Page 103 of Necessary Evil
“Will she be out this afternoon? I need her to give me a ride to the grocery store.”
“I can’t say.” Lucy logged off before anyone in the office could message her, and shut down her laptop. “But I’d make other arrangements, just in case.” Like for the next sixty days, if the judge decides to crack down.
Lucy changed into a suit and went down to the courthouse. Bobby texted her twice while she was waiting for her case to be called. She told him that she couldn’t be there until after lunch. He freaked out until she told him that she wanted to go to the bank first and get some money. That bought her some time.
At the courthouse, she tried to argue that Chloe wasn’t a flight risk and certainly wasn’t a danger to anyone, but the judge was having none of it and Chloe was headed back to the Riverhead jail. She spat on Lucy before they took her away, calling over her shoulder, “Lenny would have helped me. You’re fired.”
When Chloe’s mother found out that she was out the bond money, she tried to attack Lucy. The bailiffs held her back while Lucy exited the courtroom.
Just another day in paradise.
On the way to Wyandanch, she called Albert.
“I’m so sorry to hear about Jenny,” he said. “It’s a tragedy.”
“I quit,” she said.
“Lucy, I know this has been a hard couple of weeks for you, but—”
“I’ll officially be leaving in two weeks, but I’m not coming back to the office. I should have enough vacation days accrued so you can take my two weeks from that. All my paperwork is up to date, and of course, if my replacement has any questions, I will be happy to clarify anything. I’ll continue to work my cases from home as required over the next two weeks.”
Albert stammered, “I—I don’t understand. I thought you loved this job. I thought this was your calling. I had always assumed you would eventually replace me as chief.”
At one point in her life, that would have been her dream. But that had gotten all tangled up and ruined. She couldn’t defend her brother’s actions, just as she couldn’t defend the vigilantism that Evan and his friends condoned.
“I appreciate all that you’ve done for me,” she said.
“Lucy, take these two weeks and get away. Use the time for yourself. Don’t make any hasty decisions.”
“I’m not going to change my mind, Albert. I’m sorry.”
She hung up on him before she started crying again. The next call was to Cynthia Abrahms’s office, but the DA wasn’t in. She left a message on her voicemail.
“Hello, Cynthia. It’s Lucy Simmons. I’m burned out. I just quit the public defender’s office and I’m looking for a job. If you’ve got an opening, call me.”
She was sick of being on the shit list because she wanted to defend the people who didn’t have representation. And what had she gotten out of it? She’d been spat on, lied to, and abused. She was done.
Now it was time to confront her brother. She parked on the street outside of the apartment building at the address he’d given her and hid her purse under her seat. Locking the door, she pocketed her keys, walked up the stairs of the complex, and buzzed the apartment number he’d given her.
“Who is this?” a woman’s voice asked.
Lucy wondered if this was Bianca or another one of Bobby’s lady friends. “Attorney Lucy Simmons.”
“Go away.”
She sighed and texted Bobby, I’m here but can’t get in.
The door buzzed open, and she walked to the apartment number he’d specified. Bobby opened the door before she knocked, and after a glance behind her to make sure she was alone, he motioned her inside.
“What’s going on?” she asked, making sure she was looking into his eyes.
He glanced away.
The apartment was neat and clean. Plants were on the windowsill and a fat cat lounged on a sofa. A pretty woman with her hair back in a ponytail smoked a cigarette while leaning against the wall.
“Can we have a few moments of privacy?” Lucy asked her.
“This is my damn house. You want privacy, go the fuck outside.”