I sat outside on the steps of the City and County Building. Most of the men coming in and out wore suits with cowboy boots, some with hats to match. The women, down to the person, wore skirts. Except for Gates, of course. She never cared what men or society expected of her. I remembered how once—at a bar we had gotten into with fake IDs—she got into a drinking match with a burly Hells Angel. Shot for shot, she drank him under the table. On the tenth or eleventh shot, the tequila came shooting out of his mouth and he puked.

Someone came and sat next to me. I looked over to Will, who put his arms on his knees as he said hi to one of the cops going into the building.

“You leaving?” he said.

“I don’t know. I think so.”

“Sure could use your help. Anderson’s pretty nuts. I heard he once put a cigarette out on a kid in gym class that ticked him off. If I lose and he gets off, I don’t think he’s done hurting people, and everyone will blame me because I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Takes a big man to admit something like that. Most lawyers would never say it. It’s also stupid. The Art of Jury Trial as War, chapter nine: ‘Never admit you don’t know what you’re doing. Weakness attracts weakness, and strength attracts strength. You portray weakness and you entice people to attack.’”

“The Art of Jury Trial as War?”

“Book I’m writing. Trials are a war, Will. And wars have rules. Things that have worked over and over again. You gotta learn the rules if you wanna win. Without it you’re just flailing in the wind.” A woman walked past me and smiled. “What’re you doing here anyway? Most kids your age can’t wait to get outa this town.”

He shook his head. “Not me. I love this place. My father was born here and his father and his father. It’s in my blood.”

“You only think that because you haven’t seen the rest of the world. There’s a lot out there, you know.”

“I got my little corner of the world and it’s enough for me.” He looked at me. “Sure do wish I could get that girl a bit of justice, though.”

I chuckled. “Justice? Forget that word if you want to be a good trial attorney. It’s a concept invented for philosophers to debate. You are at war, and you’re a general trying to win for your side. That’s it.”

“I like to think it’s more than that.”

“It’s not.”

“Yeah? Then why’d you quit after your client killed that girl?”

I stared at him a second and then turned away.

“Did Gates ever tell you how she was attacked?”