The Lincoln Lawyer: A Novel by Michael Connelly Read Free Book Online

fast Dobbs and Valenzuela worked, released later in the day.
    “I’ll work with Mr. Dobbs and get you out,” I said. “Then we’ll sit down and talk about the case.”
    “Thank you,” Roulet said as he was led away. “Thank you for being here.”
    “Remember what I said. Don’t talk to strangers. Don’t talk to anybody.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    After he was gone I walked to the bar. Valenzuela was waiting at the gate for me with a big smile on his face. Roulet’s bail
     was likely the highest he had ever secured. That meant his cut would be the highest he’d ever received. He clapped me on the
     arm as I came through the gate.
    “What’d I tell you?” he said. “We got ourselves a franchise here, boss.”
    “We’ll see, Val,” I said. “We’ll see.”

Five
    E very attorney who works the machine has two fee schedules. There is schedule A, which lists the fees the attorney would like
     to get for certain services rendered. And there is schedule B, the fees he is willing to take because that is all the client
     can afford. A franchise client is a defendant who wants to go to trial and has the money to pay his lawyer’s schedule A rates.
     From first appearance to arraignment to preliminary hearing and on to trial and then appeal, the franchise client demands
     hundreds if not thousands of billable hours. He can keep gas in the tank for two to three years. From where I hunt, they are
     the rarest and most highly sought beast in the jungle.
    And it was beginning to look like Valenzuela had been on the money. Louis Roulet was looking more and more like a franchise
     client. It had been a dry spell for me. It had been almost two years since I’d had anything even approaching a franchise case
     or client. I’m talking about a case earning six figures. There were many that started out looking like they might reach that
     rare plateau but they never went the distance.
    C. C. Dobbs was waiting in the hallway outside the arraignment court when I got out. He was standing next to the wall of glass
     windows that looked down upon the civic center plaza below. I walked up to him quickly. I had a few seconds’ lead on Valenzuela
     coming out of the court and I wanted some private time with Dobbs.
    “Sorry,” Dobbs said before I could speak. “I didn’t want to stayin there another minute. It was so depressing to see the boy caught up in that cattle call.”
    “The boy?”
    “Louis. I’ve represented the family for twenty-five years. I guess I still think of him as a boy.”
    “Are you going to be able to get him out?”
    “It won’t be a problem. I have a call in to Louis’s mother to see how she wants to handle it, whether to put up property or
     go with a bond.”
    To put up property to cover a million-dollar bail would mean that at least a million dollars in the property’s value could
     not be encumbered by a mortgage. Additionally, the court might require a current appraisal of the property, which could take
     days and keep Roulet waiting in jail. Conversely, a bond could be purchased through Valenzuela for a ten percent premium.
     The difference was that the ten percent was never returned. That stayed with Valenzuela for his risks and trouble and was
     the reason for his broad smile in the courtroom. After paying his insurance premium on the million-dollar bail, he’d end up
     clearing close to ninety grand. And he was worried about me taking care of
him
.
    “Can I make a suggestion?” I asked.
    “Please do.”
    “Louis looked a little frail when I saw him back in the lockup. If I were you I would get him out of there as soon as possible.
     To do that you should have Valenzuela write a bond. It will cost you a hundred grand but the boy will be out and safe, you
     know what I mean?”
    Dobbs turned to the window and leaned on the railing that ran along the glass. I looked down and saw that the plaza was filling
     up with people from the government buildings on lunch break. I could see many people