"Wonderful," Gina said.
"Why were you there, though? Last I looked, we had a pretty good caseload downstairs. Besides which, I thought you'd more or less retired from, as we say, the active practice of the law." He pointed. "Get it, girl. Get it."
"Yeah, well, I thought about it a lot over the weekend and decided it was time I jumped back in. I'm a lawyer; I ought to do some law."
"What about the book?"
"The book isn't going anywhere. It'll be there if I decide to go back to it. It also isn't going anywhere in the literal sense. It's just something to hide behind." Gina glanced over to where Gertie was circling the ball, sniffing at it. "Anyway, I didn't want to steal away billing hours from the kids. I've always kept my name on the conflicts list, and I decided I'd take my turn this time instead of passing."
On the library table, the intercom on the phone buzzed and Wes picked it up. "Yes, Phyllis? How intuitive of you, dear. Yes, she is. Hold on a second, I'll put her on. Can I tell her who it is?" His eyebrows went up. "Really? In person?" Holding the mouthpiece out to her, he whispered, "Jedd Conley. Not in person, but on the phone."
For any number of reasons, Gina didn't want to talk to Jedd Conley in a room with anybody else in it, so she had Phyllis ask the assemblyman to wait for a minute while she said good-bye to Wes, then swiftly descended the stairs from his office down to the main lobby. There, she gave Phyllis the signal that she'd take the call in her own corner office and she half-ran the length of the hall, picking up on the second ring. "Hello. This is Gina." "Gina. It's Jedd Conley."
"That's what I heard, but I wasn't sure I believed it. It's been a long time."
"Yes, it has. We've both been busy, haven't we?" "You a little more than me. How are you?"
"I'm good. Basically good. And yourself?" He lowered his voice. "I was so sorry to hear about David. The man was a giant."
She stifled a sigh. "Yes, well… thank you. Are you calling from Sacramento?"
"No. I'm in town, down at the Travelodge on Lombard. You know it?"
"Sure. But to be honest, I've never really thought of you as a Travelodge kind of guy. You're staying there?"
"Actually, I'm with a friend of mine who is in the way of needing a lawyer right away."
"If memory serves, Jedd, wouldn't that be you?"
"Not anymore. I haven't been in a courtroom in years. Since not long after you and I had a few of our last… tussles, actually."
Gina felt a flush rise in her face. She and Jedd had never been seriously involved on an emotional level, but long before Conley had gotten married, they'd indeed had some tussles in each other's bedrooms as well as in the courtroom. "Well, I'm flattered you called, but I must say I'm a little surprised that you thought of me."
"Well, you're an excellent attorney, that's why."
"Who never once beat you in court, if I recall, and I do."
"That's because all of your clients were guilty."
"I guess that's true," she admitted ruefully. "So what about your friend? Is he guilty?"
"Stuart Gorman," Conley said. "And no. He's not guilty. But he does need a lawyer making sure he doesn't screw things up and to walk him through the process." After a small hesitation, he said, "I know this is short notice, but that's the way these things go."
"It's not that," Gina said. "Actually, the timing couldn't be better. You're talking about Stuart Gorman the writer?"
"Yep. You've heard of him?"
"Not until a couple of hours ago. But in the small-world department, I just had lunch with the cop who talked to him at his house this morning."
"You're kidding."
"Not. Devin Juhle. Who, by the way, isn't as sure as you that your friend just needs to walk through it." "He say that?"
"I read between the lines. But he's a cop. They always think that." "Well, he hid his suspicions pretty well. Stuart thought he was a good guy."
"Maybe he is. He just thinks that if he's got a dead spouse on his hands, the other spouse probably has something to do with it." "Not this time. Do you think you could come on down?"
"When?"
"More or less now."
A silence, then Gina said, "I'm thinking. You know that I've never defended anyone in a murder case?"
"It won't come to that," Conley said.
"I'm not sure Inspector Juhle would agree with you."
"All right. But even if it does, haven't your partners both done murder trials?"
"Yes, but they wouldn't… I mean…" Suddenly Gina shook herself. "Oh, what am I saying? Of course I'm interested. I just don't want to misrepresent myself to your client."
"He's not my client. He's my friend. He'd be your client."
"Okay," she said. "But make sure you tell him what I told you. He's got to know who he'll be dealing with."
"So you're coming down?"
"Give me a half hour."
"Gina. Thanks for coming." Jedd reached out to shake her hand. His eyes took in all of her with one approving glance. He covered their grip with his other hand and held it. "I thought under the rules we were supposed to look older as time went by."
She shook her head, smiling up at him. "Don't start. You haven't held up all that badly yourself." She tightened her grip briefly, then withdrew her hand. "Am I on time?"
"Neither the police nor the press have reappeared yet, if that's what you mean."
"That's what I mean."
"Then you're on time. Come on in."
He turned to reveal the two people who'd just gotten up off the couch behind him. "Gina Roake, Stuart Gorman. And this is Debra…" He stopped on a questioning note.
The beautiful young woman stepped forward. "Dryden," she said, shaking Gina's hand with a cool, firm grip. "Debra Dryden. I'm Stuart's sister-in-law. Caryn's sister." She half-turned and rested her hand protectively on Stuart's arm, bringing him up into the introduction, her body language trumpeting at the very least a strong attraction for her dead sister's husband. "We're so glad you could come."
"I just hope I can be of some help." Gina reached around Debra and extended her hand. "Mr. Gorman, nice to meet you."
"Stuart," he said, "not Mr. Gorman." He took her hand. "Everybody seems to agree that I need a lawyer, so thanks for coming."
Gina cocked her head. "So I gather you don't agree."
He shrugged. "As I've mentioned to all and sundry, I wasn't here when my wife died, so I think it might be a stretch to conclude that I killed her."
"It might be at that," Gina said. "But you want to be careful what you say when you talk to the police. Did Jedd tell you that just coin-cidentally I had lunch with Inspector Juhle today? I didn't get the impression that he thought your wife's death was a suicide. Or that you couldn't have been involved."
Stuart lifted his shoulders, then dropped them. "Well, he'll find out. I wasn't around."
"Where were you?"
"Up at my cabin. We've got a place up on Echo Lake." Gina took a beat. "You were at Echo Lake this last weekend?" "Yeah. Why's that such a surprise?"
"Because so was I. Tamarack Lake, actually, right beyond Echo."
"Hey, I was there too. I mean, at Tamarack. God, could that have been just last night? It seems like a year ago. You really were at Tamarack?"