BRAD

I was waiting for my investigator to come in this morning, he called to say he needed to ask me about Justin’s case. The thing that bothers me is reading the transcripts and seeing information about Brian and Justin that only people who knew them personally would know. I wanted to get Jen and Brian in here, because none of this information had anything to do with Chris bashing Justin. How did they even get away with simple assault? The case became about Brian’s relationship with Justin, not about the kid who tried to kill Justin. The people involved in the case crossed into Gus’s adoption.  

My assistant, Lily, called to tell me I had Melanie Marcus asking to see me. 

“Did she say why?” I ask Lily.

“She wants to talk about returning her son to her custody.” Lily tells me. 

“Have her wait for a few more minutes, I need to make a call.” I tell her. 

I picked up the phone to call Brian. He needed to know one of the moms was here, and I wanted to ask him to come in to see me about some of the information I have.

“Kinney’s home for lost children, how may I direct your call?” Jacob answers.

“I need to speak to your dad.” I tell him. 

“Which one, you know I have two now?” He asks me. 

“Are you happy to have two?” I ask him. Melanie can wait while Jacob entertains me.

“Gus and I think it’s neat so far. Dad even agreed that we could stay with Daddy for the summer. I just hope Gus is allowed to stay too.” He tells me. 

“I’m working on that, so don’t worry too much, but can I talk to Brian.” I tell him.

“That’s Daddy, so you don’t get confused.” He informs me.

“I’ll keep that in mind, but I think he would rather I call him Brian.” I tell Jacob.

“Okay, let me get him.” He tells me.

“Brad, you need me?” Brian asks me.

“I need to talk to you and Jen about some things that seem to cross over between the bashing case and your adoption case, but you also need to know Melanie Marcus is here asking to see me.” I tell him.

“I’m not letting Gus go with them.” He tells me.

“As of right now you don’t have to. They are going to have to explain to Child Services why it took a week for them to know Gus was missing. I wanted to make sure you know at least one of the moms is here.” I tell him.

“What time do you want Jen and I at your office?” Brian asks me.

“Give me an hour to make sure Melanie is gone, so anytime after that.” I tell him.

“There isn’t a lot to tell you about Justin’s case except it was like watching him being bashed all over again.” He tells me.

“Brian there are too many of the same people involved in both cases.” I tell him.

“I’ll get Jen, and Justin is going to be there too.” Brian tells me.

I hang up and tell Lily to bring Melanie in, I wonder where mom number two is?

“Hello, I’m Melanie Marcus, Gus’s legal mother.” She tells me.

“I’m Brad Tanner, Brian’s lawyer. Have a seat and tell me why you're here.” I tell her.

“I’m trying not to involve the police, but unless Justin produces Gus, I might have to.” Is she really threatening Justin?

“I’m sure once you call the police they are going to inform you that Child Services would like to interview you and your wife.” I tell her. It’s not easy but I keep from smiling at her.

“Why would they want to talk to us? Justin is the one harboring a minor.” She informs me.

“Justin brought the child to Pittsburgh and offered him a safe haven until he could find Gus’s parents.” I tell her.

“He should have brought Gus to Canada.” She tells me.

“At the time, Justin wasn’t sure returning him to you and your wife was in the best interest of Gus. He told us that you and your wife didn’t seem to know Gus was missing. Can you tell me how you didn’t notice your son was missing?” I ask her.

“That’s really none of your business.” She tells me.

“It might not be my business, but Child Services is going to want an answer. They remanded Gus into Brian’s custody because he is Gus’s father.” I tell her.

“Brian no longer has any rights to Gus.” She tells me.

“Actually he does, because in order for Brian to give up his rights, you, Lindsay, and Brian would have to have been standing in front of a judge together Melanie. Which you and your partner Ron seem to have gotten around somehow. I’m still trying to figure out how two upstanding lawyers like you and Ron didn’t go through proper channels.” I tell her.

“This isn’t about the adoption.” She tells me.

“For me it’s about protecting my client’s right to be a father.” I tell her.

“Your client is not someone any child should be exposed to, and I’ll make sure Child Services knows what kind of man Brian is.” She tells me.

“Good luck with making them see that, but you need to figure out how to defend yourself.” I tell her.

As Mel gets up to leave I ask her one more question. “What did you do for Russo, you know, the favor?” I ask her.

“Ron did the favor, not me.” She tells me and walks out.

BRIAN 

“Brad, why do you want to know about Justin’s case?” Jen asks him.

“There are too many names crossing between Gus’s adoption and Justin’s assault case.” He tells her.

“What do you want to know?” I ask him.

“How did they know so much about you and Justin?” He asks me.

“I always figured it was someone Justin and I pissed off. Justin and I had a open relationship but there were no repeats. Guys didn’t like being blown off.” I tell him.

“Could Craig have given them the information?” He asks us.

“He didn’t really know Brian enough to give any information.” Jen tells Brad.

“Why does this even matter?” Justin asks him.

“It matters because we are pulling the adoption up for review and I have to explain why I want Judge Russo questioned about it. It's not unusual for paperwork to be passed through by judges if the paperwork doesn’t warrant going to court, but third party adoption requires all parents to be in attendance. The thing is, no one wants to go against a judge of the court with Russo’s record. I need to know that nothing happened in your trial that Mel was involved in.” He tells us.

“I didn’t want any of them involved.” Jen tells him.

“Mel did try though?” He asks my mom.

“She wanted to know what the DA had.” Jen tells him.

“Why?” Brad asks.

“I honestly couldn't tell you.” She tells him. 

“The DA really didn’t do much to help the case. She could have just wanted them to stop letting the defense attorney get away with making it out to be Justin’s fault.” I tell him. 

“Hopefully that's all she did, because if there is more to it, we are possibly opening up all of Russo’s cases.” He tells us. 

“What could that do?” Justin asks him. 

“I'm theorizing here, but if Russo told Mel her favor was to give information to the defense, then Russo could be in serious trouble and all his cases would be opened for review. Including yours Justin.” He tells us. 

“Would Chris be retried?” I ask him. 

“No, double jeopardy would keep that from happening, but the defense attorney, judge and anyone else involved could.” He tells us. 

“We just want to keep Gus.” Justin tells him. 

“I'm just making sure you know what is involved. Russo involved in both cases could just be a coincidence.” He tells us. 

“If not?” I ask him.

“Then Russo is going to try like hell to make sure you get what you want, which is good for Gus. If they committed a crime, I can’t, in good conscious, not report it and still call myself a good lawyer.” He tells us.