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She and my dad never were comfortable with taking money from my sisters and me. She made us give her money when we worked as teenagers, but as soon as we left for college, she returned all the money to us with interest because she’d put it all in a savings account for us.
“It’s our pleasure, Mommy. Let’s make this a grand affair for Ken and Travis,” Keeva said.
“Awww, thank you, sisters!” Kenzie said while grabbing us both around the necks.
“Are you sure? I still say we can find something for a couple thousand,” Mommy said.
“It’s fine, Mommy!”
Honestly, we would have agreed to anything for this presentation to be over.
Averie
“Thank you for taking this meeting, Ms. Patterson,” Evander Smith, the newly elected District Attorney said.
Evander Smith had been elected to the office of district attorney by a landslide vote. The prior district attorney didn’t campaign hard because he thought he had the election in the bag. He didn’t realize how tired people were of a DA who talked about being tough on crime but only locked up black and brown people. Tyrone Smith was a breath of fresh air. He had fresh ideas, the background, and knowledge to push those ideas through. He was Black with locs, tattoos, and wore a lot of purple and gold.
“No problem. How can I help you?”
“I am considering offering Barry Leathen a plea deal. I want to offer him ten years in jail and another three on paper. He wouldn’t be able to practice law again, and he would be registered as a sex offender. I wanted to know what you thought about it.”
“You are asking my opinion?”
“Yes, you are the victim. I know I can’t be this liberal with every victim that I come across but you are special.”
I raised my eyebrow.
“Special in that you worked with DA’s office, so you’re still considered family even though that was years ago. You are a fellow attorney even though we may be on opposite sides of the case. I may need to ask for your help or maybe an associate from time to time to help us out. I don’t know what the prior DA had planned for Leathen. Probably a slap on the wrist. They were a part of that good ole’ boy network. I assure you, I am not. I want to see him pay for what he did without the stress of a court trial. I know you’ve been through a lot.”
“I like the idea of my associates working with the DA from time to time. Yes, I have been through a lot, but I’m not afraid of a trial. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’m a fighter. I never back down from adversity.”
“Your reputation precedes you, Ms. Patterson.”
“Good but I would say do what you think is best. I agree with the jail time and probation.”
“Good. There is also the matter of a video tape that appeared on my desk. It shows Mrs. Leathen leaving the floor of your old office space and then walking into a room with you near the security desk in the same building. According to the recording attached to the video, it sounded like she threatened you. Is that true? And if so, why didn’t you report it to the police.”
“Who sent you that tape?”
“It didn’t say who it was from.”
“Well, if you recall at the time of the incident, my fiancé was fighting for his life after being shot. I told her that if she came around again that I would report her but I just didn’t have it in me to report it. Reporting it would have led to more questions and I was all out of fight at that time. She stayed away, though.”
“I can’t ignore it so she will be brought in as well. No one is above the law. It won’t even require you pressing charges because we have the proof that we need to charge her with witness tampering,” he explained.
“I think I felt sorry for her to a certain extent. She had to be devastated by what Barry did. I don’t know if she really knew what she was doing,” I tried to explain.
“Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Besides, she knew what she was doing. She just didn’t count on you calling her out. I will let you know how it goes.”
He stood to leave.
“It was a pleasure meeting you, Ms. Patterson.”
“Same here, DA Smith.”
Samuel
“Are you sure you are up to this?”
