----------
He nodded. “Thanks for letting me know. Want me to make you a plate?”
She eyed him. Noticed the fingers of his right hand were caressing his phone and grinned. “No, you never put enough sauce on. I’ll make my own.”
She rose, kissed his forehead, then she looked deep into his eyes. They were wary; hers were worried. “Re...” she began then hesitated and stroked her fingers over his eyebrow. “Are you going to be okay?”
He grinned and nodded. “We will be.”
She hesitated then rose and went inside.
He waited a moment before calling Winslow.
The man picked up on the second ring. “ReShawn...”
“Win. You know anyone at the State Bar?”
The man chuckled. “Is that a serious question?”
“There’s gossip running around...that Eissa Manville’s in contact with them. My bet is, she’s laying the groundwork for a cover your ass claim of I never really thought we should have prosecuted Simon Halloran. Which would be absolute bullshit.”
“I thought we had a tight lid on the investigation.”
“Come on. We’re in the woods. We found a body. It doesn’t take much for the people who put him there to work it out. Add in that I’m involved in the crime scene. My guess is the cops know, too.”
“So you think she’s part of it?”
“Maybe.”
“You don’t think she’s being honest?”
“Not in the slightest.”
“All right. Fancy a trip to Columbus, tomorrow? I’m calling a press conference.”
“I have court. Two pm.”
“I’ll make it for noon; bring you in on Zoom. There’ll be questions only you can answer.”
“Okay. I’ll be at the courthouse, ready and waiting.”
“That’s a nice-looking building. Put your phone on a tripod and use the outside as a background. I’ll have Hester set it up.”
“Will do.” Then he ended the call and put one through to George Kaplan.
“Hello, ReShawn. Which case is it?”
“Halloran,” ReShawn sighed. “Ellison’s holding a press conference, tomorrow noon. I’m patching in via Zoom.”
“All right...”
“Also, I’ve heard Manville is already talking to the State Bar, and Bush is in deep discussions with Walstead. And his father.”
“His father?”
“That’s the word.”
Kaplan was quiet for a moment than asked, “Are you getting a continuance for tomorrow’s case?”
“No, I don’t want to. She’s already been through four.”
“Still aiming for self-defense?”
“Absolutely.”
“Let’s see what tomorrow brings.”
“What do you mean?”
“Between you and me? My bet is, Ellison will have his people hit Bush’s offices and take any and all documents in regards to Halloran’s cases. He’ll want those in hand before he faces the media. After that, Bush will be so preoccupied with how his office is now under suspicion, he may be open to dropping all charges. Not because he thinks your client is innocent, but because it will look good for him in the papers.”
“That would be nice.”
“Come into the office, first. We’ll go to the courthouse, together. Moral support. Besides, I helped you find the body so there may be questions for me, as well.”
“I’ll want to be there and set up by noon.”
“Sounds good. Tomorrow, then.”
ReShawn felt a lot lighter now. Having George as backup might help mitigate the expected wave of racism and hate sent his way. At least a little.
His next call went to Benny the Snack. “Benny, get ready. All hell’s going to tear loose, tomorrow.”
“Roller coaster, huh?” asked Benny, as cheerful as ever.
“That body we found in the woods...”
He heard the joy whisper out of Benny’s voice. “Simon’s...”
“You already heard the gossip?”
“Shit, Re, when I add two and two it ain’t twenty-two. That air-tag. It wasn’t broke, was it?”
“Nope.”
“It...it fuckin’ led you to him.”
“Yeah.”
“Shit. FUCK! I was hopin’...”
“Me, too.”
“You know who did it?”
“Maybe...but no proof.”
“Talk to Viona ‘bout upping your security. Phones. Online. House. Cars.”
“She already has.”
“Yeah, she would. Fuck, Re. He was just a quiet little guy.”
“Sometimes even that’s too loud.”
“You need any help on anything, just lemme know.”
“Thanks. I will. Same to you.”
“Aw, cut it out. Any motherfucker wants to mess with me, he’s gonna get served a shitburger.” Then Benny ended the call with a soft, whispery, “Fuck.”
No comments:
Post a Comment