figure out a strategy for dealing with your situation.â
Still nothing from Miles.
âIâm not a charity, Miles. I have two employees. I have rent to pay. On occasion I even like to eat a square meal. I donât think I should have to explain this to you. Murder trials are terribly expensive. However much of a bargain I like to think it is, my time doesnât come cheap. Plus there will be expert witnesses. They cost money. Every time I make a flip chart or a blowup of an exhibit for trial, it costs sixty bucks. Every time I FedEx a document? Money. Investigators? Money. Photocopying? Money.â
Miles put his face in his hands.
âMiles, modesty aside, I am hands down the best criminal defense attorney in this county. But I cannot give you a good defense on the cheap. Itâs that simple.â
Miles finally looked up at me. âHow much are we talking?â
âDepends on how long it runs, how many experts I need, how much investigation . . .â
Miles suddenly looked irritated. âJust give me a number!â
âAssuming we go to trial? Absolute, utter rock bottom, seventy-five grand. If we do it rightâhalf a million? Maybe more.â
Milesâs eyes widened. âYouâre kidding me! Iâve just had my wife stolen from me in the most horrible way. And youâre saying that the cost to meâa totally, totally, utterly blameless innocent bastardâjust to walk away with my freedom, it could run me half a
million
dollars?â
âAnd thatâs not counting appellate work,â I said dryly.
Miles stared furiously at me. âIf I wasnât so goddamn angry, I could weep. This is
wrong
.â
âYes,â I said. âBut imagine how youâd feel if you were some poor broke guy who came up on the wrong side of town.â
He looked at me for a minute, then he started to laugh. He laughed and laughed until tears started running down his face.
âWhat?â I said.
When he finally stopped laughing, Miles said, âHereâs the funny part, Charley. I
am
some poor broke guy who came up on the wrong side of town.â
âWhat about all those best-sellers? All those movies?â
âThat was a long, long time ago, pal. You know how much money I made on the domestic sale of my last book? After I paid my agent? Twenty-nine thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars. I made one thousand eight hundred bucks in film residuals, and got royalty checks for six thousand and twelve dollars on old books.â
âSavings?â
âNada
. Used up long ago.â
âHouse?â
âIâve borrowed against the equity in the place twice already.â
âCan you go back to the well?â
His eyes widened. âCharley, thatâs my
housel
Youâre asking me to hock the title to my house when I know with absolute dead certainty Iâll never be able to make enough money again in my life to get out from under the note.â
I sat silently.
âDiana and I have been living beyond our means for a long time,â Miles said finally. âIâve been slowly selling off assets, tightening the belt. Dianaâs been a good sport about it, but Iâve finally cut to the bone. I put those two mortgages on the house without telling Diana. I didnât want her to know how bad it had gotten.â Tears began trailing out of Miles Daneâs eyes.
Finally, Lisa spoke. She was sounding a little choked up, too. âThis is about the most depressing and cruel thing Iâve ever heard in my life, Mr. Dane. But the reality is that if you donât put another mortgage on whatever equity is left in your home, you will get represented by the public defender. My father knows all of them. Iâm sure theyâre nice young people, well-meaning, hardworking. But they have no resources and nowhere near the experience or talent of Charley Sloan, Attorney at Law.â
Miles let out a long, slow