12:54 PM, Le Coffee Shoppe, Business Park. Autumn.

The sun glinted across the table into Mina's eyes as she tried to eat her artisan sandwich. The slimy kale and stale bread combination made her taste buds wince. It was almost as unpleasant the bad news she heard that morning, and the bitter coffee I'm her cup only made it worse. (They were all out of mocha and caramel.)

Trudy, Winona and Chet sat with her, inside the booth, all sharing a similar shell-shocked expression.

"Hate to acknowledge the elephant in the room, Winona said, and she glared at the barista who had previously thrown her under the bus. "Other than HC, but I'm sure we'd all appreciate a lovely discussion about the finality of death!"

"Not when I'm eating!" Trudy said, as she tried to eat an overly flakey scone.

"Mina?" Winona asked, raising her rouged purple eyelids. (She didn't bother asking Chet who had his nose buried in the latest handheld.)

Mina pushed aside her plate. "Luckily, I'm not hungry..."--her stomach rumbled--"at least not for overpriced hipster food. But yesh...this is terrible. Greta Goode was my number one candidate! She would have been the first person I voted for..."

Winona nodded. "Me too, Mina. Me too."

Mina balled up her fist and hit the table, causing everyone's plates to jump. "I'm so sick of that Monty Banks. All he's ever done is give our city a bad name...and given me a lot of tickets! He even got my car impounded."

"To be fair," Trudy said, finishing her scone. "You did park on the sidewalk."

Mina removed her lawyer badge and flashed it. "Correction! I'm a lawyer and when duty calls for dramatic parking, I'm ready to tuck and roll out of my purple Corvette..."

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"As rad as that move is from Maximum Car Larceny," Chet said, peering up from his hand held. "I uh...don't think you should do that in real life!"

"And that's coming from a gamer!" Trudy said with a smile.

Mina gritted her teeth. "I thought we were consoling me? Either way, I have a sneaking suspicious on who did it. I know exactly who robbed that pantsuit wearing politician of a fabulous career!"

"Who?" Everyone asked.

Mina threw her hand forward like she was ready to object in court. "Monty Banks! Everyone was on Greta's side and she was gonna make millions that night! You don't even need to be a hot shot lawyer to know this!"

There was silence, before Winona and Trudy nodded, almost in unison. "I fully agree with you, Mina," Winona said. "Someone had murder on their mind that night and it was politically motivated."

"Buuuuuut..." Chet said, raising his finger. "Didn't you play Eagle Attorney, Mina? They always make you think it's the most obvious guy, and then it comes totally out of left field."

"Chet..." Mina sighed. "As much as I love that game, this is real life and we clearly have an obvious culprit here. I really pity the lawyer who has to defend him in court."

Mina rested her head in her hands. "I imagine that all the lawyers in town are playing a game of tag and shouting 'not it!'"

Her E-Phone buzzed in her pocket, making her snap out of her stupor. In fact, it made her jump. She flicked it open and was greeted with Raven's familiar avuncular voice. "Mina, kiddo! Report immediately to Bird Brains Lawyer co...."

"What's the matter?!" Mina asked and shivered from anxiety. "Did I forget to shut the stove off? Is there a gas leak? Please tell everything's ok!"

"Oh it's more than OK," Raven said, no doubt a satisfied smile on his face. "It's more than A-OK too! Things are so great that they're B-OK!"

"Wait why?" Mina asked.

"Because kid!" Raven shouted. "We've landed the most high profile case in all of Business Park. If we pull this one off, we'll have bathtubs full of Benjamins, baby!"

"Who is asking for our help?" Mina asked. "I still need to pay off all my parking fines, and my months rent!"

"Oh, this guy," Raven snickered. "He can probably waive all that because he's the big cheese, the head honcho, the grand poobah..."

At the same time, with her stomach sinking, Mina and Raven spoke in unison, "Mayor Monty Banks..."