Finally Read online

  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, u
nable 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?”

  “You can fi x it, right?” She pressed up onto her tiptoes, anxious for my agreement.

  “Fix the mayor insulting an important corporate backer by rallying against their questionable labor practices?” I didn’t know why I was taking it out on the messenger, but sometimes I was convinced Tammy needed to focus her wrangling skills from getting in and out of the right spots to keeping a handle on the mayor’s error prone ways. “Yes, I can fi x it. Do not let her take another podium until I’ve fi gured out how, though.”

  “You’re awesome, Linds. She’ll be thrilled to hear it.”

  Not relieved, thrilled. Typical. What else did I expect when I worked for a politician who had diarrhea of the mouth? If only I’d dropped out of that fi rst Poli Sci course in college. I could be boring myself to death in a cubicle running numbers instead of trying to fi gure out how to get my boss out of a coffi n deep hole without a rope.

  “Your friend is an idiot,” Yoshi Nakamura, the city’s best public defender and one of my good friends, declared as he sauntered into my offi ce moments after Tammy’s escape and dropped into a chair. The familiar move had started three years ago when he’d left a posh law fi rm for the public defender’s small cubicle with a twenty-fi ve year old scratched desk and questionable chair that would fail whenever he tilted back more than ten degrees. He’d often bring his case load over and work at the extra table I had in my offi ce. Since our work habits were similar, I never minded.

  “So is my boss,” I said under my breath, but the wide grin on his round face told me he’d heard.

  61

  Lynn Galli

  “Don’t tell me…”

  “Yep, another mouth drool today.”

  “She must really hate you.”

  “Probably more than I know,” I joked back. “What’s this about my friend?”

  “Oh, that Valerie—thanks for requesting I get assigned to that fi asco by the way—has been handed a gift from the ADA and won’t take it.” The gel in his normally polished black hair failed him with his repeated head shaking. The side part that could be used as a straight edge kept fl opping back and forth as he blew out his frustration. “And she keeps asking me to talk s-l-o-w, she d-o-e-s-n-t un-der-s-t-a-n-d me.”

  “Oh my god,” I blew out, matching his frustration. It was one thing to be stupid, quite another to be racist and a xenophobe.

  Yoshi had moved onto my dorm fl oor during our second semester at college. At the time, he didn’t know much English. Now, his native Japanese accent was barely detectable anymore. “What can I say? She’s defi nitely an idiot. Was she arraigned today?”

  “Just fi nished up. The ADA cornered me on the way out, offering one year suspended with completion of an anger management course. Can you guess how she reacted?”

  “With anger?” I didn’t even need to guess. I knew how she’d react to someone telling her she had an anger problem. She loved accusing me of my short temper with her, but push it back and she’d go ballistic.

  “Got it in one.” He tapped a fi nger to his nose. “Should I call Thad to see if he can reason with her or do you want to tackle this yourself?”

  I leaned back in my chair, contemplating the choices. A sense of serenity settled over me as I realized I didn’t need to be involved. “Neither. She’s a big girl. If she wants to be a moron, let her.”

  His brown eyes bugged out at me. “Really? Is Thad on board 62

  Objection

  with this? You’re really not going to get her out of this?”

  “I honestly couldn’t care less anymore. Did the ADA say how bad it was?” I hadn’t bothered to ask Valerie since she kept insisting it was nothing more than a sting.

  “The woman has a bruise, so I’d say she landed a good one.”

  I let another long breath escape. “Can you even imagine?

  Chatting with some guy and someone comes over and slaps you?

  She had to be wondering if she’d stumbled into a reality show somehow.”

  “Yeah, I’m not looking forward to having this go to trial.

  There is no defense I can put up.”

  Nodding my head, I knew he’d have his work cut out for him.

  “She might come to her senses before the trial date. When is it?”

  “Eight weeks. That new judge who keeps catching all the crap cases got it. If I didn’t have a ton of clients to defend in front of her, I’d feel bad for her.”

  My eyebrows shot up at the mention of Judge Brooks. She’d tracked in and out of my mind all weekend. I was hoping to bump into her again soon. Maybe I’d have to make up a reason. “What’s the gossip on her?”

  His eyes pinged back to mine and a teasing twinkle formed.

  “I was wondering when you’d get around to noticing her.” His hours made it so that living vicariously through his friends was the only viable relationship he could maintain. Mine weren’t a lot better, but at least I’d had a date in the past three years.

  Folding my arms, I pushed back against my chair. Classic and very telling defensive posture, but I didn’t care. “I ran into her on Saturday. I didn’t even recognize her. That’s all.”

  “Oh, that’s all. You can’t fool me, Linds. You don’t gossip, and you don’t ask about someone unless it directly relates to your job, orrrr,” he dragged out, “you’re interested in her personally.”

  “I’m just asking. She seemed to know who I was. I didn’t want to be caught off guard again.”

  63

  Lynn Galli

  “Uh-huh,” he placated. Annoying little bast
ard. “We’ve got eight to one odds she’s gay.”

  I let a snort escape. “You guys actually place wagers on stupid crap like that?”

  “We place wagers on whether the boss will sneak a cigarette before or after the morning meeting. Of course we’re keeping book on something as big as the possibility of a lesbian judge who could completely upend the tone of the court.”

  “There are conservative lesbians, you know.”

  “She doesn’t look conservative to me.”

  No, she didn’t, nor did she sound conservatively minded, either. Crap, now he’s got me thinking about her sexuality, which shouldn’t be something I have time to think about. The lingering glance at the check in my back pocket on Saturday should tell me everything I need to know about her sexuality, but it was possible she really was just looking at the check.

  “Stop thinking about how not conservative she is. I know you.”

  “You know me well enough to know I hate when people say they know me.”

  “Yep,” he smirked, rising out of his seat. “Let’s grab lunch and go dangle you in front of the courthouse.”

  “You really need to get cable.”

  “Waste of money. I get all the entertainment I need out of my single, clueless friends.”

  Like he was much better. “Really not liking you, right now.”

  “Wait till I scribble your number on each of the pleadings I’ve got to deliver to Her Honor’s inbox today.”

  I snaked my arm around his neck and put him in a slight choke hold. “You will not or I’ll volunteer you to help every one of my idiot friends whenever they do something really idiotic.”

  64

  FOUR

  Her voice didn’t surprise me this time. I was sitting outside the courthouse waiting on Yoshi for another of our quick lunch breaks when the alluring judge spoke from behind me.

  “You’re on courthouse grounds now, Ms. St. James. Don’t let me catch you moonlighting out here.”