The Way of Grace (Miller's Creek Novels) (22 page)

Elena beat Matt to the check,
but refused to
even look at him as she snagged it
, her lips taut
.

As they stood to le
ave, Andy walked up, his attention
focused on his brother
. “There you are. I was looking
for you
on the other side of the restaurant.” He turned his attention to
Grace
and Elena. “Good afternoon, ladies.”

“Sorry for stea
ling your protégé.” Elena’s ton
e held
none of the apology she verbaliz
ed. Instead a catty smirk curled her upper lip.

“Just be sure to treat h
er right.” Andy spoke the words
sincerely
and glanced at Grace, a wish
and warn
ing
in one brie
f statement
.
He
faced
his brother
. “Ready?”

Matt sent Grac
e
one last searching
look
, then nodded. “Sure.”

Elena
ey
ed the two
as they left
. “Matt
doesn’t seem your type.
I’d steer clear of him if I were you.
”
She flipped open a wallet full of money, pulled out a hundred dollar bill,
and tossed it to the table as she
scooted from the booth.

Grace fell into step behin
d her
.
The woman’s
last
words sounded more like a threat than a warning.
Elena obviously disliked the Tyler
’
s for some reason.
Enough to change her from a tragic single mom to a caustic caldron of criticism in a few minutes’ time.
Was it simply a rivalry? Her thoughts turned to
Elena’s family. It just wouldn’t do to get too emotionally invested in this situation. Best to simply figure out what Elena was up to, notify the authorities, and then step aside.

The petite prosecutor glanced
back at her
. “Matt Tyler strikes me as the kind of guy who would sponge off anyone who gave him the time of day.”
She shoved open the door.

Grace
stepped from the restaurant
into the cool fall air. How many times had she t
hought the same thing? Andy
paid for Matt’
s education and now had given him a place to live rent-free while he figured out what he wanted to do with his life.
She crawled into Elena’s tiny sports car and
pulled
the door
to
.

Next to her,
Elena
adjusted the mirror and turned the key, the engine humming as they backed out of the parking space
.
“Lesson number one
for my new protégé
.
Don’t
hang out with defense attorneys
or their family members
.”

Her f
irst day on the job
,
and Elena was already
dictating
the terms of
her friendships
?

The woman
must have read the
expression
on her face. “It just doesn’t look good. Trust
me,
it’s for your own protection. This way no one can accuse you of leaking information to the other side.”

With
the
last remark swishing through the air like a double-edged saber, Elena gunned the car and shot out into traffic.

9

G
race poured
another cup of coffee
Thurs
day afternoon
and doctored it with plenty of sugar and cream. She
raised her gaze to
the clock on the break room wall and stifled a yawn. Not e
ven three
o’clock in the afternoon and she already long
ed for the comfort
of her bed.

The
spoon
clinked
against the thick mug
as she stirred the caramel-colored liquid
. S
he
raised
the cup
to her lips
and drank deeply
. How was it that she made it through her undergrad work and law school without giving into the lure of caffeine, but after three
days on the
job
, now
downed
massive quantities in the form of coffee, tea, cokes, and even an occasional energy drink?

She closed her eyes
and
sipped
the
fragrant
creamy liquid,
her shoulder muscles unknot
ting
.
Her mind, immedi
ately more functional with the
caffeine, moved to the issue at hand—how to uncover whatever it
was that Elena was involved in
.

So far, the woman had effectively buried her with research, none of which moved her any closer to her goal—to get in, uncover
,
and get out—all as quickly as possible.

A
stockily
built woman with gray curly hair entered the room and plopped into a seat near where Grace stood.
“Hey
,
there
.
H
aven’t seen you before.
You
new
?”

Grace
moved closer to shake her hand
. “I’m Grace
Soldano
.”

A knowing look swept across the older woman’s face. “Oh, yeah, I heard about you. You’re the fresh meat.”

“Pardon me?”

“T
he fresh meat for our resident tiger lady.”

Tiger lady?
Was that Elena’s reputation around the office?
Based on
her experience over
the past three days it wasn’t all that unbelievable.

The woman guffaw
ed. “You already recognize
it as the gospel truth, don’t you
?” She laughed
again
, a wheeze
that
sounded like
she was
about t
o dissolve in
a coughing fit.
The
lady
lit a cigarette
, and a
puff of smoke shadow
ed her face before she exhaled and sent
the spiraling vapor
hurdling
toward Grace. “Yeah, you got the look all right. How long you been
here?
One
week or two?”

“Four
days.”

The woman dissolved into a fit of
raspy
laughte
r that ended in a harsh cough
. When she finally
brought
the barks
under control
, she took another puff.
“Mercy, child.
If you already look this bad, you probably won’t even come close to the record.”

“Record?”

“Th
e last one.
Stayed four weeks
.”

An uncomfortable tightness landed in Grace’s chest. All she’
d ever heard about Elena
before taking this job was that she was one of the finest prosecuting attorneys in the county. And
now
she had to find out the truth? Grace glanced toward the door. What would Elena do if she found her in the break room chatting with someone who could potentially
provide help with
the questions she so desperately needed answered?

Grace
t
ook a seat
. “Is she really that bad?”

“Guess that depends on your perspective.
And your definition of bad.
”
The woman
tapped her cigarette against the side of the
ashtray
. “I’m Peg. Work in the mail
r
oom.
I’ve seen it over and over.
You all come in here looking the same, stars and dollar signs in your eyes, your chest held high, certain that after a while under the tiger lady’s tutelage you’ll be the next great at
torney
.
But after a few weeks, you can’t take the punishment anymore and decide the price is too high. I’ve seen more than one leave with their tails tucked between their legs.”

“What kind of punishment?”

Peg’s
chuckled. “Y
ou’ve
obviously
not been on the receiv
ing end of her sharp tongue
.
”

Grace shook her head.

“Interesting.
You might have found favor with her.”

“If she’s as bad as you say, why don’t they get rid of her?”

“There’s the rub. She’s good at what she does.” Peg leaned
closer
, her smoker’s breath almost unbearable,
and lowered her voice. “Of c
ou
r
se there’s also hearsay that she has friends in high places.”

Finally
she was getting somewhere!

With a startling bang,
the door swung open and Elena
entered,
a tight smile at play on her lips. “There you are
, Grace
.
” Sh
e cast a
ferocious
glance at Peg
then
faced
Grace.
“
You
look like you’re hiding something.”

Grace forced a laugh, feigning a bravad
o she didn’t feel. “
You probably just saw me grimace at this coffee. Whoever made it li
kes it dark
and thick.” She moved to the sink to pour the delicious drink down the drain.

Elena cleared her throat, her voice dangerously quiet.
“As soon as you’re finished,
I need to see you.”

“Okay. Be right there.”
Sh
e didn’t turn
as she rinsed the cup.
Elena’s heels perform
ed
a staccato march across the tiled floors
. T
hen the door slammed
.
Grace placed
the cup in the dishwasher,
and
then
faced the door for a long mi
nute, gathering her
courage. As she passed the table, Peg reached out and grabbed her fore
arm
. S
he looked down into
the woman’s
rheumy
eyes.

“Don’t let her scare you. Stand your ground.”

“I’ll try.” Grace resumed her walk to the door.

Behind her Peg’s voice called out once more.
“Oh, and one more thing.”

Grace turn
ed. “What
’s that
?”

Peg lit up another cigarette and puffed a cloud of smoke. “
You might
wanna
put on
fire-retardant clothing
before this meeting
.” She laughed her way
into another round of
emphysemic
coughs.

Peg’s words turned out to be prophetic. As soon as Grace entered the office, Elena, who stood with several other attorneys around the conference table, called out to her. “Over here, Grace.”

She
moved to where they
were stationed
, doing her best to keep her shoulders back and her head held high
in spite of the fear searing through her veins
.

Elena held up a hand to silence the man she was speaking with and focused her attention on Grace.
“Would you mind
explaining why you were
in the break room less than two
hour
s
after lunch?”
All other conversation ceas
ed as many pairs of eyes turned her way.

“I
—I didn’t sleep well
last night
, so I went after a cup of coffee.”
She withered even further beneath Elena’s haughty stare.

“Let me make myself perfectly clear. I stuck my neck out for you to get you this job. I won’t have you tarnishing my reputation by gossiping with the girls in the break room.”