When they entered my office, I was on the phone. Pointing to the two chairs on the other side of the room, I continued my conversation while subtly looking the two women over. Presently, I hung up.
“What can do for you?”
Neither replied.
The older one fiddled with her gloves, her dark hair and fashionable clothes at odds with the tension on her face. She was embarrassed by something, and instinctively I knew it had nothing to do with whatever had brought her to my office. There was something else, not yet clear to me.
But the girl was different. She was wearing a sport jacket, her blond hair tightly woven into two braids. She gave me the look of a small, cornered animal - a look of fear and hopelessness. In spite of the difference in appearance, they seemed to be mother and daughter. From their expression and posture, it was evident that they were locked in conflict.
It had been a very busy day at our law firm. The hum of whispering people and the clatter of typewriters filled the air of my office, which was partitioned by walls that did not quite reach the ceiling. Through the open door I saw lawyers moving in and out of the library. My visitors remained silent as I closed the door.
“Don't you recognize me, Simona Davidovna?” asked the mother. “I was a representative of the city board of education at the Laptev trial when you defended him. Do you remember the case?”
At once I knew who she was and why she was so embarrassed to be in my office. My stomach knotted and my heart beat harder, but my face remained impassive.
Did I remember the Laptev case? Of course I did: It had been the most celebrated case in the city in recent years. My time, energy, and legal skills had been totally consumed by that trial. It had required so much attention and placed so much pressure upon me that I still carried the emotional scars, partly perhaps because the defendant had been so young and the charges were so serious.
Juvenile delinquency is a major problem in Soviet society. Robbery, rape, and the theft of government and personal property are everyday occurrences. But the murder of a militiaman, committed in broad daylight in front of a movie theater in the center of town, is far from routine.
Boris Laptev, a high school student, had been charged with resisting the police and with the murder of a militiaman acting in the line of duty. The incident had aroused strong emotions on all sides of the public.
Throughout the legal procedure, I was the only person defending Laptev. As was usual, all city authority was against him, and a strident ideological campaign had been launched. The chairman of the city council, together with the City Party Committee, had organized a show trial at the local cultural center.
The trial's immediate target was an audience of about seven hundred students assembled to learn how to behave in a
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