DANIEL'S GIRL: ROMANCING AN OLDER MAN Read Online Free

Wakefield.   “One is seventeen,
and the other one is nineteen.”
    “And you want me to help them how?” he
asked, glancing at her over his reading glasses.   In the glare of the afternoon sun, her
smooth, brown skin was radiant.   And
again those expressive eyes.
    She was a looker, all right, he
thought, but her look was so serious, and so intense, that whatever attractiveness
she did possess was lost in the sheer gravity of her concern.   She was so committed to her cause, it seemed
to Daniel, that he suddenly felt petty focusing on her looks.
    “We need funds to hire adequate
representation for them,” she said, answering his question.   “Their trial starts next month and the lawyer
they have now, an overworked public defender, isn’t worth sweeping out the
door.”
    Daniel smiled at her phrasing.   “Public Defenders are usually excellent
lawyers,” he said as he began to walk toward his car.   Nikki walked with him.   “Are you sure it’s not that the attorney
might have a bad case?”
    But Nikki would have none of
that.   “It’s not the case, it’s him.   He’s really terrible.   He’s only seen the boys two or three times
since they’ve been arrested, and he keeps trying to get them to make a deal
with the prosecution and plead guilty for a crime they insist, with everything
within them, that they never committed.”  
    They began walking across the busy
street.   “And I take it you’re certain
they’re telling the truth?”
    Nikki frowned.   “I have no idea if they’re telling the
truth.”
    Daniel nearly stopped in the middle of
the road.   He didn’t expect that
response.   “I don’t understand,” he said,
as they continued to head toward his car.   “Why would you be out here defending two young men who might be guilty
of murder?”
    “I’m defending their right to adequate
representation.   They’re poor boys, Mr.
Crane, and I know what poverty is like.   They don’t have a dime to their names.   If they were rich and could afford a good lawyer, they probably wouldn’t
have been arrested in the first place.”
    “And why is that, Miss Graham?   Simply because they’re two poor, black
kids?   Do you think our judicial system
is that arbitrary?”
    “I didn’t say our judicial system was
arbitrary,” Nikki said.   “And I
definitely didn’t say they were arrested because they were two black kids.   Because they aren’t black.   They’re white.   The only point I’m making is that they’re
poor, and a lot of times poor people get caught up in the judicial system and
don’t get that fair shake.”
    For the first time in a long time,
Daniel Crane was taken aback.   He spent
most of his days making all kinds of assumptions about risk and reward and if
this was best for Dreeson or that wasn’t best for Dreeson, based solely on past
market behaviors alone.   But then this
young lady, this slip of a girl really, woke him out of his almost robotic
stupor.   She wasn’t some stereotypical
black woman who only cared about black issues.   She wasn’t some stereotypical bleeding heart liberal who accepted the
word of two alleged murderers just because they were poor.   Both of those assumptions he had made about her
were wrong.   All she wanted was to give
those boys a fair shot.   She didn’t care
what race they were, and she wasn’t taking their word for anything.   She wanted them to have a fair chance.
    They made it to his Jaguar.   Nikki glanced at the fancy car, and felt a
little out of her depth, but she kept her focus, and it was exclusively on
getting help for Miss Newsome’s boys.
    “You do realize, Miss Graham,” he
said, a little embarrassed that he had prejudged her, “that those boys can
still get convicted even if they have adequate representation?”
    “Yes, sir, I realize that.   They might very well get convicted.   But I also realize that if they don’t get
excellent representation, and get it real soon, they will