Mama's Boy by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

Author:ReShonda Tate Billingsley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery Books

30

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After reviewing the evidence, Kay doubted that State v. Jamal Jones would ever see the light of day. If Jamal’s family had any sense, they would take her offer of Manslaughter 1.

She knew her husband, though. He was going to fight this and want to take it to trial, but Kay was hoping she could get through to the boy’s parents. A trial could get very ugly and with a videotape there was simply no way they could win. It’s not like the cop shot himself.

“Knock, knock.”

Kay looked up from her desk to see Valerie poke her head in the door. “Good morning, Mrs. Christiansen.”

“Good morning, Valerie,” she said, waving her in. “Are those for me?” she asked, motioning to the folders in Valerie’s hand.

“Yes, ma’am.” Valerie handed her the folders. “The top folder has all the info on Officer Wilkins’s family. The next is some more case material and the one on the bottom is all the info you asked me to pull on the suspect’s personal history. His parents, his school, all his personal information.”

“Okay, great.” Kay opened the first folder and her heart once again went out when she saw Officer Wilkins receiving his pin from the police academy. She closed that folder and pulled out the one with the suspect’s personal info. She liked to get into the head of the criminals she prosecuted, understand what made them tick.

“Excuse me, Mrs. Christiansen,” Kay’s secretary, April, said over the telephone intercom. “I have Judge Raymond’s office on the phone. She had something come up this afternoon and wants to know if we can move your pretrial meeting up.”

“Up to when?” Kay asked.

“Up to now. Like in twenty minutes.”

Kay silently cursed. They weren’t supposed to meet until 3 p.m. She wanted to review these files first, but Judge Mona Raymond was not a person who liked the word no.

“Fine. I’ll be there. Get Harold. Tell him to meet me in Judge Raymond’s chambers in twenty minutes.”

“Why are you stressing?” Valerie asked after Kay had hung up the phone. “You know you’re prepared.”

“I know, but I really wanted to go through these files. It’s not like me to be unprepared, but this campaign has had me running.”

“Hopefully, you won’t need them. Maybe they’ll accept your plea today, and all of this,” she said, pointing to the folders, “will be moot.”

“You’re right.” Kay stuffed the folders in her briefcase and stood. Valerie was great at keeping things in perspective. She’d hired the girl six years ago, when she was a junior at the University of Houston. It had broken Kay’s heart when Valerie dropped out of school because she got pregnant. Valerie had kept promising to go back, but she’d told Kay that as a single mother, she had to keep working full-time.

“I’ll make sure Harold gets over there,” Valerie said.

“Great, I’m heading over now.”

Twenty minutes didn’t give Kay time to do more than grab a granola bar and head over to Judge Raymond’s office. Kay liked to keep her energy up because she always wanted to stay on top of her game.

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