“How the fuck did I go with you to your brother’s house and now I’m being volunteered for working for free?”
“You love me.”
“And that’s the only reason I’m still here.”
Sherri walks back in after a couple of minutes with 2 stacks of papers. “Here.” She says.
“What’s this?”
“Most of this you can fill out and bring back on Monday. Sign the top one so we can talk about what’s going on.”
“What is it?” Low asks before she looks at it.
“An NDA.” She pauses. “It’s 20 dollars an hour; you can work whatever hours you want.”
“Really?” Low sounds shocked.
“Yeah. It’s mostly making copies and filing, but occasionally I need some extra eyes.” She nods down at the papers.
Handing her the top paper after I scribble on it, Low follows behind.
“Good.”
“The non-profit is fronting the money for this case.”
“Of course they are.”
Sherri gives me a questioning look. “Anyway, I just met with him. He told me he’s going to plea.”
“What?”
“Yeah,” she nods her head, suspiciously looking at me. “Z gave me specific instructions that we do everything to make sure he doesn’t serve any time.”
“I thought you had to do what the client wanted?”
“Yeah… about that.” She laughs. “We also want our clients to get the best possible outcome. Remember when Tate was adamant on helping your brother?”
“Yeah.”
“Z insisted on not letting her take the stand. Because he knew how they’d treat her.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, we came up with the plan together for her to go to the prosecution. She’d make sure not to give them any information beyond what they specifically were asking.” She laughs. “Then, she and I talked about what I’d ask her on cross.”
“You guys played them?”
“Yeah,” she laughs, nodding her head. “It was a way to let her help him without directly going against his wishes. Eli was actually in on it. He’s who fed the prosecution the idea to call her. They didn’t have to call her, but she let them have the right information for them to want her up there.”
“He was pissed off about that.”
“I know.” She shakes her head. “He hasn’t spoken to me until this morning, actually.”
“Is that legal?” Low asks.
“It’s not illegal,” she shrugs. “Morally questionable, maybe.”
It makes me laugh.
