The World According to Vince - Jane Harvey-Berrick Page 0,5

sentence, like a fine or court-ordered community service.”

I frowned, trying to follow what she was telling me. “So, I can go home after I meet the judge tomorrow morning?”

“Let’s hope so. Just stick to the facts … and Vincent, try to say as little as possible.”

“Maybe the judge is a dog-lover?” I said hopefully. “He’ll be on my side!”

“The judge is on the side of the law,” she said severely. “Now, let’s talk money. Bail could be between $5,000 and say $10,000, but maybe less if the judge is an animal-lover,” and she smirked at me when she said that. “And you should know that I bill at $750 an hour.”

I grinned at her. “Really?”

“Yes.”

“Good for you! That’s fookin’ fab!”

“Thank you.”

“I don’t have any money.”

Her eyebrows rocketed. “You expect me to do this pro bono?”

“What’s the singer of U2 got to do with it?”

“Pro bono, not Bono! It means ‘for free’.

“Cheers! You’re a love.”

“Wait! That was a question!” She stared at me. “Oh, never mind.”

I winked.

“And how are you going to post bail?” she asked faintly.

“Could you phone Rick for me? He’ll see me right.”

She nodded and scratched a note in her teeny tiny spidery writing.

“Is there anything else you want to tell me?” she asked tiredly.

“I didn’t have any supper,” I said, hoping she’d take the hint. “I’m so hungry, if I weren’t vegan, I’d probably chew off me own leg.”

She gave a short, stiff nod. “I think the vending machine has chips and crackers; maybe some fruit.”

“Cheers!” I grinned at her. “Lots, please! Don’t forget I’m a growing lad.”

She stuffed her notebook back in her briefcase like she was trying to choke it.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said. “And behave!”

I leaned back in the hard chair and winked at her, smiling as she huffed impatiently and told the copper outside that she was done.

I was taken back to the grotty cell, but a few minutes later a carrier bag full of crisps, crackers, apples, oranges and a jar of peanut butter was delivered to me.

I tucked in hungrily, scoffing it all down then wondering if I should have saved something for breakfast. The police in this place were pretty decent, although so far they hadn’t been able to find me anything vegan to eat. But my Gracie, she’d come through for me.

I wished again that she was my Gracie, even though she was completely out of my league. Then a thought occurred to me: I was fairly confident that given enough time, she’d succumb to my lad-about-town charms. But in the nine months since I’d first met her, she’d avoided me as much as possible, which was strange. Birds usually flocked to the call of a mating Vince.

Maybe all I needed to do was stuff up the court case enough so that she’d have to spend more time with me; but not stuff it up so much that I spent any more time in clink.

Whatever Gracie thought of me right now, I knew that she’d never abandon a friend in need. And even though I was Rick’s friend rather than her friend or Cady’s friend, I still qualified for the title. Rick and me were best mates; Cady was cool; and Grace? Well, she was fook hot.

Grace

I lay on my bed with my eyes wide open. No matter how much I tried to force myself to sleep (which never works, as insomniacs all around the world know only too well), I couldn’t make my body relax or my brain stop whirring.

My job with Kryll Group was 99% office lawyer: it was rare that cases went to court and when they did, I was never lead counsel. The partners took those cases and I definitely wasn’t considered to be a trial lawyer. I’d always wondered if they were right. But more importantly given the current context, I’d never defended a criminal case in my life and never expected to. I was fairly confident I knew enough to help the giant knob-head who’d gotten himself into this mess, but twinges of self-doubt had me shooting upright and making notes on the pad by my bedside table instead of sleeping.

In the end, I gave up the fight and staggered out of bed. I prepared in my usual methodical way, checking and re-checking facts, statutes and precedents on one of the several legal databases that I had access to. It was unlikely that I’d need that level of detail at an arraignment but I couldn’t not prepare to the nth degree—that was