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. And she wanted me to handle their reunion. "This will take some time, okay," I said,thoroughly clueless about how long anything would take.In a citywhere five hundred families waited for a small space in an emergencyshelter, there couldn't be many beds available for drug addicts. "You won't see Terrence until you're drug-free," I said, trying not to sound pious. Her eyes watered and she said nothing. I realized just how little I knew aboutaddiction.Where did she get her drugs? How much did they cost? Howmany hits and highs each day? How long would it take to dry her out?Then to cure her? What were her chances of kicking a habit she'd hadfor over a decade? And what did the city do with all those crackbabies? She had no paperwork, no address, no identification, nothingbut a heartbreaking story-.She seemed perfectly content sitting in mychair, and I began to wonder how I might ask her to leave.The coffeewas gone. Sofia's shrill voice brought back reality.There were sharp voices around her.As I raced for the door, my firstthought was that another nut like Mister had walked in with a gun. But there were other guns.Lieutenant Gaskowas back, again with plenty of help.Three uniformed cops wereapproaching Sofia, who was bitching unmercifully but to no avail.Twoin jeans and sweatshirts were waiting for action.As I walked out ofmy office, Mordecai walked out of his. "Hello, Mikey," Gasko said to me. "What the hell is this!" Mordecai growledand the walls shook.One of the uniformed cops actually reached forhis service revolver. Gasko went straight for Mordecai."It's asearch," he said, pulling out the required papers and flinging them atMordecai."Are you Mr.Green?" "I am," he answered, snatching the papers. "What are you looking for?" I yelled atGasko. "Same thing," he yelled back."Give it tous, and we'll be happy to stop." "It's not here." "What file?" Mordecai asked, looking at thesearch warrant. "The eviction file," I replied. "Haven't seen your lawsuit," Gasko said tome.I recognized two of the uniformed cops as Lilly and Blower."Alotta big talk," Gasko said. "Get the hell outta here!" Sofia barked atBlower as he inched toward her desk. Gasko was very much in charge."Listen,lady," he said, with his usual sneer."We can do this two ways.First,you put your ass in that chair and shut up.Second, we put the cuffson you and you sit in the back of a car for the next two hours." One cop was poking his head into each ofthe side offices.I felt Ruby ease behind me. "Relax," Mordecai said to Sofia."Justrelax." "What's upstairs?" Gasko asked me. "Storage," Mordecai replied. "Your storage?" "Yes." "It's not there," I said."You're wastingyour time." "Then we'll have to waste it, won't we?" A prospective client opened the front door,startling those of us inside.His eyes darted quickly around the room,then settled on the three men in uniform.He made a hasty retreat intothe safety of the streets. I asked Ruby to leave too.Then I steppedinto Mordecai's office and closed the door."Where's the file?" heasked in a low voice."It's not here, I swear.This is justharassment." "The warrant looks valid.There's been a theft; it'sreasonable to assume the file would be with the attorney who stoleit." I tried to say something lawyerly andbright, some piercing legal nugget that would stop the search cold andsend the cops running.But words failed me.Instead, I was embarrassedat having brought the police to nose through the clinic. "Do you have a copy of the file?" he asked. "Yes." "Have you thought about giving them theiroriginal?" "I can't.That would be an admission ofguilt.They don't know for a fact that I have the file.And even if Igave it back, they would know that I had copied it." He rubbed his beard and agreed with me.Westepped out of his office just as Lilly missed a step near the unuseddesk next to Sofia's.An avalanche of files slid onto the floor.Sofiayelled at him; Gasko yelled at her.The tension was quickly movingaway from words and in the direction of physical conflict. I locked the front door so our clientswouldn't see the search."Here's the way we'll do it," Mordecaiannounced.The cops glared, but they were anxious for some direction.Searching a law office was quite unlike raiding a bar filled withmillors. "The file isn't here, okay.We'll startwith that promise.You can look at all the files you want, but youcan't open them.That would violate client confidentiality.Agreed?" The other cops looked at Gasko, whoshrugged as if that was acceptable. We started in my office; all six cops, me,and Mordecai crammed into the tiny room, working hard at avoidingcontact.I opened each drawer of my desk, none of which would openunless yanked viciously.At one point I heard Gasko whisper tohimself, "Nice office." I removed each file from my cabinets, wavedthem under Gasko's nose, and returned them to their place.I'd onlybeen there since Monday, so there wasn't much to search. Mordecai slipped from the room and went toSofia's desk, where he used the phone.When Gasko declared my officeto be officially searched, we left it, just in time to hear Mordecaisay into the receiver, "Yes, Judge, thank you.He's right here." His smile showed every tooth as he thrustthe phone at Gasko."This is Judge Kisner, the gentleman who signedthe search warrant.He would like to speak to you." Gasko took the phone as if it were owned bya leper."This is Gasko," he said, holding it inches from his head. Mordecai turned to the other cops."Gentlemen, you may search this room, and that's it.You cannot gointo the private offices to the sides.Judge's orders." Gasko mumbled, "Yes sir," and hung up. We monitored their movements for an hour,as they went from desk to desk--four of them in all, includingSofia's.After a few minutes, they realized the search was futile, andso they prolonged it by moving as slowly as possible.Each desk wascovered with files long since closed.The books and legal publicationshad last been looked at years earlier.Some stacks were covered withdust.A few cobwebs had to be dealt with. Each file was tabbed, with the case nameeither typed or handprinted.Two of the cops wrote down the names ofthe files as they were called out by Gasko and the others.It wastedious, and utterly hopeless
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