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Dear Diary:October 24 th

I’m back home tonight after spending a night in jail. It was a really scary situation.

I was kept in what they call segregation. That protected me from the thugs in general population. If this is what jail for juveniles is like, prison for adults must be a nightmare.

I had a really good lawyer. He knew the other lawyer, a woman named Jennifer something. And he knew the judge. My lawyer’s name is Marc Kadella and he is super good. Mother tried to run things but he, Marc, wouldn’t let her.

I was never so embarrassed in my life. I had to stand in front of the judge, Eason, and plead not guilty. There I was dressed like a girl when the clerk read off my name as Robert. I wanted to crawl in a hole. When she said my name there was laughter coming from the crowd. The judge even had to rap his wood hammer a couple times to shut them up.

The judge read me my rights and asked if I understood them. They talked about bail. The judge said $5000. Mother Dear wrote them a check and we got out of there.

“I have good news and bad news,” Marc told Robbie and Priscilla.

After making bail they had taken the elevator down to the second-floor atrium of the government center. Marc led them to a secluded place to talk to let them know what was going on.

“I was going to get witness statements from everyone who was in the study hall at the time. I hoped that if they all gave the same story, self-defense, we could get this dismissed. From what Jennifer Moore told me…”

“She is?” Priscilla asked.

“The prosecutor. The young woman who was in court this morning.”

“Okay,” Priscilla said. “What did she tell you?”

“The county attorney himself, Craig Slocum, is a personal friend of Harold Lane, the bully’s father. From what Jennifer told me, Lane’s trophy wife, the mother, is kicking Harold’s ass to go for the death penalty.”

“What!?” Robbie asked.

“Relax. We don’t have it and you won’t get it for third degree assault.

“On top of that, Slocum has a grudge against me, personally,” Marc said.

“Why?” Priscilla asked.

“We did a serious case against each other last year. The serial killer case,” Marc told them.

“I remember it,” Priscilla said .

“Slocum tried the case himself. He convinced himself that when he won that case, he would be the next governor. He lost and was furious about it. Still is. And worse, it turned out that the guy was really guilty and I got him acquitted. That made Craig Slocum look even worse.

“Because of that you may want someone else. I can easily get you a new lawyer…”

“I want you,” Robbie said.

“…but that wouldn’t solve the problem. Slocum still has to kiss the butts of his buddy’s law firm. Rockford, Bass is a big, politically connected firm.”

“So, a different lawyer…” Priscilla started to say.

“I want Marc,” Robbie said again.

Priscilla continued by saying, “…won’t make much difference.”

“Probably not,” Marc said.

“Then we want you to stay,” Priscilla said. “If you will.”

“I will. It’s settled then,” Marc said.

“Okay, what’s the good news?” Priscilla asked.

“That was the good news. I need to hire an investigator to get witness statements,” Marc said.

“Do you know one?”

“I know a couple of really good ones. But, they’re not cheap. She is less expensive than me. It’s better to let her chase down witnesses than me and she’s better at it.”

“She?” Priscilla asked.

“Trust me, people love talking to her. They’ll tell her their life story if she asks,” Marc answered.

“You’re going to need more money,” Priscilla said.

“Afraid so yes.”

“How much?” Priscilla asked.

“We’ll see. The retainer is enough for now. Madeline will get the witness statements. Hopefully, we’ll be able to use them to get a dismissal.

“Robbie, I want the names and any information you can get about who was there when this happened. Names, addresses, phone numbers, things like that. As soon as you can. Tomorrow is not too soon. ”

“Okay, I’ll do that,” Robbie said. “I won’t have them all until after school tomorrow.”

“Call me if you need anything and when you have the list.”

“We’ll drop them off tomorrow after school,” Priscilla said looking at Marc with a lustful eye when she said it.

That afternoon, Robbie entered the library/study hall at the normal 3:00 o’clock . He removed an 8 ⒈／⒉ x 11 tablet of paper from his backpack. While the rest of the students came in, Robbie was busy writing their names down.

“What are you doing?” his tablemate, Stephanie asked.

“What’s your phone number?” Robbie asked instead of answering.

“Why?” Stephanie asked then gave it to him.

“Making a list for my lawyer,” Robbie answered. “Everyone who was here and saw what happened.”

“I can’t believe this. They’re charging you with a crime,” Stephanie said.

At that moment, Alex and his shadow, Kevin/Emily walked into the study hall. The door was three rows back directly behind their table.

“Dyke patrol,” Stephanie whispered.

When Alex reached Robbie’s table, Alex bent down and snarled, “Did you enjoy your night in jail? Get used to it, bitch.”

Robbie leaned back in his chair, looked up at Alex, smiled and asked, “How’s the nose?”

It was still heavily bandaged and both eyes quite black and blue. Still smiling, Robbie said, “It looks good on you. A major improvement.”

“Move along, Carla. You too, Emily,” they heard Ms. Gillian say from behind them.

Alex had been prepared to say it before Ms. Gillian spoke. Instead, with his body blocking her vision, he held his right hand in his front. Alex gave Robbie a nasty look then flashed his middle finger.

Robbie just shook his head, continued to smile and ignored it .

Ten o’clock the next day, Marc was at his desk reviewing a case file. He was representing a twenty-year old college student accused of rape. The young man, already expelled from the University of Minnesota without a hearing, swears it was consensual. Except in this day and age, especially at liberal colleges and universities, guilty until proven innocent was the standard.

His client was the son of a business owner client of one of Marc’s officemates. Chris Grafton had a nice corporate and business practice with clients ranging from small to medium size. Deathly afraid of courtrooms, Chris was a source of litigation clients for Marc and another lawyer, Barry Cline.

“Maddy’s back, Maddy’s back,” Marc heard a couple members of the staff yell out.

Maddy was Madeline Rivers, a private investigator. She was also an ex-cop from Chicago, who did something foolish. Maddy posed for Playboy magazine. Cops, having the maturity toward this equal to ten-year old boys, mercilessly drove her out of Chicago.

She moved to Minneapolis, got a P.I. license, made friends easily and was earning a good living. Maddy was also blessed or cursed, depending on how one looked at it, with stop traffic looks. At five feet ten inches, a hundred-thirty-pound head turning body, auburn hair, blue-eyes, she could make most men and a lot of women, sit up and bark like a seal.

The first time Marc met her; he came close to swallowing his tongue. She came to work for him by way of a mutual friend. Another ex-cop, P.I. Tony Carvelli. Maddy was also capable of defending herself in almost any situation.

When he heard the ruckus in the office, Marc simply continued to peruse his file. Maddy had to make the rounds to say hello to everyone before she joined him.

Marc’s door was open so she strolled in. She closed the door behind her and sat down in a client chair.

“Hi,” Marc said without looking up.

“Hi to you,” she replied.

Marc finally looked up at her and said, “I have more work for you. Do you have something for me? ”

“Yep, I do,” she replied.

“You first,” Marc said.

“I only have work product notes, so far. If you want, I can get you complete witness statements,” she said.

“Hold that thought. I might want them. I’ll let you know. Give me the Cliff Notes version,” Marc said.

“The girl’s a total slut,” Maddy said speaking of the victim in Marc’s rape case.

“That was succinct.”

“The more friends of hers I talk to, the worse it gets. You want the good news first?”

“Okay.”

“I have two of her friends who said they are willing to testify that your victim, Kendra Barker, told them she wanted to, quote, fuck Branson Fellows so she could claim rape, sue him and make a bundle of money.”

“You have this…”

“Recorded. The girls thought what she was doing was disgusting and she needs to be stopped.”

“Did you interview them separately?”

“Yes, I did,” Maddy said.

“Get that typed up and signed. Will they do that? Sign a statement?”

“Yes, or they said they would,” Maddy replied. “I have others who say she’s, well, not the most chaste girl.”

“Let’s start with the two who will sign statements about what she said.

“I have this for you,” Marc said handing her Robbie’s list.

Maddy knew what the case was about and even most of the details. Marc explained the list then sent her off to hear what they had to say.

When interviewing a potential witness, you don’t write up a detailed statement. That would be something to share with the prosecution. Maddy Rivers knew her business about writing reports.