"Let's not discuss it now. First I want to find out how we stand legally."
I patted Freddie's cheek. "Bye, son. I'll try to get back in time for lunch with you and mother."
I strode off, pausing at the main entrance to call the law offices of Devron, Beach and Feldman. Beach was my man and he was in. I hailed a coptercab and we lumbered over to the gold-black, ellipsoid Richmond Building opposite City Hall.
Beach was a Top Competitor, a slim, trim, fit, fighting individual with graying black hair, and a smiling suntanned face underscored by hard lines of determination. He was humorless, busy and abrupt in all his dealings, but he'd never yet lost a case for me.
"I have to be in court in ten minutes, Bart. Can you give it to me briefly?"
"I don't know if I can. There are so many aspects. To begin with, I assaulted a man. Knocked him unconscious."
"Government official? Top Competitor?"
"No, just a private school principal."
"Injure him badly?"
"I don't know. He was still out when I left."