“We can do this any way you want to, Panthea,” Marcus assured her. It was obvious to him that she was shaken, more so than he thought she would be.
“I like the way you say my name, Marcus.”
Panthea was definitely giving him the impression that she had resigned herself of her husband’s actions and was ready to move on. Move on with him.
Panthea sat still and quiet in her chair as Marcus told her that her husband Scott met a woman on the previous afternoon for lunch. “After lunch, they went to the Ritz Carlton hotel and checked into a room.”
“May I see those pictures now, please?” Panthea asked.
While Marcus explained the rest of the details, Panthea looked at the pictures slowly. When she got to the picture of the woman, she stopped and stared at it for a long time. Panthea placed the picture on top of the pile and studied the rest of them.
“Panthea,” Marcus said after a long silence.
“I wasn’t listening, Marcus, what did you say?”
“Are you all right?”
“I’m all right, I was prepared for this. I just wasn’t expecting it today that’s all,” she said while staring at the woman’s picture.
“Can I get you something?”
“No, Marcus. I’m fine. Really,” Panthea said finally looking up from the woman's picture.
“If you need to talk about it, maybe we could have dinner?”
“Not tonight, Marcus. I don’t think I’ll be good company for you.” Panthea stood up. “It’s not every day that you see your husband’s mistress.”
7
It had been three days since Marcus showed Panthea the pictures of Scott and his mistress—three days since she walked out of his office. He had Janise call and leave a message to call the office at her earliest convenience. Marcus had called a couple of times, but he chose not to leave a message. To this point, Panthea had not returned his calls.
After they had dinner together and enjoyed being with one another so much, Marcus had allowed himself to become comfortable with the idea that Panthea would eventually become a great love for him. One that would fill the void left by Carmen’s absence, but now it seemed that he was wrong.
Marcus could understand how Panthea was feeling. When it was his turn to find out about his cheating spouse, the results weren’t good. Once the dust settled and his life got back to normal, Marcus found himself in a deep depression that dragged on for weeks.
With hopes of seeing Panthea quickly fading, Marcus did what he always did when his personal life went south, he buried himself in work.
Marcus looked around the conference room and then to Tiffanie Powers, one of the lawyers at his firm. He had always been impressed with Tiffanie and the work that she’d done for the firm. At a time when the firm was starting to experience some growth, Marcus looked for somebody who was willing to step up and assume a greater role. When that time came, Tiffanie stepped up.
“Some people might think that is the definition of a partner,” she said.
“Damn your ambitious, Tiffanie. But let's see how this works out before we start talking partner,” Marcus said at the time.
Since then, Tiffanie had assumed several supervisory responsibilities. Ones which prior to that point had been performed by Marcus, and he was starting to think that maybe the time had come to make Tiffanie a partner.
That morning, he and Tiffanie had been reviewing a murder case she was preparing to try.
“The unlawful killing of another person without premeditation or so-called malice aforethought, is distinguished from murder by lack of any prior intention to kill anyone or create a deadly situation,” Tiffanie said.
“Which levels of manslaughter, voluntary or involuntary?”
“Let’s look at the difference. Voluntary manslaughter includes killing in heat of passion or while committing a felony. Involuntary manslaughter occurs when a death is caused by a violation of a non-felony, like vehicular manslaughter.”
“I know the law, Tiffanie,” Marcus informed her. “Let’s get to the facts.”
“Right. Our client, Eddy Trotter, gets into a drunken argument in a bar with Robert Boone, who he met that night at the bar. Trotter hits Boone over the head with a beer bottle, causing internal bleeding and death. After which he tries to get out of the bar and is surprised by a security man, whom Trotter knocks down a flight of stairs, killing him.”