The Street Lawyer Learn English through story level 3

chapter one

mister

mister pointed at the dynamite around

his waist

i pull this he said and we die

the old black man got into the elevator

behind me

he smelled of smoke and cheap wine and

life on the streets without soap

his beard and hair were half gray and

very dirty

he was wearing sunglasses and a long

dirty coat hung down to his knees

he looked fat probably because he had

all his clothes on

in the winter in washington the street

people wear all their clothes all the

time

they can’t leave any of their clothes at

home because they don’t have a home

the old man didn’t belong here

everything here was expensive

the 400 lawyers in the building who all

worked for drake and sweeney were paid

an unbelievable

amount of money

i knew that because i was a drake and

sweeney lawyer myself

the elevator stopped at six

the man hadn’t pushed an elevator button

when i stepped out and turned right he

followed me

i pushed the heavy wooden door of a big

meeting room

there were eight lawyers at the table

inside and they all looked surprised

they were looking behind me so i turned

my friend from the elevator was standing

there

he was pointing a gun at me

put that gun down said one of the

lawyers at the table

his name was rafter he was a hard man in

a courtroom maybe the hardest lawyer

that drake and sweeney had

suddenly a shot hit the ceiling

rafter’s eyes opened wide and his mouth

shut lock the door the man said to me

i locked the door of the meeting room

stand against a wall

we all stood against the wall

the man took off his dirty coat and put

it carefully on the large expensive

table in the center of the room

he had five or six red sticks around his

waist tied there with string

i had never seen dynamite before but

they looked like dynamite to me

i wanted to run and hope for a bad shot

when he fired at me

but my legs were like water

some of the lawyers were shaking with

fear and making noises like scared

animals

please be quiet said the man calmly

then he took a long yellow rope and a

knife from the pocket of his pants

you he said to me

tie them up

rafter stepped forward

listen friend he said what do you want

the second shot went into the wall

behind rafter’s ear

do not call me friend said the man

what would you like us to call you i

asked him quietly

call me mister

i tied the eight lawyers with the yellow

rope

one of them barry nuzzo was my friend

we were the same age 32 and we had

started at drake and sweeney on the same

day

only our marriages were different

his was successful and mine wasn’t

he had three kids claire and i didn’t

have any

i looked at barry and he looked at me

i knew we were both thinking about

barry’s kids

we could hear police cars outside and

noises as the police entered the

building

mister pointed at the dynamite around

his waist

i pulled this he said and we die

for a second we all looked at each other

nine white boys and mister

i thought of all those terrible

shootings you read about in the

newspapers

a crazy worker returns to work after

lunch with a gun and kills everybody in

his office there had been killings at

fast food restaurants and playgrounds

too

and those dead people were children or

honest workers

who would care about us

we were lawyers

time passed

what did you eat for lunch today mr

asked me breaking a long silence

he spoke clearly and from the sound of

his voice he had had a good education

he hadn’t always been on the streets

i had chicken and salad i said surprised

alone

no i met a friend

how much did it cost for both of you

thirty dollars

mr didn’t like that

thirty dollars he repeated for two

people

you know what i had for lunch

no

i had soup

free soup from a shelter and i was glad

to get it

you could feed a hundred of my friends

for thirty dollars you know that

yes mister

call your

boss there was a phone on the table

i called arthur jacobs

800 lawyers worked for drake and sweeney

around the world but at 79 jacobs was

the oldest of the partners here in

washington he answered at the first ring

of the phone

mr jacobs

michael are you okay

wonderful i said

what does he want from us

i spoke to the man what do you want

mister

soup with bread said the man

get it from the shelter at l street and

17th

they put a lot of vegetables in the soup

there

soup with bread i said into the phone

no said the man get soup and bread for

all of us

mr jacobs i said

i heard i can hear him

a shelter for street people does carry

outs

mr jacobs please just do it he has a gun

and dynamite

i put the phone down

you said the man he was talking to me

what’s your name

michael brock

how much money did you earn last year

don’t lie

i thought quickly

i didn’t lie

a hundred and twenty thousand

he didn’t like that

how much did you give to poor people

i don’t remember my wife does that

thank you mr brock

mister pointed the gun at the other

lawyers

he asked all of them the same questions

nate malamud the only partner in the

room earned more than a million dollars

more than a million mister said to him

i know you

you walk past me when i sit on the

sidewalk every morning

you never give me any money

why can’t you help poor people homeless

people

nate was a big man with white hair

he had been with drake and sweeney for

30 years

he was red in the face with

embarrassment now

i’m sorry he said

who did the eviction

said mister suddenly

and again

who did the eviction

nobody spoke

none of us understood him

but mister wasn’t looking for an answer

he looked out the window

maybe he was thinking

maybe he was dreaming

maybe he was watching the police out

there

our soup and bread arrived half an hour

later

there was a knock on the door and

somebody outside shouted through the

door

your food

mister shouted back

if i see a policeman out there i’ll kill

these men

then he pointed the gun at my head

the two of us walked slowly to the door

unlock the door and open it very slowly

mister said there was nobody outside

the food was on the floor near the door

as i stepped outside and bent down to

pick it up i heard a shout stay down

a policeman stepped quickly out of the

office opposite and shot mister through

the head

mr fell without a sound and my face was

covered in blood

whose blood

mister was lying on the floor

half his head had gone

but the sunglasses still covered one eye

his hands were nowhere near the dynamite

policemen came running from all the

offices are you hurt one of them asked

me

i didn’t know

i couldn’t see

there was blood on my face and shirt and

a liquid that i discovered later

was part of mister’s brain

chapter 2

devon hardy

who did the eviction

mister had asked

but i guess he already knew the answer

to that

a policeman led me to the first floor of

the building where friends and family

and doctors were waiting

the doctors crowded around

but where was my wife

six hours in a room with a gunman and

she hadn’t come to see me

it was funny really because my wife

claire was a doctor herself at one of

the biggest hospitals in washington

i lay on a table for 10 minutes while

doctors examined me to make sure i was

all right

then my secretary polly

arrived there were tears in her eyes as

she put her arms around me

where’s claire i asked her

i called the hospital she’s working

paulie knew there wasn’t much left of

the marriage

are you okay she asked

i think so

i’ll take you home

i was pleased someone was telling me

what to do

my thoughts came into my head slowly

it was like i was underwater

we left the draken sweeney building by a

back door

there were police cars everywhere and

ambulances and television vans even a

fire truck i’m alive

i’m alive i realized smiling for the

first time

i’m alive

i looked up to heaven and said a very

big thank

you when i got home to our apartment on

p street in georgetown claire wasn’t

there

i sat in the empty apartment and thought

about her

we had met the week after i moved to

washington

i was just out of yale with a great job

she came from one of america’s oldest

families

we were in love we got married

but drake and sweeney make you work very

hard the first year

i worked 15 hours a day six days a week

i saw claire on sundays and we went out

together when i wasn’t too tired

for the last five years i had worked

about 200 hours a month

that’s eight hours every day for six

days with two or three hours on sunday

but young lawyers at drake and sweeney

don’t complain about long hours

fewer than one in ten become partners

and everybody wants to be that one in

ten because you earn at least a million

dollars a year

claire was good about it for the first

few months

but then she got tired of having a

husband who was never there and i didn’t

blame her

there are a lot of divorces at drake and

sweeney

long hours at work each hour paid for by

a client are more important than a happy

wife

by the end of our first year together

claire was unhappy and we weren’t

talking together very much

she decided to go to medical school and

i thought that was a great idea

drake and sweeney were telling me that i

was a possible future partner

i just had to work even harder

when claire was studying i didn’t feel

so guilty about that

but claire didn’t just study

she worked unbelievably long hours

she had decided she wanted to be a great

doctor

soon we were playing a crazy game called

i can work harder than you

and another game called my job is more

important than your job because i’m a

doctor

lawyer

my boss arthur jacobs of course was on

my team

he had become a partner in drake and

sweeney at the age of 30 the youngest

ever partner

and he would soon be the oldest ever

working partner

the law was his life

all three of his divorced wives could

tell you that

i woke up suddenly

i had fallen asleep in an armchair at

the apartment and claire was sitting in

a chair next to me

where were you today i said

at the hospital

at the hospital

nine of us are in a room with a crazy

man and a gun for six hours we get lucky

and escape

eight families come and see their

relative because they’re interested in

whether or not he’s alive

and how do i get home

my secretary drives me

i couldn’t be there oh no of course you

couldn’t be there how silly of me

i couldn’t be there because the police

asked all doctors to stay at their

hospitals until the situation at drake

and sweeney ended

they always do that when there’s a

possible shooting

oh

did you call

i tried

i guess there were a lot of people

trying

next morning we made breakfast together

we ate in the kitchen watching the small

television

the six o’clock news showed the drake

and sweeney building and you could see

mister looking out of the window

the television news said the dynamite

wasn’t real

the sticks were made of wood and mr had

painted them red

the gun was real enough though

it was a 44 stolen

mister’s real name was davon hardy

he was 45

he had fought in vietnam

he had been in prison a few times for

stealing but he wasn’t a big criminal

and he was homeless with no known family

that morning’s washington post had more

details

according to someone called mordecai

greene the director of the 14th street

law center devon hardy had recently lost

his job

then he became homeless

he was living in an old warehouse this

wasn’t unusual

a lot of homeless people move into empty

buildings because they have no money for

their own place

devon hardy had recently been evicted

from the warehouse as an illegal

squatter

lawyers are responsible for evictions

who did the eviction mister had asked

but i guess he already knew the answer

to that

and now i knew it too

drake and sweeney had thrown mr into the

streets

chapter three

mordecai green

mordecai green was a warm caring man

whose work was on the streets

he was a lawyer with a heart

i had told paulie i would be at work

today the day after mister came into the

office

but for the first time ever

i didn’t go to work when i was well

enough to go

just as it started to snow i got into my

car a lexus and drove through the

streets of washington

the snow came down harder and harder

i just drove

paulie’s voice came over the car phone

she sounded worried

where are you

who wants to know

a lot of people

arthur jacobs wants to see you you have

clients waiting for you

i’m fine paulie tell everybody i’m at

the doctor’s office

are you

no but i could be

i drove around georgetown not going

anywhere just driving

the clouds were dark

the snow would be heavy

people were hurrying through the snow on

the sidewalks

i saw a homeless man and wondered if he

knew davon hardy

where did street people go in a snow

storm

i called the hospital i wanted to ask

claire to meet me for lunch

but the hospital said claire was busy

and they couldn’t contact her

that was the end of our lunch together

i turned and went northeast past logan

circle into the gang area of the city

and drove until i found the 14th street

law center

i parked at 14th and q

certain that i would never see the

expense of lexus again

the 14th street law center was in an old

tall red brick house that had seen

better days

the windows on the top floor were

protected by pieces of wood over the

glass

the door wasn’t locked

i went in slowly out of the snow and

entered another world

it was a law office all right

but there was no expensive furniture

here

not like at drake and sweeney

i stepped into a large room which had

three metal desks each covered in files

there were more files on old pieces of

carpet on the floor

the computers and the only photocopier

were 10 years old

there was a large photograph of martin

luther king on one wall

the office was busy and dusty and

interesting

you’re looking for somebody

asked a woman at a desk with the name

sophia mendoza on it

she looked mexican

she wasn’t smiling but i did

it was funny

nobody at drake and sweeney would talk

to a visitor like that

they would lose their job

but i would soon learn how important

sophia was to the 14th street law center

i’m looking for mordecai green i said

but just then he came out of his office

sophia went back to her work

green was an enormous black man at least

two meters tall and very heavy

he was in his early fifties with a gray

beard and round red glasses he shouted

something about a file to sophia and

then turned to me

can i help you

i want to talk to you about devon hardy

i said and gave him my drake and sweeney

card

he looked at me for a few seconds and

then looked quickly at sophia who was

speaking in fast spanish into the phone

mordecai green walked back into his

office and i followed him in

the office was a small room with no

windows and the desk and floor covered

in files and law books

sit down he said

but you might get dirty

what do you want

i sat down

i was in the room with devon hardy when

he was shot i said

i couldn’t think this morning i didn’t

want to go to work so i came here

any idea why he did it because of the

eviction said mordecai green

a few months ago he moved into an old

warehouse at the corner of florida

avenue

it wasn’t a bad place for a homeless

person

it had a roof some toilets water

who owned the warehouse

mordecai pulled a thin file from one of

the piles on his desk

it was exactly the one he wanted

he looked at the file for a minute

the warehouse was owned by a company

called river oaks

and river oaks lawyers are drake and

sweeney

probably

is that all

no

i heard the devon hardy and the others

got no warning of the eviction

but you can evict squatters with no

warning

oh yes

you can’t evict tenants without a

warning though

was devon hardy a squatter or a tenant

i don’t know

i thought of another question

how did devon hardy know about drake and

sweeney

who knows

he wasn’t stupid though

crazy but not stupid

i had taken enough of his time

he looked at his watch i looked at mine

we exchanged phone numbers and promised

to stay in contact

mordecai green was a warm caring man

whose work was on the streets protecting

hundreds of nameless clients

he was a lawyer with a heart

on the way out

sophia didn’t look up from her

conversation on the phone

the lexus was still there covered by an

inch of snow

chapter 4

mom and dad

welcome to the world son

you think the guys in factory jobs like

what they’re doing

you’re getting rich they aren’t

after i left mordecai green’s office i

drove around and around the city while

the snow fell

as a lawyer with hours to work which my

clients paid for

i couldn’t do this sort of thing

just moving with the traffic not going

anywhere

but i was doing it now

i didn’t want to go back to the empty

apartment

i didn’t want to go to a bar either

i’d probably never leave

so i drove

i went through poor parts of the city i

had never seen before

then i went back to drake and sweeney

and went up in mister’s elevator again

walked along the hall to my office and

sat down at my desk

for the first time i wondered how much

everything in my office had cost

the expensive old desk the red leather

armchairs and the persian

carpets weren’t we just chasing money

here in this building

why did we work so hard to buy a more

expensive carpet or an older desk

was that a good reason to work

was this the life i wanted

in my expensive room i thought of

mordecai green giving his time to help

people who had nothing

i had about ten pink telephone messages

from clients on my desk and none of them

interested me

i didn’t like this work

my clients were big companies and i

worked on their lawsuits against other

big companies

the lawsuits continued for years

maybe a hundred lawyers worked on each

one

all sending paper to each other

paulie came in and brought me cookies

she put them on the table with a big

smile before she left for home for the

day

a couple of lawyers came in said how you

doing and left again

they were probably on their way home too

alone in the office again

i picked up one big file and then

another one

which lawsuit did i want to work on

today

i didn’t want to work on any of them

i couldn’t do it

it didn’t make any sense to me now

i went to my computer and began

searching our client files

river oaks was started in 1977

in hagerstown maryland

it was a private company so it was

difficult to get information about it

river oaks was the client of a drake and

sweeney lawyer called braden chance

i didn’t know the name but i looked

again in our computer files

braden chance was a partner in real

estate on the fourth floor

he was 44 years old married and went to

law school at duke

there were 42 files for river oaks

four were about evictions

river oaks had bought a warehouse on

florida avenue

on january 27th some squatters were

evicted from the warehouse one of them

as i now knew was devon hardy

the file on the eviction itself had a

number next to it

the number meant that only braden chance

could open the file i wrote down the

file’s name and number and walked down

to the fourth floor

when i got there i saw a legal assistant

and asked him where braden chance’s

office was

he pointed to an open door across the

hall although it was late

chance was at his desk looking busy

he didn’t like me just walking in from

the hall

at drake and sweeney you phoned first

and made an appointment but that didn’t

worry me very much

chance didn’t ask me to sit down

but i did and he didn’t like that either

you were next to the guy when he got

shot

he said unpleasantly after i said devon

hardy’s name

yes i said

terrible for you huh

it’s over

mr hardy who’s now dead was evicted from

a warehouse

was it one of our evictions

it was said chance but he didn’t look at

me as he spoke

i guess that arthur jacobs had looked at

the file with him earlier in the day

what about it added chance

was he a squatter

of course he was

they’re all squatters aren’t they

our client just got them out of the

warehouse

are you sure he was a squatter

not a tenant

chance looked angry

what do you want

could i see the file

no

why not

i’m very busy will you please leave

if he was a squatter there’s no problem

why can’t i see the file

because it’s mine and i said no how’s

that

maybe that’s not good enough

he stood his hands shaking as he pointed

to the door

i smiled at him and left

the legal assistant from the hall had

heard everything and we exchanged looks

and smiles as i passed his desk

the man’s a fool

he said very quietly

i smiled again

yes

but what was chance hiding

there was something wrong

and it was in that file i had to get it

i went back to my office to think

the phone rang

it was clear

why

are you at the office

she spoke very slowly and her voice was

colder than the snow outside

i looked at my watch

i remembered we had arranged to have

dinner together at the apartment

i uh

well

a client called from the west coast

i had used this lie before it didn’t

matter

i’m waiting michael

should i start to eat

no i’ll be back at the apartment as fast

as i can

i ran from the building into the

snowstorm but i didn’t really care that

another evening together had been ruined

a few hours later claire and i were

having our coffee by the kitchen window

the snow had finally stopped

i had an idea

let’s go to florida i said

she gave me a cold look

florida

okay the bahamas we can leave tomorrow

it’s impossible

not at all i don’t have to work for a

few days

why not

because i’m going crazy

and at drake and sweeney if you go crazy

then you get a few days off

you are going crazy i know

it’s fun actually

people are nice to you they smile

polly brought me cookies today i like it

the cold look returned and she said

i can’t

and that was the end of that

i knew she couldn’t do it

she was a doctor people had appointments

with her

but also she didn’t want to go with me

okay

i said

then i’m going to memphis for a couple

of days to see my parents

oh really she said

she didn’t even sound interested

i need to see my parents

it’s been almost a year and this is a

good time i think

i don’t like the snow and i don’t feel

like working

like i said

i’m going crazy

claire got up and went to bed

well

call me she said over her shoulder

i knew that was the end of my marriage

and i hated to have to tell my mother

my parents were in their early 60s and

trying to enjoy not working for the

first time in their lives

mom had been a bank manager dad had been

a lawyer in atlanta

they had worked hard saved hard and

given me the best of everything

dad always wanted me to be a lawyer like

him

i rented a car at memphis airport and

drove east to the rich part of the city

where the white people live

the blacks had the center of the city

and the whites the area outside

sometimes the blacks moved out from the

center into a white area and then the

whites moved further out

my parents lived on a golf course in a

new glass house

you could see the golf course from every

window

i had called from the airport so mom

knew i was coming

what’s wrong

she asked me when she saw me

nothing i’m fine

where’s claire

you guys never call as you know i

haven’t heard her voice in two months

claire’s fine mom

we’re both alive and healthy and working

very hard

are you spending enough time together no

are you spending any time together

not much

i saw the tears in her eyes

i’m sorry mom

it’s

lucky we don’t have kids

to talk about something else i told her

the story of mister

are you all right

she asked a look of shock on her face of

course

i’m here aren’t i

the company wanted me to take a couple

of days holiday so i came home

you poor thing

claire and now this

later that afternoon my dad and i played

golf

dad i’m not very happy at drake and

sweeney i said

i don’t like what i’m doing

welcome to the world son

you think the guys in factory jobs like

what they’re doing

you’re getting rich they aren’t

be happy

he was happy

he was winning at the golf

ten minutes later he said

are you changing jobs

i’m thinking about it

why don’t you just say what you’re

trying to say

as usual i felt weak and like i was

running away from something

i’m thinking about working for the

homeless i said as a lawyer i added

quickly

dad didn’t stop playing

he hit a ball into the distance

i’d hate to see you throw it all away

son

he said

you’ll be a partner in a few years

we walked after his ball

a street guy’s killed in front of you

and you have to change the world

you just need a few days away from work

is that all

chapter five

leonte burton

inside were a young mother and her

children

all dead

the mother had started the engine of the

old car and left it running

of course the apartment was empty when i

returned friday night but there was a

note in the kitchen

just like me claire had gone home to her

parents in providence for a couple of

days

i knew claire wanted to end the marriage

too

i just didn’t know how badly

i went for a long walk

it was very cold outside with a strong

wind

i passed beautiful homes with families

in them eating and laughing and enjoying

the warmth

then i moved on to m street

friday night on m was always fun time

the bars and coffee shops were full and

people were waiting in line to get into

the restaurants

i stopped at the window of a music club

listening to sad music with snow over my

feet

watching the young couples drink and

dance

for the first time in my life

i didn’t feel young

i was 32

but in the last five years i had worked

more than most people do and twenty

i was tired

those pretty girls in there would never

look at me now

i went back to the apartment

at some time after nine the phone rang

it was mordecai green

are you busy he asked

to do what

to work

the shelters are full

we don’t have enough helpers

i’ve

never done that kind of work

can you put butter on bread

i think so

then you’re the man for us

we’re at a church on 13th and euclid

i’ll be there in 20 minutes

i changed into the oldest clothes i had

jeans and an old blue jacket and took

most of my money out of my wallet

as i closed the apartment door behind me

i was excited and i didn’t exactly know

why

i parked the lexus opposite the church

the attack i half expected didn’t happen

no gangs

the snow kept the streets empty and safe

for now

i went into the church down into a big

room below it and entered the world of

the homeless

it was unbelievable how many people were

in that room

volunteers were giving out blankets and

apples

mordecai was pouring fruit juice into

paper cups and talking all the time

a line waited patiently for food at a

table

i went to mordecai and he said hello

like i was an old friend

it’s crazy he said

one big snowstorm and we work all night

he showed me the bread the butter the

meat and the cheese

it’s real complicated

you do 10 with meat and then 10 with

cheese okay

yeah

you learned fast

then he disappeared

i made ten sandwiches quickly then i

slowed and watched all the people

most of the homeless looked down at the

floor

most of them said thank you to the

volunteers when they got the food

then they ate slowly

even the children were careful with

their food

mordecai came back and started making

sandwiches next to me

where does the food come from i asked

him

food bank

people give it

tonight we’re lucky because we have

chicken

usually it’s just vegetables

how many shelters like this are there in

the city

this isn’t actually a shelter

the church kindly opens its doors when

the weather’s bad

when the doors close they go out again

i tried to understand this

then where do these people live

some are squatters

they’re the lucky ones

some live on the streets some in parks

some in bus stations some under bridges

usually it’s okay

but they can’t stay out in the open

tonight

it’s too cold

they have to go to one of the shelters

how many shelters are there

about twenty

two are closing soon

no money

how many beds

about five thousand

and how many homeless

good question

they’re a difficult group to count

maybe ten thousand

i thought about that

then i asked mordecai about himself

you have a family

yes

a wife

three sons

ones in college the ones in the army

and

and we lost our third boy on the streets

ten years ago

he was killed

gangs

what about you

married no kids

mordecai disappeared again

a helper brought cookies

i took four of them and walked to a

corner where a young mother was asleep

with a baby under her arm and two small

children half asleep under blankets

the oldest boy’s eyes opened wide when

he saw the cookies in my hand

i gave him one

his eyes shone as he took it and ate all

of it

then he wanted another one

he was small and thin no more than four

years old

the mother woke up saw the cookies and

smiled

what’s your name i said to the boy

after two cookies he was my friend for

life

ontario

how old are you

he showed me four fingers

four i said

he said yes and put his hand out for

another cookie which i gladly gave him

i wanted to give him things

anything he wanted

where do you live i whispered

in a car

he whispered back

you got more apple juice

sure

i went to the kitchen and got him a cup

of apple juice and more cookies

the mother was sleeping again

like many homeless people she moved a

lot in her sleep

she was cold i took my jacket off and

put it over her

then the baby cried and woke her

without thinking i took the baby smiling

at the mother all the time

she was happy to let me hold it so she

could get some sleep

i stayed there until three in the

morning

the next day was saturday

since tuesday when i met mister

i hadn’t worked even one hour for drake

and sweeney

i lay in bed

i hated the work at drake and sweeney

i didn’t want to go back

ever i had breakfast at a cafe on m and

wondered what ontario was having for

breakfast

then i went shopping

candy and small toys for the kids soap

for the mall

warm clothes and lots of children’s

sizes

i’d never had so much fun spending two

hundred dollars

and i wanted to spend more

i wanted to put that family in a hotel

for a month

i wanted to start a lawsuit against the

person who had made them homeless

i couldn’t wait to have ontario’s family

as my clients

i went back to the church leaving all

the toys and clothes in the car

but ontario’s family weren’t there

i asked mordecai where they were

who knows

homeless go from kitchen to kitchen

shelter to

shelter next morning sunday i had the

small television in the kitchen on while

i ate breakfast

but the tv news stopped me from eating

i heard the words

but i didn’t want to believe them

i walked toward the television

my feet were heavy

my heart was cold

my mouth was open in shock and disbelief

sometime around 11 pm washington police

found a small car near fort totten park

in a gang area in the northeast of the

city

it was parked on the street

inside were a young mother and her

children all dead

the mother had started the engine of the

old car and left it running to keep the

family warm

the air in the car poisoned them while

they slept

they gave the mother’s name

it was lonte burton

the baby was tamiko

the other children were alonso

and ontario

their candy and toys and soap and

clothes

were still in my car

chapter 6

a new person

now i too carried my photograph of a 22

year old black mother who had died for

nothing in a car

i was at the 14th street law center

how much would a funeral cost i asked

mordecai

i don’t know

are you interested

i want them to have a good funeral

okay then

let’s arrange it now

we got into mordecai’s old ford taurus

the burton family’s bodies were in the

morgue of the general hospital

mordecai entered like he owned the place

i’m mordecai green lawyer for the burden

family

he informed an anxious young man behind

the desk

a doctor from the hospital arrived and

mordecai pushed open the big metal door

inside the white room were lines of

bodies covered in sheets

their names were on little pieces of

paper tied to their toes

we stopped in a corner

lonte burton said the doctor and pulled

the sheet down to her waist

it was ontario’s mother all right in a

white dress

she looked the same as when i saw her

alive a few days ago

she looked like she was sleeping

i couldn’t stop staring at her

that’s her

said mordecai in a confident and loud

voice

like he’d known her for years

only one sheet covered the children

they were lying in a line with their

hands by their sides like little

soldiers

i wanted to touch ontario

i wanted to tell him i was sorry

i wanted to wake him up take him home

give him some food

give him everything he could ever want

that’s them

said mordecai

i looked up to heaven and i heard a

voice in my head say

don’t let it happen again

the doctor took us to an office

we helped the assistant make a list of

everything that had been found with the

family

my old blue jacket was the best thing

they owned

do you want it back

mordecai asked me

no

i waited outside in the car while

mordecai arranged the funeral in another

office

he told me the price would go up if they

saw my expensive clothes

in less than a week i had seen five dead

street people

first mister had changed my life

now ontario had broken my heart

there was a knock on the car window i

jumped

it’s five thousand dollars all four

mordecai shouted through the closed car

window

yeah yeah i said and he disappeared back

into the hospital

soon he was back driving fast

the funeral will be tuesday at the

church here at the hospital the

newspapers will be there and television

it’s a big story

thanks mordecai i said

after the funeral there’s going to be a

march a march to the government

buildings on capitol hill for the burton

family

television is going to film it the

newspapers are going to write about it

are you okay

no

i called in sick tuesday

at 10 i left for the funeral

it was a very nice church

beautiful

it didn’t open its doors to the homeless

and i could understand why

i sat alone

i could see mordecai with two people i

didn’t know the tv people were in one

corner

i could also see the coffins

the baby’s coffin was very small

ontario’s coffin and his brothers were

bigger but not much bigger

lonte burton’s parents were dead

but her grandmother was there

she put flowers on the coffins and for a

terrible second i thought she was going

to open them

i had never been to a black funeral

before

and i didn’t know what to expect

but i had seen old film of coffins open

at funerals

after the funeral there was the march to

capitol hill

there were big photos of lonte burton

everywhere and under her face the words

who killed lonte

on capitol hill mordecai spoke to the

people

he didn’t talk about the homeless

he talked about the last hours of the

burton family

he talked about the baby’s last meal in

the church

he talked about the cookies the boys had

eaten

he described how the little family left

the church and went back onto the

streets into the snowstorm where lante

and her children lived only a few more

hours

mordecai described things he didn’t

actually know had happened

but i didn’t care and the crowd didn’t

either

when he described the family trying to

get warm before they died

i heard women crying around me

if this man mordecai green could make a

crowd cry like this

he must be a great lawyer

when mordechai finished we marched to

the capitol the government building

carrying the commons

i had never been on a march like this

before

rich people don’t march

their world is safe and clean and there

are laws to keep them happy

but now i too carried my photograph of a

22 year old black mother who had died

for nothing in a car

i wasn’t the same person as i had been

before mister and ontario came into my

life

and i could never be that person again

so i accepted when mordecai green phoned

me a few days later and invited me to a

restaurant near dupont circle

and when he invited me to join the 14th

street law center i accepted his offer

of a job too

we can pay you thirty thousand dollars a

year smiled mordecai

you’ll be a partner

let’s see drake and sweeney beat that

i smiled too

i nearly told him about the file i

needed from drake and sweeney the file

that would give us the story of davon

hardy’s eviction but i didn’t

that night i told claire my news

it was almost 10 and we were sitting in

our favorite chairs with glasses of wine

after a few minutes i said we need to

talk

what is it she asked i’m worried

i’m thinking of leaving drake and

sweeney

oh really

she either expected this or wanted to

seem calm

i had told her all about lonte burton

and her family

yes i can’t go back there

why

not the work’s boring and unimportant

i want to do something to help people

i told you about mordecai green

his law center has offered me a job

i’m starting monday

how much did he offer you

thirty thousand a year

that’s ninety thousand dollars a year

less than you are now

you don’t do work for the homeless for

the money

as young law and medical students we had

wanted to help people

we told ourselves then that money was

not important

and

now

i’m tired she said

she finished her wine and went to the

bedroom

the next day she visited a divorce

lawyer

i promised to leave the apartment by the

weekend

chapter 7

brayden chance and river oaks

the note read

top key is to chance’s door

bottom key is to the file drawer under

the window

i went back to drake and sweeney for my

last day they didn’t want me to leave

there was a lot of work and they didn’t

want to find someone new

i was invited to breakfast with arthur

jacobs in the partner’s private dining

room on the eighth floor

how could i turn my back on a world of

breakfasts in the partner’s dining room

that was the idea

over breakfast arthur suggested that i

could stop working at drake and sweeney

for a year and work pro bono at the law

center

he said that drake and sweeney should do

more pro bono work

he offered to pay the difference between

the law centers 30 thousand a year and

what i earned at drake and sweeney

i smiled

i would be drake and sweeney’s pro bono

boy for a year and they could all feel

good about themselves

during that year a partner would take my

clients

i would return after a year happy and

take my clients back

actually

i didn’t say no immediately

they had at least tried

arthur often talked about pro bono work

though clients and their paid hours

always came first

but i thought about the offer and then i

said no

by now i hated my old work too much to

go back to it

i didn’t like the old me that had done

the work very much either

i was trying to explain to arthur that i

was a different man now

when braden chance sat down at a table

not far from ours

he didn’t see me at first but then i saw

him staring at me

good morning brayden i said loudly

arthur turned around to see who i was

talking to

you know him he asked quietly

we’ve met i said

he’s a fool

said arthur very quietly

it was the same word the legal assistant

had used about chance

when i got back to my office there were

two files on my desk

they hadn’t been there before my

breakfast with arthur

in the first one there was a list of

names headed

people evicted river oaks

number four was davon hardy

number 10 was lonte burton and three

children

i sat there for two or three minutes in

silence

why would anyone put something like this

on my desk if the information wasn’t

true

at the bottom of the page someone had

written a few words in pencil

the eviction was wrong

i opened the second file

there were two keys in it and a type

note

the note read

top key is to chances door

bottom key is to the file drawer under

the window

i put the files away

i had to do some work

i also had a working lunch that day

working lunch meant that the client was

paying

but the law had never seemed so

unimportant and boring

i got through the day only because i

knew it was my last at drake and sweeney

it was almost five before i got a few

minutes alone

i said goodbye to paulie and locked the

office door from the inside

i took the files out again and began to

think and make notes

i had an idea who had sent the files

the young legal assistant who would call

chance a fool

legal assistance did the evictions and

it was his job to put documents in the

file

i phoned another legal assistant and

asked him for the name of chance’s

assistant

the guy was called hector palmer

he had been with drake and sweeney about

three years all in real estate

we met in the library on the third floor

hector palmer was very nervous

did you put those files on my desk i

asked him

there was no time to play games

what files

his eyes went around and around the room

looking at everything except me

the river oaks eviction you were there

right

yeah he said

what’s in the river oaks file

bad stuff

tell me

i have a wife and four kids i need this

job

you’ll be okay

you’re leaving what do you care

i wasn’t surprised he knew

people talked

i was news

so before i leave you want me to go into

chance’s office and take a file and i

can’t be sure what’s in it

do what you want

and he ran out of the library

i went back to my office and made some

more notes

i would lose my job if i was caught

taking the file but i was already

leaving

it would be much worse if i was caught

in chance’s office with a key that

wasn’t mine

i didn’t like the idea at

all then there was the problem of

copying the file

some drake and sweeney files were very

thick

i would have to stand in front of a

photocopier for a long time

and also our photocopiers worked from a

plastic card that had our names on it

drake and sweeney knew exactly who

copied what

i could use a photocopier somewhere else

but it was illegal to take the file from

the building

and i was a lawyer

but couldn’t i just borrow the file

i only needed it for half an hour to

photocopy it

i could take it to the 14th street law

center photocopy it and bring it back

immediately

that made me a little less of a thief

it was now getting late

this friday night

i was starting work with mordecai on

monday it was now or never

but i hadn’t got a key to the 14th

street law center

i looked at my watch it was half past

six

i drove to 14th street my partners were

still there

sophia actually smiled at me but only

for a second

welcome to your new job said mordecai

seriously like i needed all the luck in

the world

how about this he said pointing at my

new office

the best office in the area

beautiful i said stepping inside

my new office was about half the size of

the one i just left my drake and sweeney

desk would be too big to go in there

there was no phone

i like it i said and i did

i’ll get you a phone tomorrow

said mordecai

it was dark and sophia wanted to leave

mordechai and i ate some sandwiches he

had bought he made us both coffee

i looked at the copier

it was about 10 years old but i knew it

worked

what time are you leaving tonight i

asked mordecai with my mouth full of

sandwich

i don’t know

in an hour maybe why

i’m going back to drake and sweeney for

a couple of hours

i have some last minute stuff they want

me to finish

then i’d like to come back here late

would that be possible

mordecai was eating his sandwich

he reached into a drawer and threw me a

key

come and go as you please he said

will it be safe

no

so be careful

park as close to the door as you can

walk fast

then lock yourself in

i walked fast to my car at 7 30. the

sidewalk was empty

my lexus was fine

maybe i would be okay on the streets

the drive back to drake and sweeney took

11 minutes

if it took 30 minutes to copy chance’s

file then it would be out of his office

for about an hour and you would never

know

real estate was empty

i knocked on chance’s door

no answer

i used the key to his door and went in

should i turn on the light

it was dark

i would have to

i locked the door turned on the light

went to the bottom file drawer under the

window and unlocked it with the second

key

i found the river oaks file and was

reading through it when a voice outside

shouted hey and i jumped

a conversation started outside

two guys were talking baseball

i turned off the lights listening to

their talk

then i sat on chance’s sofa for 10

minutes

i could put the file back

if they saw me leaving chance’s office

nothing would be done

it was my last day

but if they saw me taking a file that

was very different

be patient i told myself

after baseball they started talking

about girls

i think they were a couple of young

legal assistants working late

then finally it was quiet

i locked the drawer in the dark opened

the door and went out

hey

shouted someone behind me

i ran

i ran to the back of the building got

into the lexus and drove off

that was stupid i thought why did i run

why didn’t i talk to the guy

i still worked at drake and sweeney

didn’t i

that was my last thought before the

lexus was hit by a jaguar speeding down

18th street

i remember a voice saying

i don’t see any blood

and then i remember claire sitting by my

bed at the george washington university

medical center

chapter 8

hector palmer

michael you won’t be a lawyer when they

finished not here not anywhere you’re

going to lose your license

i woke up at seven in the morning and a

nurse gave me a note from claire

it was a really sweet note

it said that she had to go to work and

that she had spoken to my doctors and i

probably wouldn’t die

claire and i must look like a happily

married couple to the doctors and nurses

why were we getting a divorce

my left arm was blue

my chest hurt when i breathed

i looked at my face in the bathroom

there were some small cuts but nothing

that wouldn’t disappear over the weekend

a nurse told me the jaguar had been

driven by a gang member who sold drugs

welcome to the streets i thought as i

tried not to breathe too much

the doctor came at 7 30.

no bones were broken

they wanted me to stay in hospital for

one more day just to be safe but i said

no

i had to find a new apartment

the first real estate office sent me to

an apartment at adams morgan north of

dupont circle

it was three little rooms at the top of

a house

everything in the bathroom worked the

floor was clean there was a view over

the streets

i took it

that evening i went back to my old

apartment to see claire

we ate a chinese carryout

our first ever meal together had been a

carry-out

and this was our last meal together as

husband and wife

claire had the divorce papers waiting

for me on the table and i signed them

in six months i would be single

do you know someone called hector palmer

she asked halfway through the chinese

dinner

my eyes opened wide

yes

he called an hour ago

said he had to talk to you

who is he

a legal assistant with drake and sweeney

he wants me to help him he has a problem

must be a big one

he wants to meet with you at nine

tonight at nathan’s on m street

why a bar i said half to myself half

declare

he didn’t say

he sounded strange on the phone

suddenly i wasn’t hungry

i finished the meal only because i

didn’t want to look worried in front of

claire

but it wasn’t necessary she wasn’t even

looking at me

i walked to m street

parking is impossible on a saturday

night

it was raining and my chest hurt

as i walked i thought about what to say

i thought of lies i could tell

after taking the file it seemed easier

to lie

hector might be there for drake and

sweeney he might be wired to record what

i said

i would listen carefully and say little

nathan’s was only half full

i was 10 minutes early but he was there

waiting for me at a table in the corner

as i came in he jumped up from his seat

and put his hand out

you must be michael i’m hector palmer

from real estate nice to meet you

huh

didn’t we meet in the library

we sat down

he started kicking me under the table

i understood

he was wired and they were watching

a waiter came

i ordered black coffee and hector asked

for a beer

i’m a legal assistant in real estate

hector explained as the drinks arrived

you’ve met braden chance one of our

partners

yes i said

as they were recording everything i said

i would say as little as possible

i worked mainly for him

you and i spoke for a minute one day

last week when you visited his office

if you say so

i don’t remember seeing you

he smiled and i kicked him back under

the table

we both understood the situation now

listen

i asked you to meet me because a file is

missing from braden’s office

and you think i took it

well no but it could be you

you asked for that file when you went

into his office last week

so you do think i took it i said angrily

well go to the police

hector palmer drank some of his beer

drake and sweeney have already gone to

the police he said

the police found an empty file in your

desk with a note about two keys

one to the door the other to a file

drawer

they also found your fingerprints on the

file drawer

i hadn’t thought about fingerprints

drake and sweeney took everybody’s

fingerprints when they joined the

company

but that was five years ago and i had

forgotten about it

we might want to speak to you about all

of this again later said hector palmer

i picked up my coat and left

i spent my first working day at the 14th

street law center getting the file back

from the wreck of the lexus

mordecai helped me

we had to go to georgia avenue where the

police keep wrecked cars

i told mordecai that the file was

important but not what was in it

back home in my new apartment i looked

at the file

river oaks was a real estate company

they wanted to build a new mail office

for the washington post office and then

rent the building to them

they had bought the warehouse where

devon hardy and lontay burton lived and

they wanted to pull it down and start

rebuilding

they were in a hurry

they wanted to start pulling the

warehouse down in february

on january 27th hector palmer visited

the warehouse

his note about that visit was on the

list of documents in the file but it

wasn’t actually in the file

somebody had taken it out

almost certainly chance

after mister had visited us

on friday january 31st hector palmer

returned to the warehouse with the

police and evicted the people who were

living there

the eviction had taken three hours

hector palmer’s note about it was two

pages long

although he tried to hide what he felt

it was clear that he disliked being part

of the eviction

he described how lonte burton had fought

with the police

my heart stopped when i read

the mother had three children one a baby

she lived in a two-room apartment with

no bathroom

they slept on the floor

she fought with the policeman while her

children watched

in the end she was carried out of the

building

i drove to 14th street and copied the

file

then i went back to my old apartment

claire was at the hospital

i took my sleeping bag a few suits my

radio the small tv from the kitchen

my cd player and a few cds a coffee pot

a hair dryer and three blue towels

i left a note telling her i was gone

i didn’t know what i felt

i had never moved out before i wasn’t

sure how it was done

as i drove away i didn’t feel happy to

be single again

claire and i had both lost

back at the 14th street law center my

first visitor was my old friend barry

nuzzo

he sat down carefully in the chair

opposite my desk he didn’t want to get

dirt on his expensive suit

was he wired like hector palmer

maybe they had sent barry because he was

my friend and also one of mr’s guests

that tuesday afternoon

so you’re here for the money he said

joke

of course

you’re crazy

they’re gonna come after you michael you

can’t take a file

you mean a criminal lawsuit for theft

probably

and they talk to the bar association

rafters working on it

michael you won’t be a lawyer when they

finished not here not anywhere you’re

going to lose your license

i wasn’t ready for that

i have the file

the file has plenty of information about

drake and sweeney in it

you can’t use the file michael you can’t

use it in a lawsuit because you took it

from our offices and that’s theft

i said nothing

i didn’t know what i was going to do

but i knew i couldn’t give the file back

now

i had nothing else in the fight against

drake and sweeney

barry stood up to leave

will you phone me sometime michael he

said at the door

sure

chapter nine

the homeless

i’m michael where do you live ruby

here and there

the building had been a department store

many years ago

now the sign on it said samaritan house

it’s a private shelter mordecai said

90 beds the food’s okay

some churches in arlington got together

and they pay for everything we’ve been

coming here for six years

inside we used a bedroom as an office

this is a good office mordecai said we

can be private here

what about a bathroom i asked

they’re in the back

you don’t get your own bathroom in a

shelter

i could hear radios

people were getting up

it was monday morning and they had jobs

to go to

is it easy to get a room here i asked

mordecai although i already knew the

answer

nearly impossible

there’s a long waiting list

how long do they stay

maybe three months

this is one of the nicer shelters so

they’re safe here

after three months the shelter tries to

find them an apartment

and our clients all come from shelters i

asked

half come from the shelters mordecai

said the other half from the streets

we take anybody

anybody who’s homeless

the people here at this shelter have

jobs but they don’t earn enough to pay

rent for an apartment

so when they get one they lose it again

one missed paycheck and they lose their

homes

my first client was called waylene

age 27 two children no husband

her problem wasn’t complicated she had

worked in a fast food restaurant

she started to tell us why she left her

job but mordecai said that the reason

didn’t matter

she hadn’t had her last two paychecks

because she had no address the

restaurant had sent the checks to the

wrong place

the checks had disappeared and nobody at

the restaurant cared

will you be here next week mordecai

asked

wayleen wasn’t sure

maybe here maybe there

she was looking for a job she might move

in with someone or get her own apartment

we’ll get your money and we’ll have the

check sent to our office said mordecai

he gave her the address of the 14th

street law center she said thanks and

left

call a fast food restaurant mordecai

told me

tell him you’re wayleen’s lawyer be nice

at first

if they don’t send the checks stop being

nice

if necessary go there and get the checks

yourself

i wrote down everything mordecai said

like it was complicated

whalen’s paychecks were for two hundred

and ten dollars

my last client at drake and sweeney was

trying to get 900 million dollars

but i was happy enough when i got home

at the end of the day

my new apartment now had some old chairs

in it and the tv was on a box

i smiled at my furniture my mother had

called

i listened to her voice on the answer

phone

she and dad wanted to visit me

that evening i watched basketball on tv

and had a few beers

at 11 30 i called claire we hadn’t

talked in four days

why shouldn’t we talk

we were actually still married

i thought maybe we could have dinner

soon

the phone rang and then a voice said

hello

it was a man

i couldn’t speak

i had been gone less than a week and

claire had a man in the apartment at 11

i almost put the phone down but then i

said

i’d like to speak to claire please

who’s calling

michael her husband

she’s in the shower he said

he sounded pleased with himself

tell her i called i said

i walked around the room until midnight

then i went for a walk in the cold

why did our marriage go wrong

who was that guy

was he someone she had known for years

and i didn’t know about him

i told myself it didn’t matter

we weren’t divorcing because of other

people we were divorcing because of us

and if she was free to find another guy

then i was free to find someone too

yeah

right

at 2am i was walking around dupont

circle stepping over people sleeping in

the street

it was dangerous but i didn’t care

after a couple of hours i went home and

got some sleep

then i wanted to work

i got to 14th street before 8 that

morning ready to start

as i walked through the snow making my

way to the law center i thought of my

clients

by now i had a few

there was waylene and her paychecks

there was also marvis

like me marvis wanted a divorce

his wife was on drugs she had taken

everything he had including their two

children

marvis wanted them back

how long will the divorce take marvis

had asked me

six months i told him

marvis was clean

he didn’t drink and he was looking for

work

i enjoyed the half hour i spent with him

and i wanted to help him

another client was a 58 year old woman

her husband was dead and the government

was sending her money to the wrong place

i could get all her money back and then

get it sent to the right place

a lot of my clients had problems like

that

they were just not getting money often

from the government that should be

theirs

when i reached the law center a little

woman was sitting against our door

the office was still locked it was below

freezing in the streets when she saw me

she jumped to her feet and said

good morning are you a lawyer

yes i am

for people like me

she looked like she was homeless

sure

come in

i opened the door

it was colder inside than outside

i made some coffee and found some old

cookies i offered them to her and she

quickly ate one

what’s your name i asked

we were sitting in the front office next

to sophia’s desk waiting for the coffee

and for the office to get a little

warmer

ruby she said

i’m michael where do you live ruby

here and there

she was between 30 and 40 dressed in a

lot of old clothes she was very thin

tell me i said

i need to know

do you live in a shelter

not now she said

i live in a car

i sleep in the back

i poured two large paper cups full of

coffee and we went into my office

what can i do for you i asked

with both hands on the coffee cup to

keep warm and without looking at me she

told me her story

she and her son terence lived in a small

apartment

when terence was about 10 she went to

prison for four months for selling drugs

terence lived with her sister those four

months but when ruby came out of prison

they had lost the apartment

she and terrance slept in cars

warehouses and under bridges in warm

weather

when it was cold they went to the

shelters

she couldn’t stop taking drugs

a few years back she had worked for a

couple called roland’s

their children were grown and away from

home

ruby offered to pay mr and mrs rowlands

fifty dollars a month if terrance could

stay with them

the roland’s weren’t sure at first but

in the end they agreed

terence had a small bedroom at the

roland’s house

he started to get good grades at school

the roland’s were good people

ruby was allowed to visit terrence for

an hour each night

with great difficulties she managed to

pay each month as agreed she was pleased

with herself

until she went to prison again

she couldn’t stop taking drugs

and now terence didn’t want to talk to

her

he wanted to join the army

mr rollins was an army man

one night ruby took some drugs and then

went to the roland’s house

she screamed and shouted and the rolands

and terrence threw her out

the next day the roland started a

lawsuit

they wanted terence to become their son

ruby wasn’t allowed to visit him until

she stopped taking drugs

i want to see my son she said

i miss him so bad

you won’t see terrence until you stop

the drugs i said trying to say it nicely

i had to get her onto a drugs program

sophia knew where ruby should go

sophia knew everything and everybody

she made a phone call and then ruby and

i were on our way to naomi’s women’s

center on tenth street

it opened at seven closed at four and

between those hours helped women with a

drug problem

i spoke with megan the young woman in

charge of naomi’s we had a long talk

it was the first long talk i had had

with anyone in a long time

chapter 10

chicago

there’s going to be a lawsuit hector i

said

against drake and sweeney you can’t hide

from that

i was sleeping on the floor at the

apartment

i liked it down there and it helped me

understand my new clients

in the middle of the night the phone

rang it was clear

the police were in her apartment wanting

to search it for the file

i looked at my watch it was one am

i’ll be right there

the door was open and i ran in

there were three policemen in there and

i shouted at the nearest one

i’m michael brock who are you

lieutenant gasco said the policeman not

very nicely claire i shouted get the

video camera there’s gonna be a lawsuit

lieutenant gasko

lieutenant gasco showed me a document

it’s signed by a judge he said

and it says we can search for the file

but he knew i was a lawyer and he didn’t

look very happy

the file’s not here because i don’t live

here i said now give me your names and

then go

claire was filming it all with the video

camera

their document was fine and i knew that

but the three policemen gave me their

names and then left

can they come back

asked claire no

that’s good

did you tell him where i live i asked

her

michael i don’t know where you live you

just gave me a phone number

i said good night without touching or

kissing her i knew that was what she

wanted

i thought hard

now i had to tell mordecai everything

it was possible that the police would

come to the law center looking for the

file

next morning i tried to phone hector

palmer from the law center

his secretary said he had left the

washington office

i put the phone down

now what

i stared at the ceiling

mordecai came into my office

i started my story

my wife and i are together i moved out

of our apartment

i’m sorry said mordecai what else could

he say

don’t be

early this morning the police tried to

search the apartment where i used to

live

they were looking for a file that i took

when i left drake and sweeney

what kind of file

the devon hardy and lontay burton file

i’m

listening i don’t think that devon hardy

and lontay burton and the others were

squatters

i think they were tenants and if they

were tenants the eviction was illegal

it sure was

can a vague tenants without warning

but do you know

are you guessing

i told mordecai the story of the river

oaks file

i told him that something probably a

note dated january 27th was missing from

the file

and what do you think is in this note he

asked

i can’t be sure

but i think it’s a note from hector

palmer

i think he knew they were tenants and he

said that in the note

but river oaks wanted them out quickly

so they could start pulling the

warehouse down

they wanted to start the new building

for the post office in february

i think hector palmer’s note of january

27th was removed from the file so drake

and sweeney could evict devon hardy and

lonte burton and the others as

squatters good

said mordecai

so we starred a lawsuit for the family

of lante burton and the other people who

were evicted

yes i said

that way hector palmer has to tell the

judge what he knows

i’ll contact monty burton’s parents

mordecai said

they would be our clients in the lawsuit

her parents are dead

but she has a grandmother

fine

she’ll be our client

but first we need to find hector palmer

i think drake and sweeney will keep him

in the company

if he leaves the company they lose

control of him

but they want him out of washington

i think he’s working for great conswini

in another city

probably a new job with more money

sophia

shouted mordecai loud enough to be heard

on capitol hill

sevilla we’re looking for someone

sophia came in with paper and a pencil

i know she said i heard

she turned to me

i can help

tell me everything you know about this

person

i told sophia hector palmer’s name

address and job

i described him and said he had a wife

and four kids

age

maybe thirty

how much did he get a month at drake and

sweeney

as a legal assistant

three thousand

he has four kids so one or more will be

in school

he can’t send kids to a private school

on thirty five thousand

we start with the schools then the

churches

she went back to her desk and she was on

the phone for an hour

each time she said hello in english

asked for the person she wanted and then

the conversation was in spanish

an hour later she came back into my

office

they moved to chicago do you need an

address

but how did you don’t ask

a friend of a friend in their church

they moved to chicago last weekend i can

get you an address but it will take

longer

i don’t need an address i’ve been to

drake and sweeney’s chicago office a

couple of times

two days later i was there again

but i hadn’t flown first class as in the

old days

i waited outside the drake and sweeney

building from seven in the morning while

106 lawyers the third highest number

after washington and new york arrived

for work

at 8 20 hector palmer arrived and i

followed him into the building

he got off on floor number 51.

there was a phone there

i phoned mordecai and told him about my

progress

then i phoned megan at naomi’s women’s

center

ruby was still there doing okay

hector palmer wasn’t going anywhere for

the next 10 hours so i had another long

talk with megan

there was a list of partners names on

each floor i chose one

i have an appointment with dick healy i

said loudly as i passed the desk

and then i walked past the desk down the

hall

hector had his own office in chicago

hello hector

i said as i walked in so how’s chicago

what

what are you doing here

i sat on hector’s desk

there’s going to be a lawsuit hector i

said against drake and sweeney you can’t

hide from that

i didn’t feel as confident as i tried to

sound

and who’s starting this lawsuit

lontay burton’s grandmother

and later at the other people who were

evicted when we find them

hector just looked at me

you remember alante don’t you hector

she was the young mother who fought with

the policeman when you were evicting

everyone

you felt bad about it because you knew

she was a tenant

so you wrote that in a note dated

january 27th and you put that in the

file

but braden chance took your note out

again that’s why i’m here hector i want

a copy of that note

why would i have a copy

because you’re smart hector

you knew that drake and sweeney’s

evictions were illegal

you knew how important your note was

maybe you even guessed braden chance

would remove it

hector thought about that

i guess he wouldn’t be happy hiding in

chicago

the evictions were wrong and he knew it

he had tried to help me once before

meet me at 12 in front of the building

he said

he was there on time

i have four children please protect me

he said as he gave me an envelope

i thanked him got a taxi and opened the

envelope

the note was dated january 27th

it said that the tenants were paying 100

a month rent on the 15th of every month

to a man called johnny

there was even a copy of a receipt

signed by johnny saying that he had

received 100 rent from lontay burton on

january fifteenth

it couldn’t be any clearer

they were tenants

the eviction was illegal

at chicago o’hare airport i faxed copies

of the note and the receipt to mordecai

then i caught the next plane back to

washington

a taxi from the airport took me back to

14th street where mordecai and sophia

weren’t looking as happy as i had

expected

lieutenant gasko was in the office

waiting for me

as he took me out to the police car

sophia was phoning fast and talking fast

first in english than in spanish

but she and mordecai couldn’t stop

lieutenant gasco taking me to central

police station like any other criminal

drake and sweeney said i had taken their

file and that was theft

chapter 11

megan

her eyes held mine for a second and i

thought

no wedding ring on her finger

it was friday afternoon i knew mordecai

could get me out on bail but some very

bad things could happen to a

good-looking white boy in prison over

the weekend

in the police car to central i tried to

think about all the great people who had

spent some time in prison like martin

luther king

but then i thought of my parents

their son in prison would be the end of

their world

my friends already thought i had ruined

my life

i didn’t know what claire would think

especially she had a new man now

at central gaskell led me like a lost

dog

they took everything i had in my pockets

and i signed for it

then my photograph and fingerprints were

taken

there were police everywhere but only

one other white face a man who was very

drunk

we were walking to the cells

i was scared

can i get bail i asked

i think your lawyer’s working on it

gasco said the cell door closed behind

me

there were five other prisoners in the

cell with me all black all much younger

than me

i sat on the floor

in the cell opposite i could see the

drunk white guy and hear him shouting

two large black men had him in a corner

of the cell

they were hitting his head

minutes passed

one of the young guys in my cell walked

over to me

this was the end

nice jacket

he said touching my jacket with his foot

as i sat on the floor

thanks i said trying to sound like a

minute

he was 18 or 19

thin

probably a gang member who would spend

his life on the streets

i could use a jacket like that he said

giving me a kick with his foot

you shouldn’t be a low-life street gang

member then i thought

would you like to borrow the jacket i

asked i wasn’t going to fight back

if i did the other four would help the

first one

what did you say

i said would you like to borrow

the kick caught me in the head and i

shouted from the shark

my friend said he could use a jacket

like that said one of the other four

a gift would be nice

i quickly took off my jacket and held it

toward the young gang member who had

kicked me

is this a gift he said taking it

it’s whatever you want it to be

he kicked me again hard in the head

is this a gift

yes

thanks man

i sat in a ball on the floor my face

hurt

the floor was getting cold

what would happen when i needed the

toilet

nice shoes said a voice above me

i gave them to him

mordechai got me out on bail at seven pm

my bail was ten thousand dollars

my friends at drake and sweeney had told

the newspapers about my stay in prison

lawyer out on bail

was it theft i read the next day

they took a photo of me when i first

joined drake and sweeney and that was

there too

they were trying to ruin my life

i wondered which client was paying for

all the hours rafter and arthur jacobs

were spending on me

a client was definitely paying

a client paid for every hour of every

lawyer’s time

river oaks probably

i went into work at 14th street

ruby was asleep in front of the door

why are you sleeping here i asked

she didn’t answer

she was hungry

i unlocked the door made coffee and went

to find the cookies

the phone rang it was megan

ruby had left naomi’s

are you taking drugs again i asked ruby

she didn’t look at me

no she said

yes you are

don’t lie to me ruby i’m your friend and

your lawyer and i’ll help you see

terrence but i can’t help if you lie to

me

now will you go back to naomi’s

yes

good

i’ll take you

okay

she took another cookie her fourth

on the way back to naomi’s she said

you were in prison

how did you know

you hear stuff on the street

when we arrived megan took ruby into the

women’s group and then asked me to stay

for coffee

she threw a washington post to me

bad night huh she said with a smile

there was my photo again

it wasn’t too bad

what’s this

she asked pointing at my face

a guy in my cell wanted my shoes he took

them

she looked at my shoes

old nikes

those

yes

good shoes aren’t they

how long were you in there

a couple of hours

and i got my life together i’m a new man

now

she smiled again

a perfect smile

her eyes held mine for a second and i

thought

no wedding ring on her finger

she was tall and a little too thin

her hair was dark red and short and well

cut

her eyes were light brown very big and

round and nice to look at

she was very attractive and i wondered

why i hadn’t noticed it before

i told her about me

she told me about herself

her father was in the church in maryland

he liked baseball and he loved

washington

as a teenager megan had decided to work

with the poor

it was a job but a job she liked

i told her the story of mr and how i had

started working with the homeless

she was very interested and asked lots

of questions

then she asked me to come back later for

lunch

if the sun was shining we could eat

outside

i like that

i thought it was romantic

you can find love anywhere even in a

shelter for homeless women

chapter 12

the washington post

the photographs said it all

because of drake and sweeney these poor

people were dead

the file was thick

rafter had worked very hard

it was my copy of drake and sweeney’s

complaint to the bar association

in one sentence

i had stolen their file so now i should

lose my license

but it was a shock

drake and sweeney wanted blood my blood

it was frightening

since i had started law school ten years

earlier i had never thought of any other

kind of work

what would i do without a law license

but there was one thing drake and

sweeney didn’t know yet

tomorrow morning at nine o’clock

mordecai and i were starting a four

million dollar lawsuit against them for

the death of the burton family

i went into mordecai’s office

what do i do i said

he smiled

same as they did

call the washington post

i was at college with tim claussen

he’s one of the best journalists

next morning we told tim claussen about

the lawsuit against drake and sweeney

the burton story was already big as a

result of the march and my night in

prison and this made it even bigger

he asked us a lot of questions and i was

happy to answer

drake and sweeney went to the newspapers

first

the story was in the newspaper the next

day

for an old law company like drake and

sweeney it was the worst thing in the

world

arthur jacobs photo appeared next to

davon hardy’s

there were also photographs of lonte

burton taken from the march

you didn’t even have to read this story

the photograph said it all

because of drake and sweeney these poor

people were dead

the next day it got even worse for drake

and sweeney

the post office didn’t like all these

stories in the newspapers and they

didn’t want river oaks as their real

estate company

that left river oaks with nothing

river oaks told the washington post they

didn’t know the evictions were illegal

a million dollar lawsuit for lost

business by river oaks against drake and

sweeney was becoming possible

arthur jacobs phoned mordecai at the law

center

he wanted to meet mordecai at drake and

sweeney’s offices to talk about the

lawsuit

without me

mordecai smiled at me

this could be the meeting he said

maybe i replied

my future could depend on mordecai’s

talk with arthur jacobs

that night i couldn’t sleep

mordecai was enjoying himself

he told me afterward that he couldn’t

believe arthur jacobs was nearly 80.

the old man told mordecai immediately

that braden chance was gone

he didn’t choose to leave drake and

sweeney they told him to go

chance had been the only one who knew

those people were tenants

i believed that

mordecai showed arthur jacobs the

missing note from the file and the

receipt

rafter was at the meeting too with some

other lawyers

and for a long time none of them said a

word

then arthur jacobs made a suggestion

he said he wanted to meet with us and a

judge

with the judge there we could decide

everything on one day

the burton lawsuit the theft of the file

lawsuit and the bar association

complaint

the judge would be judge diorio who

mordecai knew was a fair judge

what do you think

mordecai asked me

what do you think

i say we do it

i’ll call judge diorio in a range of

time

chapter 13

burton against drake and sweeney

you put this family on the street

you’ve told as you did and that’s where

they died

we were in judge diorio’s room but this

wasn’t a cord

there were two lawyers from river oaks

from drake and sweeney there was arthur

jacobs rafter

nathan malamud and barry nutso

why malamad and not so who were not

going to speak for drake and sweeney

then i understood

malamada natso had gone back to work

after that tuesday with mr

they were fine so why wasn’t i

judge diorio said good morning and then

gave mordechai five minutes to make the

complaint against drake and sweeney in

the burton lawsuit

mordecai needed just two minutes

he explained clearly how drake and

sweeney’s illegal eviction led to the

deaths of lonte burton and her children

arthur jacobs spoke for drake and

sweeney

he didn’t disagree with mordecai about

what had happened to lantai and her

children

but he said it was in part her own fault

there were places for her to go

arthur said there were shelters open

she spent the night before in a church

with many other people

why did she leave

her grandmother has an apartment in

northeast why didn’t this mother do more

to protect her little family

why was she in the street at all

diorio asked and i almost smiled

arthur stayed calm

the eviction was wrong he said we are

not arguing with mr greene about that

we are saying that events after the

eviction were partly the mother’s fault

how much of it was her fault asked judge

diorio

at least half

that’s too high

we don’t agree judge diorio

mr greene

mordecai stood shaking his head in

disbelief

like arthur was a first-year law student

these people have nowhere to live mr

jacobs

that’s why they’re called homeless

you put this family on the street

you’ve told us you did

and that’s where they died

we could go to court

would you say the same thing there

stand up in court mr jacobs say

it was the mother’s fault her family

died

arthur and the rest of the drake and

sweeney lawyers looked scared enough at

the idea of telling a court full of

black people that the burton family’s

death was in part lontai’s fault

drake and sweeney are guilty of an

illegal eviction

said judge diorio

that’s clear i wouldn’t advise you to

blame the mother in a court

mordecai and arthur sat down

we had won the burton lawsuit without

going to court

now we would discuss how much drake and

sweeney should pay

rafters stood up

he talked about how much money you

usually got for dead children in

lawsuits

he had read a lot of these lawsuits

across the u.s

he offered fifty thousand dollars for

each child

he became pouring

he started to discuss the amount of

money lontai had lost because she died

and so she didn’t go to work

that was added to the money you usually

got for dead children

in total he offered seven hundred and

seventy thousand dollars

is that your final offer mister rafter

asked judge diorio

he looked like he hoped it wasn’t

no sir rafter said

mr green

mordechai stood again

we do not accept their offer judge

diorio

sir

this talk of the value of each child

means nothing to me

i know how much i can get if this comes

to court and the people of washington

decide

and that is a lot more than mr rafter is

offering

these children were of course homeless

black children

mr rafter you have a son at private

school

would you take fifty thousand dollars

for him

rafter looked down and didn’t reply

i can walk into a washington court and i

can get a million dollars each for

anti-burdens little children

that’s the same as any child in an

expensive school in virginia or maryland

the defense team looked at each other

they all had kids in expensive schools

in virginia and maryland

mordecai then talked about the last

hours of lonti burton and her family as

he had at capitol hill

he was a born storyteller and he had a

good story to tell

his voice went up and then down in anger

at the end he pointed at the drake and

sweeney lawyers speaking for them

those people in that warehouse he

shouted they’re just a bunch of

squatters

throw them out

he asked for four million dollars

it was silent in the room when he

finished

judge diorio made some notes

the next thing to discuss was the file

do you have the file

judge diorio asked me

yes sir

will you give it to me

yes sir

mordecai gave judge diorio the file and

we all sat and watched for ten minutes

while the judge read it

when he had finished he said

the file has been returned mr jacobs

there was a criminal lawsuit about its

theft

what do you want to do now

if we can agree on the burton law suit

we will stop the criminal lawsuit

against mr brock for theft of the file

mr brock is that acceptable to you

yes

yes sir it is

next we have the complaint to the bar

association by drake and sweeney against

michael brock

mr jacobs

arthur stood up again

he talked about why it was wrong for a

lawyer to steal a file from his own

company

he didn’t seem to be enjoying it and he

didn’t take too long about it

but i had been one of them and then i

had damaged them

they wouldn’t forgive me for that

the complaint to the bar association

wouldn’t be stopped

i wasn’t a criminal arthur said so they

would stop the theft lawsuit

but i was a lawyer and a good one

and so the complaint should go to the

bar association

the lawyers from river oaks didn’t speak

but it was clear they agreed

it was of course their clients file i

had taken

and arthur spoke so well that actually i

agreed with him too

mr brock said judge diorio

do you have anything to say

i hadn’t prepared anything but i wasn’t

afraid to say what i felt

i looked arthur in the eyes and said

mr jacobs i have always had a very high

opinion of you and i still do

i was wrong to take the file and i am

sorry i did it

i was looking for information and i was

going to put the file back but all that

is no excuse

i apologize to you to drake and sweeney

and to your client river oaks

mordecai told me afterwards that he knew

immediately drake and sweeney would

agree to his next suggestion

the anger had gone out of the situation

mordecai suggested twenty five thousand

dollars each to all the people evicted

by drake and sweeney

when we could find them

he suggested three million dollars for

the burton lawsuit paid at 300 000 a

year

and after a lot of talk we agreed that i

would lose my license for nine months

only

chapter 14

a new life

i’m thinking about my new life i said

and we both smiled

early friday i was happily helping

homeless people at the 14th street law

center though not of course speaking as

a lawyer when arthur jacobs suddenly

appeared at my door

i said hello nicely though i couldn’t

imagine what he wanted

he said no to coffee he just wanted to

talk

arthur said that the last few weeks had

been the most difficult of his 56 years

as a lawyer

drake and sweeney was okay again now but

he still couldn’t sleep

he felt guilty about the deaths of the

burton family and he would never forget

it

and he was tired of chasing money

i was too surprised to say much so i

just listened

arthur was suffering and i felt sorry

for him

he asked about the law center and the

work we did

how long had the center been there how

many people worked there

where did the money come from

this gave me an opportunity and i took

it

i told arthur that because i couldn’t

work as a lawyer i was starting a pro

bono program

i was going to use lawyers from the big

washington law companies

these volunteer lawyers would work a few

hours a week and i would tell them what

to do

we could reach thousands of homeless

people

arthur liked the idea

as we discussed it the program grew

larger

after a few minutes he was talking about

sending all 400 of his washington

lawyers to do pro bono work for a few

hours a week

would 400 lawyers be too many arthur

asked

no i said

but i’ll need help from inside drake and

sweeney

i know someone he’s at the chicago

office but i’m sure you can get him back

as i had guessed arthur knew nothing

about hector palmer or how he had helped

me get the river oaks file hector would

be back in washington in a month working

with me

arthur stayed in my office for two hours

he was a much happier man when he left

he had a purpose in life

i walked into his car and then ran to

tell mordecai the good news

we could help as many homeless people as

we needed to

megan’s uncle owned a house near fenwick

island right near the ocean a perfect

place for a weekend break

we left washington friday afternoon

i drove and megan told me where to go

and ruby sat in the back seat eating

cookies excited by the thought of

spending a few days outside the city

megan had told me very clearly that

there were three bedrooms in her uncle’s

house one for each of us it rained

saturday

a cold shower that blew in from the

ocean

megan and i sat and watched it out of

the window sitting close together on the

couch

where’s our client i asked

ruby

watching tv

what are you thinking

she asked quietly

everything and nothing

32 days earlier i had been married to

another woman

living in a different apartment

and doing different work

i didn’t even know the woman whose head

was now on my shoulder

how could life change so much in a month

i’m thinking about my new life i said

and we both smiled

you