Ainsley looked up at me as if I had asked her a question in a foreign language.
“Well, I did have plans tonight,” she said.
“You’re going to have to change them. Welcome to the world of being a defense attorney, Ainsley.” I pulled my keys from my pocket and tapped my desk. “There’s a set of keys in the top drawer to lock up. I expect you to find out what you can about this new key witness before you head home. Or take it home with you. Doesn’t matter to me. Just get it done. Understood? We’ll meet back here tomorrow morning to review your findings.”
She looked down at the stack of folders and files in front of her. With a sigh, she nodded. “Yes, sir.”
I stepped past her and opened my office door before glancing over my shoulder at the young woman in my office. She had the world ahead of her. She would appreciate this one day. Maybe not tonight or this weekend, but if she wanted to continue working here, to get ahead in this field and get a letter of recommendation from me, then she would do what needed to be done.
As for me, I had a beautiful woman waiting. No relationship crap, just sex, booze, and maybe a cigar when we finished.
I thought about my older brother. He was married and had three kids, two boys and a girl. “One day you’re going to meet a woman who will knock you on your ass, and you won’t know which way is up,” he’d said once. “And I want to be there when it happens!”
Not today, brother, or any other day. Fuck being someone’s other half. I didn’t have time for that crap.
I climbed in behind the wheel of my Audi and sped down the road toward my home. I glanced in the rearview mirror and watched my office building grow smaller and smaller the more distance I put between us.
Monday, we would walk into the courthouse, ready to put this case to bed and free my client. This would be the last weekend Lance had to spend any time behind bars. As soon as he was released, my cleanup team would work with him to help clear his name. Even if found innocent, his name had still been dragged through the mud. Half the battle was the case. The other was clearing his name and making sure he still had his scholarships.
I glanced in the rearview mirror again and looked at my own reflection. Sometimes I was asked how I could sleep, knowing the criminals I defended. I would smile and say, “With my eyes closed.”
A story is only as good as its villain is a quote by Luke Taylor I used often. If you had a bad villain, the story would suck. If there was no villain, then you had no story.
I supposed in a way that made me the narrator of villains’ stories. But so long as I was paid and knew the truth, I was good with the decisions I’d made.
However, there were some cases I would not touch, and for good reason. Murder, child abuse, rape… If I had a suspicion the accused was actually guilty, hell to the no. Go get yourself a court-appointed lawyer.
With a smirk, I continued my drive and turned down the road that led to my condo. I pulled in, and a silhouette inside the guard shack moved in my direction. He stepped out and nodded to me with a tilt of his hat.
“Good evening, Mr. Newstrom.”
“Good evening, Baxter. How’s your mom?”
Baxter was the resident guard who kept our grounds safe. He was somewhere in his mid-forties to fifties and took care of his mom.
“She’s good, Mr. Newstrom, a spitfire.” He chuckled and opened the gate with the push of a button. “Enjoy your night, sir. Oh, and a lovely young lady came calling. She was let inside. I had her on your list.”
“Ahh, yes, thank you, Baxter. Enjoy your night.”
I pulled through the entrance and turned right, and just outside my garage stood a long, lean, and tanned woman with blond hair to her midback. She wore a red fitted dress that hugged her thighs.
I rolled down my passenger window and leaned over. “Thanks for waiting for me, Ginger.” I pressed the garage door button, and it began to lift up.
“No problem, Chase. I’ll follow you inside.”
And just like that, my night began to look up. Ginger—she preferred to be called by her stage name—never gave me a hard time about being late. I opened my car door, and her heels struck the concrete as she approached.
“Long day at the office?” she asked.
“Long day at the courthouse, but enough about that.” I closed the car door behind me and pulled her into my arms. I slanted my lips across hers, and Ginger leaned her body against mine. “Inside. Now,” I ordered, and everything about today washed away.
She took my inner elbow with her hand, and we walked through my open garage. The faint lighting illuminated Ginger’s white-blond hair, almost in a glow.
I opened the door and let her inside first, then closed it behind me. Taking her hand, I pulled her back toward me and wrapped my arms around her body. I grabbed one of her legs and lifted it up around my waist and then followed with her other leg. She hugged my waist tight with her thighs, and I pressed the fob remote to close the garage door.
The events of today were already far from my mind, and I was ready to settle down for the evening inside Ginger. Later, maybe a glass of Scotch.
Chapter Three
Ainsley
Chase gave no fucks except about himself. If I were more like him, if I had stood up to him and said, “No, I can’t be there today,” he would have fired me. He didn’t take lightly to anyone second-guessing him or standing up to voice an opinion different from his.
Instead, I was always the “yes sir” girl of the office. I wanted to build a reputation for becoming a ball-busting lawyer, but I’d get nowhere if I continued saying yes to everything and being everywhere he expected regardless of any plans of mine. It made me feel like that girl who disowned her friends as soon as a guy took interest in her. That had never been me.
Chase came and went and expected me to do all this work for him. I had busted my ass at his firm, but I still felt like he didn’t take me seriously.
“Pay your dues, Ainsley,” he’d said on more than one occasion, “and one day, this could be you ordering someone else around.”
Well, maybe I didn’t want to order someone around like he did. Maybe I wanted someone to work with me, not for me or under me. It wasn’t nice how he treated people, and the fact that I was missing the pre-wedding events with my friends made me hate him that much more.
Not long after Chase left me here in the office, I actually did find where this new witness had been, and it was nowhere near the house party the night Lance was accused of rape. Social media had been a godsend in many aspects of my job.
He had been across the country with his family. After searching a few of the databases we had of flight information and car rentals, his name came up. He had been in a different state during the party. I found his social media pages full of pictures of Miranda and him. Were they lovers? It wasn’t our business, unless it helped get our client off.
We’d make damn sure they both paid for this lie. Who was this guy trying to cover for? Was he promised money? It wouldn’t surprise me. The accuser’s family was poor, and I could empathize, but going after someone who had money wasn’t the way to get ahead.
Miranda and her fellow witnesses could be found guilty of perjury, Lance’s parents could countersue, and Miranda could serve time in jail for slander and defamation of character. There was a world of shit they’d all go through if Lance’s family had any say in it. His family lawyered up, and Miranda’s team honestly didn’t stand a chance.