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

with the red-and-white name tags I knew
     were given to jurors.
    “I know what you mean.”
    “The other thing is that cases like this tend to bring the rats out of the walls.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I mean other inmates who will say they heard somebody say something. Especially a case that gets on the news or into the
     newspapers. They’ll take that info off the tube and make it sound like our guy was talking.”
    “That’s criminal,” Dobbs said indignantly. “That shouldn’t be allowed.”
    “Yeah, I know, but it happens. And the longer he stays in there, the wider the window of opportunity is for one of these guys.”
    Valenzuela joined us at the railing. He didn’t say anything.
    “I will suggest we go with the bond,” Dobbs said. “I already called and she was in a meeting. As soon as she calls me back
     we will move on this.”
    His words prompted something that had bothered me during the hearing.
    “She couldn’t come out of a meeting to talk about her son in jail? I was wondering why she wasn’t in court today if this boy,
     as you call him, is so clean and upstanding.”
    Dobbs looked at me like I hadn’t used mouthwash in a month.
    “Mrs. Windsor is a very busy and powerful woman. I am sure that if I had stated it was an emergency concerning her son, she
     would have been on the phone immediately.”
    “Mrs. Windsor?”
    “She remarried after she and Louis’s father divorced. That was a long time ago.”
    I nodded, then realized that there was more to talk about with Dobbs but nothing I wanted to discuss in front of Valenzuela.
    “Val, why don’t you go check on when Louis will be back at Van Nuys jail so you can get him out.”
    “That’s easy,” Valenzuela said. “He’ll go on the first bus back after lunch.”
    “Yeah, well, go double-check that while I finish with Mr. Dobbs.”
    Valenzuela was about to protest that he didn’t need to double-check it when he realized what I was telling him.
    “Okay,” he said. “I’ll go do it.”
    After he was gone I studied Dobbs for a moment before speaking. Dobbs looked to be in his late fifties. He had a deferential
     presence that probably came from thirty years of taking care of rich people. My guess was that he had become rich in the process
     himself but it hadn’t changed his public demeanor.
    “If we’re going to be working together, I guess I should ask what you want to be called. Cecil? C.C.? Mr. Dobbs?”
    “Cecil will be fine.”
    “Well, my first question, Cecil, is whether we are going to be working together. Do I have the job?”
    “Mr. Roulet made it clear to me he wanted you on the case. To be honest, you would not have been my first choice. You might
     not have been any choice, because frankly I had never heard of you. But you are Mr. Roulet’s first choice, and that is acceptable
     to me. In fact, I thought you acquitted yourself quite well in the courtroom, especially considering how hostile that prosecutor
     was toward Mr. Roulet.”
    I noticed that the boy had become “Mr. Roulet” now. I wondered what had happened to advance him in Dobbs’s view.
    “Yeah, well, they call her Maggie McFierce. She’s pretty dedicated.”
    “I thought she was a bit overboard. Do you think there is any way to get her removed from the case, maybe get someone a little
     more… grounded?”
    “I don’t know. Trying to shop prosecutors can be dangerous. But if you think she needs to go, I can get it done.”
    “That’s good to hear. Maybe I should have known about you before today.”
    “Maybe. Do you want to talk about fees now and get it out of the way?”
    “If you would like.”
    I looked around the hallway to make sure there were no other lawyers hanging around in earshot. I was going to go schedule
     A all the way on this.
    “I get twenty-five hundred for today and Louis alreadyapproved that. If you want to go hourly from here, I get three hundred an hour and that gets bumped to five in trial because
     I