Chapter 2

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When Lee entered the courtroom he was quickly on the receiving end of a stern look from Judge Nygren.  Apparently his honor wasn't too happy that Lee was refusing what, to everyone around, seemed like an overly generous settlement offer from the state prosecutor's office.

"Your Honor." Lee began respectfully, knowing exactly why he was here, what the judge wanted to hear, but knowing that he wouldn't be able to deliver.  "I've had several conversations with my client about the offer from the state.  I explained to him very clearly that the likelihood of his prevailing in a trial is very slim and that this was an extremely good offer." He paused.  "My client instructed me in no uncertain terms to turn down any offers from the state short of complete exoneration."

"Mr. Patel." Judge Nygren replied with some emphasis.  "I'd like to tell you that your client is completely off his rocker for taking the position that he is, but I'm afraid that would simply cause you to waste more of everyone's time looking for a new judge.  And," he paused, "for better or worse I have a strong belief in our constitution and that everyone, even your client, is entitled to a trial." The judge continued, looking down at his desk thinking as he went.  "Just understand Mr. Patel..., that... Trial is set for..."

Many defense attorneys would have immediately have asked for a new judge after what Nygren had said about his client, but Lee knew better.  He'd tried cases before Nygren as a prosecutor for a couple of years and now for almost 5 years as a defense attorney.  He had no doubts about Nygren's extreme sense of fairness, despite some occasional entertainment coming from his mouth.

After the judge left the courtroom Lee stood to leave, only then realizing that for the last several minutes he'd been thinking about Amy and the idea she'd mentioned but not filled him in on.  He'd completely tuned out what Nygren had said.  Worse, he was late for another hearing down the hall and likely wouldn't have time to get the transcript until tomorrow morning.  How beneficial a secretary or paralegal would be right now he thought.  But that was a luxury he couldn't yet afford.

"Jordan!" Lee shouted when he saw one of his old friends from the DA's office.  "Any chance you could do me a great big favor?" Lee asked and then quickly struck a deal for his DA friend to find out what all Nygren had said in exchange for buying him a beer later that night.  Transcripts were notoriously slow to become available anyway and Nygren was notorious for setting trial dates on very short timelines, especially a drug charge like this one that everyone, including Lee, was sure would be a very quick case.

Lee spent the rest of the day trying to focus on cases when what he really wanted to think about was Amy.  This day certainly wasn't turning out like he thought it would when he woke up this morning.


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Copyright 2003 JTH
May not be reproduced or distributed in whole or in part, in any form including electronic, without the expressed written permission of the author

A Story - Chapter 3  
Posted by JustTryingHarder  , 12/16/2003 11:06:51 AM    
Chapter 3

"So," Lee said, changing the subject after several minutes of small talk.  "How did you go from journalism to working in a mission?"

Amy and Linea looked at each other and did their best to control the giggles that were sure to foreshadow a good story.  "Well..." Amy said slowly.  "After Linea and I had become friends I thought that she'd be great in working with the street girls.  She was really apprehensive about it, but did have a strong interest and said that if the folks at the mission were in agreement then she'd do it." Amy paused to grin and look at Linea.

"And the fireworks began." Linea grinned at Lee.

"Well, hiring Linea was controversial.  Not because of our friendship or because she was Christy's sister or not even because she didn't have a degree in counseling or any experience." Amy said.  "Over half the counselors who work there share those wonderful qualities." Amy paused and smiled at Linea.  "The issue was Linea's other work." She paused again.

Every bit of bandwidth in Lee's head was quickly consumed with trying to figure out what could be so controversial.  "She's an escort." Amy said before he'd thought too long.

Both women looked at Lee and enjoyed the variety of expressions as what Amy'd said sunk in and he processed everything.  "It's kind of like watching an opera." Linea whispered to Amy.  Amy smiled and they both continued to watch.

"It would have been less an issue if she was a 'former provider' or 'at one time had been a provider'" Amy finally said, "but there was no past tense about it.  She worked as a provider the day she began working at the mission, and had no plans to change it."

"Um," Lee said.  "So I take it that you're still doing that?" he asked.

The girls just smiled at each other and Amy nodded affirmatively.  "So." Lee said, obviously unsure of where this was going.  "Um, isn't that somewhat of a problem?" he asked.  "I mean, at the mission, aren't you supposed to be getting people out of prostitution?"  When Amy called earlier in the afternoon asking if he could join Linea and her for dinner he obviously didn't have a clue what he was in for.  "Do you just tell everyone 'Do as I say not as I do'?"  He regretted the comment as soon as he'd said it.

"I told you her hiring was controversial." Amy finally replied.  "It caused a lot of soul searching on the part of a lot of people." Amy went on more seriously, knowing that she had Lee's complete and undivided attention.  "As you would expect the first reaction was to seek a mental evaluation for me for even suggesting such a thing.  It took me several weeks just to get Ray to realize I was serious.  For the next week Ray and I discussed the differences between someone like Linea and the girls we work with.  Sure, they're both technically prostitutes, but that's like saying that all CFO's are bad.  Some may have embezzled, but not all."  She paused seeing the confused look on Lee's face.  "Linea's an escort, not a hooker." Amy continued but was interrupted by Linea.

"There's a big difference between me and a typical hooker." Linea said.  "First, and most important, is that I've chosen to do it.  Nobody's forcing me." She paused for Lee to process this piece of information.  "Would I prefer to be independently wealthy?  Sure." She answered her own question.  "I love to play guitar and sing and if I could I'd make my living doing that, but no record companies have come knocking yet.  But." She paused briefly, "of the options available to me and for the life I want to lead, it's worked out pretty well."

"Most of the girls on the street." Amy said, "Aren't there so much of their own will.  Some may say they've chosen to do it, but they're either doing it for the drugs or because some guy's forcing them to." She paused.  "Our goal at the mission is to get people off of drugs and alcohol, teach them some life skills, help them get going in a career, and give them the tools for a better life."

"We want to get girls off the street and, for most, out of prostitution." Linea interrupted.  "But what we're really trying to do is help people who've lost control of their lives gain it back." she paused, "Besides, a lot of them don't have the skills to be a very good escort anyway." She said, knowing that comment would cause Lee to think for a while.

"What's the latest on Beth?" Amy asked Linea, changing the subject.

"I talked with her a couple of times this afternoon.  She still won't see a doc."

"Hey Lee, how about if you went to the hospital with her?  Maybe that would assure her that everything is OK."  Amy looked at Lee almost pleading.

"That wouldn't do any good as far as them notifying the police." Lee replied.  "They're required to report anything they think might be abuse and I'm sure that with the way you've described things they'd figure out something was going on as soon as she walked in the door."

"This pisses me off so much." Linea said, sounding like she was ready to take someone on.  "Why should Beth be punished for what this guy did?  It sucks."

"I know, I'm with you sis." Amy added.

"I met her dad once." Linea said admiringly.  "He's so super nice." She paused.  "I'm tempted to call him and fill him in on everything.  He loves her so much, he'd be here and get her to the doc before we could even finish dinner."

"Does he know what she does?" Lee asked.

"No." Linea replied quickly.  "And I think he'd be heartbroken if he knew.  It's clear from the way he treats Beth and her brother and sister that they're his pride and joy.  He'd go to the ends of the earth for any of them."

"How serious do you think her injury really is?"  Lee asked.  "Do you know how to get ahold of her dad?"

"It's pretty bad.  I mean, she's not gonna die or anything, but if she doesn't get it stitched I think it'll leave a really ugly scar.  It's also messing up her eyelid." Linea paused trying to remember the second part of his question.  "About a year ago she gave me contact info for her parents and bother and sister...  Just in case.  I'm just not sure if this is the case.  If she went to the hospital and they called the cops that would end her career.  At least in this state."

"I've got the picture." Lee said.  "If I were her dad I'd certainly want to know."

"Yea, you might want to know, but she doesn't want you to."  Linea replied.  "She likes the life she has.  She doesn't want to depend on her dad for stuff and wants to live her life her way.  She is an adult after-all.  A lot of the girls who're escorting just tolerate this business.  For them it's better than the alternatives.  Beth really enjoys everything about it.  She loves meeting different people, talking to them, and she loves the sensual stuff.  You'll have to meet her sometime."

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Copyright 2003 JTH
May not be reproduced in whole or in part in any form including electronic without the expressed written permission of the author


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A Story - Chapter 3b  
Posted by JustTryingHarder  , 12/16/2003 11:08:34 AM    
Chapter 3b

"Sometime." Lee said, not sure what he was getting himself into.  "Look." he said to Amy thinking he needed to clear things up before they went too far.  She'd mentioned legal wrangling earlier, but this wasn't going in that direction so much as getting Lee into doing something that could cause him to loose his career, "I'd like to help you out, but I'm not really the right person for you to talk too about this.  I do drug cases, I've never done a thing with prostitution." He paused.  "I'll do some checking around and put you in touch with someone who can help you though."

"That's OK, we've got a couple of attorney's that we work with on this stuff, I didn't mean to drag you into it." Linea said.  Lee looked at Linea and then at Amy, confused again about why Amy'd called him this morning.  Amy stared back at Lee for several seconds, not exactly sure how to begin.

"This wasn't why I called you." She began.  "Well, not exactly." She paused and looked briefly at Linea and then back at Lee.  "I had an idea that I wanted to run by you." She paused again.  "Both of you in fact."

Lee and Linea looked briefly at each other and then at Amy.  Waiting.

Amy looked at them not sure how to begin.  "I want to open a brothel." She finally spit out before she could stop herself.

The look on Linea's face clearly conveyed both her astonishment at what Amy'd said and that she knew it was a serious statement, not a joke.  "You mean like with prostitutes and stuff?"  She finally replied.  "Isn't there a little legal issue here my dear?"

"You mean about prostitution being illegal?" Amy said.  "That's why I called Lee." She said as she smiled at him.

"You're nuts!" Linea said.

"You're just now realizing that?" Amy laughed.  "I thought you knew that the first day we met."

Linea grinned and looked over at Lee who hadn't said anything yet.  "He's doing his face opera again." Linea said.  "I think I may have just overloaded his brain." Amy added with a smile.

JustTryingHarder,

I PM'ed you, but did not hear back from you, so I am assuming you cannot read your TER mail.  Please post your story on one new thread per day.  By keeping your daily additions to the story all together, will it allow both your story and the discussions below it to be seen better.

Thank you,
Girl Next Door
Moderator

-- Modified on 12/17/2003 2:56:49 AM

Thanks GND.  I can't read TER mail and am having difficulty getting to my primary mail until my PC is fixed.

JTH

This is really quite impressive for a first effort.  You seem to have an instinctive grasp of storytelling.  

With some experience in writing fiction, I would recommend that you just move forward and complete this.  The big challenge for beginners is facing the blank page and filling it up.  There will be plenty of time for learning craft and technique.

If you pm me, and are interested, I'll provide specific criticism and some suggestions on further help.

I'm not able to use TER mail at this time so can't PM.  Any criticisms or other comments on here though are very welcome.

Thanks,

JTH