Conflict of Interest - Chapter 4 (Patreon)

Of all the cases Weiss had represented in her career, that was the most frustrating, embarrassing, humiliating one she’d ever experienced.

“Get ready for the Baylor meeting,” she snapped at the paralegals before storming across the lobby of Bryant & Waters.  While they scurried off to do as told, she marched further into the building and headed straight to her office.  She didn’t want to talk to anyone.  She didn’t want to look at anyone.  So of course Cortez rushed out of his office as soon as he saw her.

“Hey Weiss, heard you lost a ticket case.”

“They called Ruby as an expert,” Weiss shot back at him, wiping the smirk right off his face.

She didn’t owe anyone an explanation, but she would defend herself after losing such an easy case.  A speeding ticket, for fuck’s sake.  She lost a speeding ticket dispute.

“They...got Ruby for a speeding ticket?”

“Yes.  And she convinced Judge Haskell that the way we measure speed is wrong, so my client was actually driving faster than what the officer clocked him at.”

When Cortez’s response was to stare in open-mouthed disbelief, Weiss gave him an ‘I told you so’ look.  Honestly, she couldn’t be angry at anyone but herself for falling into the department’s trap.  More than anything, she was in shock right now.  Shock and a little bit of awe at the brilliance of Ruby’s argument and corresponding evidence.  If forced to admit, even she was convinced in the inaccuracies of their speed system now.

“Do you think they’ll use that for all tickets now?” Cortez asked, already thinking about what this meant for his future.

“Why wouldn’t they?  It’s brilliant.”

Tired of the conversation and unwilling to spell out the details, Weiss left him slack-jawed in her wake while stalking into her office and shutting the door.

If she’d known how that case would go, she wouldn’t have planned on returning to the office between appointments.  Now, her schedule forced her to suffer the judgment of her coworkers while preparing to meet her next client.

How could she have expected to run into Ruby freaking Rose on a traffic violation?  That made absolutely no sense.  Why was Ruby wasting her time on a speeding ticket?  Her genius was too valuable to be squandered on something so trivial.  But that was the police department - too overconfident and cocky for their own good, with nothing better to do than waste their most precious resources.

“Fucking - dumb - shits,” Weiss snarled while harshly prodding her computer to life and impatiently waiting for everything to load.

So much for an easy morning.  Now her entire day was thrown off schedule - all thanks to Ruby.

Actually, all thanks to the rookie cop who somehow convinced Ruby to help him out of a bind.  Did he really have no other argument to cover his ass?  He had to bring in Ruby to bail him out of trouble?

Ludicrous.  If Weiss had any say in how the department operated, that would never happen.  Ruby would work on the most challenging, difficult cases, period.  Anything else went to the less skilled analysts or, god forbid, the patrol officers and detectives did their jobs.  Instead, they wasted Ruby’s time by calling her in as a get-out-of-trouble card.

But Weiss would change a lot of things if she were in charge of the department.  Now, however, wasn’t the time to dwell on such delusions.  Her morning hadn’t gone according to plan, but she had to refocus and see through the rest of her day.

So she responded to messages and pushed her other cases along while her coworkers conversed in the general area beyond the glass walls of her office.  From the way their gazes flitted her direction every few minutes, she knew exactly what they were talking about, and that made it even harder to focus on work.

They would find it greatly amusing that she couldn’t get a ticket tossed, even though they would have suffered the same fate.  They would have fared even worse, actually, as she at least managed to save face with the client through some fast talking and hand waving that convinced him this happened all the time.

But it hadn’t happened to them - it happened to her.  And they loved nothing more than seeing her fail.

In every crisis, however, lay opportunity.  Over the next few weeks, these dimwits would lose every speeding dispute they represented.  They would realize that the tried-and-true arguments were dead.  And, while they moped or whined or panicked about the loss of easy income, she would be the first to find a new way to have those violations dismissed.  She would figure out how to circumvent Ruby’s evidence, be it through logic or loophole, then her coworkers would copy her arguments, as usual.  Until that day came, she would suffer the embarrassment.

Fortunately, she was still more successful than all of them combined, granting her more cases and more reasons to be out of the office.  The less she saw of their smug, gloating expressions, the better.

As one such meeting approached, the paralegals from earlier stood and hurried out of the room.  Taking their departure as her cue to leave, she wrapped up the message she’d been working on and prepared her case files.  When a new email popped up on her screen, however, she gave it a quick read and smiled.

Mr. Restaurateur, Alden Dunn, finally decided that he’d had enough of prison.  That, or he met with other attorneys and realized they gave him a lower probability of winning his case.  Personally, Weiss preferred to believe the latter, but it mattered little so long as he was ready to give her the details she asked for.  After flagging that to respond to later, she gathered everything she needed and left her office.

“Hope you have something easier than a speeding ticket to work on,” Jeffrey called after her as she headed towards the lobby.

“Like your closing remarks, maybe?” she replied but didn’t bother pausing to witness his reaction.

If he thought buying a title magically granted him the capability of conversing with her, he was woefully incorrect.  In time, however, he would learn.  Money could buy a lot of things, but it never bought intellect.

With her car already waiting out front, she wasted no time slipping into the cabin and settling in for the short ride back to the Justice Center.

Just seeing the police department reminded her of the indignity she’d suffered, but she held her head high and ignored everyone in her path as she walked through the front doors.  Considering the general ineptitude of everyone employed here, with the sole exception of Ruby, she couldn’t care less what they thought about her.  They could gloat about their small victory all they wanted, but that did nothing to erase the hundreds of victories she’d already racked up against them.

The only person worth her time stood in the civilian waiting area.  From his expensive suit to his expensive shoes and even more expensive watch, he looked woefully out of place compared to the more typical clientele hosted by the department.  As he’d recently discovered though, the laws applied to everyone - not just those foolish enough to follow them.

“Isiah,” she greeted him with a polite handshake and smile.  “I hope you haven’t been waiting long?”

“Only a few minutes.”

The way his gaze slid over the poorer souls nearby suggested those few minutes had been uncomfortable, but he refused to say as much.

“Let’s get this over with then,” Weiss replied before beckoning him after her.

He obediently fell into step beside her while the paralegals trailed behind.  Their destination today was a meeting room at the edge of the police station and courthouse - an ‘in-between’ location where prosecutors often invited defendants and their attorneys pre-trial.

The Pleading Grounds, as everyone called it, since this was where prosecutors asked to meet when they wanted to plead a deal.  Usually that happened when the department realized it bit off more than it could chew - or more than it could prove - and faced embarrassment in court if the case progressed any further.  Standing outside one such room was a somewhat scraggly, moderately well-dressed man who somehow never found time to shine his shoes.

“Saul,” Weiss greeted him with a polite nod before motioning towards her client.  “You remember Mr. Hampton.”

“Of course.”  Saul turned towards Isiah and extended his hand.  “Nice to see you again,” he added, but Isiah merely shook his hand and nodded rather than respond.  Without words, Weiss knew exactly what he was thinking - how could it possibly be ‘nice’ to see the person tasked with smearing his ‘good’ name and locking him away?

Weiss, unfortunately, had bigger issues than Isiah’s lack of manners.  In one sentence, Saul had given away that he was happy or particularly pleased about something, and that could only mean one thing - the investigation turned up new evidence.  That was potentially bad news for her, but she mentally prepared herself for it while walking into the room and taking a seat next to Isiah at the worn, should-be-replaced table.

“Let me set this up,” Saul said while placing a small holoscreen between them.

The certainty in his actions gave Weiss even more cause for concern; he was normally as fidgety as a squirrel in a pile of acorns.  Determined not to let him catch her off guard, she started preparing a list of counterarguments before he even opened his mouth to speak.

“You’re probably wondering why we asked to meet today.”

He folded his hands on the table only to immediately unfold them - his typical level of antsy finally showing up, but today he was upbeat antsy.

“Our investigation turned up some new information, and we thought that given the...sensitivity...of this case, we’d bring it to your attention prior to trial.”

The offer was fairly standard, but he was too pleased about the situation.  As soon as he opened a file and slid the holoscreen closer, Weiss understood why.

“As you can see,” he continued as if they couldn’t read the screen with their own eyes.  “By decrypting the transactions going through Vale Bank’s system during the period when you were Chairman, we were able to create this map tracking the inflows of money into your account as well as outflows from your clients.”

The longer he spoke, the higher Weiss’ pulse rose, and the more she realized she’d walked into yet another trap.  Usually, the police couldn’t find evidence to back up the charges so the prosecutors tried to cut a deal.  Today, they were announcing that they already had indisputable proof.  That the case was over before it even started.

There it was - clear as day for anyone with one iota of thought - evidence that Mr. Dumbass was guilty as charged.

“You claimed that the outflows were a normal course of business,” Saul continued, relishing the chance to actually win for once.  “But they were just layered through your bank and others before ultimately finding their way to your possession.  Then you spent that money on cars, houses, and your...professional attire.”

Saul didn’t need to spell it out - that was checkmate.  Now, it was Weiss’ job to determine the best course of action for her client as well as herself.  Could she cast doubt on this map of money?  Yes, absolutely.  But when considering the other facts in the case, which had been dubious from the start, just how damning was this new evidence?

Maintaining a neutral expression, she pushed the holoscreen aside and caught Saul’s gaze.

“Can you give us a few minutes?” she asked, and Saul nodded before standing and leaving the room.  Once the door closed behind him, she turned towards Isiah.

“It appears you left out a few important details.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

His clipped tone nearly made her roll her eyes.  Unfortunately, she had plenty of experience dealing with the denial and delusions of the wealthy.  They were never wrong - everyone else just didn’t know that they were right.

“Do you know what this says?”  When she shoved the holoscreen closer to him, he gave it a disinterested glance.  “It says you stole that money,” she said before he attempted another lie.  “It says, in a way even the most simple-minded juror can understand, that you embezzled from your clients.”

“Supposedly.”

“No, not supposedly.”  Annoyed by his refusal to face the facts, Weiss jabbed a finger towards the numbers on the screen.  “What did you do - hire a hacker to try and hide this?”

“I would do nothing of the sort.  I built Vale Bank as an institution of transparency and integrity -”

“Save the promotional material,” she interrupted before he went on yet another tirade about what an upstanding citizen he was.  “Even if you say you’re innocent, this document makes you look incredibly guilty.  Which means a jury will also see you as incredibly guilty.”

“Isn’t this what you’re supposed to make go away?”

She gave him a deadpan look for the idiotic question, then realized he was actually serious.  He actually thought she could just snap her fingers and make incriminating evidence vanish into thin air.

“I’m an attorney, not a magician,” she snapped, annoyed at the suggestion that she could or even would make evidence ‘go away.’  “If you want evidence to disappear, hire someone else.  And I suggest hiring someone far more capable than whoever you had do this because they’ll have to break into the police database.  And I can assure you that the person in charge of that database is one of the best in the world.”

What he wanted was illegal, unethical, and essentially impossible.  Even though Weiss didn’t know what security protocols the department used to safeguard their information, she imagined it would take one of the best hackers in the world to have a shot at breaking through.  Even if someone was capable of that much, there had to be backup databases stored in various locations around the world.

Fortunately for her remaining sanity, her idiot client was finally grasping that his idea was doomed from the start.  With that understanding came denial.

“I didn’t steal from them,” he argued - no, pleaded - but she just sighed.

This was the worst type of situation to be in - a dead-end case, a guilty client, and a smug prosecutor holding all the cards.  Did she believe she had enough skill to get a ‘not-guilty’ verdict?  Yes, of course.  But her efforts right now should be on mitigating losses - both to herself and to him.

“Do you think I care if you stole from them?”

She did, but telling him that wouldn’t help her argument.

“I don’t care about that.  My job is to do what’s best for you.”  And herself.  “And I’m telling you right now that this document makes it clear that your clients’ money ended up in your account, which you then went and spent.  So, unless you have a fairy godmother you haven’t told me about, you’re not winning this case.”

The response annoyed him, but she shook her head when he opened his mouth to argue.  Instead, he frowned and slowly came to the realization that his best chance of clearing his name died with the file in front of them.  Actually, it died when he decided to be a greedy, untrustworthy asshole.

“Then...what now?”

“You have two options - would you like more prison or less prison?”

When he stared like a deer in headlights, Weiss sighed again.

“You’re guilty, and you’re going to prison,” she spelled out for him.  “They’re giving us the chance to cut a deal, and I advise that you take it.  Jurors don’t like how it looks when wealthy people steal from the less fortunate.”

He couldn’t believe this was happening.  His eyes said as much.  His posture said as much.  His expression definitely said as much, but he eventually nodded.  Permission finally granted, Weiss shoved away from the desk and walked into the hall.

“Saul.”  After catching the man’s attention, she motioned him over.  “He’s ready to cut a deal.  Three months plus full restitution to the victims.”

“Three months?” Saul scoffed.  “You know we can’t accept that.”

“Then name a number.”

“A year minimum.”

“Nine months,” she countered, knowing he must have several months of wiggle room.  “Saul,” she added when he thought too long on what should be a done deal.  “If you won’t do nine months then we’ll go to court, and I’m really curious how legal it was to peruse Vale Bank’s transactions like that.”

It was a bluff, but he didn’t call it.  Instead, he nodded and stuck out his hand.

“Deal.”

“Great.  Draft it.”

After shaking his hand, she returned to the room and gathered her belongings.  Now that they had an agreed-upon plea deal, she wasn’t needed anymore, so she didn’t have to waste any more time on what turned out to be a dead-end case.

“Nine months plus full restitution,” she told Isiah in the meantime.  When his mouth fell open at the terms, she straightened up and gave him a stern look.  “They wanted five years,” she lied - though it was possible that Saul wished for that much time.  “A jury trial could have been even worse, so I suggest you accept the nine months as a nice paid vacation.”

As realization dawned in his eyes - that he actually committed a crime he would have to pay for - she motioned for the deputy to retrieve him.  As for herself, she walked out of the room and beckoned the paralegals after her.

“I can’t stand bankers,” she grumbled to one of them while dumping her case files into his hands.  “Let Damon know we cut a deal.  Nine months for the serial embezzler.”

“That’s not bad.”

“It’s not good either.”

Her job was to keep her clients out of prison, not cut deals to minimize the amount of time they served.  If she’d wanted to be a negotiator, she would have become a marriage counselor, not a defense attorney.

At least the victims would get their money back, but that was a small consolation considering how frustrated she was right now.  Regardless, she kept her head held high while marching through the police station on her way back to the office.

Another meeting, another indignity.  Today was shaping up to be her worst since starting at Bryant & Waters, and she knew exactly why - Ruby Rose.

Saul might not have named the author, but that document had Ruby’s fingerprints all over it.  Who else could track values like that and put them together in a way even a child could understand?  Damn her.  That was two of Weiss’ cases she’d destroyed today.

Actually, good for her.  Damn the arrogant, rich bastard who thought some low-life criminal hacker held a candle to the only priceless resource at the department’s disposal.

Adding insult to injury, the path out of the station required Weiss to pass right by Ruby’s lab, where the resident genius was currently talking to one of the patrol officers.  As usual, Ruby somehow toed the line between laidback casual and trustworthy professional, with her lowkey outfit offering frequent glimpses of understated beauty while her short, brunette hair looked ruffled-yet-styled at the same time.  Her frequent hand gestures made it impossible to escape the feeling that she was exceedingly passionate about whatever the topic was, but her one-of-a-kind silver eyes and her light, happy laughter were her most striking features.

It was hard to believe that behind that upbeat, jovial exterior was one of the smartest, most capable technology experts in the city, if not the world.  Even after being on the receiving end of that genius time and time again - and twice today - Weiss still found it hard to believe.

Sensing the attention directed her way, Ruby glanced into the hall and caught Weiss’ gaze.  When their eyes locked for that fleeting moment, Ruby smiled and tilted her chin in acknowledgment.

Despite her initial intent to ignore the gesture, Weiss gave a miniscule nod in return before walking past.

Ruby just bested her twice in one day - that feat deserved a show of respect.  Fortunately, their cases didn’t intersect often, and she was already looking forward to being matched against one of the department’s less-stellar analysts.

Until that day came, she returned to the office more determined than ever to put her best effort into everything she did.  Today hadn’t gone as planned, but she had every confidence that tomorrow would be better.  A slight bump in the road wasn’t nearly enough to knock her off of her game.