Finally (9 page)

I chuckled, making a show of turning around to take in all the boisterous activity. “Lively sounds good. As fi rst dates go, this one? Pretty boring.”

“Playing with fi re, my dear.” She pointed a long fi nger that I wished would make contact just to feel her touch. “Never challenge me.”

“I think I might quite like challenging you.”

She signed the credit card receipt, shooting a quick amused glance at me. Rising from the table, she said, “You’re going to live to regret that.”

I followed her outside. “Promises, promises.”

69

FIVE

Inordinately tall, the district attorney stood a forehead taller than even the lankiest guy in the room. When he stormed through the mayor’s offi ce doors, every head turned to watch his progress.

He liked making an entrance. He did it everywhere he went.

Yoshi was terrifi ed of him, as were most of the PD’s offi ce and almost all of his own employees.

He swerved his way through the cubes, coming straight for my offi ce. “You, she’s going to need you. Let’s go.” Then he turned and headed in the direction of the mayor’s offi ce.

Apparently summoned, I got up, mostly out of curiosity.

He’d at least made an effort at my name this time instead of what he usually called me: “Hey” or “Mayor’s It Girl.” I found it endearing enough to want to follow his instruction.

The offi ce heads were now staring at me. Nearly everyone fl ashed a different gesture of committing suicide as I made my way through the cubes. No one in the offi ce liked dealing with him, but as the best friend of the mayor’s husband, we were used to seeing him around here a lot.

I made it to the outer doors of the mayor’s private offi ce area.

He pushed through without knocking. Louisa, her personal admin and the keeper of the door, looked like she was going to pull out every strand of her eyebrows one by one.

I waved a reassuring hand at her as I followed him inside. As 70

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soon as he cleared the door, he was barking at the mayor to get off the phone. Tammy looked up, appalled at his order but smart enough not to cross this guy.

“Doug,” the mayor greeted the moment she cut her phone call short. “What brings you by? It must be something important.”

He ignored her sarcasm. “Your offi ce has a problem, which means you have a problem, which means she,” he hooked a thumb over his shoulder, “has a problem.”

I realized his thumb hook was pointing at me, but I twisted a look over my shoulder just to make sure.

“What’s the problem?” Mayor Kingston asked while making herself comfortable in her chair, obviously hoping Doug would do the same.

“Someone in your offi ce is bribing judges to get city offi cials and dignitaries out of trouble before any cases can be made.”

“Allegedly,” I supplied, taking a guest chair and looking him into the other one.

“Oh, they’re doing it.”

“Until you prove it in court, it’s slander to state otherwise.”

He cut an intimidating look at me, thinking I’d cower in his presence like so many others. “Listen, Lainie, we’re not kidding around here. Someone in this offi ce is guilty of bribing a judge.”

“I’m not kidding around either, Dean—”

“Doug,” his lackey immediately inserted, surprising himself with his fervor. The guy had been completely lost in the wake of Doug’s tsunami when he entered the offi ce.

I stood and held my hand out. “Lindsay St. James, I don’t think we’ve met.”

His eyes popped wide at my confi dence in front of his boss.

He fl icked a glance at the man, clearly confused by my name. In the end, he automatically shook it.

“We don’t have time for introductions,” his boss shrugged off.

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“It might be a good idea, though, Doug, seeing as you still don’t know Lindsay’s name,” the mayor inserted.

Tammy slapped a hand to her mouth and turned away.

Watching her try to keep her laughter in almost drew an audible laugh from me.

“Oh, I know her name,” he replied as if the idea of knowing the name of such a lowly person was beneath him. “I’m just not a fan of spin doctors, Jennifer.”

“You might have an easier time on election day if you were, Doug. Now, what’s this about a bribe?” Mayor Kingston hoped to move him along.

“We have reason to suspect,” he stressed the last word, shooting a glare at me, “that someone in your offi ce is bribing judges. Four traffi c incidents, one DUI, two possession charges, and fi ve disorderly conduct charges have mysteriously been dismissed by the courts over the past ten months.” Apparently he expected us to gasp and start scurrying around to seek out this perpetrator because the glare this time was expectant.

“Why do you believe it originates in this offi ce? I asked.

“Every one of the charges was lodged against members of city hall or close friends.”

Damn. I exchanged a look of dread with the mayor. We so didn’t need this. “May we see the case fi les?”

He snapped his fi ngers and the lackey jumped in place. Two inches off the ground jumped. It would have been funny if the DA’s accusations weren’t potentially damaging to this offi ce.

After touching ground again, the lackey started forward and stretched the fi les out to his boss. I snagged them fi rst.

Flipping through the folders, I saw many familiar and important people in the city government. This wasn’t good.

“The DUI looks questionable. He blew .01 over and admitted to drinking while waiting for the cops after the accident to calm his nerves.”

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The DA scoffed loudly. “They all say that. Anyone who’s ever watched a lawyer show on TV knows to say that.”

“Which is why so many DUIs are bumped if they show up with a good lawyer,” I retorted. It wouldn’t mean that he’d escape the mayor’s wrath, but his case dismissal was legit.

“The others are solid,” Doug assured the mayor.

Reading on, I saw he was right. Every one of them had their cases dismissed based on judicial subjectivity. This looked bad.

I glanced up at the mayor and gave her a single nod of my head.

We’ve been working together for nine years. She knew what I meant.

“What do you propose, Doug?” she asked.

“We set up a sting operation. Of course my offi ce will run it, but we’ve got to fi nd out who is doing this and shut it down.”

“How would we do that? You don’t know who’s doing this.”

“We approach a judge,” I supplied, reading his mind.

He looked equally put out that I’d stolen his thunder and impressed that I was smart enough to think like he did. “Yes. The new one. It’s the only way we can know for sure the judge isn’t already compromised.”

The new one. Suzanne. He was talking about Suzanne. I wasn’t crazy about the idea all around. Involving Suzanne didn’t suddenly make it better.

“You,” he started, but a scolding look from the mayor made him try again. “Lindsay, you know her. We want you with us when we approach her.”

Taken aback by his observation and order, I stalled. “I’m not with the DA’s offi ce.”

“No, you’re with the mayor’s offi ce where this is happening.

She may be reluctant to help us. If we’re successful we might bring down several of her colleagues. That’s not a good position to be in. You’re her friend,” he smirked at the word, telling me he suspected we were more than just friends. “She’ll be more open 73

Lynn Galli

to it with you talking to her.”

“No.” I wouldn’t use my friendship with her to put her ask risk.

“Lindsay.”

Nobody missed the slight warning the mayor’s tone implied, but I wasn’t going to let Suzanne’s reputation be harmed with a shoddily run sting op. “We’re not waiting around indefi nitely until someone in the offi ce gets into trouble again and prompts this bribery.”

Tammy lifted a brow. The mayor smiled. “She’s right.”

He raised his palms and shrugged his shoulders. “It wasn’t until this last case that we noticed a pattern. What are we supposed to do?”

His tone basically said, “Hey, good luck with fi nding a solution. You guys are screwed. Mine is the only option.”

What he forgot is that I was a professional solution fi nder. “I know a case we can use as a target.”

He looked startled for a moment as if the idea of using a specifi c case as bait never occurred to him. After a moment, he tried to hide it. “There aren’t any suitable cases.”

“Three of these bribes happened for so-called important friends of people in city hall. I have a friend who is facing assault and battery charges. We can use her case as bait.”

“You have a friend who assaulted someone?” Tammy blurted.

“I have an idiot friend who gets drunk on Friday nights and thinks she can physically stop someone from fl irting with her boyfriend.”

“A catfi ght in a bar?” Doug clarifi ed.

“A scuffl e is more like it. From what I understand she told the woman to back off and when the woman didn’t understand the need to back off, she landed a slap before her boyfriend pulled her back.”

The mayor seemed shocked. For nine years I’d been cleaning 74

Objection

up her messes. It never ceased to amaze me that she didn’t realize other people had some messiness in their own lives. I could have made the excuse that Valerie and I weren’t close or technically real friends, but neither the mayor nor the DA needed to know this.

“What’s the status of her case?” Doug asked his lackey who was already on the phone back to the DA’s offi ce.

He covered the mouthpiece. “Plea has been offered and rejected. Felicia was going to try again before pre-trial motions next week.”

Doug nodded, considering. “What makes you think this case will work?”

“I’m important to the mayor. Helping me means helping her.

The one trend that brought you in here is that all these cases had some tie to the mayor’s offi ce. It’s likely that this person already knows about Valerie’s case.” When they gave me a questioning look, I continued, “She was pretty boisterous in our café a few weeks ago when I told her I couldn’t and wouldn’t help her out of this mess.”

The DA let a laugh escape. “She already asked you to help her?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “She’s a bit of a princess. Can’t seem to handle much on her own. Usually her uncle helps her out, but when he’s not around, she comes to me.”

“Might work,” he admitted reluctantly. “Can you get her to cooperate? She’ll need to take the plea. It can’t go to trial if we’re using her as bait.”

A million objections went through my mind. I’d be doing exactly what I said I wouldn’t do for her, but letting this bribery continue from the offi ce that I was tasked with making look pristine overrode my wish to teach Valerie a lesson. “Yes.”

He waited for me to elaborate. When I didn’t, he asked,

“You’re sure?”

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“Yes.” He didn’t need to know the amount of manipulation I’d have to go through to get Valerie to agree.

“Fine. You’ll work with Sam here on prepping your friend.

We’ll approach the judge tomorrow.” With that he got up and turned to leave.

“You’re welcome, Doug,” the mayor called out sweetly as he crossed through the doorway.

He deigned to glance back and give her a parting wave. Sam snatched my business card out of my hand and ran after his boss.

Poor guy. Having to work with that temper every single day.

“What did we just get ourselves into?” the mayor asked.

I shut the door behind them. “We have to keep this to ourselves.

We don’t know who is behind this and can’t trust anyone. If all goes as planed, we’ll have it solved soon.”

Like usual both the mayor and Tammy nodded their heads, trusting me to make things right. Too bad this wasn’t going to have a good end, no matter how it turned out.

76

SIX

There was a distinct absence of twinkling in her beautiful blues on this visit. They looked like they might have when I fi rst arrived in her chambers, but the twinkle fi zzled out as soon as the DA and Sam followed me inside. I couldn’t blame her. As objective as she was supposed to be as a judge, the DA made everyone react to one extreme.

“Two questions,” she said when he’d relayed the sting plan to her. “What makes you think this person will come to me with a bribe? And what happens to my colleagues if your plan works?”

Both valid questions, but it was the second one that was most concerning. She knew the answer, we all did, but clearly she wanted the DA to say it out loud. She’d be an integral part of her colleagues’ demise if this bribe happened how we were planning.

Four judges were allegedly involved. One had retired, making way for Suzanne to fi ll his spot. The other three were still active.

As a new judge, she’d already had a hard enough time feeling part of the club. Bringing down three of her colleagues wouldn’t make her more popular.

“You know what happens, Judge,” Doug told her.

“Spell it out for me.”

As superior as Doug acted around everyone, I was shocked to see him so respectful. One thing could be said about him: he defi nitely loves the law. “If you can get him or her to admit that 77

Lynn Galli

he’s had cases kicked by other judges, they’ll be brought up on charges. There’s no way around that.”

She turned her stare to me. Emotions swirled in that one glance. I knew this would tear her up, but she knew she’d have to do it. “And the extent of your involvement?”

“Ms. St. James knows the defendant that we plan to use as bait.”

Shocked that Doug not only addressed me by name but that he actually knew my last one, I paused before adding, “She’ll be taking a plea to resolve her legal issues.”

Suzanne’s eyes rested a little longer on mine. Having been caught staring at them on each of our fi ve prior dates, I felt like squirming now. She was trying to fi gure out if I was being coerced by Doug’s offi ce. I held a steady gaze to let her know the truth.

“Once she dangles the carrot, we think it will be a week tops before whoever is behind these bribes approaches you. We’ll need you to be more visible over the next week. Eat lunch on the grounds every day, come early and stay late. Avoid just staying in your chambers while on the courthouse grounds.”