Until You Come Back To Me, Book 5 (10 page)

“Was
a copy made?”

“Yes,
sir.
 
I included that too.”

Sal
nodded, and accepted the tape.
 
“Now get
your ass out of my building.”

Jody’s
heart sunk.
 
“You mean I’m fired, sir?”

Sal
couldn’t believe he asked such a question.
 
“No.
 
I’m giving you a paid
vacation.
 
Of course your ass fired!
 
You weren’t in charge,
Sannie
was, and that’s why you’re still standing.
 
But I don’t ever want to see your face again.”

“Yes,
sir,” Jody said, and then he took off.

Sal
looked back at the unconscious, beaten body of Santino Druce again.
 
He wasn’t dead, he was going to pull through,
but it was going to be a painful recovery.
 
Then Sal shook his still-aching knuckle.
 
“Fucking head harder than a fucking rock,” he said angrily, and then
left too.

Two
days later and he and Gemma were at the Fern, a restaurant in Vegas, waiting
for Ted Coggan and his client to arrive.
  

“Where
are these people?” Sal asked as he tossed another handful of nuts into his
mouth.
 
They had been waiting for nearly
half an hour.

Gemma
sent a text to Ted ten minutes ago, explaining to the man that she might have
time to waste, but her husband absolutely didn’t.
 
It was a miracle that he could make it at
all.
 
Ted text her back, stating that he
understood and they were on their way.

“They
should be here in a few minutes,” Gemma responded.

“It
better be a few minutes,” Sal said, “or we’re leaving.
 
Who does he think he is?”

“He’s
a renowned attorney who’s accustomed to people waiting on him.”

“We
aren’t those people,” Sal made clear.

“Agreed,”
Gemma said.
 

She
was pleased that Sal could come at all, and now for Ted to be this late was
upsetting.
 
She even considered leaving
now, just to prove to him how much they weren’t those people, but it didn’t
matter.
 
He arrived.

“Here
he comes now,” Gemma said when she noticed his presence in the restaurant.
 

When
Sal saw him he nodded his head.
 
Then
looked at his wife.
 
“And you have the
nerve to talk about me.”

Gemma
was confused.
 
“What do you mean?”

“Me
and my weakness for blondes is no different than you and your weakness for
muscular black guys.
 
Guys like
him.”
 
Sal nodded toward the approaching
Ted Coggan.

Gemma
couldn’t help but smile.
 
“I may have a
thing for muscular black guys,” she admitted, “but nothing like the thing I
have for you.”

Sal
laughed.
 
He had a smart wife.
 
Smart enough to throw back at him the very
same explanation he had thrown at her.
 
“So what are you trying to tell me?
 
Two can play that game?”

Gemma
liked that reasoning.
 
“Two can play that
game,” she said.

And
then Ted was upon them.
 

“Hello,
folks,” he said as he arrived.
 
“Sorry
I’m late.”
 
He extended his hand to
Sal.
 
“You must be Gemma’s better half?”

Sal
stood to shake his hand.
 
“She’s my
better half,” he said, “but I get your joke.
 
Sal Gabrini,” he said as they shook.

“Ted
Coggan, Sal.
 
Nice to meet you.”
 
Both men sat down.

“Where’s
our client?” Gemma asked him.

“She
slipped away to the restroom.”
 
Ted sat
down across from Gemma.
 
Sal sat down
too, and took the measure of the man.
 
Good looking.
 
Accomplished.
 
Muscular like Gemma liked her men.
 
Sal kept his eyes on Ted Coggan.

“Is
she still unconvinced?” Gemma asked Ted.

“In a
word?
 
Yes.
 
She doesn’t believe anybody can represent her
better than I can.”

“But
did you explain to her your dilemma?”

“I
did,” Ted said.

“What
dilemma is that?” Sal asked.

“Jurors
tend to use my previous consultation work on the O.J. trial as some kind of
stain against my character,” Ted explained.
 
“Sometimes they can overlook it, but other times they can’t.
 
We included some questions regarding that
aspect of my resume during
voir
dire
, which
is a fancy French word for
to speak the
truth
, but is the process we call jury questioning and jury selection.
 
The answers that came back made it clear to
me that I cannot be first chair at the upcoming trial, or my client is
doomed.
 
That’s why I asked your wife to
be lead counsel.”

“But
why her?” Sal asked.
 
“If it’s all about
a victory for your client, there’s got to be a ton of lawyers in this town with
a better win-loss record than hers.
 
So
why my wife?
 
If it’s not because of her
skills, what exactly is it?
 
Her looks,
her body, what?”

Gemma
didn’t like that Sal was going down this road, but it wouldn’t be him if he
didn’t.
 
He was convinced that every man
this side of living wanted her and no matter how ludicrous that was to Gemma,
she could not dissuade his belief.
 
Besides, she didn’t exactly stand mute herself when she saw the makeup
of his personal staff.
 
Her hands weren’t
clean either.

Gemma
could also tell that Ted was more than a little perturbed by Sal’s
accusation.
 
“I selected your wife,” Ted
said, “because I felt she was the best fit for this case.”

“Meaning?”
Sal asked him.

“She’s
smart, she’s sharp, and she’s ethical.
 
She, in fact, is known around town for her high moral standards.
 
That tipped the scale in her favor.”

Sal
nodded, and then smiled.
 
“Good answer,”
he said, and Ted laughed.

After
the waitress arrived at their table and took drink orders from Ted, who also
ordered for his client, the client finally arrived.
 
Sal was responding to a text message from his
office when
Rabina
Chen, a very small, but very
attractive Asian woman, arrived at their table.
 
Gemma knew she was small, but she didn’t know how attractive she
was.
 
“There she is,” Ted said, rising to
his feet to greet her, and Sal looked up from his phone.

When
Sal looked up, his heart fell through his shoe.
 
He frowned.
 
It couldn’t be
, he said to himself.
 
He kept his eyes on
Rabina
as Ted introduced
her to Gemma and then turned to introduce her to Sal.
 
But Sal didn’t even hear the
introduction.
 
He was too busy staring at
the Asian beauty.
 
Gemma looked at him
when he didn’t respond, and was stunned by what she saw.
 
Sal looked as if he had just seen a
ghost.
 
Or a lover
.

“Did
you hear me, Sal?” Ted asked him.
 
“I
want you to meet
Rabina
Chen, my friend and client.”

Sal
managed to grunt out a dry
how are you
as she sat down beside Ted.
 
But it was
obvious to everybody at that table: Sal and
Rabina
knew each other.
 
Which was a surprise
more to Gemma than to Ted.
 
She waited
for an explanation.

But
none came.
 
Rabina
began talking about how much she loved gambling in Vegas, and Ted began talking
about the case.
 
Sal didn’t volunteer
anything by way of conversation, and Gemma was too unsettled to contribute much
herself.
 
But the end of the evening did
surprise her:
Rabina
wanted her on the team.

“But
I want to make sure you understand,” Gemma said to her.
  
“I won’t just be on the team.
 
During trial, I’ll be the lead attorney.
 
Ted will give me insights and direction, most
certainly, but the final trial decisions will be mine to make.
 
I want to make sure you understand that.”

“I
understand,”
Rabina
said.
 
“You will be boss.
  
I understand.”

It
was Gemma who didn’t understand.
 
“Why
the change in heart?” Gemma asked her.
 
“Ted said you weren’t at all onboard with the idea.
 
Why the change?”

“I
met you face to face.
 
You will do, I
believe.”
 
Then she smiled and looked at
Sal.
 
“And I know you come from a good
place.
 
I am happy to have you on my
team.
 
In the leader.
 
Not leader.
 
In the lead.
 
I am happy to have
you in the lead.”

“Now
that that’s settled,” Ted said, lifting his glass, “let’s toast to victory.”

They
all raised their glasses in a toast, but Gemma couldn’t help but glance at her
husband.
 
His entire demeanor had
changed.

“Excuse
me,” Sal finally said, and then headed for the men’s room.
 

Rabina
smiled and looked at Gemma.
 
“What
is going on with your husband?” she asked.

As if you don’t know
, Gemma wanted to say.
 
But she wasn’t the kind of woman to go off
half-cocked.
 
She needed to know
more.
  
She needed to see if this woman,
outside of Sal’s presence, would give her more.
 
“What do you mean?” she asked instead.

“He
is, how do I say it?
 
Tense, no?”

Ted
smiled and tossed his napkin onto the table.
 
“He’s probably bored,” Ted said.
 
He began getting up.
 
“I’ll be
back.”

Ted
got up and left.
 
As Gemma suspected, he
headed for the restrooms too.
 
She leaned
back.
 
She could have gotten this woman
to confide in her and tell her exactly what was going on, but she wouldn’t
believe her over Sal anyway.
 
She needed
to hear it from Sal.

But
as Ted entered the men’s room and saw Sal at one of the sinks washing his
hands, the last thing on Sal’s mind was telling Gemma what was going on.
 
He was still trying to figure that out
himself.
 
And when Ted entered and,
instead of going to a urinal, he walked up to him, he figured he was about to
get some answers.
 

Ted
glanced under the couple of stalls in the bathroom, saw that nobody was sitting
in them, and then he looked again at Sal.
 
“She wants to meet with you,” he said.

Sal
grabbed a paper towel and began drying his hands.
 
“Where?” he asked.

“Not
here in Vegas.
 
In Spring Valley.
 
A place called the Wolverine.
 
She’ll be there tomorrow night, around ten.”

“Will
you be there too?”

Ted
smiled.
 
“I’m an officer of the court,”
he said.
 
“Are you kidding?”

“Why
did you pull my wife into this shit?” Sal asked.
 
“I don’t appreciate that.”

“You
will,” Ted said, “after you meet with
Rabina
.”
 
And then he smiled again, and went to one of
the urinals.

The drive back home was quiet.
 
Sal drove his Porsche, not in that usual fast
way he often drove, but like a man with nowhere to be.
 
Gemma still couldn’t get over that
dinner.
 
Sal looked floored by seeing
Rabina
Chen, and she seemed pleased to see him, but neither
one of them acknowledged any link whatsoever.
 
Even Ted didn’t bring it up, which Gemma found equally odd, since he
didn’t seem to want to explore the nature of their relationship either.
 
Now she was on the passenger seat looking at
her husband, and wondering when he would tell her something.
 
So far, he drove in silence.