Cost of Deceit: A Jake Clearwater Legal Thriller (Jake Clearwater Legal Thriller Series) by H. Mitchell Caldwell

Author:H. Mitchell Caldwell [Caldwell, H. Mitchell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nine Innings Press
Published: 2023-03-29T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 25:

BRAINSTORMING

I set up a meeting with Wills, Ossoff, and Duke in my newly requisitioned office in the DA’s wing of the Foltz Building. The office was sparse. I didn’t see any point in changing that—I wouldn’t need it for long. I requested and received a PC, a printer, and two more office chairs. Earlier in the day, I had met with Wills in his office to discuss our meeting agenda; we were on the same page.

Duke arrived a half-hour early. He had on a short-sleeved button shirt with vertical stripes, blue jeans, and sandals with black socks. He looked ready for an umbrella drink at the Intercontinental’s pool rather than a brainstorming session on a murder trial.

“Impressive digs,” he remarked with a straight face, as he took in the bare walls, the battered desk, and the four hard-backed, experienced chairs.

“Yeah, they spared no expense. Right down to this office chair.” I smiled as I jiggled the lever of my own seat. “It’s stuck in the forward position. It’s a back breaker.”

He waved me out of the chair. “Let me take a look.” I stood and slid the chair to him. He flipped it over, took off a sandal, and pounded on the release lever. Something popped. He stood the chair back up and sat in it. He leaned back and then forward. “Fixed.” He slid it back to me. All it needed was a little finesse.

I sat and moved the chair through its range of motion. “Thanks, man.” I was never surprised by anything Duke did. “Have you set yourself up in the Intercontinental yet?”

“This morning. Nice place. Only a quick walk from here.” He settled into one of the stiff-back chairs. “So what’s the plan?”

“Let’s wait for Wills and Ossoff. I want the whole team involved. Collaborative decision-making,” I said with a grin.

Duke shook his head. “Jake, sometimes I think you might be a bureaucrat at heart.”

I turned my hands out. “Give me a break, Duke. I don’t want anybody to feel left out.”

“Your number two?”

“Careful referring to him as number two.”

“Got it.”

“Have you watched the trial tapes I sent you?”

“Yep.”

“Thoughts?”

“Defense counsel is a beauty. And a hell of a lawyer.” Slight pause. “She smoked your number two.”

I had to laugh; Duke was irrepressible. “What did you think of the prosecution’s case?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never worked a no-body case, quite a challenge.”

“Yeah, trying to prove a negative. Couple that with MacPherson and we’ve got our hands full.”

“Jake, I never worry about you being out-lawyered.”

I shrugged. “Before the troops arrive, I’ve got news.”

Duke paused slightly, and then a knowing grin spread across his face. “You proposed, and she said yes.” It was not a question.

“How’d you know?”

“I’m a trained investigator.” He stood and gave me a hug. A very un-Duke-like thing to do. “Like I said before, she is way out of your league,” Duke said against my shoulder. The joy in his voice surprised me even more than the hug. “But every now and then, a double-A hitter jerks a homerun off an ace.

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