The Attorney by Steve Martini Read Free Book Online

probably get it"
    "See if you can get a lead on him. What else have we got?" about it. She didn't have a lot of friends. No women she ran with. I'm still looking.
    But I could use some help." Harry's thinking a private investigator.
    "I'm working on that, but for the time being, we're it. See if you can find an address on this guy. Crow. Maybe he knows where she is"
    "We could go get an order to show cause," says Harry. "Go to the family law judge on the custody thing and try to get an order for contempt. See if we can draw Suade in."
    "Its a good thought," I tell him, "but not likely to produce results.
    I mean, there's no problem getting an order of contempt on Jessica. The problem is how to find her for service."
    "If we could do that we wouldn't need the order. Just steal the kid back," says Harry.
    "Jessica'd be in no position to complain. But as for Suade, }ve've got a bigger problem."
    "What's that?"
    "How do we make Suade a party? How do we get the judge to issue a contempt citation against Suade and her organization?" Harry thinks for a moment. "She did make threats to the old man. Didn't she tell Jonah that unless he gave the child back to the mother, he was going to lose the kid?"
    "Yes. But you see the problem," I tell Harry. "Is that a threat?"
    "I'd say so."
    "Yes, but you're not the one wearing the black robes. Even if she admits that she was there, Suade is going to say her words were merely a prediction. That what she meant was that hostile actions toward Jessica by Jonah, taking custody away, was ultimately going to alienate the child. That that's what she meant by lose the child."
    "And you believe that?"
    "No. But a judge might. Particularly where there's no hard evidence, no witnesses to put her at the scene, and the alternative is a harsh jail sentence for contempt." Harry knows I am right.
    "Most judges I know, while seeing through Suade's lie, would look for some artful way to avoid a contempt citation. In this case there are plenty of them, including the issue of whether the court even had jurisdiction over Suade as she was not a party in the original custody proceeding. We would have to prove that she acted as Jessica's agent in abducting the child. Without witnesses to put her there, it would be a tough sell. Unless I'm wrong, Suade would simply tell the court that she was trying to bring harmony to the family"
    "Like Hitler in Czechoslovakia," says Harry.
    "Maybe so, but right now I'm not even sure we could get Suade into a courtroom. No. Before we apply salt, we'd be advised to try a little sugar." Harry looks at me with raised eyebrows.
    "I think it's time to meet with Zo Suade. Try to reason with her."
    chapter Four.
    a month after moving south i purchased an old CJ-5, an early eighties vintage Jeep that Harry calls Leaping Lena.
    I got it from a kid, good at mechanics, who had babied the machine so that it ran like a clock. Its short wheelbase in two-wheel drive made it turn on a dime. I bought it, not for off-roading, but because it was easy to park in tight spaces, a valuable commodity in a crowded, car-happy state.
    In the warmer months I keep the top up, but zip out the side and back-window panels, allowing the wind to run through my hair. This helps me to forget that there are now some wisps of gray also running with the wind. Maybe it's a second childhood. Who knows? But the wheels turn and the motor runs.
    It has been four days since my conference with Harry, and this morning I bounce along the Silver Strand headed south toward Imperial Beach.
    My mission this morning is one of those futile exercises that seem to defy better judgment, but is required in the grand scheme of crossing the Is and dotting the i's.
    I pull into a strip mall on Palm Avenue and make a sharp turn into one of the parking spaces facing the street. The object of my attention is a small building across the street, a rundown, stuccosided commercial rental that fronts on Palm and backs up onto an alley.
    From behind the