Motion to Dismiss Read Online Free PDF Page B

such a good person.
    "It's so hard to lie here, helpless. There's nothing normal at all about my life anymore."
    "Someday all of it will be behind you. Look at the progress you've made with the baby. He's going to make it, Nina. And so are you." The words sounded hollow to my own ears, but I didn't know what else to say.
    "The power of positive thinking. If only it were that easy." But Nina smiled, this time with genuine warmth. "I appreciate what you're trying to do, all the same."
    She hugged herself and shifted her gaze to the window and the blue of the San Francisco Bay beyond. If you had to be confined to bed, you couldn't ask for a better view. "How's it look, Kali? The truth."
    "I'm not sure I know enough yet to form an opinion."
    "First impression, then."
    "Better than I expected."
    Based on the reports at least.
    The woman had admitted that she'd been drinking, that she and Grady had been "flirting," as she put it, and dancing "close." She acknowledged that she'd invited him in after he'd given her a ride home. The fact that the alleged rape occurred on a Saturday and she hadn't reported it until Tuesday cut in our favor as well.
    On the other hand, there were the bruises. They weren't as ugly as Madelaine Rivera had suggested, at least not in the photograph I'd been given, but they weren't the sort of thing you got bumping into an open door either.
    "How come Marc wasn't there today?" she asked.
    "He's got his hands full at ComTech. Damage control." I tried to make light of it, but I was irked that Marc had tossed it in my lap at the last minute. Rape defense attorney wasn't a title I much wanted.
    Nina twisted her wedding ring. "Do you know anything about the woman?"
    "Only what Grady told me. She apparently has a friend who works at ComTech." I hesitated a moment. "Did you ask him about her?"
    "He says he can't even remember what she looks like. He met her at the office party and she asked for a ride home. End of story." There was a moment's pause, then Nina pulled herself straight and smacked her open hand against the bedcover. "How could Grady do this?"
    I shrugged noncommittally. I didn't think she was looking for an answer.
    "If nothing else, it's just plain stupid."
    "I can't argue with that." Grady might be a hotshot in the world of computers and marketing, but that didn't mean he was immune to stupidity. Particularly male stupidity.
    "In case you're wondering," Nina added, "I don't believe he raped her. Grady is a lot of things, but not that." She shook her head, as though to convince herself.
    "I'm glad you're on his side," I told her. "He's going to need your support."
    She shook her head again, more emphatically. "Don't misunderstand me. I don't think he raped the woman, but I'm not naive. There's more to this than the innocent lift home that Grady claims. You don't cry rape for nothing."
    That's what troubled me. If the sex had been consensual, which I was inclined to believe it had been, why would she later say she was raped?
    "If you don't mind my asking -- " I hesitated, uncertain whether I was speaking as lawyer or friend. "You said something last night about Grady having had an affair."
    Nina swallowed, then nodded. "It was a couple of years ago, right after you moved to Silver Creek. His secretary, of all things. I mean, how trite. She was practically young enough to be his daughter."
    "You never said anything."
    "I was numb. And as soon as I found out, Grady broke it off. He said he was sorry, stupid, ashamed. And I think he really was."
    Nina's fingers grazed the comforter, tracing the outline of a pink rosebud. "I fell in love with Grady because he's generous, compassionate, intelligent, funny too -- although that's a side of him most people don't see. He's someone I enjoyed being with, and I still do. But he's also someone who needs to have his ego indulged. He needs to know that he's somebody ."
    The intricacies of human relationships always amaze me. "So you forgave him," I said, thinking how