A Young Lawyer's story

by John Ellsworth

  Thaddeus hesitated. Then, "No, I don't think so. No."

  "Why not?"

  "I'm going somewhere small. Somewhere I can give my lack of experience the opportunity to catch up with my trial record of one and oh."

  Anderson smiled.

  "Smart man. That's very wise, Thaddeus."

  "Thank you."

  "So where are you going?"

  "You know what? I'm just going to get out a map of the United States, close my eyes, and drop a pin. Wherever it lands, that's where I'm going."

  "Well, if you ever need a reference--anything--just call me, please, Thaddeus."

  "Thank you."

  Thaddeus requested library privileges that night. He was gratified when he learned his name had been drawn. He would receive a trip to the library.

  First thing, he found a map of the United States in a discontinued set of encyclopedias. Then he lifted his hand and closed his eyes. He plunged his index finger blindly down onto the map and opened his eyes.

  Orbit, Illinois, was at the tip of his finger.

  Now where in the world is Orbit? he wondered.

  And why on earth would anyone ever go there? It was dead in the heart of flyover country, the Midwest.

  But...Orbit it was. He had tempted the fates with his eyes closed and the fates had spoken.

  He moved over to a computer and went online.

  For the next hour he devoured everything about Orbit that he could find--which was actually very little.

  But it was enough. He was already mentally back in his room packing his things, mentally crossing off what went with him and what got tossed.

  Epilogue

  But he didn't get out of jail that second night, nor the third nor the fourth. No, he got out of jail the same day he went in.

  It seemed that Judge Barnaby had been approached by Homer Matheson and Ollie Anderson within the hour following the sudden dismissal of the government's case. Both men were outspoken and both were more than just a little upset with the Judge. They wasted no time letting him know they were upset, and why. They recited chapter and verse of the history of the court's dealing with Thaddeus Murfee, who came before it for his first time ever in any court, trying to understand the etiquette and gamesmanship of being a courthouse lawyer, and, rather than giving him some slack, the judge had pounced all over him and sent him packing off to jail every time the kid overstepped the boundaries of what was normal.

  Judge Barnaby was no fool. He knew both men had at one time held positions of honor in the Washington Bar. Both men were well-known to appellate judges and the bar examiners. Anderson even sat on a bar examiner board, participating in membership decisions. And, because of their status, Judge Barnaby also knew the two men would have strong opinions about judicial complaints and which judges should be on the receiving end of such horrible missives. So, when they pled for leniency for Thaddeus, the judge reversed himself. He withdrew the finding of contempt and ordered the young lawyer released from jail immediately. Which happened just after Thaddeus had chosen Orbit, Illinois as his new home.

  He kept company with Nikki for the following seven months. They stayed in D.C. so that Thaddeus could testify in Ollie’s prosecutions of Melissa McGrant and Naomi Ranski. John Henry Fitzhugh—Thaddeus’ original lawyer—represented Thaddeus at those trials just to make sure the train stayed on the rails.

  Thaddeus arrived in the Midwest in early September. The leaves were changing and fall festivals were ongoing throughout the county. Beauty pageants were being held as the crops were harvested and the starting eleven of the Orbit High School football team flexed its on-field muscle at the end of his first week in town.

  For her part, Nikki went a different direction. Having seen how her father was treated by the law, Nikki gave up on any plans of attending law school. She just could no longer predict a fun and interesting career in an industry where the old ate its young. And each other.

  As a sophomore at Harvard Nikki had taken an elective in theater set design. The class had swept her off her feet and she'd gone on to participate in seven different productions during her next three years, including three musical comedies where the sets flew off and on the stage in dizzying succession. Her senior year found her in charge of that year's Cats production, and she excelled. Ever the local theater's severest critic, the Harvard Crimson celebrated Nikki's work on the production.

  So Nikki trundled off to Hollywood to give it a try. She wanted to do set design and if she could land a job doing anything remotely connected, she would be thrilled. They kissed goodbye, Thaddeus and Nikki, in Springfield, Illinois, as they caravanned westward from Washington. She was going further west yet; he was almost to his new home, another fifty miles, tops.

  "I'll always remember our time," she told him.

  Tears came to his eyes. "I'll ask you one last time. Please stay."

  "I would but I can't have my career in Orbit," she whispered against his cheek.

  "I know that. But I have to ask. Don't be surprised if I keep on asking."

  She pulled away and returned to her Highlander. She rolled down her window.

  "You've got my digits," she said. "Please use them."

  "I will, I'll call."

  "Remember, Thaddeus, we will never back down, never give up."

  "Never," he said, and touched her window as she rolled it up. Then she drove away into the night.

  He fought down the tears and got behind the wheel of his new Chevrolet pickup.

  The GPS malfunctioned just as he was about to pull out of the gas station. He turned it off and turned it back on. He flicked it with his fingernail, but it was no use. It couldn't locate Orbit.

  So Thaddeus went inside the QuickGas and asked the young man behind the counter.

  "Can you tell me how to get to Orbit?"

  The young man, without looking up from the customer's bag of groceries, laughed. He looked up and caught Thaddeus' eye. Then he stopped packing as the customer turned to him.

  "You can't get there from here," the customer said with a grin.

  "Come again?"

  "Second star to the right," said the customer's daughter, "then straight on 'til morning."

  "Follow us. We're headed there."

  Thaddeus stuck out his hand. "Name's Thaddeus Murfee. Thanks for the help."

  "Killen Erwin," said the customer.

  "My lucky night."

  "Is it? I'm the District Attorney."

  "That's where I knew you from. I saw your picture online the other night. When I was in jail."

  "In jail for what?"

  "It's a long story, but I'm a new attorney coming to town."

  "You must not be a very good one, Thaddeus, not if you've already been in jail. You better come by the office in the morning and let me buy you a cup. You can tell me all about it."

  "I'd like that," Thaddeus said. "I'm brand new."

  "My family owns the motel. You can stay there tonight."

  "That sounds perfect."

  "Okay, see you tomorrow."

  "Straight on 'til morning," said the little girl.

  "Second star to the right?"

  The little girl laughed. "You know Peter Pan?"

  Thaddeus put on his most supremely serious look.

  "Little girl, I am Peter Pan."

  THE END

  Also by John Ellsworth

  THADDEUS MURFEE SERIES

  Thaddeus Murfee

  The Defendants

  Beyond a Reasonable Death

  Attorney at Large

  Chase, the Bad Baby

  Defending Turquoise

  The Mental Case

  Unspeakable Prayers

  The Girl Who Wrote The New York Times Bestseller

  The Trial Lawyer (A Small Death)

  The Near Death Experience

  SISTERS IN LAW SERIES

  Frat Party: Sisters In Law

  Hellfire: Sisters In Law

  MICHAEL GRESHAM SERIES

  Lies She Nev
er Told Me

  The Lawyer

  Secrets Girls Keep

  The Law Partners

  Carlos the Ant

  Sakharov the Bear

  Annie’s Verdict

  Dead Lawyer on Aisle 11

  30 Days of Justis

  PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLERS

  The Empty Place at the Table

  About the Author

  John Ellsworth practiced law while based in Chicago.

  For thirty years John defended criminal clients across the United States. He has defended cases ranging from shoplifting to First Degree Murder to RICO to Tax Evasion, and has gone to jury trial on hundreds. His first book, The Defendants, was published in January, 2014. John is presently at work on his 24th thriller.

  Reception to John’s books has been phenomenal; more than 1,000,000 have been downloaded in 40 months. All are Amazon best-sellers. He is an Amazon All-Star every month and is a USA Today bestseller.

  John Ellsworth lives in Arizona in the mountains and in California on the beach. He has three dogs that ignore him but worship his wife, and bark day and night until another home must be abandoned in yet another move.

  johnellsworthbooks.com

  johnellsworthbooks@gmail.com

  Copyright © 2016 by John Ellsworth. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Cover design by Nathan Wampler.

  Published by Subjudica Press, San Diego.

  First edition

  Ellsworth, John. A Young Lawyer’s Story. Subjudica House. Kindle Edition.

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  — John Ellsworth