Page 91 of Crash Course
Nagle peered down at her over the rim of his black-framed reading glasses. "As long as the government has no objection, you can file a written motion and I’ll grant the continuance." Nagle swung his head to Rick. "Mr. Bandy?"
Rick paused for a few seconds, clearly as stunned as Cilla. "No objection, Your Honor. I’ll be in touch with Ms. Randolph on this."
"Fine," Nagle said. "Does the government agree to the continuation of current bail conditions?"
"The government does, Your Honor."
"I order continuation of bail." Nagle brought his attention back to Cilla. "Anything else, Ms. Randolph?"
Cilla shook her head. "No, Your Honor. Thank you."
"Then we are in recess. Back to the drawing board, counselors."
Blood roaring,Cilla marched to the courtroom door, her heels once again clickety-clacking, but this time the sound didn’t take her back to the decadence of marble floors and well-oiled woods.
Now? Pissed. Royally.
This was a solid deal that had taken hours and hours of negotiating, and the judge had simply tossed it.
On her way to the door, she met Dad’s eye and . . .
The smirk. That triumphant tilt of his lips she’d seen repeatedly when his machinations came to fruition.
Nothing about this situation should make him happy. He’d spent half his time touting his brilliant daughter’s success. This? Humiliating.
If she wanted to be truthful, the origin of his dismay wouldn’t be for Cilla and her loss. He’d have to face his cronies after years of relentless bragging.
As much as she’d like to stop and question his presence, Cilla had a furious client storming ahead of her. She’d have to talk him down. Keep him from tweeting or making statements or doing just about anything that would aggravate Nagle.
After pushing through the heavy oak courtroom door, Donovan angled back, and she pointed to an empty bench where she set her briefcase down and faced him. The blast of rage should have blown her back a week.
"What," he said through gritted teeth, "the fuck happened? I thought we were done."
That made two of them. She’d be lucky if he didn’t fire her. Still, she didn’t appreciate his tone. She folded her arms, lifted her chin. "Occasionally, judges reject deals. Go home. Keep your phone close while I speak to the prosecutor."
Donovan gawked. "That’s what you have to say? You’vecompletelyfucked this up."
Oh, please.Shefucked it up? Perhaps her client should question his total lack of moral compass that had allowed him to break more than a dozen finance laws.
"I understand this is frustrating. But there’s a process. I’ll fix it."
Behind him, the courtroom door swung open. "There’s the prosecutor," she said. "I’ll call you."
Before Bandy got away, she grabbed her briefcase, sidestepped her raging client, and charged.
"Rick," she called, squeezing between a few people in the hallway and catching up. "Hold up."
He kept walking, but glanced back at her, his cheeks as saggy as she felt. "Hey, Cilla. Before you start in, I don’t know what that was. I’m just as pissed. I’ve got cases stacked to my ass and Nagle goes rogue?"
"What could have spooked him?"
"I don’t know. Let me see what I can find out."
Cilla nodded. "Okay. Let me know if I can do anything."
"Will do."
Bandy strode off, probably to track down Judge Nagle and ask him WTF?
