Cecilia smiled. “You came highly recommended by the detective over there.”
Dad scoffed. “I’ll be the judge of whether or not you take my son’s case.”
Omar sat down. “Actually, you have no legal voice in this room.”
Dad paused. “Excuse me?”
I sighed. “I’m eighteen, Dad. He doesn’t need your consent. Only mine.”
“Well, if he wants his check paid, he’ll make sure he has my consent.”
Cecilia hissed. “Howard, stop it. We’re here for our son.”
“My son.”
I sighed. “Yes, you came recommended by the detective at the police station. He said something about you taking on these kinds of cases before?”
Omar nodded. “Mm-hmm. I specialize in juvie cases. Because they are usually presented to the court and judged in a much different fashion. You might be of legal age, but the boys who ran you down aren’t. They’re still seventeen, so their court proceedings will happen in a different light.”
“Fair enough. So how much do you know about what happened?”
“I know as much as I need to know. Let me rattle it off and see if I’ve got it right.”
Dad sighed. “Can we speed this up a bit?”
Omar darted his eyes over to my father. “This first meeting is free of charge. That’s usually how it works with most lawyers.”
Cecilia humped. “Now, will you hush?”
“Don’t you talk to me that way.”
“I’ll talk to you however I want if it means you’ll sit down and support your son for once.”
I sat there with my eyes closed, waiting for them to stop bickering. And when Omar cleared his throat, I opened my eyes.
“The gist of it is you were approached by these boys, they chased you off, you tried to outrun them, and they ran you off the road and over a bridge. Correct?”
I nodded. “That’s the gist of it, yes.”
“Anything else you want me to know?”
I felt my father’s eyes burrowing into me and I felt sick to my stomach. I wanted to tell the lawyer why they’d chased me off. I wanted to tell him I was defending the girl with me. Rae. And I saw he was waiting for me to bring her up. Cecilia reached over and took my hand, squeezing it for reassurance.
But I saw the look in my father’s eye. Even from the corner of my own. If I didn’t speed this up, there would be hell to pay.
He probably has a plane to get back to soon.
“Um, nothing I want to add for now. I’m really just looking for what we’d charge them with. I don’t know how that all works.”
Omar nodded. “Fair enough. I know this is probably pretty overwhelming. So I’ll make it easy for you. Should you choose me for your case, I’d try the boys for attempted murder.”
Cecilia gasped. “Murder?”
Dad scoffed. “They didn’t try to kill my son. Come on.”
Omar shot him a look. “I’m speaking with your son. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t interject.”
The two of them stared off with one another before the lawyer’s attention fell back to me.