Above The Law

CHAPTER 47

CASEY WAS LOOKING AT SPACE IN AN ABANDONED ADULT BOOKstore not far from her condemned office when her cell phone rang. She began to gush about her plan to nail Chase when she heard Judge Remy's voice, but the judge cut her off and suggested Casey save what she had to say for her chambers in fifteen minutes. Casey nudged a dusty package of French ticklers with the toe of her shoe and said she'd be there in ten.

"Not for me," she said to the Realtor, offering a weak smile, snapping her phone shut, and heading for the door.

Her Mercedes coughed alive and the crunch of broken glass barely registered as she pulled away from the garbage-strewn curb. When she got to the judge's chambers, Casey extended a hand.

"Please sit," the judge said, "I've got a settlement conference in five minutes. I'm glad you could see me in person. Here's your complaint; the clerk hand-delivered it after he spoke with the admin judge, who called me to see if I was okay to handle this."

"I'm glad you agreed."

"I'm not in a position to say no," she said, "not after signing that exhumation. I stuck my neck out, so the admin figured he'd give me the short straw on this. No one wants a trial with a senator. It would have been nice if you could have warned me."

Casey sat, stiff-backed, and said, "There are fourteen judges. Cases are supposed to be random."

Remy scrunched her face and tilted her head. "Do you think this is some old lady slipping on a bunch of grapes at the Kroger? You're suing a United States senator. You think they just spin the wheel?"

"How did they even know about the exhumation?" Casey asked.

"That's my point," Remy said. "People seem to know a lot, even though nothing's been reported in the papers."

"Well, it will," Casey said. "I've got a press conference tomorrow morning. He already shut down my office. The EPA showed up with guns, in case you think I don't know I'm suing a US senator."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," she said. "They'll come sniffing up my skirt, too. Don't think I got this case as a favor, it's not. I don't need the face time and I don't want it. I wanted to tell you, straight out, before this stink bomb explodes. Everything goes by the book. I will have my chute open."

Casey fished some papers from her briefcase on the floor and held them up one at a time. "I have orders of deposition for the senator and his wife. The undertaker. His two assistants. The police chief. The ranch foreman. Subpoenas for the Wilmer police investigation papers and the phone records of the senator's home, office, and cell phone."

The corner of the judge's lip twitched. "We typically wait for the answer to come back, then send a bill of particulars for what you want."

Casey nodded her head and removed another document. "Except when the plaintiff has a reasonable suspicion of spoliation of the evidence or a conspiracy between domestic partners to use the marital privilege as a shield, Cleveland v. Norris and Kronkite v. The State of Texas. I have the briefs."

The judge plucked up her reading glasses and took the briefs, examining one, then the other before pointing them at Casey.

"I can trust you on this?"

"It's not a gray area," Casey said. "One of my associates wrote her UT bar review article on Kronkite."

The judge inhaled deeply and exhaled through her nose, shaking her head, but signed the orders, one after another, with a flourish.

"Here we go," she said, rising up.