The Brass Verdict

said the judge wants an interim update. I think she – the judge, that is – saw in the paper that you are continuing on as Elliot’s lawyer. She’s afraid you’re spending all your time on Elliot and none on the other clients.”
    “That’s not true. I filed a motion for Patrick yesterday and Tuesday I took the sentencing on Reese. I mean, I haven’t even met all the clients yet.”
    “Don’t worry, I have a hard-copy inventory back at the office for you to take with you. It shows who you’ve met, who you signed up and calendars on all of them. Just hit her with the paperwork and she won’t be able to complain.”
    I smiled. Lorna was the best case manager in the business.
    “Great. What else?”
    “Then at eleven you have an in-chambers with Judge Stanton on Elliot.”
    “Status conference?”
    “Yes. He wants to know if you are going to be able to go next Thursday.”
    “No, but Elliot won’t have it any other way.”
    “Well, the judge will get to hear Elliot say that for himself. He’s requiring the defendant’s presence.”
    That was unusual. Most status conferences were routine and quick. The fact that Stanton wanted Elliot there bumped this one up into a more important realm.
    I thought of something and pulled out my cell phone.
    “Did you let Elliot know? He might-”
    “Put it away. He knows and he’ll be there. I talked to his assistant – Mrs. Albrecht – this morning and she knows he has to show and that the judge can revoke if he doesn’t.”
    I nodded. It was a smart move. Threaten Elliot’s freedom as a means of making sure he shows up.
    “Good,” I said. “That it?”
    I wanted to get to Cisco to ask what else he had been able to find out about the Vincent investigation and whether his sources had mentioned anything about the man in the surveillance photo Bosch had shown me.
    “Not by a long shot, my friend,” Lorna responded. “Now we get to the mystery case.”
    “Let’s hear it.”
    “We got a call yesterday afternoon from Judge Friedman’s clerk, who called Vincent’s office blind to see if there was anyone there taking over the cases. When the clerk was informed that you were taking over, she asked if you were aware of the hearing scheduled before Friedman today at two. I checked our new calendar and you didn’t have a two o’clock on there for today. So there is the mystery. You have a hearing at two for a case we not only don’t have on calendar but don’t have a file for either.”
    “What’s the client’s name?”
    “Eli Wyms.”
    It meant nothing to me.
    “Did Wren know the name?”
    Lorna shook her head in a dismissive way.
    “Did you check the dead cases? Maybe it was just misfiled.”
    “No, we checked. There is no file anywhere in the office.”
    “And what’s the hearing? Did you ask the clerk?”
    Lorna nodded.
    “Pretrial motions. Wyms is charged with attempted murder of a peace officer and several other weapons-related charges. He was arrested May second at a county park in Calabasas. He was arraigned, bound over and sent out to Camarillo for ninety days. He must’ve been found competent because the hearing today is to set a trial date and consider bail.”
    I nodded. From the shorthand, I could read between the lines. Wyms had gotten into some sort of confrontation involving weapons with the Sheriff’s Department, which provided law enforcement services in the unincorporated area known as Calabasas. He was sent to the state’s mental evaluation center in Camarillo, where the shrinks took three months deciding whether he was a crazy man or competent to stand trial on the charges against him. The docs determined he was competent, meaning he knew right from wrong when he tried to kill a peace officer, most likely the sheriff’s deputy who confronted him.
    It was a bare-bones sketch of the trouble Eli Wyms was in. There would be more detail in the file but we had no file.
    “Is there any reference to Wyms in the trust account deposits?” I asked.
    Lorna shook her head. I should’ve assumed she would be thorough and check the bank accounts in search of Eli Wyms.
    “Okay, so it looks like maybe Jerry took him on pro bono.”
    Attorneys occasionally provide legal services free of charge – pro bono – to indigent or special clients. Sometimes this is an altruistic endeavor and sometimes it’s because the client just won’t pay up. Either way, the lack of an advance from Wyms was understandable. The missing file was another