It Should Be a Crime (3 page)

Parker slung her body out of bed and padded, naked, to the bathroom door. It wasn’t locked and she eased it open. No sign of Morgan. She pulled on a pair of boxers and a well-worn T-shirt and trotted down the stairs to the kitchen. The roomy kitchen was silent and unoccupied. Parker decided to put together a pot of coffee to fuel the start of her day. While the java brewed she reflected on the previous evening. She was surprised to find her guest gone and wondered when she made her exit. Parker Casey was usually the one who slunk out in the wee hours, long before morning snuggling became an option. As she sipped her morning dose of caffeine, Parker decided she had met her match. The realization carried a bit of a sting. From the moment she laid eyes on Morgan trapped in the alley, she’d felt attraction, strong attraction, coupled with a vague sense of recognition she couldn’t place. She hadn’t grouped Morgan into the category of usual conquests she met at the bar. Though their interaction had been primarily physical, Morgan came across as more sophisticated and worldly than her usual Friday night bar fare

“Casey, you better have made enough to share!”

Parker started at the yelling from across the room. “For crying out loud, Erin, keep it down. Some of us are still sleeping.”

“I’m sure you wish you were,” Erin replied, moving to fill a large cup with the steamy brew. “No one in this house got any sleep last night. I hope you had a great time.”

“Give me a break, Erin. We weren’t that loud, were we?”

“I’m sure it’s the thin wall between our rooms. Certainly, I’m the only one in the house who could make out actual words.”

Parker blushed. “Geez, Erin, if I’d known you were listening I would have given you some pointers.”

“You are incorrigible. I think you should make me breakfast to help erase the trauma I’ve had to endure.”

“I’d love to, but I actually have a lot to do today. I have an orientation session for third-year mentors and I want to pick up my books before the meeting starts.” Parker searched the cabinets for sustenance as she spoke, trying to find a quick bite to eat.

Erin gave her a puzzled look. “School doesn’t start for almost two weeks. What’s your hurry?”

Parker shrugged. “You know me, I want to get a jump start on the reading. And I volunteered to be a mentor to a one-L.” Parker referred to the slang term for first-year law students. “They all start showing up for their own orientation next week, and I need to be on hand to show my assigned newbie around.”

“When’s your last night at the bar?”

“I have one more weekend shift right before classes start. Then I’ll call it quits until winter break. I hate to leave Irene in the lurch, but I have a lot on my plate this semester and I want to make sure I impress enough of my profs to get into the clinic of my choice in the spring.”

“Irene, huh?” Erin scoffed. “I’m thinking it’s the women you’ll have the most trouble giving up. Like shooting fish in a barrel. Do you think you’ll go through withdrawal?”

Parker threw a bagel across the room, beaning her on the nose. “Work hard, play hard—the Parker Casey way. You would do well to follow my lead.” She grinned at her, grabbed the last remaining bagel, and climbed the stairs to her room to get ready for her day.

The house she shared with her two roommates was large and roomy, though old and drafty. The residence was perfect for the group of students. It was close to campus and provided enough space to give them all the room they needed to accommodate their various schedules. Erin James was the youngest of the group, a graduate student at Richards University, close to completing her master’s degree in sociology. Kelsey James, Erin’s older sister and Parker’s best friend, was in her second year of residency at the hospital associated with the university, and the rest of the group rarely laid eyes on her. Parker was a third-year at the university’s law school. When the school year started, she spent most of her time on campus. Most legal research could be done wherever a wireless connection could be found, but Parker preferred the computer cubbies at the law library to the solitude of working from home.

Excited at the prospect of the start of school, though it wasn’t official for another couple of weeks, Parker hurried through her shower. She dressed in a smooth, worn pair of jeans, Skechers, and a plain navy T-shirt.

Parker slid into her ’68 Mustang fastback and sped the few blocks to the law school. Blazing August heat made it too hot to walk the distance. Truth was, she loved the muscle car she had restored herself and would rather drive it than walk, no matter what the weather. While jockeying for a parking place, she contemplated the ride across town the night before with Morgan occupying the seat beside her. Parker would never have imagined that the reticent woman who sat silently during the ride to her house would have turned into a dominant sex goddess. Her clit throbbed with the memory of Morgan taking total control and she was flustered by what an amazing experience it had been to let someone else direct her in the bedroom. She was used to being in charge, and though she had been in the driver’s seat in the car, it was Morgan who had taken her for a wild ride in the bedroom.

Parker finally found a space to park and walked to the library. She strode across campus with all the confidence her status as a third-year accorded her. Thinking ahead to the mentor orientation, she recalled the first time she set foot on the law school grounds. All her worldly confidence drained away. It had taken her three tries to even find the law school among the numerous buildings on campus. She was so concerned she wouldn’t be able to locate it among the maze of buildings for the first day of classes, she drove by a couple of times a day in the week preceding the start of the first semester. She had spent over a decade building another career when she made the decision to return to school and get her law degree. Lacking no confidence in the outside world, she’d found all her brashness faded at the prospect of starting over in the academic world, a world filled with younger, presumably brighter, students who, having come straight out of undergraduate school, were still well acquainted with how the system worked.

Within a few weeks, Parker was in the swing of things. She quickly learned all first-year law students were pretty much in the same boat and the boat was adrift on a sea filled with lots of work and little time for anything other than school. The students divided into study groups based on their affinity for each other and how they preferred to study. Parker had a history of excelling at every new venture, and her studies were no different. Her personality and good looks were magnetic, causing other students to gravitate to her. The members of Parker’s study group were the top students in her class.

Parker walked into the library and shivered from the chill of the refrigerated air. She was thankful she had chosen jeans and shoes over her preferred summer uniform of shorts and sandals. She walked directly to the largest of the private study rooms. Dr. Yolanda Ramirez, the dean, was chatting with a couple of the other third-year students who volunteered to be mentors. Dr. Ramirez glanced her way, giving her a big smile. Parker reciprocated with one of her own. She gave full credit to Dr. Ramirez for supporting her application to law school. The dean had given her valuable pointers to make sure her application made its way safely through the arduous admission process. When the dean asked her to be part of this venture, she could hardly refuse.

Dr. Ramirez greeted Parker. “I’m so glad you could make it. I think it’s important to have someone on this team who has more life perspective than the average third-year student.” She punctuated her gratitude with a hug.

“How could I refuse?” Parker replied. She had grown accustomed to the faculty placing extra trust in her because, at thirty-four, she was older than the average law student. As the dean rounded up the rest of the gathering group and rustled them to their seats, Parker greeted some of her classmates she’d missed over the summer. Several had worked as summer associates with the numerous large firms in downtown Dallas. The pay was amazing, and a summer associate could easily live the rest of the year off what they made during the summer months. Each firm spent significant amounts of capital trying to wine and dine their summer associates while getting to know them. The goal of this summer ritual was to allow the firm to decide if these students, usually the top of their class, would make a good fit with the firm’s culture and, if so, to convince the prospects there was no place better than their firm to start their legal career.

Parker found the whole process of summer associates absurd. Her conclusion wasn’t based on jealousy. At the top of her class, she had been sought after each of the prior summers by virtually every firm in Dallas, but she didn’t understand why she should waste a summer being a social butterfly when she could do meaningful work. She was willing to concede that a decade spent in law enforcement likely colored her perspective, despite the disastrous ending to her chosen career. At least the hefty settlement provided her with enough cash to allow her to do the legal job of her choice without concern for money, which was a good thing since working as an intern at the nearby Tarrant County Public Defender’s Office didn’t pay a dime. The work did, however, seal her resolve to become a criminal defense attorney and provided her with course credit along the way.

Dr. Ramirez began by explaining when the first-years would arrive and what their schedule would be like the first couple of weeks.
Funny,
Parker reflected,
after two full years of this stuff, we have to be reminded what it’s like to start.
Dr. Ramirez then asked the volunteers to be present at a social she was hosting to welcome the new students to the school. Parker glanced at her Treo and noted the social was the same night she was scheduled to work her last night at the bar. A twinge of regret that she would miss the social was rapidly replaced by a flash of glistening skin and luscious curves as she recalled how her last bar shift had ended.

*

As the valet brought her car around, Morgan performed mental calculations in an attempt to figure out how much it would cost to stay at the Palomar for the rest of her natural life. The specifics of the mathematics failed her, but she was able to cipher enough to know she couldn’t afford the luxury. Morgan had money, but not enough to burn. Years of handling high-profile cases with high-dollar retainers, combined with a savvy business sense, meant Morgan had generous savings. Managed carefully, she could live a very long time on the interest from her investments alone, but Morgan liked a little luxury now and then. As a consequence, she would keep working. Today was the first day of her new job.

Morgan had spent the last ten years with Tina Middleton, software engineer. Tina was a hot commodity in the high-tech industry and when investors approached her about a start-up in Dallas, she had jumped at the opportunity. She had spent the last six months persuading Morgan to let her follow her dream, which of course meant Morgan was supposed to drop her life and come along for the ride. Morgan finally decided maybe the change of scenery would do their relationship some good and they both planned to start over in Big D.

Morgan was no stranger to Dallas. She’d grown up here and attended school at Richards University, which was her destination this morning. When the couple decided on the move, Morgan made some calls and secured a visiting professorship at her alma mater. A former colleague, now dean of the law school, was happy to have Morgan. Morgan had spent the fifteen years since graduation building a national reputation as a criminal defense counsel working on high-profile cases often involving high-profile individuals and corporations. The last few years, she combined teaching a few classes with her law practice, years of success giving her the freedom to pick and choose her cases. She was actually looking forward to this opportunity to be in the classroom more often, especially on such familiar stomping grounds.

Morgan found a spot in the faculty parking lot. She was grateful her car arrived ahead of schedule; getting cabs in Dallas was a sketchy proposition at best. She loved the comfort of her Lexus SUV, appreciating the fact that with so many other SUVs on the road in Dallas, she didn’t feel the pangs of guilt for driving such a gas guzzler she usually felt back East. She switched off the radio and left the luxury of her ride to head into the law school.

As she approached the desk in the administrative office, she smiled at a familiar sight. Edith Perkins had manned the receptionist post for decades. There she sat, looking every bit as alert and all-knowing as she had when Morgan the first-year law student asked her for directions to the registrar’s office on her first day. Catching Edith’s eye, she grinned as she saw the stalwart gatekeeper try to stay focused on her phone conversation, though it was obvious she was busting at the seams to greet her.

“Morgan Bradley, as I live and breathe!” Edith came around the desk to give Morgan her version of a bear hug. Edith Perkins was a tiny woman and, to Morgan’s mind, ageless. She looked exactly the same as she had eighteen years ago, and Morgan figured she would look the same eighteen years into the future.

“Edith, I can’t tell you how good it is to see a familiar face. I assume you know why I’m here?”

“Certainly, dear. Have a seat and I’ll let Dean Ramirez know you’re here. She’s been barely able to contain her excitement at the prospect of landing a big celebrity to teach this semester, never mind you’re also an alumna.” Edith pointed to a sofa in the waiting area and walked down the hall toward the dean’s office. Morgan grimaced slightly at Edith’s assessment of her status. She hardly thought of herself as a celebrity. True, for the past few years she had made regular appearances on the cable network legal circuit spouting her opinions on everything from current cases in the media to Supreme Court rulings. She was a go-to legal consultant for Court TV, MSNBC, and CNN. When she wasn’t hyping her own cases, she was ready and willing to provide insight to the viewing layperson about the tricks of the trade employed by her colleagues in the criminal defense bar. She was looking forward to sharing the basics with her students, though, and hoped all the glitz of TV law wouldn’t get in the way of the learning experience.