Every Reasonable Doubt (6 page)

I
left work around four so I could spend some quality time with my husband while I still had some time left to share with him.

We were sitting at the kitchen table finishing up some
lard na
noodles with chicken,
pad
prik
green beans, and vegetable spring rolls delivered by our favorite Thai restaurant. The house was quiet, except for the soothing vibes from an old Maxell CD.

“I always thought married life would mean I’d get a home-cooked meal every night and wild sex 24/7,” Jefferson joked, stuffing half of a spring roll into his mouth.

I leaned across the table and kissed him on the forehead. “Well, somebody lied to you big time, baby. Because we ain’t Ozzie and Harriet and it ain’t 1955.”

“That’s cold. Y’all rope a brother in with regular home-cooked meals and nonstop sex, then you pull a bait ‘n switch. You used to cook for me all the time when we were dating.”

“What can I say? Next time I guess you better get it in writing.”

He grinned. “So how’s work?” I could tell Jefferson had something on his mind. He was just trying to find the right moment to strike.

“Fine,” I said.

He put down his fork and pushed his chair back from the table. “I see you haven’t started using that ovulation kit yet.”

Damn. Back to the baby stuff.

I took my time chewing my green beans. They were extra spicy tonight. “Jefferson, I can’t get pregnant just like that,” I said, snapping my fingers. “I have to go off birth control first.”

“So when’s that going to happen?” His arms were tightly folded across his chest, which made his biceps more pronounced. I remember learning in my freshman psych class that this posture communicated defensiveness.

“As soon as I make an appointment with my gynecologist,” I said.

“And when’s that going to happen?”

“As soon as I get some time.”

“And when do you plan to make some–”

I held up my hand. “Jefferson don’t do this. You know I want kids, too, but you can’t expect it to happen overnight.”

“Why not?” He had purposely lowered his deep baritone

Hell if I know.
“Because I have a job that requires me to plan something like this.”

He stared at me without blinking. “Have you told them we’re thinking about having a baby?”

“Of course not. And when I do tell them, it’ll be after I’m already pregnant.” I stuck a fork full of
lard na
noodles into my mouth so I’d have a reason not to talk.

We continued to eat in painful silence.

Jefferson stood up and walked over to the sink and began rinsing his plate. “You know, I’ve been waiting for you to just tell me the truth,” he said.

“What are you talking about?”

“Just go ahead and admit that you don’t want to get pregnant instead of stalling and beating around the bush like you’re doing now.”

Unfortunately, Jefferson knew me like a book. “I do want children…I’m just not sure I want any right now.”

He didn’t say anything at first. Then he tucked his bottom lip between his teeth, something he only did when he was pissed. “Okay,” he said slowly. “If you don’t want kids now, when do you want them?”

“I don’t know,” I snapped. If I gave him a time frame, he would hold me to it.

I looked down at my food, but I could feel his frustration without even seeing his face. “This is starting all over again,” he said, trying to temper his anger. “I thought you had your priorities in order after leaving Brandon & Bass. But it looks like our marriage is being pushed off to the side again.”

“That’s not true.” I didn’t want to look at him, so I picked up one of the Styrofoam containers and dumped more green beans onto my plate even though I had lost my appetite. I wanted to run from the room, or maybe even the house.

“Sure seems like it to me.” He marched back over to the table and sat down again.

“I don’t want to argue, Jefferson.”

“We’re not arguing. This is a discussion.”

I inhaled. “Having a baby is a big decision. It’s my body that’s going to blow up like an elephant for nine months. It’s my life that’s going to change.”

“You know I’ll be there helping you every step of the way.”

“Yeah, like when I’m having morning sickness and I have a brief to write, a deposition to take and a client to interview. I’m sure you’ll be right there feeling all my pain.”

“So it is all about the job,” he said accusingly.

“No, it isn’t. But you act like I can just walk away from what I do. We need two paychecks to pay the mortgage on this house.”

My statement was not intended to say he wasn’t an adequate provider, but the quick flinch of his left eye told me he had interpreted it that way.

“So you’re saying you’d quit your job if I could handle paying all the bills? Because if that’s what it takes, I can make it happen. The rental income from the duplex in Gardena my grandmother left me could easily cover your half of the mortgage.”

“I’m not quitting my job, Jefferson,” I said. “I didn’t go to law school so I could stay home and bake cookies.”

“Nobody’s asking you to stay home and bake cookies. Anyway, you told me your firm gives you four months paid maternity leave. So, it’s not about the money then, is it?”

When the hell did I tell you that? And why did I tell you that?
“Jefferson, I can’t make a life-changing decision like this overnight. Just give me some time.”

“I’m not asking you to make a decision overnight.” The way his nostrils flared told me he was getting even more upset. “We’ve been talking about this for months, except every time I bring it up, you want to put it off. Well, we ain’t putting it off any longer.”

I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him this mad. I didn’t like where this conversation was going. It would be a mistake for either one of us to put an ultimatum on the table. “Jefferson, I just need some time,” I pleaded.

“Okay, you want time, how much time do you need? We don’t have a lot of time to play with. You’re 32, I’m 36. I want to be able to enjoy my kids while I’m still young.”

I pushed my plate away. The pungent odor of the food was suddenly making me nauseous. “I know lots of women who have babies in their forties,” I said.

His body tensed. “I’m not waiting eight years to be a father.” His statement sounded like a threat.

“I’m not asking you to wait that long. I just—”

“Just forget it.” He got up from the table and headed for the den. “Take all the time you need.”

I followed after him and joined him on the couch. I tried to find the words to make him understand my point of view, but before I could speak, the telephone rang. It was Special.

“Girl, can you believe it? That woman murdered her fine-ass husband!”

“What are you talking about?”

“The wife of that rich, fine-ass Max Montgomery. They just showed her on TV. They brought her in for questioning in her husband’s death. And I just know she did it. That boy was a big time ho. He even tried to hit on me once. I was at this pool party up in Bel Air and I was wearing these shocking pink hot pants and he—”

“Wait,” I said, running into the bedroom to turn on the TV. I hoped Jefferson didn’t follow me. This was not the way I wanted him to find out about the Montgomery case.

It seemed to take forever for a picture to appear on the television screen. “You saw Tina Montgomery on the news?” I asked, as I paced in front of the TV.

“Yep. Standing right out in front of Parker Center.”

I held the phone between my ear and shoulder and frantically pressed the remote, switching from channel to channel. “What station is it on?”

“Eleven. And her attorney is that chick from your firm. The one you don’t like with the country-ass name who always looks like she wants to bite somebody.”

My blood began to boil. “Neddy?”

“Yep. A reporter was interviewing her. Girl, you need to help that sister with some makeup tips. She didn’t even have any lipstick on. And it looked like Stevie Wonder did her hair. Give that girl Shawnta’s number so she can hook her up with some extensions. She can’t be going around looking like that. Don’t she know she’s representing her people?”

I could hardly think. “What did she say?”

“The typical lawyer nonsense y’all are always spouting. ‘My client’s innocent. Justice will prevail.’ Yada, yada yada.”

“I can’t find it,” I said.

“Girl, the story’s over now. Your girl claimed her client was only brought in for questioning. But that’s a straight-up lie. They could’ve of questioned her ass at home. Homegirl’s about to go down.”

I was so mad I was seeing red, black, and purple. I kept channel surfing in the hope that another station was running the story, but no luck. “This is that case I was telling you about the other day at Friday’s,” I said.

“No shit! Then why weren’t you out there talking to the media with your client?”

“I don’t know,” I said, still stunned. “But I’m damn sure going to find out.”

T
he first thing I did when I arrived at the office the next morning was check my voice mail. I’d checked it right after I got off the telephone with Special and again during my drive into the office, but I wanted to check it one more time just to make sure Neddy hadn’t tried to call me. I suffered through three lengthy new messages to find out that she had not.

I glanced at my watch. It was 8:15. Neddy was usually in by 7:30. I’d already stopped by her office twice. She was probably avoiding me. And it was a good thing she was. I still needed more time to calm myself down before confronting her. No need for me to be facing a murder charge, too. Before I could decide whether to visit her office a third time, Neddy walked into mine.

I didn’t give her a chance to speak. “Is there a reason you didn’t let me know
our
client was being brought in for questioning last night?” I asked with mucho attitude in my voice.

As usual, Neddy was grim-faced and distant. “Everything happened really fast last night. When I got the call from Tina she was already on her way to the police station so I had to just rush down there.”

I stood up, but remained standing behind my desk. “You could’ve called me.”

She closed the door and walked over near my desk. Maybe things were about to get ugly.

“I knew you had already left the office and I didn’t have your home number,” she said, her look as unpleasant as the tone of her voice.

“You could’ve left me a voice mail message,” I replied.

She raised her eyes to the ceiling, like I was annoying her.

I just glared back at her. I was so hot I was scared I might do something crazy, like reach over and start choking her.

“Look,” she said finally, “I don’t have time for this territorial bullshit. If you want to be on TV, I’ll make sure the next interview is yours. I didn’t even want to talk to them but they ambushed us.”

“It’s not about being on TV, it’s about being included.” I couldn’t believe Neddy was trying to act like excluding me was no big deal. I had to let her know that I would not stand for her blowing me off. “If we’re going to be working together, then that’s exactly what we should do. Work together. I don’t know what kinda stuff you’re going through but—”

“Who says I’m going through anything?” The worried look on her face mirrored the panic in her voice. I smiled inside. It was nice to finally find a pressure point. The woman did not like having her business in the street.

I paused, careful not to disclose anything O’Reilly had shared with me. “You must be going through something because you’re always walking around here like somebody’s got a foot up your ass.”

Her body language told me she was willing to take that shot only because she could see I was too hot to be played with. “Nothing’s going on. I’m fine.”

“I’d appreciate it if you’d include me in anything else dealing with this case from now on.”

“No problem.”

She made a move toward the door, then stopped. “I forgot to mention it,” she said, trying to sound matter-of-fact, “but I hired an investigator the day after we met with Tina to gather some background information on her husband. Can you stop by my place tonight to go over what he’s come up with so far? I really need to get out of the office.”

Forgot to mention it!

My lips were perfectly poised to spew some hateful words that I probably would’ve regretted later when O’Reilly barged through the closed door of my office.

“Didn’t I tell you!” he said, throwing a copy of the
L.A. Times
in the middle of my desk. “You two are about to become household names. When you get the first book deal, just make sure you thank me in the foreword.”

I picked up the newspaper as Neddy walked over to get a closer look. The headline on page one of the California section read UNIQUE DREAM TEAM IN MONTGOMERY MURDER CASE. The article went on to explain that Tina Montgomery had retained two of L.A.’s finest African-American female litigators to represent her, even though she had yet to be charged in her husband’s murder. It tracked our legal careers, including my big win in the Hayes case and a series of victories Neddy had at the P.D.’s office and more recently at O’Reilly & Finney. The article even noted that I attended Compton High School and that Neddy was raised on the south side of Chicago. The picture of Neddy looked pretty decent. The one they had of me made my face look bloated.

The article was even more complimentary of my legal talent than the ones following the Hayes verdict. If this case proceeded to trial, we really could end up being celebrity lawyers.

“How did they get this story?” Neddy asked. She eyed O’Reilly suspiciously, as if she were the boss, not the other way around.

He responded with a broad, telling smile.

“You actually leaked this stuff to the
Times
?” she asked in disbelief.

“I wouldn’t exactly call it a leak,” he grinned. “I just happened to mention it to a friend whose wife is on the paper’s editorial staff
.
”

“O’Reilly, c’mon!” Neddy scolded. “We need to be thinking about the best interests of our client. Tina hasn’t even been charged with anything yet.”

“And that’s exactly what the story says,” O’Reilly said defensively.

Neddy looked down at the article again, then back up at O’Reilly. “This story pumps us up like we’re some magical saviors. Everybody’s going to think Tina’s guilty because she hired us. You’re already poisoning our potential jury pool.”

“There’s nothing about this article that causes any harm to Tina Montgomery’s defense. You two should be ecstatic about it.” His face was lit up like a Christmas tree. “Do you know what kind of advance Marcia Clark got for her book deal after the O.J. trial? Millions. I bet she’s still pulling down ten or twenty grand a pop for speaking engagements. And I don’t even have to tell you how that case made Johnnie Cochran a household name.”

“The firm pays us quite well, thank you,” Neddy quipped, but there was nothing but cynicism in her voice.

“Lighten up, Neddy. Your life’s about to change—dramatically. You two are about to become members of the legal elite.”

I tossed the newspaper on the desk. I agreed with Neddy regarding O’Reilly’s big mouth, but just the same, I felt a tinkle of excitement about the attention. “I hope we don’t get too famous,” I joked. “I can’t have any paparazzi stalking me to the grocery store.”

“Well, I can’t promise you that.” O’Reilly grabbed the newspaper. “I have to go talk to the folks in marketing to see how much mileage we can get from this.” Few firms our size had three full-time people dedicated solely to marketing and publicity.

“Do you know how many clients are going to be coming through the door because of this article?” O’Reilly winked as he left the room. “Just get ready.”

Neither Neddy nor I said a word for the first few seconds after O’Reilly’s departure.

“So where were we?” she said finally. “Can you stop by my place tonight?”

O’Reilly’s interruption had allowed my anger to dissipate some, but seeing Neddy standing there looking like an irate schoolmarm recharged my engines.

“Yeah, I can make it, but we have some things we need to get straight first.”

Her hands flew defensively to her hips. “You don’t need to keep harping on this. Let’s just focus on representing our client.”

I couldn’t believe her gall. She was trying to screw me and expected me to act like I enjoyed it. “I’d be perfectly willing to do that if you’d remember that Tina is
our
client, not just yours,” I said.

“How long do we have to keep rehashing this?” Her voice was louder and sharper than before. “I already apologized for not calling you.”

“Excuse me? I don’t remember you apologizing.”

She threw up her hands. “You’re really blowing this thing all out of proportion.”

I took a step closer to her. Our faces were only inches apart and I saw a troubling weariness in her eyes. “I’m not blowing anything out of proportion,” I said. “First you run off to the police station without telling me. And then you tell me you’ve hired a private investigator? When were you planning to let me in on that little detail?”

Neddy’s face tensed for a second, then her entire body seemed to wilt. She plopped down in one of the chairs in front of my desk and stared down at her hands. “I—just—I have a lot going on right now, okay? I’m not myself. You’re right, I’m really going through some things. I’m sorry you’ve been taking the brunt of it. I promise it won’t happen again.”

She finally looked up at me. “Anyway, I need to debrief you about Tina’s interview with the police,” she continued. “I really would appreciate it if you could meet me at my place around seven.” This time her words seemed sincere.

I couldn’t believe I was actually seeing her in a moment of weakness.

“Fine,” I said. Her show of vulnerability had softened my rage.

“And you might as well prepare yourself for a long, taxing trial.” She stood up. “Based on the grilling Tina took from the police last night, she’s definitely their prime suspect.”