The Professor (McMurtrie and Drake Legal Thrillers #1)(39)

“Not at all,” Rick said, feeling a slight jump in his stomach. Just like in all outfits he’d seen her wear, Dawn looked good in pajamas. “I like your place,” he said, forcing his eyes away from her.

“Thanks,” Dawn said, getting up and beginning to put the food on a couple of plates. “We like it, but sometimes things can get pretty cramped. My mother...” She stopped for a second and looked up from the plate, her face red with embarrassment. “I live with my mother.”

“Oh,” Rick said, trying not to sound surprised but failing. He had assumed that Dawn’s mother had just come over for the night to keep Julie.

“Lame, huh?” Dawn asked.

“No... not at all,” Rick stammered. He fought to think of something to say that would ease the awkwardness of the moment. “I’m sure it’s nice having help with Julie.”

Dawn smiled. “It is nice. But still... a few years ago, I would never have expected I’d be living with my mother with a five year-old to care for.”

“And I would never have expected I’d have my own law office. I thought I’d be at Jones & Butler, bringing in eighty Gs, driving a sports car and living in a bachelor pad in Homewood. Hamming it up with Julian Witt and standing in line to kiss Jameson Tyler’s ass. Instead, I live in the same apartment I lived in while I was in law school, and I barely make enough to cover the bills. That’s just–” he stopped, knowing he’d probably said too much “–that’s life, I guess.”

“So what’s the deal with you and Tyler anyway? Did you clerk at Jones & Butler or something?”

“Both summers,” Rick said. “After my first and second years, and got an offer after the second, which I accepted. And then...” Rick squinted at her. “Come on. I’m sure you’ve seen the YouTube video they were talking about.”

“Sure, I’ve seen it,” she said. “But there’s gotta be more to it than that, right? I mean, the way...” She stopped, and Rick looked away, feeling heat on the back of his neck.

“I’m sorry,” Dawn said, and Rick felt her touch his shoulder. “I can tell it’s a sore subject, and it’s none of my business.” She shrugged. “Curiosity got the cat.”

Rick again looked over at her, wanting to tell her but feeling a twinge of fear. He liked Dawn. In just three days of working together, he already felt a connection with her. She was smart, funny and easy to be around. Everything you could want in a law clerk.

“You really want to know?” Rick asked.

Dawn looked at him, her eyes kind. She nodded. “But only if you want to tell.”

Rick looked down at the floor. He had never told this story to anyone, not even his parents. He saw the hallway in his mind, and felt the heat behind his eyes and on the back of his neck. He had been so angry. If the Professor had just let him get out of there...

Rick sighed, feeling that terrible mixture of disappointment, failure and anger again. Then he started talking.





27


“I was on the trial team at Alabama. The Professor’s team. I never dreamed I’d make it, much less be one of the advocates. My second year of law school, I was a bull in a china shop. My best friend, Powell, was much smoother, and when the Professor teamed me and Powell together, that sort of relaxed me. Let me be myself. I don’t know, it just worked. I started coming into my own. We cruised through all our practice matches and Regionals was a breeze. We killed Stetson in the finals in New Orleans.

“Then in the spring, we competed for the National Championship in Washington DC. We won our first four matches easily, and faced Georgetown in the semis.

“To this day, I can’t say what really happened. I know the judge was awful. From the get-go, he seemed to overrule all of our objections and sustain all of Georgetown’s. And I couldn’t stand that team – they had two girls, and one was very annoying. Red hair, freckles, a little hefty, and a nasal voice that made you cringe, but the judge adored her.

“At one point, he sustained one of her hearsay objections. I argued that the statement I was trying to get in – essentially a confession by the defendant to the crime – was an admission by party-opponent, which is one of the recognized exceptions to hearsay. He said it was hearsay and sustained the damn objection. He was so obviously wrong, and it was going to cost us the trial. We were the prosecution that round, and we had to have the defendant’s confession as part of our case in chief.

“I just lost it. I told the Judge that I was astonished. Then I accused him of favoring the other team and asked that he recuse himself from the trial. The Judge stared at me for a long time. I looked at Powell, and his face told me all I needed to know. I had blown it.

“Anyway, the Judge threatened to hold me in contempt if I had another outburst. I quickly apologized and went on. The rest of the trial was uneventful. I actually thought my closing was the best I had ever done. But in the end, all five judges voted for Georgetown, each reminding me that a good lawyer had to keep his cool. Judges make honest mistakes all the time, and my outburst would have cost me a real trial. They just couldn’t send us on.

“I was inconsolable. Powell tried to talk to me, but I couldn’t handle it. I’d let him down. Let everybody down. I just wanted out of there. The Professor yelled something to me as I opened the door, but I didn’t stop. When I got out in the hallway, I felt someone grab my arm, and it was, well, sort of instinctive. I was... so... mad. I’m not even sure my eyes were open when I swung the punch. I hit him, but he didn’t even look fazed. His face turned red, and all he said was... I’ll never forget it... he said, ‘You’re a hothead, Drake. A liability in the courtroom.’”