Read A Case of Redemption for Free Online Page B

another partner’s control. Even my office was occupied. My return would upset the natural order of things, and that is something a large law firm simply can’t abide.
    â€œI’m afraid I wasn’t clear,” I said. “I don’t want to come back to the firm. I’ve got this one case, and I’m going to handle it with a friend. I’m calling to ask if I could use some of the firm’s resources—an office or two, maybe some light secretarial help.”
    Even over the phone, I could tell that Ethan was letting out a sigh of relief.
    â€œI don’t see why not,” he said. “Besides, it would be nice to see you around the office again. So what’s the case that’s so interesting it brought you back into the game?”
    â€œIt’s a big one, actually. The rapper named Legally Dead.”
    â€œReally? A front-page murder case. Well, you’re not easing back into it, now, are you, Daniel?”
    â€œNo, I guess not.”
    â€œDo you mind my asking how you came to represent him?”
    â€œNo, not at all. A friend’s sister, she’s an associate over at Martin Quinn. Or at least she was before we agreed to take on Legally Dead. Anyway, she knew the client from her time there and took an interest in the case. He’d heard about the Macy case, and I guess he figured since I got one celebrity acquitted for rape, why not another for murder, and so he asked her to make the introduction.”
    I expected some pithy comeback, but Ethan didn’t say anything. When the silence became noticeable, I said, “Is something wrong, Benjamin?”
    This time I actually heard him let out a deep sigh. “I’m afraid so,” he said in a somewhat pained-sounding voice. “I hate to say no to you, Daniel, especially because I just said yes, but unfortunately I have to rescind my offer of office resources.”
    â€œWhy’s that?”
    Again there was a pregnant pause. Ethan had the kind of mind that was patient and deliberate. Whereas most of us fill our uncertainty with stammering and verbal tics, Ethan never did. If he didn’t know precisely what he wanted to say, he was silent.
    â€œI’m afraid Taylor Beckett cannot be seen to be supportive of your client’s objectives. Please do not misunderstand me: I am not making a moral judgment, as much as relating a business reality. You know better than most that our clients are hardly saints-in-waiting. But your client, I am afraid, is someone we just cannot be associated with publicly.”
    This was hardly a shock. In fact, I found it more surprising that Ethan initially agreed to my proposal without delving more into the nature of my representation. I assumed he figured it was some insider trading or accounting fraud case, and therefore there’d be little institutional resistance. A murder case, however, was a totally differentthing at Taylor Beckett. That much I knew from the opposition from certain partners to the firm taking on Darrius Macy, and at least then, the firm was getting paid.
    â€œI understand, Benjamin. I’ll just make other arrangements.”
    â€œDaniel . . . would you mind if I asked you a personal question?”
    â€œOf course not.”
    â€œWhy do you want to take on someone like him? Like this Legally Dead character? I would think you of all people . . .”
    I laughed slightly into the phone, a defense mechanism to get him to stop from finishing the thought. “ ‘Someone like him,’ huh? This from a man who once said that the only mission of a law firm is to make money for its partners.”
    â€œI never said that, Daniel.”
    â€œThen it was something pretty close to it.”
    â€œWell, is that the answer, then? Is it for the money?”
    â€œNo. It’s not the money.”
    â€œThen my question still stands: Why, Daniel?”
    â€œIsn’t the pursuit of justice a sufficient