29 Flattery

Kyle rubbed his wrists as he waited for the guard to leave the two of them alone. Seeing as he had only just been transferred from his cell, and so only had the manacles put back on recently, Andrea thought this was milking it a little.

"A weight has been lifted! Thank you, Warden Mason, for being so merciful."

"Don't lay it on too thick," Andrea said, rolling her eyes as she took her seat.

"No, seriously," Kyle said, extending his arms out towards her. "I could hug you right now. I mean, I can literally hug you right now, which is more than I could do when I was still clapped in irons."

Andrea acted like it was no big deal. "We have work to do, and I couldn't concentrate when you were rattling every time you moved. Now put your arms down before I hit the duress button and have the guard come lock you back up—you're not getting a hug!"

Kyle lowered his arms. "You're probably right, Cheer Squad. You're already making the other inmates jealous as it is."

"Oh? Do they not get as many visits from their lawyers?"

"Yeah, plus their lawyers aren't nearly as pretty as mine."

Andrea bit down on her tongue before she said anything she might regret about the other lawyers' clients not being as handsome. "You're a relentless flatterer, aren't you?"

"They say flattery will get you everywhere." Kyle pushed his chair back and went to put his feet up on the table.

Andrea batted them away before he could put his shoes on her papers. "Except out of jail it seems."

Kyle settled for rocking his chair back on two legs. He seemed to be taking every opportunity to relish his new freedom. "Well, not directly. But I flatter you… you flatter the judge on my behalf… use those incredible lawyer skills of yours."

"You make it sound like it's going to be easy." Andrea hoped that he would be right. The arraignment should be something of a formality, but she had never been before a judge with a case this serious before.

Kyle gave her a cocky wink. "It really should be. I may have mentioned it, but I am very rich."

"Actually," Andrea pointed out, "you've been pretty secretive about that until recently."

"The point is, whatever they set bail at, I should be able to cover it. Though I might have to mortgage one of my yachts…"

"...How many yachts do you have?"

"None, it's just a figure of speech."

"Maybe in the company you keep. I've never even been on a yacht, let alone owned one."

"I tell you what, Blondie, you win this case and I'll buy you one! You can call yourself Captain Mason, and we'll go sailing together. I'll buy you a fancy hat and everything."

"Volunteering to be my crew, are you?

"I'd make a good first mate."

"I was thinking more of a Cabin Boy."

As fun as it was to joke about this, it struck Andrea that they had never discussed fees. She was treating this case just like any other that she would have been assigned through the public defender's office. She normally defended clients who couldn't afford to pay for an attorney, not clients like Kyle.

Would she get paid more for this case when it was over? That wasn't why she was doing it, she wasn't driven by money; she was driven by the desire for justice, standing up for people who needed her, and doing what was right.

And besides which, would it feel weird to take money from Kyle?

…She might not have to save up anymore to afford that Volvo… or whatever she decided to get instead.

Kyle was oblivious to all of these thoughts running through her mind.

"Whatever best pleases you, Cap'n Mason. If you save my neck, I'd be more than happy to join your crew." He gave another theatrical wink.

That reminded her of a question that had been on her mind.

"Kyle," she said, "what was up with all those times you winked at me during trials?"

The question seemed to catch Kyle off guard. He rocked forward again on his chair, switching back into his more serious mood.

"What did you think they meant?" he asked.

Andrea looked away awkwardly. "I always assumed that it was a mind game, that you were messing with my head. Or gloating."

If the question had caught him off guard, Andrea's answer seemed to have broken something in his brain.

"Wow! Okay… you, uh… you really don't think much of me, do you, Andrea?"

Still not looking, Andrea shrugged noncommittally, arms folded tightly.

Kyle took a deep breath. "Okay, this is going to sound stupid, but… it was kind of my way of saying… I don't know… saying, 'Hey, watch this!'"

"When you thought you had me beat, you mean?"

"When I was about to pull something impressive! When I was having the most fun competing with you."

Andrea was confused. What Kyle was saying recontextualized everything. The whole time she'd known him, she'd thought he was cocky and arrogant and only cared about winning and now she found out…

…that he was trying to impress her in court? That he thought she should have been having fun while he was trying to get her clients put in jail?

Kyle seemed to read in her face that his words hadn't had the effect he'd hoped for. Leaning forward, he clasped his hands in front of him earnestly.

"Listen, I wasn't trying to upset you. I enjoy my work, I enjoy being in court. It is fun for me. I thought WE were having fun… Then what you said the other day made me realize that you get a lot more… invested in your cases than I do. That's why I felt like I needed to apologize."

Andrea still couldn't quite understand his attitude. She believed in her clients, believed they were innocent, that they deserved to be defended. Losing cases HURT. Didn't prosecutors have something like that, wasn't there something that drove them the same way…

"Don't you care about the outcomes of your trials?" she asked, frowning in an attempt to understand Kyle's way of thinking. "Not just because you like to win and don't like to lose, but for the actual defendant. If you think they're guilty, don't you feel… I don't know, angry when they don't get convicted? Grief for their victims not receiving justice?"

Kyle looked like he was giving the question some serious thought. Eventually, he said, "I guess it's about what you can prove. So often things aren't clear cut so… I try as hard as I can to prove they're guilty, you try as hard as you can to prove them innocent… Somewhere in the middle, hopefully we find the truth. It's not a perfect system, but in the end whichever side has the truth should have the edge in the case."

Andrea scoffed. "So when someone you know is guilty gets away without being convicted, you just say, 'Oh well, can't doubt the jury, I guess they must have been innocent'?"

Kyle shrugged. "I guess I think, 'We'll get them next time'... and if there isn't a next time, I guess the defendant learned their lesson. Like I said, it's not perfect, but I figure things work out okay in the end."

Andrea was struggling to believe that Kyle was this… this… nieve! Doesn't he understand what it means to the defense?

When a prosecutor loses, their case is lost due to lack of evidence. But when a defense attorney loses a case for a client she knows is innocent, it's a failure. It's a tragedy. Because that client is going to jail—just like Adams, Andrea's most recent case—and it SHOULD have been possible to prove he wasn't guilty because he DIDN'T do it.

But what about Kyle's case? This was about more than evidence. Someone was pulling strings to make it look like he was guilty, and they would be doing everything they could to prevent Andrea from winning, which would make her job all that much harder.

Kyle interrupted her reverie. "I understand what you're saying about caring as much as you do. I respect that, it makes you a better defender than I could ever be… because if I took on that weight from every one of my cases, I'd break! I have to have a balance that won't end up wearing me down so…" He shifted in his seat awkwardly. "I work hard. I do the best job I can. But I leave it in the courtroom. I don't take that home with me the way you do."

Andrea had to admit that they had two very different approaches to how they practiced law. …But she was glad that Kyle could appreciate the way she felt about her cases, even if it wasn't his style.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, as though trying to find the words to explain what he meant. "Look, do you know why I always look forward to cases against you?"

"Because you think you'll have an easy win?" Andrea tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

Kyle gave her a reproachful look. "Sure, that's exactly it," he said sarcastically, "and I wanted the lawyer I could beat the easiest to defend me. Of course not!"

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he continued. "It's because you are a challenge! Because you're really good! Because I know if I beat you, it means I have to pull out all the stops, use every trick I have. If I can win against you, it means I've really earned it. It means I've given justice its best chance! And that's when I have the most fun in court, when I'm being pushed because it forces ME to be a better lawyer." He smiled. "You make my job exciting."

Andrea smiled back in spite of herself. "That has to be one of the most flattering things anyone has ever said to me."

They lingered in silence for a moment, a newfound understanding of one another.

"But," Andrea continued, "like I said earlier, flattery isn't going to keep you out of jail, so how about I bring you up to speed with things so far…" and started explaining her findings.