Page 28 of Passionate Defense

Surprised, Lanie gaped at the usually reserved woman’s language. She, in turn, laughed at her reaction. “Look in the mirror, dear. Your expression is priceless.” The older woman put her arm around Lanie and gave her a squeeze. “I’m like everyone else beneath my robes. I put my panties on one leg at a time.”

Gasping with wonder, Lanie exclaimed, “That’s what Ethan said earlier about your husband.”

“Professor Fischer was talking about my husband putting on panties? Will wonders never cease?”

“Oh! No... I didn’t mean—” Lanie stammered.

“I’m teasing, dear,” she winked. “Besides, the chief justice wouldn’t wear my panties. They’re too constricting under a robe. He’s a boxers’ kind of man.”

Lanie’s face ignited, burning furiously at the outrageous announcement. How had this innocent conversation gone so astray? Although an attractive older woman, Victoria was close to sixty if she was a day, and her husband was at least five years her senior. What they wore beneath their robes fell into the TMI category in her opinion, and she preferred to remain blissfully ignorant. She decided it was best to remain silent than risk inserting her foot farther into her mouth.

“You’re the complete opposite of who you are in court, if you don’t mind my saying so,” Victoria said.

If she did mind, it was too late now, so Lanie again said nothing.

Victoria continued, thoughtfully, “I always thought you were cold and detached. Not that there is anything wrong with that, especially during a murder trial of that magnitude. But to spend time after hours with someone like that, well... I have to admit I’m relieved. I thought dinner would be a long, frigid ordeal.”

It was Lanie’s turn to smile. “Not too excited about having dinner with the Ice Queen, were you?”

She frowned. “You’ve heard that unkind nickname, eh?”

“Honey, I’ve been called much worse to my face, but usually out of earshot of the bench.” She grimaced, realizing she had just called a judgehoney. “Excuse me, your honor, I didn’t mean to be so disrespectful.”

The judge waved that off, too. “Usually? Who dared call you foul names to your face?” She sounded outraged on her behalf.

“Joel Simpson, the Assistant DA, and all the other prosecutors in his office. Even Cecily Blackwell.”

“That’s a case of the pot calling the kettle black,” she snorted. “I heard Cecily broke it off with her fiancé on a used napkin she taped to his door for all to see.”

“I heard that, too. I felt sorry for the poor man.”

“Don’t. Her ex is a pig. He’s been telling frigid fiancée jokes around the office for months. Evidently, she was so cold instead of a tube of lube, he kept a can of de-icer in the nightstand.”

Lanie snickered. She couldn’t help it. When she saw the judge trying to suppress her own amusement, her hand covering her mouth to contain it, she lost it. They both did, laughter echoing off the tile until their eyes watered.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t perpetuate frigid women jokes. We girls have to stick together. Heaven knows if any of my feminist friends heard me repeat that, I’d be drummed out of N.O.W., but you gotta admit, knowing Cecily, that one is damn funny.”

“It makes me wonder how many similar ones they’re telling about me.” As Lanie put that thought into words, her laughter faded and was replaced with a small frown.

“Plenty, I’m sure, because you kick their asses regularly and threaten their manhood, like Cecily. I read somewhere you need five distinct character traits to be an excellent trial lawyer—plausibility, inquisitiveness, imagination, a considerable amount of arrogance, and a healthy dose of swagger. The challenge for women is pulling all of them off without being subjected to the double standard.”

Having climbed firmly atop her soap box, clearly, she wasn’t done.

“If a man shows these traits in court, he’s considered a success and labeled a badass, but if a woman acts the same way, she’s a bitch.” The judge threw her hands up in disgust.

“I see it every day in the halls outside my courtroom. Take the job you did in the Deevers case. You were all of those things and more. You made the plaintiff’s attorneys look like fumbling imbeciles by comparison. It was a legal masterpiece, Lanie, which for a fifth-year attorney is impressive and everyone knows it, especially opposing counsel.”

“Fourth year.”

She grinned. “Even better.”

“That case took its toll and really challenged my ethics. I’m just relieved he was convicted of a capital crime in the great state of Texas, and that he’ll pay for it with his life rather than preying on more innocent women. It tore me up inside to defend him.”

“You can’t let it get to you, dear. In our judicial system, a lowlife snake has a right to a defense like anyone else.”

Lanie tilted her head and considered the judge who once again echoed Ethan’s words. “Are you related to my husband by chance?”

“He’s given you the same lecture, eh? Nothing any seasoned attorney couldn’t tell you. We’ve all been through it.”

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