“Well, we’d probably be looking at monetary compensation,” Miller said, “since it’s unlikely the damage can be made whole.”
My stare must have been blank.
“He means if your neighbor can’t replace the tree in the exact same condition it was in, he’d better open his checkbook,” Marty said. “And that was a big-ass tree.”
I waited for Miller to chide Marty again, but he nodded. “That’s basically it, yeah.”
Marty beamed like he’d just won first prize at the class spelling bee and the teacher had given him a pat on the head and a sticker.
Miller almost smiled in return. Then Marty said, “Like, just think of how many squirrels are homeless now!” and it was gone again.
But Cash made a small, sad sound, and I realized hewasthinking of the squirrels. He liked to feed them. Harlan had yelled at him for it more than once.
“And this won’t cost me any money?” I clarified.
“Like one of those ‘no win, no fee’ deals?” Wilder asked.
“No, that’s called a contingent fee case,” Miller said. “That means if we win, I’d get a percentage of the settlement. Pro bono means that I’m working on your case for free, regardless of if we get a settlement or not.”
“We do have a case, though, right?” I asked. “Like, I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to just go around cutting down people’s trees.”
It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate that Bobby had sent a lawyer—if for no other reason than there was now a cute guy in a suit at my house—but I didn’t want to start anything if it was going to be a waste of time. If we lawyered up for no reason, we’d still have no tree and a pissed-off Harlan to deal with.
Miller opened his mouth. “I think?—”
“Okay, so in Virginia we have this thing called the Hawaii Rule,” Marty said, his face lighting up, “even though we’renowhere near Hawaii. Imagine how cool it would be if we were, for like, spring break? Anyway, the Hawaii Rule says that even though trees aren’t usually the bad guys, they might be if they’re causing an imminent danger of harm to the neighbor’s property. So like if your neighbor told you that it was and you didn’t do anything about it, then you might be shit out of luck.”
Miller pinched the bridge of his nose. “Marty, we don’t tell potential clients they might be shit out of luck.”
“Oh,” Marty said. “Sorry.”
“Harlan did complain about the tree dropping leaves,” I said warily, feeling my stomach sink.
“Oh, nah, that’s totally cool,” Marty said. “Dropping leaves doesn’t count and neither does fruit or flowers. Or casting shade.” He blinked at Miller’s expression. “What? I told you tree law is like, my jam.”
“Right,” Miller said, ignoring him. “So your neighbor…”
“Harlan Whittaker,” I said.
“Mr. Whittaker cut the tree down without prior consultation or permission, correct?” Miller said.
I nodded and Miller made a note on his tablet, his long, elegant fingers flying over the screen.
“Harlan’s an asshole,” Chase added. “Last week he yelled at me for ten minutes about how he’d told me not to park my bike where he could see it and then called me a liar when I said he hadn’t.” He pointed at Cash. “It’s Cash’s bike mostly. I borrow it sometimes, but not that day.”
Cash’s brow creased at having been included in the conversation, but he nodded.
“Okay,” Miller said. “So you’re the property owner, yes?”
“Uh, no,” I said. “My grandma owns the house, and I take care of it for her. I have a power of attorney, though. Does that matter?”
“What sort of power of attorney?” he asked me, and I must have given him another one of my blank looks because he said, “Can you show me a copy?”
“Uh… I’m not a hundred percent sure where it is.”
“Okay.” There was more than a little bit of judgment in his eyes right now. “Well, we won’t be signing anything until I see that, and we’ll have to include your grandma in the consultations since she owns the house. But you can still run through everything with me and email me a copy of that power of attorney when you find it.”
“Okay.” I fidgeted. Everything was starting to seem official now.
