The Wrong Lawyer Read Free

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and purposely walked near the sisters on his way to the bar.
    The blonde totally
ignored him but I watched the brunette scan Corbett and then drink him in as he
strode past her. He did have the knack of exuding success.
    The women stood in
place while Jim fetched his fresh drink and returned. When the brunette
realized that Jim was with me, she whispered to her sister and a moment later
they made a beeline to our table.
    “Is the offer
still open to join you distinguished gentlemen?” the brunette inquired.
    I looked up as if
in surprise and replied, “Of course, ladies; welcome to our table. I’m Tom
Kennedy and this is Jim Corbett.”
    “So nice to meet
you,” the brunette answered. “I’m Lynne Wright and this is my sister, Linda
Page.”
    That was the only
time that Lynne even acknowledged my presence. From the moment she sat down,
she was focused on Corbett. Although it was a bit insulting, I had an aversion
to high maintenance women anyway, and I began chatting with Linda.
    “What made you
decide to come out dancing tonight?” she inquired.
    “It was Jim’s
idea. We were having drinks at his place when he decided that retirement was
boring and dredged up the ad for this dance in today’s newspaper. Are you a
member of the charity board or something?”
    “No, we had to
join the charity at the entrance. Lynne broke off with her latest short-term boyfriend
a couple of weeks ago and dragged me here to keep her company. She isn’t used
to being alone. The music is awful, though.”
    “It sure is, and
obnoxiously loud. I’ve never been a great dancer anyway, but I don’t think I’d
even know how to dance to any of the songs I’ve heard so far.”
    “I probably
shouldn’t be here in the first place,” Linda admitted. “My husband passed away
four months ago and I’d be mortified if any of my friends or family saw me here
sitting with a man, but when Lynne wants to do something, there’s no way to
persuade her otherwise. You mentioned that you were retired. Where did you
work?”
    “I ran my own one-man
law practice here in town. Jim and I were classmates in law school and have
been best friends ever since then. He was the senior partner in the law firm
Corbett & Kaufmann over on Johnson Street just behind the Court House. We
both retired last September. Do you work here in town?”
    “No, I just moved back
to Kingston last month from Ottawa. I grew up here and my parents still live in
town in the house we grew up in. My sister only moved back to Kingston in April
from Toronto and I felt a need to be close to my family after Paul died. I was
a public school teacher for 20 years but for the past several years I had
worked for Paul doing his books and acting as receptionist.”
    “What sort of
business did he have?”
    “Paul was a
private investigator in Ottawa and often dealt with lawyers. What type of law
did you practice?”
    “I handled real
estate transactions, Wills and estates mainly. Family law and criminal work
held no interest for me. Jim did a lot of court work and occasionally required
the services of a private investigator. Did you ever help Paul with his cases?”
    “Only in an
indirect way, like giving him a ride somewhere when he didn’t want his own
vehicle to be seen in the area. I never sat with him on stakeouts or anything
like that, but he had a tendency to tell me all about his work.”
    At that moment the
loud speakers began blaring out an incomprehensible and irritating rap song.
Conversation was impossible. I had been enjoying my chat with Linda and let out
a big sigh which nobody heard.
    I glanced over at
Corbett. Lynne was yelling something into his ear and he nodded in
acquiescence. Then Lynne leaned over to Linda and yelled, “We’re all going over
to Jim’s condo.”

CHAPTER
3 (A Fun Evening)
     
    The four of us
stood up and made our way out of the ballroom.
    “We arrived in a
cab,” Jim explained. “How did you girls get here?”
    “We came in my
car,”