A Legal Thriller Book Series
Scott Winslow Legal Mysteries by David P. Warren
Series Excerpt
It’s three o’clock in the afternoon, and its over eighty degrees as I run through the parking lot toward Department 15 of the Superior Court, where I will wait for Judge Roy Carswell to conduct a settlement conference, so that he can eliminate the sexual harassment case I am to start next week from his calendar. Not because he cares about my case, but because he has three trials set the same day and wants to eliminate all of them and go fishing. Judge Carswell has been on the bench since my ancestors were small children. He was appointed by a governor who hates lawyers, for the purpose of abusing lawyers, and he has never disappointed. The entire bar has railed against Judge Carswell, in an attempt to cause his ouster, but to no avail. He is politically wired in and will probably outlast us all.
I walk into the courtroom and check in with the clerk, a dark-haired woman in her thirties, who shows me a half-smile and a dimple. She has an unruffled air, as she tells me that the judge will be with us soon. “Soon” is a legal term meaning when Carswell is ready, whether ten minutes or two hours has passed. I see my opposing counsel sitting in the courtroom with a young man that I have never seen before, who looks like he doesn’t quite fit the suit he wears. This would be the insurance adjuster I have never seen before. I give Doug Ferguson, my opposing counsel, a nod, which he returns almost imperceptibly, and then I walk out into the hall to look for my client. She is walking toward me. Linda Darnell is a very attractive woman in her early thirties. We met in my office last week to prepare for this conference and discuss our settlement position. Now she is waving vigorously, and has something important to say. Her excitement will have to do with the settlement dollars we discussed. Either she wants more money to sufficiently compensate for the injury inflicted, or she wants to accept less, and be done with it. In this case, I’m betting that it’s the latter, because Linda has been stressed out by the litigation process, and does not want any contact with the harasser, who causes her nightmares. It doesn’t take long to get confirmation that my guess is correct.
“Scott, how are you?” she asks, extending a hand.
I shake the hand. “I’m good, Linda. How are you feeling?”
“Well,” she says hesitantly, “I’ve been better.”
“What is it?” I ask, having a pretty good idea what comes next.
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