up the phone.
“Put the cereal down. Get out of your sweatpants, and get to the office now, this place is about to become a battlefield and it’s time for you to serve. This is why you wanted to become a lawyer, right? This is your big moment, so don’t be selfish and let your emotions get in the way of helping your dad. That is what you want, right?” Atticus yelled into the phone over the ruckus in the background.