Read Online A Case for Love by Kaye Dacus - Free Book Online Page B

the hallway near the main doors to the assigned courtroom. Forbes straightened his tie, adjusted his jacket, and approached.
    “There you are.” Mr. Pichon plucked at the knot of his tie as if it was too tight. “I was starting to wonder ... no matter. Let’s get this done today. I’m tired of this property hanging around my neck like an abalone.”
    “Albatross,” Forbes corrected under his breath.
    “What?”
    “Never mind. Mr. Pichon, again, my recommendation is that you not contest the injunction and that you look at the proposal from the community group.”
    “I’ve looked at their numbers. I have six bidders coming in at twice what that group of yahoos wants to pay for my land.”
    Forbes kept his expression neutral, his voice level. “Yes, but they have e-mails proving that three years ago you promised them that if they developed the lot into a park, you wouldn’t sell it without giving the community association the opportunity to purchase it for fair market value. That’s going to be a big sticking point for Duplessis.”
    “But why should I sell it to them when I can make twice the money? Look, Guidry, you’re my lawyer, and you’re going to do this the way I want. I don’t care what’s done with the property so long as I get what’s coming to me.”
    Sometimes Forbes did wish he’d taken Russell’s path in the legal field. “You know I’ll work to get you the outcome you want, Mr. Pichon. That’s what I’m here for.”
    An hour and a half later, walking out of the courtroom, Forbes sent up a silent prayer of thanks that Judge Duplessis had been assigned this case. Duplessis, like Russ, had worked most of his career in legal aid centers and tended to rule in favor of the underdog, so long as there was any legal justification for it. Still, Forbes had made his arguments dance and twirl and spin—like that guy, Fred or Frank or whoever, in the old movies—until he’d had Duplessis in the palm of his hand. Then Russ had reminded the judge of the e-mails with the promises given by Pichon to the community group.
    “Mediation. Mediation!” Pichon pulled at his thinning, steel gray hair and let out a string of curses. “I want to sell that blasted lot now, while the buyers are hot for it, not sit down across a table from these idiots and pretend like I’m the least interested in anything they have to say. It’s not my fault those people spent too much money building paths and gazebos and other idiotic things that they had no right to build on my property.”
    Forbes didn’t want to reiterate what Russ had brought up in argument: that if the community had not pooled their resources together to rehabilitate the lot which Mr. Pichon had allowed to become a weed-choked dumping ground for trash and old appliances, no one in his right mind would be interested in buying it now.
    “Mr. Pichon, I know you want to move on this, but we have to do whatever the judge orders.” From the corner of his eye, he saw Russ parting company with his clients. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to speak with opposing counsel.”
    “Yeah. You do that, Guidry.” Mr. Pichon stormed off, still muttering obscenities under his breath.
    Forbes waited for Russ to get off the phone.
    “That was Carrie. She says hi.”
    “Everything okay?”
    “Oh, yeah. She just gets bored and so calls me every hour or so.” Russ smirked. “I guess I should be thankful, since I know we’ll have little enough time together after the babies come, but it’s really starting to...” He shrugged. “What’s up, old man?”
    Forbes cocked a brow at the man only a few months his junior. “I wanted to volunteer for some pro bono work. I’m well short of where I need to be to get my fifty hours this year, and I know y’all are probably overwhelmed with cases. Just keep in mind—”
    “I know—nothing going up against any of your firm’s clients. That severely restricts what I could be able to send you.” His friend grinned. “But