Page 38 of Cause and Effect

“How? Never mind.” I sighed. “I forgot you said you can speed read. Are your children just as smart?”

“Every parent thinks their child is smart.” She smirked. “Stella, my ten-year-old takes after me. The twins are smart, but Stella is a little extra smart.”

Her phone rang. Pulling it from her purse, she answered it.

“Hello? Hello? Damn, telemarketers.” She sighed, ending the call.

“Listen, Laurel. I’m sorry about last night. I know you’re upset about it, and that’s the last thing I want.”

“You don’t have to apologize. It was as much my fault, and I apologize for being a psycho about it.”

“You were a little psycho, weren’t you?” A smirk crossed my lips.

“Don’t push it, Hamilton.”

While Laurel went to meet her new client, I met with mine. When I was finished, I headed to the room where Laurel was and heard yelling. Opening the door, I saw Laurel practically across the table.

“You listen to me, you sorry little punk ass. You call me names again, and I’ll make sure your case gets so far buried that you’re in prison for a very long time.”

“Yeah, right.” He laughed. “I’m not going to prison. So, fuck you.”

“You carjacked a woman at knifepoint. You’re looking at a sentence of up to nine years. The ADA is going for the maximum penalty because the woman was pregnant. I can get it reduced since you have no priors.”

“I said no prison time!” he shouted. “You deaf or something?”

“Apologize to her now,” I said.

“Fuck you.”

“Fuck me?” I reached across the table and grabbed the front of his orange jumpsuit.

“Who are you anyway?”

“The person who’s going to make sure you aren’t safe when you go to prison if you don’t apologize to Ms. Evans. I know a lot of people in prison who will do whatever I ask them to, either hurt or protect. So, it’s up to you.”

“I can’t go to prison.”

“You should have thought about that before carjacking that pregnant woman,” Laurel said.

“I wasn’t going to hurt her, and I didn’t know she was pregnant. I just needed her car. My mom is very sick, and I’m the only person she has. I had to go to Jersey to get some special medication for her. I couldn’t afford the cab fare. We barely have enough to pay for her meds. I’m sorry.”

“I’ll talk to the ADA and see what I can do.” Laurel stood up.

“Please. No prison time,” he said.

We left the room and walked over to where ADA Westin stood.

“ADA Westin? I’m Laurel Evans, the attorney for Joseph Jones.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Evans.” He smiled. “Julian.” He nodded.

“James.”

“My client is asking for no jail time.”

“Of course he is.” He chuckled. “They always do. Your client carjacked a pregnant woman at knifepoint. Trust me. He’s serving time.”

“He has no priors. That has to count for something,” Laurel said.

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