Page 94 of Maddy's Justice

“Of course not. She wants to know less than he does,” Carvelli said referring to Marc. “I forgot to mention, you remember Paxton’s uncle, Sean? He’s involved. Ex-fibbie. So, how bad could it be?”

“An ex-FBI agent knows more ways to bend the rules than even you do,” Marc said.

Turning serious, Carvelli said, “We’re gonna find out what the hell is going on here.”

“Children being kidnapped and sold into sex slavery,” Maddy said. She turned to Carvelli and said “I want in.”

“No!” Marc almost yelled.

“I think we can get by…” Carvelli started to say.

“I want in,” Maddy said again sternly looking back and forth at Marc and Carvelli.

“Don’t look at me,” Connie said. “But ethics be damned. If there’s trafficking in children going on here and we can do something about it…”

“I can take care of myself,” Maddy said to Marc.

“I know. I just, well, don’t want to have to come visit you in prison.”

“Conjugals,” Maddy said wiggling her eyebrows.

“Conjugal sex,” Connie said. “Never had conjugal sex. Could be a whole new experience.”

“Thanks for your support, Mom. Although, if they don’t commit any crimes in Minnesota, are we ethically obligated to tell the authorities in Chicago?” he asked referring to what Carvelli and Maddy were about to get into.

“Crimes? What crimes?” Connie asked. “We don’t have any fore knowledge of any crimes. If we find out after the fact, then, they’re our clients and privilege precludes us from telling anyone.”

“And, if we find out our client, Stafford, Hughes, is involved in anything, privilege precludes us from reporting that,” Marc said.

“Good point,” Connie said. “So, what would we do about it?”

“We’ll talk about that if and when we find out,” Marc said.

“We’ll find a way,” Maddy said.

“Hey, can we bill Stafford, Hughes for this? As part of your representation of them?” Carvelli asked.

“I don’t think…” Marc started to say.

“We’ll think of something,” Connie said.

Marc sighed, looked at Connie then said, “What the hell. I’m not sure I want to practice law until I retire. There’s a car wash near where I live that’s hiring.”

“That’s the spirit,” Maddy said as she put her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.

The meeting broke up and Maddy and Carvelli left. As soon as they were out the door, Connie turned to Marc.

“We need to talk,” she said.

“Yes, we certainly do,” Marc agreed.

Connie followed Marc into his office where they found four boxes stacked on the floor. Marc stood there looking down at them for several seconds. He finally realized what they were.

“Jeff!” he yelled. “Get in here, please,” he added.

A moment later the office paralegal, Jeff Modell came in.

“Yes?” he tried to innocently ask.

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