Ha.â
âHa indeed. And your admiration had nothing to do with the open-throated blouse and the tight skirt?â
âNothing whatsoever. I am a scientist .â
âGlad to hear it. Gotta go,â Theresa added as her phone popped up with a text message: PC LL âthe trace-lab secretaryâs code for âphone call, landline.â Theresa hustled across the hall to pick up.
âDid you see the news last night?â a stressed-out voice nearly shouted in her ear.
âSonia?â
âThey announced to the world that Marie was found stripped and hog-tied. Tell me everyone in the city is not getting their rocks off on that image right now.â
âSonia, no, I didnât see the news, but you have to assume theyâre going to lead with the most salacious detailâwait, how did they know that?â
âAll the lawyers knew, and Iâm sure it went through the cops like wildfire. Most of whom are men.â
âSo are the lawyers!â Theresa pointed out.
âIâm sure it was the first thing out of your detectivesâ mouths when Channel 15 called.â
âIâm sure it wasnât. It would have been a handy way to weed out any crackpot confessions from the real thing. You have to stop taking this so personally, Sonia. The inevitable gloating over Marieâs death is not an attack on all defense attorneys. Itâs an attack on Marie. She was aggressive and abrasiveââ
âSo am I.â
Theresa sat down, closed her eyes. âYou are a hard worker and mount a vigorous defense. Marie chose to be a lying manipulator. People would not feel the same way about you if you were murdered.â
âThey would. Have you seen the forums?â
âThe what?â
âThe comments that people post at the end of the Plain Dealer story. Go to Cleveland.com.â
âOh, for the love of chocolate, Sonia, youâre not reading those ? Theyâll make you want to go home and lock your doors and avoid all human contact, even when the topic is as innocuous as flowers outside city hall or the proper way to install a mailbox. Never read forums.â Theresa could only imagine the comments.
âThe most understated one, with the fewest spelling errors, quotes Shakespeareâs Henry VI .â
âLet me guess: âThe first thing we do, letâs kill all the lawyers.â â
âYesâwhich was only suggested by the character so that their rebellion would succeed without anyone there to support the law.â
âA rebellion against an oppressive, serfdom-supporting regime. I would think youâd be on the peasantsâ side in that fight.â
Sonia pointedly ignored that aspect of the English kingâs reign and went on to read entries that curled Theresaâs hair and surely violated several communications statutes. Several people had written in to say that the person whoâd attacked them, stolen their money, even shot them still walked the streets because of one Marie Corrigan. Victims claimed that the woman had convinced juries that theyâd been the ones at fault. Marie had been called every designation except attorney, including, by one particularly wordy participant, âa filthy, wretched creature driven by twisted, power-mad impulses, who ground the suffering of others beneath her heel in order to buy designer shoes.â
Theresa stifled a snicker over that one in deference to her friend as she accessed the Internet.
âNo one points out that she raised money for the United Way or that she mentored with the female law studentsâ organization at Cleveland State every year since graduation. I donât even do that.â
Good Lord, was all Theresa could think. Sheâd warped young mindsârather, trained more people to be like her? âAgain, Sonia, you have to let this go. Marie would not have asked you to be her champion, and sheâs beyond all this vitriol
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