Risking It All. Beverly Bird

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СКАЧАТЬ and desist? Is that lawyer-speak?”

      “It’s woman-speak. Trust me when I tell you that you’ll recognize the difference.”

      “I’m not sure my feeble brain can handle the nuances.”

      That startled her. “I never said your brain was feeble.”

      “You were looking down your nose at me back there in the prison.”

      “I was not.”

      “You definitely were.”

      He was relentless.

      The maître d’ came back to them and cleared his throat. Now kissing was on her mind. Grace decided she would gladly pucker up for the dour-faced little gnome in gratitude for the interruption.

      “If it wasn’t my intelligence you were casting aspersions on back there, then what was it?” McKenna asked as they started walking again.

      Grace almost choked. “I never cast aspersions.”

      “Lady, you had aspersions stamped all over that pretty face of yours.”

      She decided to ignore him.

      Dan Lutz rose when they reached him. He held a hand out to her. Grace braced herself and took it, knowing he would hold on for a while. It was his habit and it always made her uncomfortable.

      There was a second place setting at the table with a half-touched plate of hors d’oeuvres, but Lutz was alone. Ah, she thought, this was a time to tread delicately.

      “How in the world did you find me?” he asked.

      “I called your secretary at home. She suggested that I contact Lou Russell,” she replied, referring to the firm’s other senior partner. “He said I might find you here.”

      Lutz sat again, waving a hand at the other chairs to indicate that they should do so as well, then he motioned to the maître d’. “More wine, please, for my guests.”

      They exchanged small talk until the wine steward brought two more glasses and another bottle. Lutz never liked to rush into anything. When the steward began to pour, McKenna held a hand out to prevent him from filling his glass.

      “I’d prefer a Guinness,” he said.

      Grace felt her blood pressure swell a notch. “Drink the damned wine.”

      Lutz cleared his throat. “How did you manage to get a bail hearing so quickly?” he asked.

      Time to get down to business, Grace thought. “Actually, I…ah, didn’t.”

      “Yet here sits a man I presume is Mr. McKenna. Tell me.”

      So she did. She explained about the paperwork glitch and how the authorities had no basis on which to hold him, while a waiter brought McKenna the beer. “By now they’re checking the computer system, of course,” she finished. “I’m sure someone has unearthed his proper paperwork and there are probably cops combing the city looking for him. That’s why I came here to find you and solicit your advice.”

      “Some of those cops are my friends,” McKenna offered.

      “They won’t look very hard.”

      Grace felt something go ping behind her eyes. “Will you please shut up and let me handle this?”

      “It was a salient point.” He lifted the Guinness to his mouth.

      “I never said you were stupid!”

      He ran his tongue over his lip to catch the foam, then he replaced his glass to the table. “Sorry, you lost me there. Must be those quicksilver turns of your own mind. What does my stupidity or lack thereof have to do with this?”

      “You keep using college-degree words to prove your point.”

      “I have a college degree. I’m also insightful and observant. Which reminds me. What were you casting aspersions on back at the prison? We never did answer that question to my satisfaction.”

      Grace deliberately shifted her gaze back to Lutz. She grabbed her wineglass, drank deeply and waited for his verdict. She’d either just done something incredibly stupid…or she’d been brilliant.

      Lutz stared into the ruby liquid in his own glass for a moment. “Technically, you should deliver him straight back to the arresting officers,” he said finally. “However, without the paperwork, we have no idea who they are, do we?”

      Grace relaxed. He approved of what she had done. Then McKenna spoke up again and her nerves tightened.

      “Well, technically, I do know who they are. At four o’clock this afternoon I was playing ball with a couple of my nephews at the city courts. Two uniformed patrolmen came by and slapped handcuffs on me. I don’t know how tight you all are with your families, but that’s something I’d have preferred my sister’s kids not be subjected to.”

      Grace felt her heart twist. “We can’t always control what children are subjected to.”

      “Yeah, well, I try.”

      For the first time since she had made his acquaintance, he seemed sincerely angry. He might have slammed his chair around back at the jail, but that had been nothing compared to what simmered in his eyes now.

      “They said they had a warrant for my arrest,” McKenna continued. “I went with them rather than play the whole thing out in front of the boys.”

      He’d probably been expecting the arrest, she realized. He had to have known the extortion jig would be up for him sooner or later if he played it out too long. He was a cop; he’d know the odds.

      “They took me to County and booked me,” he said. “It never occurred to me to check the name on all those blot pages they were affixing my thumbprints to. Stupid of me.”

      Grace wasn’t touching that one.

      He leaned forward suddenly, bracing his arms on the table to face her. “Funny that you haven’t gotten around yet to asking why Captain Plattsmier didn’t just have me sprung from that jail instead of calling you.”

      Because you’ve been pocketing mob money. Grace shot a glance at Lutz. “Getting him out of County seemed paramount when I found the paperwork glitch. I decided to act first and ask questions later.”

      “Tell us now,” Lutz said to McKenna.

      “Plattsmier didn’t spring me, because this is payback and on some level he’s aware of it. He’s not going to cross whoever’s doing the paying back.”

      Lutz and Grace spoke at once. “For what?”

      “You’re implying that someone is framing you but you don’t know who?” Grace added.

      “I blew the whistle on my partner about six months ago. She was on the take. Now they’re pulling me down for it, either the mob or the cops who’re involved with them.”

      Lutz СКАЧАТЬ