Disclaimer: See chapter 1

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Lloyd entered the Law Courts Building for a meeting with Federal Prosecutor Ted Wyman. The sun was out today but the winds that gave Chicago its nickname were blowing briskly causing the flags to wave proudly from their poles. The lobby of the Law Courts Building was a beehive of activity. People seemed to be darting in every direction and Lloyd wondered that the security guards could maintain control. He handed his briefcase to the guard as he walked through the metal detector. Once he'd retrieved his black Italian leather valise from the guard, he headed for the bank of elevators. Ted Wyman's office was on the sixth floor. The prosecutor had been none too pleased to hear that Chico Mendez had been granted a new trial. He had enough cases to handle without one from five years ago coming back to haunt him.

Lloyd exited the elevator on the sixth floor and found Wyman's office without much difficulty. After giving his name to the secretary, he sat on one of the comfortable black leather chairs to wait. It wasn't long until the door was opened by a tall, thin man in his fifties with a full head of wavy grey hair. He had the beginnings of deep lines around his eyes and his mouth. The jacket of his grey suit was off and the sleeves of his burgundy shirt were rolled up. He held out his hand, "Mr. Graham, Ted Wyman." Lloyd nodded and shook the man's hand. "Let's get started shall we?" he held the door open for Lloyd to precede him and closed the door behind them.

"I'm curious," he said when Lloyd was seated, "Why an attorney from," he consulted the paper in front of him, "Lancaster, Ohio, would be interested in a case of a gang member in Chicago involved in a liquor store robbery over five years ago."

"Yes, I can see why you would be curious. It's one of those things you hear about, it peaked my interest and here I am," Lloyd responded.

"I hope you're not alleging some prosecutorial misconduct on my part," Wyman said hotly.

"Mr. Wyman," Lloyd paused briefly, "may I call you Ted?" Wyman nodded. "Okay, Ted, I'm sure you have read my appellant brief and you know that my focus was on the ineffectiveness of Miss Crest."

"Are you saying that I took advantage of her?" Wyman asked.

"Of course you did," Lloyd replied. "There's nothing in the rules against taking advantage of your opponent's weakness." He paused momentarily and sighed. "Unfortunately, a sixteen year old boy's future was on the line. That's the part that was unfair."

"So, now we start again," Lloyd continued, "and the playing field has been leveled. I'm not Julie Crest! You won't be able to keep Hispanics off the jury without a Batson objection. You won't be able to get rid of all the lower working class men and women. My voir dire will be much more subtle yet more effective than hers. And lastly, my client is no longer a sixteen year old boy. He's a man who's been tough enough to survive five years at Leavenworth. He's a man who's worked at improving himself. He's better educated; he's worked in the textile factory. He's been a model prisoner. He's not the same defendant that sat in that courtroom five years ago and I'll make damn sure every juror knows that. And, of course, every juror will see his arthritic grandmother sitting lovingly behind him every day."

"Okay, okay, I get your point," Wyman looked annoyed. He hadn't expected an attorney from some hick town in Ohio to come out with guns blazing.

"Do you?" Lloyd asked. "Unlike Julie Crest who is pitiful when it comes to litigation, I love the courtroom. I can't wait to get your witnesses on the stand and find out how much they really remember about that night after five long years and if what they told the court was the truth or just the part you wanted the jury to hear. Chances are I'll be able to discredit them on cross examination so it all comes down to your physical evidence against my client." Lloyd paused for a moment and looked confused. "Wait," he said as if something miraculous had just occurred to him, "you don't have any physical evidence against my client. He wasn't in possession of a weapon of any kind. He wasn't on any of the surveillance cameras, his prints weren't found anywhere in the store or even in the vicinity."

"Look," Wyman was getting hot under the collar now, "this wasn't my doing. Things would have gone a lot easier on your client if he'd just named his accomplices. That's all we asked."

"That's all you asked," Lloyd nodded his head and paused, "and was someone from the federal prosecutor's office going to be there twenty-four seven to protect Chico and his grandmother from the retaliation of los Guerreros when they found out they had a snitch in their midst?"

"All right," Wyman held up his hand. "Let's cut to the chase. What do you want?"

"You lessen the charges from felony murder and assault on a federal officer to accessory to those crimes and set the sentence at time served and we can make this trial go away just like that," Lloyd made a poof gesture with his hands as if the trial had gone up in a puff of smoke.

"You just want me to hand you Mendez's release?" Wyman asked.

"I don't care if you do or not. If not, we go to trial, it's as simple as that," Lloyd responded.

Wyman was silent for a moment, "Okay, I'll run it by the head prosecutor and if he's in agreement we'll get it before a judge. It's not usually too busy during the summer so we should be able to get it on the docket quickly since it's not going to take up much time."

Lloyd nodded and stood. "I'll expect to hear from you in the next day or so." He made his way to the door and stopped when Wyman spoke again.

"How did Julie take it?" he asked.

Lloyd turned, "I actually think she was relieved. Deep down it still bothered her. She's leaving the PD's office you know. She's actually leaving the city."

"No, I didn't know that. Maybe it's for the best. I think she was just trying to please a rather overbearing father who was projecting his own desires onto his child," the prosecutor remarked.

"Yes, part of what you say is true," Lloyd agreed. "She's not a litigator but she does love the law. She just needs to be in another area."

"Do you know where she's going?" Wyman inquired, interested in the chain of events this appeal had set off.

"Yes, I do," Lloyd told him. "She's moving to Lancaster to work for me." Lloyd opened the office door, "I trust I'll hear from you shortly," he said before closing it behind him.

Lloyd sat in his hotel room working on a divorce case from Lancaster that was turning ugly. Both parties had been unfaithful; both parties were hiding assets and neither party was asking for custody of their two young children. He hated cases like this. No one would be happy with the outcome and two children's lives hung in the balance. Cases like this made him wonder why he became a lawyer. His cell rang. "Lloyd Graham," he said into the instrument.

"Lloyd," the voice on the phone said, "Ted Wyman."

"Ted, you have some news for me?" Lloyd asked.

"I talked to my boss and it's a go. He wanted a stiffer sentence, like ten years but then we considered he'd already served half of that and would be up for parole which he'd get in a heartbeat. So we figured, why go to the trouble and expense of a trial when the guy's going to be getting out anyway. So, your client pleads guilty to accessory and gets time served. Then he's a free man."

"Thanks Ted, I'll get up to Leavenworth and get him to sign the plea."

"Good," Wyman said, "because it's your lucky day. Judge Ramone just had a defendant change his plea which ended the trial she was booked for so, according to her clerk, she could handle this case at the beginning of next week. My trial doesn't start until the week after so I could handle it then too."

"Perfect, the beginning of next week is great." Lloyd couldn't help but smile.

"Okay, Judge Ramone's clerk will call you with the time and Lloyd, do me a favor?"

"Sure," Lloyd replied, "if I can."

"Don't let any more of my cases peak your interest!"

"I'll try not to Ted," Lloyd said as he ended the call. He flung his cell on the bed and threw his fists triumphantly in the air. Cases like this made him realize why he became a lawyer.