Unfit to Practice Read online

  “I don’t remember.”

  “And lost his job as a result?”

  “He lost his job because he screwed up at work. My problems were caused by his problems, not the other way around!”

  “Mrs. Cruz, what happens the next time a problem comes along that you can’t solve? Who will be there for your children?”

  “My mother helps me a lot. I’m not perfect. I need support, just like anybody. Anyway, right now, my life is going just fine, if I could only settle this thing with Kevin.” Lisa’s arms crossed into the classic defensive position, almost as if she were trying to rein in all the nervous tension she exuded.

  Nina decided the time had come.

  “Mrs. Cruz, you don’t like to cook, you don’t like to clean, you don’t like chores, yet you admit children are messy; when things get tough you take to your bed; by your own admission, you haven’t gotten over your father’s death; you’re moody, changeable, unpredictable in your discipline-”

  Riesner stood up. “Objection!”

  “Ms. Reilly, what’s your question?” the judge said.

  Nina’s attention never veered away from Lisa Cruz. “-can you really, in good conscience, describe yourself as a good mother?” She held Lisa’s gaze, made her want to open her mouth, made her want to answer, to tell her off, to stop Nina from nipping at her like a bedbug. The fire Lisa had been trying to hide burst into her dark eyes.

  Riesner stood quickly. “Your Honor, I-”

  But Lisa would not be gagged anymore. “Who do you think you are,” she said, directly addressing Nina. “You-fucking-hypocrite. Are you home with your kid today? I hear you have one. Shame on you. I do my best to have a life and do well by my children. But your job is to distort truth to serve your purposes. If you were defending me, I’d be your golden example, wouldn’t I? It’s so sickening.”

  All the time she spoke, Riesner tried to speak louder to shut her up. He waved his hand as if to dissipate the aggression she was finally hurling at Nina.

  “Mrs. Cruz! Control yourself,” Judge Milne said finally, taking up his dusty gavel and pounding it once. He looked startled at the noise.

  But Lisa ignored him. “Instead I come off here as a selfish bitch, a creature you invent out of some weird bullcrap about my housekeeping, for chrissake. None of that shit matters when it comes to kids, and you know it! They need someone with something more on the ball than a Gestapo-tidy house and three servings of beef a day, which is what Kevin seems to think is required. They need somebody who cares about their souls!” She slapped her hand down on the railing in front of her. “You dare to talk about my father. About my grief. I know all about you. I see right through you, right down into your rotten heart that doesn’t care who gets hurt!”

  She stopped, her mouth still open, breathing hard, as though she’d just come in from one of those big runs.

  “Do you lose your temper like this with the children, Mrs. Cruz?” Nina said.

  “Get off my back!”

  “I’m going to adjourn this court for ten minutes,” Judge Milne said as Lisa fell into her chair, shaking, pushing her hair back. “Mr. Riesner, get your client under control. You hear?” He stepped down. Chairs scraped and voices rose behind Nina. The bailiff, Deputy Kimura, had appeared at Lisa Cruz’s side. He took her arm and helped her step down and walk past Nina’s table and didn’t let her slow down for a second. Riesner followed her out.

  Kevin’s eyes followed his wife. He turned back to Nina. “You did it,” he said. He didn’t smile.

  “I’m sorry,” Nina said. “It had to be done.” And she was sorry, too. Lisa may have had a foul mouth and some weaknesses as a parent, but Nina sensed the depth of the love she felt for her children in every intense word. She was fighting for her life.

  “She’s going to have a rough night. You hit hard.”

  “Kevin,” Nina said, “something’s going on here. Why was she attacking me? Is this something about her father?”

  2

  D URING THE BREAK, Nina tried to get Kevin to talk, but he needed to make a nervous trip to the rest room. On her way to the ladies’ room, she ran into Stamp, a senior partner in Riesner’s firm. A tanned, fit, superb-athlete type, a man who would always be more comfortable with a tennis racket or golf club in his hand than a briefcase, he did not brush past her in his usual fashion. “Hey,” he said, coming to a dead halt. “Nina Reilly. It’s been a while. Haven’t seen you since that casino-gambling case.” He pushed a hand into hers for a firm handshake.

  “Well, hello!” The artificial enthusiasm she rallied was designed to obscure the fact that she wasn’t entirely certain of his first name and wasn’t about to call him Mr. Stamp. Wasn’t his name Michael?

  “Yeah, you banged us up good in that one. Rumor is, Steve Rossmoor was impressed, so impressed he approached you to represent his casino. Rumor is, others might follow.”

  “You know better than to listen to rumors.”

  He liked her answer, but wasn’t ready to let go yet. “You’d have to pass the Nevada bar,” he said thoughtfully. “But I venture to guess you’re too busy for that, trying to keep a solo practice afloat.”

  “That’s so true,” she said. So Stamp was worried she wanted the casino business. That would cut him where it hurt, right in the wallet. Might as well put him out of his misery. “ California ’s big enough for me at the moment.”

  He had his hands in his pockets, and seemed ready to settle in for a nice chat.

  “Listen, I’m sorry,” Nina said. “I’ve got to run.”

  “Sure. Good to see you. Give me a call sometime when you’re not so rushed.” She felt his eyes crawling over her back as she continued down the stairs. In the bathroom, she looked in the mirror for any signs of femme-fatality and found none. So, take the man at face value. He was worried she was after the casino business. She wasn’t. Now he knew, which was the purpose of their conversation. She decided to like him for having the character to compliment her for winning against his firm, and for flattering her by worrying about rumors that reflected well on her. Riesner certainly never would.

  After the break, Riesner took a crack at rehabilitating Lisa Cruz, who apologized to Judge Milne for her outburst and regained her poise, but the damage was done. He was brief, then returned to his table. Riesner, who did not like watching his nicely crafted case sink to the bottom of the ocean, stared down at the table in front of him. This time, when he finally looked toward Nina, fury glistened in his eyes like oil slick.

  Nina had really worried about Kevin, who had temper problems of his own. But Lisa’s example had taught him something. When he finally took the stand, he made an excellent witness. Nina had hoped he would have the advantage of plenty of experience testifying because of his work as a police officer, and it seemed he did. He looked relaxed and low-key up there, a nice guy, his legs splayed comfortably, his big body relaxed. Handsome, clean-shaven, with fuzz for hair and even white teeth that he used to good advantage, he spoke warmly about his children, his job, what fatherhood meant to him.

  He told Judge Milne that he loved his children. His changing schedule wouldn’t create problems because he had a good support system of local family and friends. He loved to cook, was a methodical person who was trying to teach his kids organizational skills. He had coached his son’s soccer team until Lisa made Joey quit, saying he did not have enough time to finish homework.

  “Did you agree with your wife?” Nina asked.

  “Sure sounded like he had a lot of work, and she really talked it up. On the nights he was with me, I didn’t see so much, but she told me it was much worse the nights he was with her. Made me wonder what the world is coming to, when a seven-year-old has too much homework to play sports.”

  He netted several sympathetic looks at that.

  “I wanted to talk to Joey’s teacher, but Lisa asked me not to.”

  “Why?”

  “She admitted the homework wasn’t as bad as she made out. She doesn’t really l
ike Joey playing soccer anyway, or any sport. She’s afraid he’ll get hurt, and doesn’t want the extra driving. I offered to do more of the chauffeuring, but she didn’t want that either.”

  Although he was not a churchgoer himself, he wanted the children to go to Sunday school at his church instead of Lisa’s. “They ought to know what’s right and wrong, and the Bible’s a great resource and comfort to some people. What I don’t like is too much talk of hell and damnation. That just scares kids, does them no good.”

  He knew every subject his children were taking in school, knew their teachers well, and could quote from their report cards. He showed pride, pleasure, and a caring attitude.

  When Nina finished with Kevin, Riesner got up and brushed off his lapels, as if he’d already started the dirty work.

  “You’re a police officer, aren’t you, Mr. Cruz?”

  “Yes.”

  “A risky job.”

  “It can be, but I’m well trained in my work, Mr. Riesner. I work hard at defusing potentially dangerous situations before they get serious.”

  “Uh huh. Yet this is your third position as a police officer, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why did you leave those other two positions?”

  “The first one up in Seattle -I was fired. I was young, we had two little kids, I felt pushed and pulled in a lot of directions. There were family demands, and my family came first.”

  “And then there was that little trouble about an old man who ended up in the hospital after you beat him and left him in the gutter?”

  Kevin looked at him calmly. “You make it sound like I put him in the hospital. I didn’t. I also didn’t beat him. And I left him propped against a building in a seated position, to set the record straight.”

  “You were accused of using excessive force while attempting to arrest a known, chronic alcoholic who was seventy-two years old.”

  “He was belligerent. I used the force I needed to use to stop him from attacking me. Then I left without arresting him because I felt sorry for him. He ended up in the hospital because he was drunk and fell down after I left him.”

  “You were fired for that?”

  “Mr. Riesner, I did nothing wrong. An internal investigation exonerated me but the damage was done to my reputation. Every time I came in late, it was noted. I was held to higher standards than the other officers, and because of the demands I had on me, with two young children and a wife that was having some emotional problems at the time, I couldn’t keep up. It was decided that I should go.”

  Very respectable, the way he didn’t blame Lisa for his problems. Nina liked that, and she thought Judge Milne would, too.

  “Records show that the internal investigation did not exonerate you. They merely did not find enough evidence to prove the charge,” Riesner went on.

  “That’s right,” Kevin said. “It was never proven because there was nothing to prove.”

  “So you went to work in Marin County.”

  “Right.”

  “It says here”-Riesner waved a paper-“you signed on for a permanent job but only lasted six months.”

  “We discovered pretty quick we could never afford to live decently there. Lisa would have to go to work and Joey was still very young to leave during the day then. I was offered a good job here, so we moved up to Tahoe.”

  “You quit without notice, didn’t you?”

  “I had to think of my family first. Tahoe wanted me right away.”

  “Not very responsible, was it, leaving your old job without notice?”

  “I explained that,” Kevin said.

  “It must have been hard on your family, moving around all the time?”

  “We didn’t move all the time.”

  “Three times in the past five years?”

  “The kids were too little to care much, although it was stressful at times, yes.”

  “You don’t stay in one place long, do you?”

  “I was looking for the right place. I’ve found it now.”

  “You know that after less than a year?”

  “That’s right.”

  “You think this one’s going to stick when the others haven’t?”

  “I’ve been promoted once already. I think I’m doing well.”

  “Not all that well, actually. I understand you failed the detective exam when you took it this summer?”

  “I put a lot of time in with my kids. I guess I just haven’t put my energy there.”

  “Are you going to take it again?”

  “I’m planning on it.”

  “You’ll have to study nights for it?”

  “I’ll make sure Heather and Joey come first.”

  “Of course, if you happen to pass it this time, that will mean you spend even more hours on the job, is that correct?”

  “Probably, but now the kids are in school, that should work okay and the extra money will come in handy.”

  “Or you’ll flunk it again and move on to some new town?”

  “No. I’m settling here.”

  “Now, you say that money would come in handy, Mr. Cruz?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you resent the child support you’ve had to pay pending this hearing while the children were with their mother?”

  “No.”

  “You’ve paid late three months out of nine months. Is that what you call being financially responsible?”

  “There was some kind of foul-up. It’s corrected.”

  “The kids didn’t get the money they needed, and it’s just a foul-up to you?”

  Kevin’s face hardened. “I love my kids.”

  “You’d rather spend the money on, let’s see, new bowling shoes the first month you were late, and, oh, in August there was that trip to Vegas.”

  “It was one weekend. The child support was only ten days late.”

  “So what comes first?” Riesner said, taking a long step toward the witness box and sticking his chin out.

  “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “You know, bowling shoes and Vegas seem to come first. The kids can wait.”

  Kevin put his hand up to his mouth. “I-”

  “Move to strike that last malicious comment by counsel,” Nina said.

  “I’ll withdraw it, Judge. How’s your temper, Mr. Cruz?”

  “Well, I think I’m holding on to it pretty good, considering how you’re talking to me right now.”

  That got a relieved laugh from the audience, and Nina thought, he’s going to get through it.

  “Tell us more about your schedule, Mr. Cruz. How do you intend to put in the time it takes to raise your children when you’re never home?”

  Kevin kept his cool, got a few more chuckles, even one from Judge Milne, kept smiling, and looked confident.

  Nina was satisfied. Aside from the vague and unproven trouble on his first job, which did not reflect badly on his abilities as a parent, and the late child support, Kevin had the edge. He was never violent with his kids. He wouldn’t even spank them. Even Lisa had admitted that.

  At lunchtime, Judge Milne adjourned the hearing until the next day. Kevin made a mumbled excuse and ran out ahead of Nina before she could speak with him.

  Feeling like she’d had all her teeth yanked out of her jaw, the usual feeling that the court clerks, the other attorneys, and the witnesses milling around her in the hall probably shared as they made their way toward the exit at noon, Nina hurried out. As she left the courtroom in the crowd, Jeffrey Riesner sidled up behind her, brazenly close, brushing against her, walking in step, mimicking her short, swift stride for a few moments. She forced herself to ignore him. Thinking back to the case, hustling away, she refused to dirty her mind with rank images of what lurked underneath the gray silk slacks he had pressed so noxiously close.

  In the hallway, where the other courtrooms were adjourning for the break, she felt a hard push to her shoulder and whirled around, prepared to confront him. But instead of Jeffrey Riesner, Offic
er Jean Scholl now stood behind her, uniformed, a skyscraper to Nina’s low bungalow, six feet tall if she was an inch. “Ms. Reilly,” Scholl said, her voice a slow drawl. “So sorry to jostle you like that, but you got right in my way.”

  “I don’t believe I did,” Nina said firmly, standing her ground. “Look, if you have something you have to say, why not just spit it out?”

  “Okay,” Scholl said, a hand on her hip. By now several other police officers had paused to watch. “Stay out of my face. I don’t appreciate the way you handled the Guitierrez case. You made me look bad, when I was just doing the best job I can. I like to think we both serve justice, but when it comes to someone like you, I wonder. Now, you and I both know he stole that T-Bird and wrecked it.”

  “The judge saw it differently,” Nina said. “Obviously, since he let the man off.”

  Scholl leaned in until Nina could feel the heat of her breath. “We didn’t read him his rights because the rotgut he was drinking left him comatose. He wouldn’t have understood them anyway.”

  “He has the right to a defense. He got it.”

  “Technicalities be damned,” Scholl said. “Did you ever think about the kid who spent six years restoring that car? He came into our offices crying. But you don’t give a damn about that, do you? You don’t think about all the harm you cause, setting bad guys loose.”

  “Are you done?” Nina asked.

  Stepping back slightly, Scholl nodded. “Look forward to seeing you in court again real soon, Counselor.”

  Nina fled for the outdoors.

  Caught in a rush of wind, her friend Betty, a deputy clerk, sighed, “A big one coming up.” The trees around them rattled and Nina watched clouds massing over the Sierra Nevada to the east. Betty ran for her car. Clutching her blue blazer around her, Nina ran for Paul’s new Mustang, parked in a no-parking zone right out front.

  “Let’s blow, otherwise you’ll get a ticket for sure,” she told Paul as she climbed into the passenger’s seat. “There were at least ten police officers in the hall with me. Some big drug case. Jean Scholl was in there. She’s a real old-timer in the department, been there eight years at least and also has a lot of support in the sheriff’s department. She blew up at me in front of everybody. She’d love to lay a ticket on us.”