Page 10 of Pursuit of Happiness

“Mr. Barkley, I understand you have not spoken to pretrialservices, nor have you completed the paperwork necessary for me to continue theappointment of the public defender’s office to your case. Do you plan to hire anattorney on your own?”

Barkley shifted in place, but he didn’t answer.

“You have every right not to speak to pretrial services, but Ican’t use taxpayer dollars to fund your defense until you do the minimumrequired of you to show you can’t afford to hire counsel.” Solomon leanedacross the bench and fixed Barkley with a hard stare. “Ms. Palmer is a fineattorney. If you want to keep her, complete the paperwork before you leave heretoday.”

“Yes, sir.”

Stevie watched the exchange with mixed feelings, but she didn’thave long to wonder what Barkley would decide. The rest of the proceeding wentlike clockwork. The judge set a date for trial in the spring and entered anorder denying bail. The minute he gaveled the hearing to a close, Barkley heldout his hand and said, “I need the form.”

She waited and watched while he filled it out, which didn’t takelong considering he had very few assets. His job had paid well, but it wasgone, and she imagined he’d lived like a lot of twenty-five-year-olds, thinkingthey’d save when they were much older. He handed the form to her withoutanother word, and merely nodded her way when the bailiff herded him into theholdover. Stevie watched him go wondering how the hell she was going to get himto open up to her. Frustrated, she gathered her things and walked out of thecourtroom with Emily following close behind.

“Was Solomon asking you about a motion for a competencyexamination?”

“Maybe.”

“The guy’s not incompetent, you know.”

“Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t.”

“Are you going to file?”

Stevie hunched her shoulders. “I haven’t decided. Are you goingto get me that early discovery?”

“I’ll try.”

“In the meantime, maybe you could tone down the rhetoric.‘Flagrant disregard’? If you talk like that to the press, they’ll skewer this guybefore he has a chance in court.”

“That’s my job.” Emily jabbed her shoulder. “Besides, you’ve saidmuch worse about my witnesses in the past.” She waved. “I’ve got to get back tothe office for a meeting. I’ll talk to you later.”

Stevie watched Emily go, reflecting on her words. She had saidbad things about government witnesses in the past when she needed to in orderto make her case. She liked to think she never stretched the truth too far outof recognition, but they all did what they had to do to advocate for theirclients. She supposed it was a little like politics, which led her back tothoughts of Meredith Mitchell. Despite having lived most of her life in DC,Stevie had never in a million years thought she’d be dating a politician,having written most of them off as fake and power hungry, but Meredith struckher as uniquely genuine.

You barelyeven know her.Her internal voice spoke the truth, but with it cameanother revelation, equally true.ButI’d like to.

Chapter Three

Stevie swatted away Hannah’s hand and reached for the zipperon her pants. She’d asked Hannah, the case coordinator for the PD’s office, tohelp her figure out what to wear to the wedding, and Hannah had taken ondressing her as her personal mission. “When I asked for your help, I meant bigpicture. I have the mechanics down.”

“Right. Sorry. I might be a bit of a micro manager.”

Stevie smiled. “I probably should’ve gotten a clue by the way youboss us all around at the office.” She started to turn toward the mirror, butHannah held her in place.

“Give me one more minute.” Hannah fiddled with her lapel and thenplaced a hand on each shoulder and turned her around. “Take a deep breath andthen tell me I’m the master of fashion.”

Stevie stared at her reflection, hardly able to believe thetransformation. She was no stranger to suits, but this midnight blue, vintagecut was next level. “Who am I and what have you done with the real SteviePalmer?”

“Oh, she’s still there,” Hannah said with a huge smile. “We justbrought out your inner movie star. Those stodgy politicians are going to diewhen you walk in the room. Just you wait. You’ll have every woman in the roomtrying to take you home.”

“Sounds great except for the fact…” Stevie let her voice trailoff. She was about to bring up the fact she was attending the wedding with adate, but was she, or was escorting Meredith Mitchell merely a matter ofconvenience? She hadn’t spoken to Meredith since their brief phone conversationearlier in the week followed up by a text to say she’d send a car to pick herup at five p.m. today. For all she knew, she was meeting Meredith at thewedding. What would Meredith tell people about who she was? An acquaintance?One of the many people who testified in front of the Senate JudiciaryCommittee? Stevie stared into the mirror. This wasn’t her. Why was shepretending to be something she wasn’t just because a pretty, accomplished womanhad coaxed her into it?

“I don’t think I should go,” she said, but her mumbleddeclaration was drowned out by the sound of her doorbell.

“Sounds like your chariot is here, and just in time.” Hannahbrushed a lock of hair off her forehead. “Any longer and you’d probably getwrinkled or spill something on yourself.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Stevie took a deep breathand braced for the evening ahead. She’d said she would go, and she always kepther word. Besides, there was no way she was going to disappoint Hannah bytugging off the outfit she’d so thoughtfully put together after consulting allthe current fashion mags. “I promise not to spill anything on my clothes. Atleast not until everyone is too drunk to notice.”

“That’s my girl. Now go get the door before your carriage turnsinto a pumpkin. I’ll lock up.”

Stevie squared her shoulders and strode to the door determined tobe confident. She swung the door open and was shocked to see Meredith standingon her front porch, dressed in a deep burgundy A-line, one shoulder gown.“Wow.”

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