Unfit to Practice

Chapter 1 That Thursday in early September billowed up blue and white, as breezy and innocent as a picnic, the air filtering through shimmering sunlit leaves. But during the afternoon, the true Sierra atmosphere showed its face in a ferocious summer storm, ruthless, unpredictable, and dangerous. And because the storm dislocated all sorts of human arrangements that night, or because life is a mist of error, or perhaps just because she had been working too hard and couldn't deal with one more thing that day, Nina Reilly made a small, critical mistake that changed everything. The day began at eight-thirty sharp with the Cruz custody hearing, now in its second day and going fine, if anything could be fine about a family splitting up. Lisa Cruz, Kevin's wife, took the stand, and she loved their two kids, no doubt about that, but she had some very strange ideas, too. "I'm a full-time mom and a professional with a deep spiritual side," she said from the witness box, gazing at Jeffrey Riesner with large, earnest, liquid eyes that seemed to beg for further help. "I depend on the great philosophers for guidance." Kevin began an astringent, whispered commentary. "Moving right along from Jim Beam, to pills, to marathons, and onward into religion," he muttered. Lisa had a pale, heart-shaped face and a tentative, breathy voice. She wore a structured jacket and creased slacks and looked fragile, but Kevin had told Nina that Lisa could run five miles without breaking a sweat; had no compunctions about kicking him when he was down; had an extensive, X-rated vocabulary; and bore unswerving allegiance to nothing and no one except their kids. Lisa adjusted her body, as she had frequently during Riesner's questions, raising one leg over another, then deciding against it. She was not a woman who enjoyed sitting still. "I studied philosophy at the community college," she said. "She took one course, and quit before the final," Kevin whispered to Nina. "I consider myself a truth-seeker and scholar. Of course, I work hard to impart the right values to my children: hard work, healthy diet, goal-setting." She had a lot to say about vitamins. More whispering. "She'd use a cattle prod if she thought she could get away with it. She's fanatic about physical fitness. Those kids don't get a moment's peace, between the death marches up and down mountains and the bogus mind crap she feeds them." Kevin had arrived at court very emotional, as always. Nina had to watch out for him when she should have been giving all her energies to watching Jeffrey Riesner, the attorney representing Lisa. She shook her head sharply, her eyes closed, and Kevin understood and stopped. Nina and Riesner went way back, but not to good places. They had a long history of conflict, which had begun almost the day she had arrived in the town of South Lake Tahoe and set up an office as a sole practitioner. A partner in Tahoe's most prestigious law firm, Caplan, Stamp, Powell, and Riesner, he viewed her as an out-of-town upstart who had barged into his territory and seduced away several good felony defendants. Nina saw him as a relentless greedhead who held grudges and hated women, her in particular. She watched him playing Lisa now, playing the judge, playing the court, as homey in a courtroom as you could be without moving in a couch and pillows. How he warmed their hearts with little stories of Lisa's generosity and kindness. The smallest smile was calculated, a warm nod to the judge, practiced. She could never understand his reputation for success in the courtroom. Apparently, judges and juries could not see through the tall, smooth-talking, Armani-clad exterior to his squirming, wormy insides. Under Riesner's careful handling, Lisa went on for quite some time, modestly recounting her achievements as a parent and a volunteeO'Shaughnessy, Perri is the author of 'Unfit to Practice' with ISBN 9780385334846 and ISBN 0385334842.