Free Almost Doesn't Count by Angela Winters Page B

looking forward to meeting with him again anyway. She was telling herself it was to update him on the case, but she was lying. She liked him. They had clicked during their short meeting, and she had thought of him a few times since.
    She wasn’t going to reply. It wasn’t his fault. He had no idea what the rules of their professional relationship were. She would explain it to him at their next meeting at the office.
    She placed the phone back in her purse and paused for a second before letting the beauty of her new bright summer purse get her back on track. After all, she deserved it.
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    â€œYou better not let them see you like this.”
    Billie looked up at Richard sitting at his desk across from her in their shared office. “What do you mean?”
    â€œThat smile on your face,” he said, laughing. “You’re practically giddy. You’re working on your pro bono case, aren’t you?”
    â€œJust doing a few checks.” She placed her finger to her mouth in a hushing gesture. The door to their office was open. She didn’t want anyone to know she was working on this right now.
    â€œYou never smile when you’re working,” Richard said. “If they see you smile now and find out that you only do it when you’re working for free . . . well, it’s not going to impress.”
    Billie couldn’t hide her excitement. “There is something here, Richard.”
    â€œThere probably isn’t.” He leaned back in his chair, joining his hands behind his head. His smile was charming. “You’re an idealistic lawyer. You want there to be a government slash corporate conspiracy behind every little guy’s bad luck.”
    â€œYou mark my words,” Billie said as she bit on the cap of her pen. “There is something going on. Ricky is a good brother. If he says his building is up to code, then—”
    â€œHe would have no idea,” Richard interrupted. “His word means nothing. You would be wise to wait until you have the shelter professionally coded to find out the truth.”
    â€œSomething is up,” Billie said. “I can smell it.”
    â€œYou mean you want to smell it. This is your daughterly justice syndrome. Don’t let it cloud your judgment, Billie.”
    Billie’s father died in prison, serving time for a crime he didn’t commit. He’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time after a tourist from Germany had been robbed and stabbed in an alley behind the restaurant where he worked as a cook. Tony Carter was not well educated, but he had never had trouble with the law. He was a good husband and a good father. He was caught in the alley by the police only minutes after the crime and identified by the victim.
    Of course he never confessed to the crime, but an apathetic public defender and a system set up to usher him into prison without a second thought were both more than he could fight. He was making progress on an appeal when a fellow inmate stabbed him after Tony refused to help him keep some contraband in his cell. He died from his wounds. Billie, only fourteen at the time, decided then that she would become a lawyer and try to prevent what happened to her father from happening to anyone else.
    There was a knock on the door and Billie looked up to see Charles Eckley. Charles was a thirtysomething man who emigrated to the U.S. from Bulgaria when he was eighteen. He was extremely kind and very bright. He was an associate in the real estate practice of the firm and had contacts in every state or federal housing division on the East Coast. Billie liked him very much. He was just one of those incredibly pleasant people who got along with everyone and had the best manners.
    â€œCharlie!” She waved for him to enter.
    â€œYou busy?” he asked in that nervous, unsure way he always did.
    He looked over to Richard for approval, but Richard reached for the ringing phone on his desk.
    She