Chasing Justice (6 page)

Her time at the Jenkins home had Piper’s mind wandering through the different possibilities of proceeding with her plan. She knew the judge was a lofty target, she knew following the regular law enforcement channels wouldn’t work, but she also knew he needed to be stopped. She had thought about going to Bobby and telling him what she had seen that day. But after he had shared with her what had gotten him suspended, she realized he didn’t need any more attention. She put herself back in a dark place, one she worked hard to stay out of. She asked herself a question she hated,
How would my father have handled this?

The question may have terrified her, but it did offer a solution. Her father wouldn’t have turned the judge in, because he knew that wouldn’t result in the outcome he needed. The judge was well-connected and would likely be protected. Her father would realize when a man is well-insulated by people, then the only way to make him vulnerable is to turn his protection against him. So the key for Piper would be to learn about the people with whom the judge had frequent dealings. Who was making it possible for him to regularly meet with prostitutes, yet never get caught? Would people protect him in return for judicial rulings in their favor or some sort of “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours?” There was very little Piper would admit she had learned from her father, but in this case she knew it was advantageous to have had such a dysfunctional family. Her father had taught her that no man attempting to live two separate lives could maintain such a lifestyle autonomously. Someone, maybe multiple people, must be helping him to continue his charade. Finding out who would be the key. That led her to an old acquaintance she actually found herself happy to see again. He had been one of the first people she connected with when exploring her criminal justice career in Edenville.

“Piper Anderson, I thought you had fallen off the face of the earth. I haven’t heard from you in over two months,” said the absolutely statuesque Michael Cooper. He stood in the waiting room of his upscale office, ready to escort Piper in. Michael’s hair was sandy blond and a little longer than Piper usually liked on a man, but he kept it styled perfectly with a litany of salon products. “I was so happy to hear you had made an appointment with my office. I hope you weren’t waiting long.”

“Good to see you as well, Michael. No, I wasn’t waiting long at all, thank you.” Piper took a seat in the large leather chair that Michael had gestured toward. She loved being in his presence. She felt like a different person when she was with him, very much her old self.

He brought back the unshakable confidence she thought she had lost. When they had spent time together in the past Piper found herself becoming bolder with each encounter. Being with Michael was easy. He was self-absorbed enough not to really notice that Piper never mentioned her past. He never asked her deep questions, and never seemed to need an explanation for anything. When they were together, they lived in the here and now, and something about that made Piper feel completely at ease. In her entire time in Edenville, he had been the only person to have that effect. When she was with Michael, she almost felt like she had an alter ego. Or maybe she simply allowed herself to fall back into being the dynamic, vibrant person she used to be. Everything that had been taken from her seemed to come back when she was with him.

“I was secretly hoping you had reconsidered my invitation to dinner. I know I’m at least ten years older than you, but I really felt a connection. You are one of the most passionate students I’ve had shadow me in all the years I’ve been doing this. You’re really something special. So it had me thinking we should get to know each other a little better.” Michael lounged back in his plush leather office chair and laced his fingers behind his head. If Piper hadn’t had the pleasure of seeing his bleeding heart in action on three pro bono cases she might find him to be another slimy prosecutor. She had watched him work tirelessly for people and things he believed in only to be let down by the very rules he was fighting to uphold. He may have wanted to seem arrogant, but he couldn’t convince her.

Piper fought a smile as she spoke. “It’s awkward for me to have to be the one to break this to you, but you know you’re gorgeous right?” She leaned in toward him and waited for his response. They’d had their share of playful spats over the course of their brief time together, so she knew he would be game.

“I’m not really sure how to answer that without sounding completely self-absorbed. Thank goodness I’m not under oath.” He sat up from his lounging position, readying for her quips.

Piper continued in a mock serious manner. “You’re gorgeous. You have blond hair and those mesmerizing emerald green eyes. Chiseled movie star features. You’re over six feet tall right? You’ve got to be in the gym at least five times a week to have a body like that.” She gestured at his chest. “You wear perfectly tailored thousand dollar suits. I’m sure you have a really expensive car and only eat at the finest restaurants. Let’s face it, you smell amazing. I have a hard time sitting next to you without becoming completely intoxicated by that cologne. And Michael,” she continued coyly, “that smile... you could be in a toothbrush commercial with that smile. You pretty much have what every woman wants.”

“I thought you were making a case for why you didn’t want to have dinner with me,” he said, raising his eyebrow skeptically, unwilling to accept the compliments until he knew her angle.

“Well, you see, you’re single. Any man with all those qualities who’s still single has one of two problems. Maybe his standards are far too high, and if I don’t meet them my self-esteem will be shattered, and I’ll develop an eating disorder or get addicted to plastic surgery.” She smiled wryly at him and shrugged her shoulders.

Michael loved every second of this banter. Too often women tried hard to be accommodating to his ego, so it was nice to have a woman willing to shut him down. “Well, I think we both know there isn’t a man in this world who could put a dent in your self-esteem,” he countered.

Piper found this hilarious. If Michael could only see how fragile she really was he’d be stunned.

“You have no shortage of confidence. And you said two problems. That was only one problem.”

“Maybe you have some fundamental personality flaw that has women running from your house screaming once they discover it. You speak in the third person during sex, or you have an inappropriate bond with your mom or something,” Piper said, fighting hard to keep her face serious.

“Wait, women don’t like those things?” Michael asked with a look of shock as he pretended to write down what she was saying. “Hold on let me take notes since you seem to have this all figured out.”

“Seriously, Michael, there would be absolutely no hope of anything ever panning out with us, and I happen to like what we have right now,” she said with a more serious tone in her voice.

“What exactly do we have right now? You stopped calling months ago. Then I hear from you out of the blue and still don’t know why. Did you kill someone?” Michael tried to let the blow to his pride from her rejection go, and turn the mood back to a light one.

“No, I didn’t kill anyone. You’ll be glad to know I do need your help though. I know men like you really enjoy chivalry. So, no, I won’t have dinner with you, but I do
need
you.” She pulled a notebook and pen from her bag and placed it on her lap.

Michael was intrigued now. He was born with that unfortunate gene that made it impossible not to help a beautiful woman. “I guess I can settle for being your hero and buying you a drink. What exactly do you need?”

“I’ll definitely take a raincheck on the drink, maybe next week? Today I need some information. I’m writing a paper for school on judicial ethics,” Piper lied. “I need some real world examples to be able to get my head in the right place for this assignment. Since I sat in on some of your cases I thought we could use things that I can relate to. Do you think you can help?” She did her best to look pathetically desperate, and it seemed to be working.

“I guess so. But it’s important you know, I barely even talk to my mom, and I only refer to myself in third person when I’m getting ready in the morning. It helps me get pumped up for the day.” Joking with Piper was like being on vacation, and he would help her write ten papers if it meant she’d stay in his office a little longer. Being a lawyer wasn’t nearly as exciting as he thought it would be. So when a woman like Piper walked in, with a jagged sense of humor and the ability to keep up intellectually, he took notice.

“Great! Now what was that judge’s name for that drug case you lost? The older guy with the big nose?” Piper put her pen to her lips and pretended to rack her brain.

“Judge Lions? I’ve tried a bunch of cases in front of him. We can use him as an example, but you can’t site any names in this paper. Not mine and not his, understood?” The joking had clearly ceased for a minute while Michael made his point.

“No, of course not, I’m trying to get a few real life scenarios so I can make this paper feel authentic. Now let me ask you, have you ever felt like Judge Lions was being biased or unethical?” She put her pen to the paper, ready to write.

“I can’t answer that question. You’re asking me to say if I think a judge who I stand before regularly is doing his job appropriately. I’m sorry, kiddo, that’s not going to happen,” Michael insisted, shaking his head.

“No, that’s not at all what I’m asking you to do. I’m wondering if there have been cases where you feel like the judge is leaning in favor of the defendant for personal reasons. Come on Michael, I promise I won’t bring you into this—or the judge for that matter. I want to be able to look through the eyes of your years of experience. Please, I need your help.” She hated to play that card, but with a man like Michael, who always wanted to lend a hand, she knew he would cave.

Michael gritted his teeth and his nostrils flared. This damn girl was driving him crazy. “Fine, here’s what I’ll tell you. Every judge has a life outside of the courtroom. Each grew up a certain way, had a whole existence before becoming a judge, and there are times when I think that can make a difference in how they rule, even though it’s not supposed to. I don’t really care for Judge Lions myself. I have tried about nine cases in front of him and seven were lost because he either suppressed evidence or ruled some testimony to be stricken for one reason or another. He never did anything illegal in my eyes, but I’ve felt sour about those cases. That comes with the territory. Do I think there are crooked judges out there? Yes. Do I know if Judge Lions is one? No. Writing a paper about judicial ethics is a slippery slope, Piper. You can’t go calling people out and trying to break the next big story. If I were ever to accuse a judge because I thought he was ruling on something based on personal bias and I was wrong, my career would be over. That means all the people I plan to help for the rest of my career are out of luck. In this business you help who you can, and you play by the rules. I know it doesn’t sound like we’re all following our moral compass here, and maybe it’s disheartening for someone starting out, but it’s the truth. I can win a lot of small battles but the odds are I can’t win the war. If you want to continue down this path then you’re going to have to come to terms with that.”

Michael never liked to be the one to break it to people that sometimes there was a whole lot of grey in this profession, not nearly as much black and white as they led you to believe in school.

Piper was unimpressed and annoyed. “That’s kind of bullshit. You’re telling me that if you thought the judge was, let’s say taking money from someone and then making decisions in their favor, you wouldn’t do anything?” Her voice was a few octaves higher then she meant it to be, but it was becoming clear Michael wasn’t going to give up much helpful information without perhaps being argued into doing so.

“That isn’t what I said. If that were the case I would bring any information I had to my superiors and push to have him removed if there was enough evidence.” Defensive tones didn’t sound as good as playful banter.

“Oh sure, and when your boss is on the take too, you find yourself careening off the side of a mountain because someone cut your brake line in an effort to keep you quiet,” she said with true conviction on her face.

“You’ve been watching way too many movies. Are there some rumors and grumbling from prosecutors who feel Judge Lions might be more lenient to the defendants in some cases? Sure. But mostly that’s because, as you never fail to point out, prosecutors have giant egos, and when we are bruised we go looking for a reason for why we lost.” Michael hoped this explanation would be enough to redirect Piper’s focus away from a conspiracy within the judicial system.

“Which group do you think he is more lenient toward? Is there a specific subset of people that he tends to favor?” Piper was not stupid. She saw her window of opportunity closing quickly, and dancing around her questions wouldn’t serve her very well with Michael.

“That’s all you took away from that?” Michael asked, clearly exasperated. “Listen Piper, I don’t know what this is all about, but you are heading down a path with far greater repercussions than you can imagine. I know what it’s like to be starting out and to feel like there has to be more you can do to take the bad guys off the street, but trust me, being a good prosecutor is the best thing I can do. Whether this is a paper or an investigation, leave it alone.” Michael paused and ran his fingers through his hair trying not to get too wound up. “Even as I say it, I know you aren’t listening, so rather than have you go poking around and asking someone else, I’ll tell you that all cases are public records. You can see the players, the verdicts, and the evidence all down at town hall in the records department. Go do the math and draw your own conclusions. But I need you to promise me two things.” Michael leaned forward across his desk and put his hand on Piper’s. There was electricity when he touched her. It was enough to get her attention, but in paled in comparison to the feeling that shot through her when Bobby sat close enough to her for their arms to touch.