Chapter Three

 

Nicole woke up and headed to the kitchen. Monica was reading the newspaper as she nibbled on a piece of toast.

“Good morning, Roomie,” Monica said cheerfully.

“Good morning.” Nicole poured herself a cup of coffee and sat at the table.

“You look tired,” Monica said as she flipped through the newspaper.

“I have been going above and beyond on this first case Mr. Lyons gave me to work on. I wanted to go over some notes with him yesterday, but he didn’t show up to work. Emily said he was in court that day. To be honest I was a bit disappointed that he didn’t take me with him. I would have loved to see him work.”

“Oh, I bet you would,” Monica said in a teasing tone.

“What do you mean by that?”

“You said he was freaking hot, well that was the gist of it anyways.”

“I said he was attractive.”

“Yeah, but you said that with a faraway look in your eyes, which translated, the dude is smoking hot.”

“Could we drop this?”

Monica flipped the paper.

“Why are you reading the paper backwards?” Nicole asked.

“I always start from the back and work my way forward. You start your day with good news and you can’t usually do that if you start from the front.”

Nicole just smiled then went to make herself some toast. She has been working for Michael for three days now and pretty much got through this first case. She really hoped that he will be in his office today. She wanted to let him know she could handle more.

“Oh my God, and this is why I don’t start with the first page of this freaking paper,” Monica said.

Nicole headed back to the table. Monica handed Nicole the paper.

“That poor girl. Who could do that to someone? The poor guy that found that woman’s body on Leone Beach. Could you imagine finding a body like that?”

Nicole read the article. A woman’s body was found on Leone Beach. The victim appeared to have been tortured then had her neck slashed. There was no evidence that the body washed up on shore it appeared to have been placed there.

“That is horrible,” Nicole said as she sat the paper down.

“This is not the first body that has been found like that.”

“What?”

“I read about another one about a month or so ago, then there was at least two more before that. There might have been more but I try not to remember these horrible things if I can help it. Those damn cops need to step up their game. Come on, Leona Beach isn’t exactly an isolated location. Obviously, whoever did that wanted the poor girl to be found. And since it is so close to how those others were killed it has to be the same person. There are some freaky people in this town. You need to be careful, girl.”

“So do you.”

“I shouldn’t have read the first page of the newspaper, now I’m going to have that horrible story in my head all day. I better get ready for work.”

“Me too.”

Nicole got ready then just walked to work. Michael’s office wasn’t that far from her apartment. Though, today after reading about what happened to that poor girl she was tempted to take her car.

 

***

 

Michael smiled reading about his victim. He was glad that she was found so quickly. It took some time to place her like that. He had to be certain no one had seen him. Leaving his victims out to be easily found was a new thrill for him. He had always been so careful with the others, too much so, that by time the bodies were discovered there was little left of them. He wanted everyone to see his handy work, it was part of the thrill for him.

Michael was a damn good defense lawyer. He knew the ends and outs of the criminal system. More importantly he knew how the police worked. Their forensic teams were meticulous with gathering evidence, so he had to do the same to make sure they didn’t find any.

He heard a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

His gaze was transfixed on the newspaper article. He was savoring the moment. He knew this would be on the local news as well, this only heightened his gratification.

“Horrible, isn’t it.”

Michael was snapped out of his daze. He looked up and saw Nicole standing in front of his desk.

“Pardon me.”

“That poor girl being killed like that.”

“Tragic.” He folded up the paper and set it aside.

“I have finished that case. You were right it was pretty cut and dry. I couldn’t really find any precedence to lessen his sentence other than pleading guilty.”

“He has plead guilty and he was sentence to twenty years.”

“What?”

“They bumped his case forward. I’m glad you worked so hard on that simple case. It gives me confidence that you can handle more. Now, don’t look at me like I’m some sort of asshole.”

“I wasn’t,” she quickly said then averted her gaze to the floor.

“I will have Emily give you some more cases that I need some help on. Just let me know if I pile too much on you.”

“I can handle a lot, Sir.”

“You don’t need to be this nervous around me. I won’t bite you.”

“This is my first job in my field of study I just…”

Michael stood and walked over to her.

“Look at me.”

She slowly raised her gaze to him.

“That’s better.” He smiled warmly at her.

She couldn’t look away from his dark eyes.

“You are a very attractive woman, Nicole. Your boyfriend is a lucky man.”

“I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“I’m finding that hard to believe.”

“I’m new to this town and…”

“You get flustered easily. I find that quite charming. I’m a pretty easy man to get along with Nicole, so relax. As long as you do your job, so I can do mine then we will get along just fine. This next case we will be working on involves a man who killed his wife in a jealous rage. Do you believe he should go to jail for this crime?”

“I don’t know all the particulars of the case. Even if I did, it would be up to the jury to decide if he should go to jail.”

“Imagine you come home from a long day at work and you find your spouse fucking someone else in your bed. You have given up everything for this person’s happiness and here they are defiling the bed you share with some other person. The rage he must have felt…”

“Even so, not everyone resorts to murder.”

“Some people can’t control that primitive side to themselves. Should he be punished because of it? To be honest, if I was in his shoes I might have done the same thing. We need the jury to feel like they could have picked up that gun and did the same thing.”

“You are condoning his actions?”

“I didn’t say that I said I understand his actions. Tomorrow, you will be with me when I talk to Mr. Williams. If you hear his story from him instead of hearing it from me, maybe you will understand. I don’t believe he deserves to go to jail for the rest of his life over his wife’s betrayal.”

“If you want me to be there I will.”

“Have you ever interviewed a defendant in jail before?”

“No.”

“Good, then this will be a learning experience for you. I will handle everything, you are simply to take notes and listen.”

 

***

 

Nicole stayed close to Michael when they entered the Cook County jail. After they were searched a guard led them to an interview room. The area was dreary, which was the best way she could describe it. There was a long table with two chairs on one side and one on the other. The air was heavy and she was finding it hard to breathe.

“Remember, you are only to observe. Don’t say anything to Mr. Williams.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Michael reached down and grabbed Nicole’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “It’s alright. He will be shackled and you have me to protect you.”

“I’m not afraid of Mr. Williams, it’s just a little hard to breathe.”

“It is oppressive in here isn’t it. I guess I’m a bit jaded from doing this for this long. You will get used to it.” Michael let go of her hand and focused on the door when he heard the sound of the guard unlocking it.

Nicole looked at the middle-aged man as he shambled inside. His arms and legs were shackled given only enough slack to walk. The guard helped Mr. Williams to sit down. Nicole really wasn’t expecting Mr. Williams to look like this. He had tattoos all over both arms and from what she could tell his chest was probably covered in them too. He had harshness about him, a coldness to his eyes. From what Michael had told her she had pictured an average looking man, who had a fatherly vibe to him. This man certainly didn’t.

“How long do I have to stay here? Why hasn’t my bail been set yet?”

“Well Richard, since you have a previous arrest record and the violent nature of the crime you are charged with the judge has denied you bail.”

“What?! You mother fucker, you said you could get me bail.” Richard slammed his fist down on the table startling Nicole. He glared at Michael. Michael didn’t flinch and only stared coldly back at him.

Richard chuckled. “It’s good to know my pretty boy lawyer isn’t scared easily.”

“Well, your mother is paying this pretty boy lawyer quite a sum of money to see that her scumbag son is once again free to walk the streets.”

Nicole looked at Michael surprised he would call his client a scumbag.

“Is this your little bitch?” Richard said, looking at Nicole.

“You will watch your manners around my assistant or I walk.”

Richard turned his gaze back to Michael.

“I want you to tell me about the night you killed your wife. In as much detail as you can.” Michael gestured for Nicole to start taping.

She set the small digital recorder on the table and hit record.

“I already told you…”

“I want you to tell me again. I need details to work with.”

Nicole watched Richard as he just sat there for a moment.

“I came home from a particularly shitty day at the fucking factory. They let us out an hour early because we had no more parts. Normally, I would just go to the bar and have a beer or two, but this time I wanted to see that stupid bitch wife of mine. I unlocked the door to our apartment and just went inside. I grabbed a beer from the fridge and headed to the bedroom. I could hear my wife moaning. I assumed she was playing with the new toy I had gotten her a couple of weeks ago. When I opened the door…I saw her with some dude. I went back to the kitchen and took the gun out of the box on top of the fridge. I cocked the gun and went straight back to the bedroom. I fired the gun at both of them until there was no more bullets. Then I called the police.”

“You were angry when you saw them together,” Michael said.

“What the fuck do you think?”

“So angry that you calmly walked back to the kitchen and grabbed your gun, which was conveniently placed in a box on top of the fridge.”

“Yes, that’s what I said.”

“Then you calmly walked back into the bedroom and shot them both.”

“Yes.”

“I have a problem with that story and so too will the prosecutor.”

“What the fuck?”

“If you were so angry that you couldn’t control your anger, the word calmly wouldn’t be the best word to use. And you were in the kitchen why not grab the knife.”

“Why the fuck would I grab a knife when there is a gun right there?”

Michael reached over and clicked off the recorder. “If I caught my wife fucking some strange guy in the bed we shared together I would be in a rage and the first weapon I would have seen would have been the knife, hell I might have even beat both of them to death before I knew what I was doing. And yet, you calmly went and got a gun that was in a box on your fridge. A box that the investigators didn’t seem to find, so that would lead me to believe you had the gun on you.”

Nicole could see by Richard’s reaction that Michael was right.

“So, let’s cut through the bullshit. You came home found your wife fucking another man, you pulled out the gun you had stashed on you and you shot them both before you had time to think about it.”

“I can’t say that…if they found out I was carrying I’m going back to jail.”

“You are going back to jail regardless. So let’s stick with the truth here. I’m assuming you were going to say the gun was your wife’s and she is the one who put it on the fridge.”

“Yeah.”

“You are going to tell that jury the truth. Your pass charges of arm robbery, well I can use that to your advantage in this case.”

“How?”

“You didn’t make enough money to satisfy your wife’s needs and you were forced to come up with other means to do so. And though you didn’t want to commit these crimes your fear of losing her love forced you to act in a manner you wouldn’t normally do. After your release you took to carrying a gun because you were afraid of retaliations from your accomplices, and even though you didn’t turn them in an attempt to make a plea deal someone did. When you walked into that bedroom and saw your wife with that other man the rage you felt overwhelmed you and the next thing you knew you were standing there holding the gun in your hands and both of them were dead. This is the story you will tell the jury.”

“Wow…that’s good.”

“I know. You deviate from this story and you are on your own. I’m going to try and get your court date bumped up so we can get this over with.” Michael signaled to the guard who was watching them through the two way mirror.

Richard said nothing as the guard took him from the room.

Michael and Nicole headed out of the jail to Michael’s Mercedes. Nicole buckled herself in.

“He was lying,” she couldn’t stop herself from saying.

“Of course he was. You saw me catch him out on it.”

“He had no remorse…he wanted to kill her…”

“She did cheat on him.”

“No, it was more than that. I was going over the notes from the police at the scene. He said he could hear her moaning, and yet both her and the man she supposedly was having sex with were fully dressed.”

“Nice catch, Nicole. But, a man can make a woman orgasm without taking off her clothes. He got there before they really got to it.”

“No, I don’t believe so. He was an awful person. You can feel that kind of vibe coming off of him.”

“Vibes, huh. And what kind of vibes do you feel from me?”

“The normal kind.”

Michael stopped at the stoplight then turned to her and smiled warmly. “The normal kind, that’s good to know.”

“You know what I mean. The story you told me before I met Richard, I had a totally different person pictured in my mind. That man had no remorse and his only thought was saving his ass. What I think is that Richard’s wife was planning on leaving him and he somehow found out. That poor man she was with was only there to help her and he got killed for it.”

“And how would you go about proving that?”

“Interview their neighbors. I doubt she would have had many friends because he would have isolated her.”

“Then who was the man she was with?”

“Perhaps a neighbor she confided in.”

“You should look into that. The prosecution most certainly will and we need to prepare for that.”

“And if I’m right and he did kill her to keep her from leaving?”

“Then I guess Richard better hope for a plea deal.”

“You are going to still defend him?”

Michael pulled into the parking garage and parked. He got out of the car and went over to her side of the car. He opened the door and helped her out. “I told you when you started working here, Nicole, that not all of my clients are innocent.”

“But if he killed her…”

“Does it matter the how and why he killed her. She is still dead. Perhaps you should work for the prosecution, Nicole…”

“I want to work with you, Sir. It’s just going to take some getting used to.”

She followed him to the elevator and they headed up to the firm’s offices. Michael grabbed the cup of coffee Emily handed him.

“You read my mind, darling. Come to my office, Nicole.”

She followed him to his office. She was so nervous that she overstepped. She sat on the chair in front of his desk and watched him set his coffee and briefcase down on his desk.

“You are going to fire me, aren’t you?” She was taken aback when he started to laugh.

“No, Nicole. I will never fire someone for speaking their mind. I would only fire someone for not doing their job.” He sat on the chair behind his desk. “And you are doing your job very well. That theory that he might have killed a fleeing wife is one worth checking out. But tell me something, if he is telling the truth does he still deserve to go to jail for a crime of passion?”

“Yes.”

“And if Richard looked like the man you had pictured in your head, instead of some gang banger, would you still feel that way?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“She didn’t deserve to die. He could have divorced her. He could have beaten both of them up and then divorce her. He didn’t need to kill her.”

“And if he was mentally ill…”

“Then he should go to a mental home and get some help.”

“Your world is so black and white isn’t it?”

“Where right and wrong is concern, it is.”

“Yet, there is so many grey areas. You will learn this working here. Are you sure you can handle it. It would be a shame to taint your outlook on life.”

“Taint my outlook?”

“You have such a refreshing take on things, Nicole.”

“I can take whatever is thrown at me, Sir.”

Michael smiled. “I’m liking the way you say Sir, Nicole. Your respectful tone is stroking my ego.”

Nicole just averted her gaze to the floor and prayed that she wasn’t blushing.

“Go look into your theory about Richard and let me know what you come up with. The police have to cooperate with you, just make sure to tell them you are working for Richard’s defense attorney.”

“Is that all, Sir?” Nicole said quietly.

“Yes. Good job today, Nicole.”

She kept her gaze locked onto the desk, but she couldn’t help but smile. She got up and left the room.

Michael watched her walk away. She was so his type of victim and yet…there was something about her that he wanted to get to know more about.