Finally (7 page)

Grabbing the keys from her hand, I unlocked her condo door and encouraged her inside. “Have the bail money in my hands by end of day. And stop sounding like you’re auditioning for some second rate television dramedy that hasn’t fi gured out that they’ve stolen eighty percent of their storylines from shows that aired over ten years ago.”

Her shocked mouth opened and closed without the ability to form words. I shut her front door before she found her voice again.

51

TWO

It was noon before I was disturbed again. I was supposed to be preparing for the mayor’s next event. Instead I was pacing the nearly deserted corridors of city hall, bothered by a lot of things.

My cell phone buzzed. Without looking at the display, I could guess who it was.

“How much this time?” the familiar baritone spoke into my ear.

I didn’t bother to wonder how he’d found out already. “Five grand, and she’s not getting out of this one, Thad.”

Valerie’s uncle took a moment before he replied. Despite being only a year older than Valerie, he took his family relationships seriously. He’d been Valerie’s guardian angel ever since I’d met him. Often, I wondered why he bothered. She never seemed to appreciate it. “I’ll transfer the money to your account today. Thanks for taking care of the bail process. Should I hire an attorney?”

“If you keep making it easy for her to forget these major mistakes, she’s never going to stop making them,” I reminded him as I always did whenever his niece did something really stupid.

“I know, I’m an enabler, but her mother’s an idiot who neglected her for years. She’s a messed up kid.”

“She’s a thirty-six-year-old woman, and everyone was 52

Objection

neglected by their parents. Don’t keep allowing her to be irresponsible.”

He sighed, long and hard. After the last incident where Valerie somehow walked off with a $10,000 bracelet she’d tried on, we’d had this discussion. I’d known him since the summer session of my fi rst year at Arizona. He’d come in from UMass to enjoy a warm, dry summer. We hit it off immediately and had stayed in touch ever since. Now we lived in the same town, even if he spent most of his time on the road for his job. “What should I do?”

This wasn’t his usual blow off tone. He was actually listening to me this time. Ever since he’d encouraged his niece to the University of Arizona where he knew I’d keep an eye on her, he’d always made excuses for her behavior. Now it looked like he was going to do something about it.

“Don’t pay me back for starters. Valerie can come up with the money. Don’t hire an attorney for her. She’s got a great public attorney, but she might get jail time.”

“Jail time? Jeez, Linds, I don’t know.”

“She hit a stranger in a bar, Thad. Hit her. She can call it a slap, but to the person on the receiving end, an open hand feels just as bad as a closed fi st when she’s doing nothing other than minding her own business. I haven’t talked to Maria or Nancy yet, but I’m guessing that Valerie didn’t give the woman a chance to walk away before her arm started swinging. That’s not only irrational but dangerous. Imagine if she’d walked in and saw her on-again-off-again boyfriend having sex with some woman.

She’d probably get a gun.”

“No way, she’s not violent.”

I scoffed, fl ashes of Valerie’s emotional ups and downs peppered my mind. “You may be used to having Valerie slap you when you make her mad, but strangers are not.”

“Fine, I’ll let her fend for herself.”

“Very good.” I heard the revolving doors at the main entrance 53

Lynn Galli

go into motion. I turned and watched the mayor walk inside. Her aide on her hip, heads down as they made their way to the offi ce.

“I have to go. Stay strong, Thad. If you can’t handle it, stop taking her calls.”

“Let’s hope this works.”

I snapped my phone shut before pocketing it. “Good afternoon, Mayor Kingston, hello, Tammy.”

“Hi, Lindsay, glad you’re here.” The mayor had a way of making it sound like I had a choice not to be here on a Saturday in an election year. “Where are we on those crime stats?”

That began the rest of my Saturday. Figuring out ways to make the bad things in town look positive. Spin and problem dealing, that was my job. Most days, I liked it.

***

“What did you say to him?”

The fi erce accusation interrupted the bite I’d just taken of my lunch. I managed to swallow without choking and glanced up.

The girls had found me at my usual lunch spot, and they looked spitting mad.

“You turned her uncle against her,” Nancy took up the fi re torch.

“Her uncle has a mind of his own and is tired of Valerie acting like an irresponsible child.”

“You bitch!” Valerie swore loud enough to make the diners from nearby tables turn in worry.

I dropped some money onto the table and left my unfi nished lunch to take this outside. Forty seconds passed before they fi gured out I’d wasn’t going to ask them to follow me.

Nancy came out of the restaurant fi rst. Her long legs clomped like a show pony, taking larger than human strides. “You’re supposed to be our friend. Friends don’t hang each other out to 54

Objection

dry and tattle to their uncles.”

“You left your friend in a jail cell overnight, ladies. You probably got her amped up enough in the bar to go attack some innocent woman. You’re the ones that should be questioning your loyalties.” I started back toward my offi ce, hoping to deposit them at their cars in the parking lot on the way.

“You didn’t have to poison her uncle against her.”

“Thad realizes that Valerie can take care of herself.” I let that sink in, stopping at Valerie’s car. “You can, can’t you?”

She warred with several replies. She wanted her uncle’s help, but she didn’t want to admit that she was a hopeless spoiled brat, either. “Yes.”

That was the shortest answer she’d ever given me. “See?” I looked at her buddies, marveling again at their more skin than clothing attire on this somewhat chilly spring day. Ever since the abundance of tacky Jersey themed shows started airing on TV, their wardrobe had gotten skimpier. At least now they weren’t trying to dye their dark hair to my shade of blond anymore. One good thing had to come from those idiotic shows.

I turned back to Valerie. “Have you contacted your bank to make the transfer to my account yet or did you just want to give me a check?”

Confusion creased her brow. “What?”

“I paid the court $5,000 this morning to get you out of jail.

I’m not waiting months until your court date to have it refunded to me. You’ll need to come up with the money today.”

She sputtered a bit before whining, “But I don’t have that kind of money.”

She did, she just didn’t want to spend it on this. She was playing puppy dog eyes at me. She’d done this time and time again, thinking that I’d somehow fall for it like several of the stupid men whom she’d dated and dumped in the past.

“Then I can go get it back from the courts,” I told her. All 55

Lynn Galli

three sets of eyes lit up, like that was a viable solution. They really were this stupid. “If the courts don’t have your bail money, Val, you don’t have bail.”

“But…but…but,” she stammered not quite getting it.

“You’ll sit in county lockup until your court date. Your choice.

Pay me for your bail, or I take it back.” I didn’t really know if I could take it back, but it was fun to threaten.

“That’s cold, Linds.”

“That’s reality, Maria. How would you like having $5,000 of your money tied up for months unable to use it, all because of the stupidity of your friend?” She shrugged like she wouldn’t care, but she didn’t fool me. “Then you loan her the money to pay me back. She can owe you for the next couple months. How does that sound?”

Valerie turned to her with hopeful eyes. She honestly thought Maria would do this for her. The poor, naïve woman. She was about to fi nd out just have far her best friends would stick their necks out for her. When Maria wouldn’t meet her eyes, Valerie defl ated before me. “Fine. I think I have some money in emergency savings.”

She meant her wedding dress account. The only reason she hasn’t pulled the trigger on the dress she’s always wanted is because she’s gained fi fty pounds over the past two years and wants to lose it to fi t into the size eight dress. It didn’t seem to matter to her that she didn’t have a fi ancé.

I glanced down at her purse. With a show of exasperation, she painstakingly pulled out her checkbook and slowly wrote out a check. The drama couldn’t have been better played out on a Mexican soap opera. When she handed it over, I actually had to rip it out of her grasp. “Good luck with this, Val. I hope it goes your way.”

“Wait, aren’t you going to—”

“I told you this morning I’m leaving this in your capable 56

Objection

hands.” With that I headed up the steps to city hall, hoping they wouldn’t bother to follow.

No such luck. I heard footsteps on my heel as I reached for my security card. I’d have to deal with more of this out here because I sure as hell wasn’t going to have them shadow me to my offi ce.

The last thing I needed in my offi ce was a group of pissed off thirty-somethings who acted like they had rich husbands who’d pay to get them into or out of anything.

“Tell me I didn’t just witness a high class drug deal out front of the courthouse?” A smooth voice spoke just as I turned to face what I thought were my idiot friends.

The fi rst thing I noticed was her gorgeous silk blouse. Just enough ruffl e to be feminine without being piratey, it enhanced her length and feminine curves. Not wanting to be caught staring at one set of curves, I glanced up into a slightly familiar face, lots of interesting angles and soft ridges. Her piercing blue eyes grabbed my attention. Robin’s egg blue. A color that looked sharp enough to cut through glass. Nicely shaped eyes, too, just the right amount of slant for a tag of exotic. A cascade of pale champagne hair brushed the shoulders of the blouse I was going to spend valuable time shopping for. I’d seen her somewhere, but the fact that I couldn’t place her told me just how enchanting a vision she made.

“She paid with a check? For drugs? In front of a courthouse?”

Her eyes shifted to the folded check I’d slipped into the back pocket of my slacks. They lingered there on my rear for a good three seconds before returning with a glint to mine.

The glint pulled a smile from my lips. Most of the time I didn’t like being checked out, but with this beauty, I didn’t really mind. “It’s actually city hall. The courthouse is a block behind the building.”

A grin broke through her effort to hold onto a stern face.

“Well then, I guess that makes it all right.”

57

Lynn Galli

I had to laugh at that. I wished I could remember where I’d seen her before. She was defi nitely someone worth getting to know. “Kind of you to let it pass, offi cer.” My eyes questioned hers to see if I’d guessed right.

“Worse,” she let me know.

“Ugh, an attorney?”

Now she laughed before trying again for intimidating. “Once upon a time.”

She’d given up being an attorney? Hmmm, interesting. Then it hit me where I’d seen her before. “Judge Brooks, of course.”

“Of course?” Her eyes twinkled now, trying to keep our teasing going, but I could see wariness was not far behind.

“I couldn’t place you without the robe, Judge. Normally I never forget a face.” Especially one as sculpted as hers. I had the feeling she’d looked sophisticated even as a tween. “I’m Linds—”

“Lindsay St. James, yes, we met on my fi rst day.” Her expression told me she hadn’t just remembered our meeting a few months ago but relished it. “You’re the one who makes the mayor look so good, and I’m not talking about her makeup and hair.”

Her bluntness caused me to blink rapidly, unable to come up with an immediate reply. She watched my reaction for a moment before taking the card out of my hand to swipe through the security lock. Pulling open the door, she waited for me to go through fi rst. When that didn’t happen, she slipped the card back into my hand and stepped past me inside.

“I accuse you of conducting a drug deal and you’re pure wit, but give you a compliment and you go mute?” That grin came over her face again as she began walking toward the back entrance that would take her to the courthouse in the most direct and air-conditioned route. Over her shoulder, she declared, “I’m going to like getting to know you, Ms. St. James.”

58

Objection

I stared open mouthed at the sexy slink in her step. So, the newest superior court judge had a little sass. That sure would liven things up around here.

59

THREE

The mayor’s aide wore that all too familiar guilty-but-damn-glad-I-don’t-have-to-fi x-it look on her face when she greeted me mid-morning on Monday. I closed my eyes, counted to three—that’s as high as I can get without saying “screw it” and vaulting over my desk to choke whoever’s bothering me—and turned my focus on Tammy.

“What did she do now?”

“Aww, Linds, don’t say that.” Tammy liked to try to butter me up before shoving me into the fi re. As a mother of three grown children, Tammy was resourceful in getting people to do what she needed. She was one of the best political wranglers in the business.

Noticing that she’d closed the door on the way in, I waited her out. She usually left it open for a quick escape after dropping whatever bomb she held in her hand.

“She was talking about racially motivated fi rings at the labor rally today,” she started, obviously hoping I’d fi ll in the rest.

“It was a labor rally. I’d say that was a good move.” My eyes squeezed to slits trying to fi gure out what could have happened.

“She might have singled out one of our corporate backers by name.”

I coughed or laughed or cough-laughed, unable to hold in my surprise. This mayor had said some stupid things in the past, but 60

Objection

this was a doosey. “Might have? Is there a chance this speech took place only in your imagination?” Her glum eyes fl icked away for a moment, dashing my hopes that this was some kind of joke. “Do you two just sit around on the weekend and dream up ways to make my job more challenging?”