Weekend Warriors (Sisterhood #1)(54)
Jack leaned back in his chair staring at nothing, his eyes glazed. A sick feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. He reached for the phone and managed to send the papers on his desk flying in all directions. He bent down to pick them up. He stacked them any old way on his desk and then blinked at what he was seeing.
“Hey, Conrad, come here a minute,” he called to another A.D.A. “Does the name Isabelle Flanders ring a bell with you? I know I heard that name somewhere. Take a look at this picture. It’s kind of grainy because it’s a fax. Does she look familiar to you?”
“Yeah. Yeah, she made the news a few years back when she killed a whole family driving in a hurry somewhere. Your girlfriend defended her. Lost the case. I think she was an architect. Why?”
“Just a detail that has to do with something I’m working on,” Jack responded, sticking to his credo of not divulging details to those around him. It wasn’t that he tried to hog the glory like Nik always accused him of doing. He was simply thorough, preferring to stack his bricks in a neat column so they wouldn’t tumble down and make him look like a fool.
The sick feeling was getting worse. He reached for the phone and for a second time, ignored it. “Conrad, call Judge Olsen’s office and tell him I need another court order for Myra Rutledge’s house. Get Harry on the phone and tell him not to come back here unless he has both of them in his hands.”
“Why am I doing your shit work, Emery?”
“Because I told you to do it and I have seniority. Just fucking do it, Conrad.”
This time when he reached for the phone, he actually dialed the number he wanted. Nik’s cell phone number.
“Nik, it’s Jack,” he said the minute Nikki said hello.
“Listen to me, Nik. I’m on my way out to the farm. I have a court order, so don’t try to evade me. We need to talk. I have the court order,” he lied, “but I don’t want to come out there as Jack Emery, D.A. I want to come out and talk to you as Jack Emery, your friend. We were friends, Nik. I’ll be there in an hour and a half.”
“All right, Jack.”
Jack beelined for the men’s room, where he lost his lunch.
Chapter Twelve
Charles and Myra watched as Nikki walked out to the long driveway. By craning their necks they could see Jack Emery’s car at the gate. Myra reached for Charles’s hand. “This isn’t good, is it, dear?”
“No, it isn’t good. The really bizarre part of Mr. Emery’s case is, Nikki really didn’t have anything to do with spiriting Marie and her family to safety. I just don’t know at the moment how it is all going to play out. It looks to me like he’s studying the High Voltage sign attached to the gate. I’m sure he’s wondering if it’s real or not.”
Myra leaned over and pressed her face against the window. “I think he is studying it, Charles. I think it was a stroke of genius to screw that sign on the gate. It gives one pause for thought. Are we, you know, going to…take him out?” Myra asked nervously. “That could stir up a whole can of worms, Charles.”
“I know. I’m thinking, Myra. I wish I knew what they were saying to each other.”
“Let’s make a cake, Charles,” Myra said, pulling him away from the window. “One of those seven-layer chocolate ones with pudding between the layers and real thick frosting all around. Nikki’s going to need something sweet after this little talk she’s having with Jack. She loves him so much. Love can be blind at times. I’ll turn on the oven.”
Outside their line of vision, Nikki walked up to what Myra called the walk-through gate and out to Jack’s car. She opened the door and climbed in. She sighed, wishing she could lean over and kiss him. She realized she could if she wanted to. Instead, she said, “I really don’t want to love you anymore, Jack. However, I think I’m one of those people who only love once. Don’t look at me like that, Jack.”
Jack pointed to the High Voltage sign. “Isn’t that new? Why does Myra Rutledge need a sign like that?” Nikki shrugged. “Listen, Nik, I need to talk to you. Jack and Nik, okay? Not prosecutor and lawyer. Can we do that?”
“We can try, Jack.” She shivered inside her light sweater. Jack pulled her closer and put his arm around her shoulders. She knew she should move away, but she didn’t because his arms felt so good. A flood of memories washed through her.
“This is what I have, Nik. I’m going to lay it all out for you. There’s a strange group of women who come out here. You defended Isabelle Flanders and lost her case. Nobody could have won that one, so you shouldn’t condemn yourself. Then there’s the doctor married to the senator. Very high profile couple. She’s not operating anymore, for some strange reason. Tops in her field, too. Guess she’s going to fill up her days by playing cards with Myra. The Chinese girl and the tall, leggy black girl just don’t fit the scene. Do you know what I mean? They’re more your age and yet they come out here to do whatever it is they do. Myra couldn’t seem to get her card games straight.”
Nikki forced a laugh. “Sometimes they play Fish. It’s more the companionship than the card playing. Myra needs to be around younger people. Are you saying you think all these women helped me spirit Marie Lewellen away? That is so outrageous, so off the top, I can’t even give it credence. I had nothing to do with it, Jack. I swear to you on Barbara. What’s it going to take to convince you?”