Final Exam: A Legal Thriller by Terry Huebner Page B

returned to the office at about three.   Mark was already there and Ken was on his way.   Ben called for a meeting of the defense team at three-thirty in the garage and checked his voicemail messages - nothing of significance.   On his chair, he found the draft brief Conlon had prepared, together with a couple of motions Mark had slapped together.   He turned to the brief first and buzzed Conlon.   “Hey, you down there?” he asked.  
    “Yeah, what is it?”  
    “Is this brief pretty much in final form?”  
    “Yeah, it is.   I think it’s pretty good, but you might want to spruce it up a little bit.”  
    “Okay,” Ben said, “I’ll take a look at it before the meeting and get it back to you.”   Then he was gone.  
    The brief read like something drafted by a prosecutor, as Conlon had been, competently prepared, covering all the bases, yet lacking in anything really special.   Good enough for government work, but certainly improvable.   Ben knew many of the cases cited in the brief and liked the way Conlon incorporated newer opinions to buttress his claim that Megan deserved a reasonable bond.   Ben decided that all it really needed was tinkering.   He smoothed out the analysis, punched up the introduction and strengthened the conclusion to make it sound less neutral and more authoritative.   Satisfied, he dropped the brief on Dianne Reynolds’ chair for revisions and headed downstairs.  
    He ran into Funk in the copy room and followed him down the short corridor into the garage.   Mark and Dan were already sitting at the far side of the conference room table talking about bail.   Funk took a spot opposite them and Ben climbed into one of the barber chairs next to the potbelly stove.   Just as he began, he heard a door slam and footsteps coming down the steps and paused.   They all turned and Ken Williams made a grand entrance into the room.  
    “Greetings all,” he said, strolling to the end of the table and pulling out a wooden chair.   He turned the chair sideways and looked over at Ben to his left.   “So, today’s the day?”  
    “Yeah,” Ben replied.  
    “It sucks to be her,” Ken said.  
    “Yes, it does,” Ben said.   “I’m going to leave here about six to meet her.”  
    “It sucks to be you too.   So what did I miss?”  
    “Not too much,” Ben said.   “I just sat down and was about to start when I heard you coming in.   Well, for everybody I haven’t talked to, here goes.”
    Ben gave them the lay of the land and briefly summarized his conversation with Nelson.   “You know,” he continued, “we’ve all seen this Law School Murder stuff on TV, and I think once word gets out that Megan Rand has been arrested, things may get pretty crazy around here.   My point is simply this - don’t talk to any media people.   Be polite.   Be respectful.   We don’t want to piss anybody off, but any comments to the media will go through me, not that I want to be a big shot, but we have to make sure that we speak with one voice and that we don’t say anything that we don’t want to say.   Obviously, we don’t want to mention anything about Ken’s involvement here.   We don’t want to piss off the people out in DeKalb County.”  
    “No doubt about it,” Ken chimed in.   “It’s like I’m not even here.”  
    “Just like when you worked here,” Ben said.   Ken gave him the finger.   “All right, Dan and Brad you can go.   Ken and Mark and I have a couple things to talk about yet.   Dan, make sure that Dianne’s on that brief.   I need it by the time I leave with all the cases and stuff.   Thanks.”  
    “So are we having fun yet?” Ben said as Funk and Conlon left the room.  
    “It’s only just starting my friend,” Ken said.   “I think you’re right.   I think this could be a pretty big media case.”  
    “We may even get Geraldo out here,” Mark said with a laugh.
    Ben leaned forward in the barber chair and rubbed his