Page 23 of Precise Justice

“I’m going to sue all of you!” Priscilla angrily yelled.

“Yes, ma’am,” Jennifer said. “You need to get a lawyer. If you can’t afford one, one will be appointed. There will be a public defender available at his appearance tomorrow morning. I’m sure bail will be set, then you can take him home.

“Here’s my card,” Jennifer said while writing something on the back of it.

“That’s my home number. If you retain a lawyer today, I’ll be home this evening. He or she can call me at the number on the back if he or she wishes.”

By now, because Jennifer had acted so professionally, Priscilla had calmed down. Robbie was crying and scared witless.

Jennifer turned to the detective and said, “Tony, read him his rights.”

TEN

Marc Kadella was home early this evening. Marc and his wife Karen were separated and divorcing. Karen was having an affair with her boss, a partner in an investment firm. He made a lot more money––mid six figures––than a solo practitioner criminal defense lawyer. Karen was always a “grass is always greener” somewhere else type. Like most women who behave like that, especially for money, Karen would eventually find out that more money was not going to make her happier.

Marc had finished his dinner and rinsed the dishes for the apartment’s dishwasher. Looking forward to a quiet night in front of the TV, his hope for a lazy evening was about to be disrupted. The phone rang and he answered it.

“Mr. Kadella, this is your answering service. I have a message for you.”

“Okay, go ahead,” Marc said.

“A woman called asking for you. She gave her name as Barbara Bivens. She is a lawyer with a firm in downtown Minneapolis.

“She is calling with a criminal referral on behalf of a friend. She, Ms. Bivens, does not do criminal defense.

“Ms. Bivens asked that you call her back yet this evening,”

“Okay. What’s the number?”

Marc had, in the recent past, defended a man accused of being a serial killer. Of course, this case generated an enormous amount of publicity, enough so that Marc was in the enviable position of being able to pick and choose the cases he wanted. Which meant mostly paying clients only.

He even won the serial killer trial obtaining an acquittal for the man. Subsequent events proved the client was, in fact, guilty. The psycho attacked Marc’s investigator in her apartment after the case. The investigator, an ex-Chicago cup, threw the client out of a bay window and to his death eight stories below.

The fact that he was guilty and Marc got him off only made Marc’s newly formed star shine a little brighter. Still, when another lawyer wants to refer a case, courtesy requires listening.

“Barbara Bivens, please,” Marc said when she answered her phone.

“This is she, Mr. Kadella?” she answered and asked.

“Marc, please,” he said.

“Okay, Marc. Thanks for calling back,” Bivens said.

“What can I do for you?” Marc asked.

“What would you like to know?” she asked. “I have a case I’d like you to consider. I don’t do criminal defense at all. After that serial killer case, you must be getting swamped with calls.”

“I’m as busy as I want to be,” Marc said. “Tell me what you have.”

Five minutes later Marc knew everything Bivens knew.

“Okay. Let me make sure I understand this. The client is a middle school boy transitioning into becoming a girl. The victim is a middle school girl transitioning into becoming a boy. Am I right so far?”

“Yep, you got it,” Bivens said.

“They got into a squabble at school, at Wheaton, the boy trans got the better of it and he’s, do I still refer to him as he?”

“Okay with me,” Bivens said.