Body of Evidence (Marcus Douglas 2)

Scott looked at his wife, but didn’t comment.

He opened the door and left the house. When the door slammed, Panthea said, “Asshole.”

She returned to her spot in the living room. She picked up the book she was reading and flipped through the pages until she found the page she was on. Panthea started to read, but shortly thereafter closed the book. This definitely wasn’t the time to relax with a good book. Her usual relax-and-let-things-work-themselves-out-to-my-advantage style just wouldn’t do this time. No, this time a plan was needed.

Panthea thought that her days of scheming and planning were behind her. She got up and made her way to the kitchen knowing that they weren’t. After pouring herself a glass of wine, Panthea went upstairs and ran a bath. While the water ran, she lit the candles she had around the tub. Once the water was the right temperature, she turned off the lights, took off her clothes and got in.

While she sipped her wine and the warmth of the water caressed her body, Panthea thought about what she was going to do. There really wasn’t much to think about in that regard, she already knew what she was going to do.

“He wants to be with somebody else, fine. Let’s see how much she wants him when he’s broke,” she said aloud.

Scott was having an affair and she was sure of it. Panthea was so sure she could feel it. But her feeling it wasn’t going be enough, she had to have proof. But how do I prove it? she wondered. She could follow him when he goes out, and do what?

“Whip the bitch’s ass?”

Panthea quickly dismissed that idea as being way too ghetto. However the plan to follow him was sound, only she wouldn’t be the one doing the hard work. She would hire a private investigator to follow Scott and get pictures of him out with his woman.

So it was decided, but the only private investigator that Panthea knew was Patrick Davenport, and he was a friend of Scott’s. Since Patrick had been trying to seduce her behind Scott’s back for years, she was sure he wouldn’t tell.

“Especially if he thought I’d give him some of this kat,” Panthea said, laughing. She took another sip.

Panthea knew that was out of the question, because she didn’t want that animal ever dreaming he had a chance to be intimate with her. She thought about asking him for a recommendation, but there would be questions she wouldn’t want to answer and wouldn’t feel like lying about. She could always use the yellow pages, but then it hit her. Since she would end up going to a lawyer anyway, why not go to a lawyer first and let them use their own investigator. And at that instance, Panthea knew just who she wanted to hire as her lawyer. She had seen him on television about a year before while he was defending a man on trial for murder. He was so fine, and each night she would watch the evening news just to see him to discuss the trial.

His name was Marcus Douglas.

Two days later, Panthea found herself sitting in the lobby of Marcus’s office. His personal secretary, Janise had told her when she made the appointment that Mr. Douglas doesn’t handle divorce cases anymore, but Panthea insisted that she had to speak with him personally.

“I think it would be best if I discuss my case with Mr. Douglas first,” she stated.

And once she explained that her husband was a prominent real estate developer and hinted at the added complexities involved, Janise made the appointment.

Panthea sat patiently in the lobby dressed in Prada from head to toe. She wore a sleeveless, sky blue and ivory Prada dress, made in Italy from one hundred percent premium silk. Her hair was tied in the back to accent the halter neckline. On her feet, she wore Prada satin peep-toe ricamo stilettos, which had beaded and metallic threading detail that the covered heels. On her lap sat a Prada black nappa leather handbag with a signature lock, zippered side pockets and buckle-detailed shoulder strap. Panthea was ready to see her new lawyer.

Marcus Douglas sat in his office finishing up a few observations he had made while the researching the United States Supreme Court’s 1986 ruling in the case of Batson v. Kentucky. In that case, the defendant was convicted of burglary and receipt of stolen goods in a Louisville, Kentucky circuit court by a jury composed entirely of white jurors. The court had ruled that a prosecutor's use of peremptory challenges, the dismissal of jurors without stating a valid cause for doing so, may not be used to exclude jurors based solely on their race. The court ruled that the practice violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

At the time, Marcus was in the jury selection phase of a murder trial, in which he believed that the prosecutor was attempting to do just that. He glanced over at his appointment calendar and picked up the phone to call Janise.

“Yes, Marcus,” she answered.

“Tell me again; why am I meeting with Mrs. Daniels?”

Janise glanced at Panthea and smiled. “Because she insisted that she had to explain her situation to you—personally.”

“Yeah, I know, you told me. I know who her husband is, more who he thinks he is. It’s still a divorce, messy, but still a divorce.”

“I think you’ll find Mrs. Daniels to be a very persuasive woman,” Janise replied.

“And she’s aware that I can only give her ten minutes?”

“She understands that you're a busy man.”

“Okay, Janise, I’ll listen to what she has to say, but since Gibson is gonna be her divorce lawyer, tell him to expect her. You can send her in now.”

Just as Janise opened the door, Marcus put away his notes and was about to stand up to greet Panthea, bu

t the phone rang. He picked up the phone and waved to Janise to bring her in. Marcus grabbed a pen and began speaking.

“Go ahead, Tiffanie, I’m ready,” he said. “Brown versus New Jersey. I got it. Thanks, Tiffanie,” he said just before hanging up.