Two bricks, one on each shoulder, suddenly vanished into the air, and Theo felt much lighter. What a brilliant idea! And one that had never occurred to Theo. But Ike, the wise old uncle, could see it all.
He continued: “You may wonder why Marcella hasn’t mentioned this. She has probably given it some thought, but your mother is such a zealous advocate for her clients that she often does not see the big picture. And, she is such a professional that she would never consider giving away the secrets of her clients.”
“Not even to protect her own son?”
“Sure, Theo, if your mother thought you might be harmed by someone involved in one of her cases, I have no doubt she would do everything possible to protect you. But lawyers such as your mother can become so determined to protect their clients that they develop blind spots. They don’t see what others might see. And, you have to admit, Theo, this is some pretty outrageous behavior by our mystery kid. Not exactly the type of behavior that could be anticipated by your mother or anyone else for that matter. Your mother has handled so many divorces for so many years she probably doesn’t think about grudges being carried by the children of her clients.”
“Do I have a chat with my mother?”
“And ask her what? Who’s in the middle of a bad divorce, with kids at your school? Suppose she can think of a couple of cases. Suppose you narrow the list of suspects. Somehow, not sure exactly, but let’s say you’re able to prove the mystery kid is the real culprit. The kid gets arrested for burglarizing the computer store, kicked out of school, all the bad stuff that he deserves. You’re off the hook and the kid’s in big trouble, right?”
“Right.”
“There is the possibility your mother could get into some trouble herself. Her client will not be happy with her because she’s responsible, in part, for the client’s kid getting into a serious jam. I mean, this kid will do time in a detention facility, and the finger might be pointed at your mother. Sure the kid’s guilty and should be punished, but the client will feel as though your mother violated her privacy. It puts your mother in a dicey situation.”
“You have a plan?”
“Always. Did you bring your laptop?”
Theo patted his backpack and said, “Right here.”
“Good. Let’s go online and check the cases filed in Family Court. Make a list of all of the current divorce cases in which your mother is the lawyer. We’ll go through the most active ones and make a list of those in which there are kids involved, kids who go to your school. At that point, the list should be pretty short.”
Theo was already unloading his laptop. “This is a brilliant idea, Ike.”
“We’ll see.”
The Family Court clerk’s docket divided divorces into various categories: Contested-Uncontested; Active-Inactive; Children-No Children; In Discovery-Awaiting Trial. After half an hour, with Theo on his laptop and Ike pecking away at his bulky desktop, they had a list of twenty-one active divorce cases in which Marcella Boone represented the wife. Of those, three were in the No Children category and therefore removed from the list. Five more were in the Uncontested category, and Ike felt as though these could be eliminated, too. Uncontested divorces were much easier and quicker and did not create the raw feelings that would lead someone to slash tires and throw rocks through windows.
“What does ‘Secured’ mean?” Theo asked as they scanned the records.
“It means trouble for us,” Ike said. “I had forgotten about the Secured Docket. There are some divorce cases in which the claims of bad conduct are particularly nasty, and either party can ask the judge to secure the file, which means it’s locked away and is only available to the attorneys involved. Nothing is made public. It could be our dead end, unless, of course, we have access to your mother’s files. But let’s keep going.”
Ike made a list of the client’s last names involved in the thirteen cases on their list, and Theo downloaded the directory of students at Strattenburg Middle School. Cross-checking, the list shrunk to about half, with a possible seven cases involving kids in Theo’s school. Some names were so common, though, that they could not be included or excluded. There was a Smith, a Johnson, a Miller, and a Green. Looking at the names, Theo felt somewhat relieved. He did not know any of the kids with the last names on the list.
Two years earlier, when Theo was in the sixth grade, a girl named Nancy Griffin told him his mother had been her mother’s lawyer in a recent divorce. The divorce was over, final, and Mrs. Griffin was quite pleased with the work Theo’s mother had done. This was the first time Theo realized Mrs. Boone’s job could affect his friends and classmates. He later asked his mother about it and demanded to know why she had not informed him. Mrs. Boone carefully, and sternly, explained that lawyers work with certain ethical rules, and one of the most important is complete secrecy about a client’s business.
Ike scribbled on a legal pad, and said, “So we have a possibility of seven names, or seven divorce cases being handled by your mother with the kids in your school. Recognize anyone?”
“Not really. There’s a kid named Tony Green in the seventh grade, but we don’t know if he’s in the right Green family. Other than that, nothing looks familiar.”
“Let’s go back to the Secured Docket,” Ike said, and Theo was there a good ten seconds before his uncle. There were eight cases under lock and key, and identified only by the last name of the wife or husband who had filed the lawsuit for divorce. The names of the attorneys were not listed.
Ike said, “You gotta figure that the divorce we’re looking for is a nasty one. The parents are fighting for custody, and our mystery kid prefers to live with his father. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be attacking the son of his mother’s lawyer. Make sense?”
“I guess.”
“For a father to gain custody, he must prove the mother is unfit to raise the kids. The law always prefers the mother, and it’s rare that the father gets custody.”
“I know,” Theo said.
“To prove a mother unfit, the father has to come up with all sorts of bad behavior on the part of the mother. Those cases often end up being protected by the Secured Docket, and for obvious reasons.”
“Then we’re out of luck.”
“Yes, unless we could take a peek at your mother’s files.”
“Are you crazy?”
“Yes, Theo, I’m crazy, been that way for some time now. And I’ll do crazy things to find out who’s stalking you, harassing you, and trying to get you convicted of a serious crime. Call me crazy, but maybe it’s time to break some rules. You got in a fight yesterday and broke a rule. But, you really had no choice, right?”
“Right, I guess.”
“I’m not talking about breaking the law, Theo. It would not be illegal to look at Marcella’s files. Might be a bit unethical, but we’re not going to give away sensitive information. And, it might be the only way to solve this little mystery.”
“I don’t know, Ike.”
“What type of digital storage system does the firm use?”
“It’s called InfoBrief, a pretty basic system, just for storage, cataloging, and cutting down on paper.”
“Who has access to it?”
“Not me. My parents, Dorothy and Vince, and Elsa, but my dad and Dorothy rarely use it. My mom and Vince use it as a way to keep everything in order and find stuff without digging through a bunch of paperwork. Plus it has all the legal research built in.”