The Street Lawyer

The chapter opens with Michael reading a long article in the Washington Post about Lontae Brown’s life. The second of three children to a teen mother, she grew up in rough neighborhoods and quit school after sixth grade. She had several arrests on her record but no jail time. Around the age of 21, Lontae found the House of Mary and Nell Cather, a social worker, who was helping her with drug addiction, education, and vocational skills. Lontae found the squatters’ apartment in the warehouse, continued studying, and was beginning to show real promise when she was evicted. She showed up at the House of Mary the next day, but they kicked her out because of their drug policy. Nell Cather never saw or heard from her again until she saw the article in the paper about the Burton family deaths. A second article in the Post features Kito Spires, a 19-year-old who claims to be the father of three out of four of Lontae’s children.

Michael learns that Braden Chance has been fired from Drake & Sweeney, and he surmises it is because Braden told them the truth about the evictions and they are scrambling under the media pressure. He imagines that the firm is operating under chaos, reacting to the potential harm to their reputation.