Central and Van Buren by Douglas Roff

Author:Douglas Roff
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery, thriller, detective, legal, murder mystery
Publisher: Douglas Roff
Published: 2023-04-07T00:00:00+00:00

CAROL

When Josh was small, I took on a pro bono case after I left the friendly confines of Casey & Bennett. As a tax and corporate attorney, I had never tried a case. Ever. While I had been in Probate Court and appeared in Tax Court and had been involved in some depositions and hearings, I had never actually tried anything. Trying a complex civil case is a very tricky thing involving more than just being right. You have to gather all of the facts, determine the applicable law, file suit, commence discovery and finally, and most importantly, convince the experienced litigation team working for your opponent you are not incompetent or a wimp who will totally blow the case and permit them to walk all over you. I was convinced I could do everything I had to, except, maybe, for that last part about where they might walk all over me. We'd see, I thought.

I had to spend an extraordinary amount of time learning and relearning legal matters I had not looked at in over ten years. Since I did not keep the Rules of Evidence, or the Rules of Civil Procedure, or any legal digests, encyclopedias, resource materials, statutes, or cases handy, I found myself spending increasing amounts of time during the day at the County Law Library, or at night, in the library at Arizona State University's fine law school. I rarely took Josh on any of my research missions, but sometimes it was unavoidable. So, on one Saturday morning, I gathered up my son, some of his toys, coloring books and crayons, put them and some Hostess cupcakes in his backpack, and we trundled off to the County Law Library.

The County Law Library is located downtown in the County Courts Building on the second floor. The Law Library is open weekdays and most Saturdays. However, the County Courts Building in which it is located is closed to the public on weekends. On Saturday, an attorney can get into the Law Library by showing identification at the police guard-post across the street, immediately adjacent to the city jail.

Josh and I drove downtown, parked in the County parking garage, got our pass, went up the elevator to the second floor and entered the County Law Library. We put our things down at the table in the Arizona Alcove, where the Arizona state law books are kept, and looked up when we heard a young woman's voice.

"Excuse me, but are either of you a lawyer?"

Standing there in Levi's and a sweatshirt was the woman we would soon come to know as Carol Simmons.

Josh and I sat at the table staring at this young woman who could not have been more than twenty-three or twenty-four years old. The first thing I noticed when I stopped staring at her was that Josh had met the very first love of his life. In a way only small children can get away with, Josh's mouth was open slightly and he was staring with child-like adulation.

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