Reflexively, Scott ran a hand through his shaggy mop. Next, he expected his mother to straighten his tie, tuck in his shirttail, and remind him to eat his veggies.
“ No time, Mom. We pick a jury in the morning.”
She sighed her disapproval. For a moment, Scott stared at his mother, marveling at her elegance. A gold silk embroidered jacket with a matching skirt falling just below the knees. Armani or Gucci, he figured. Grey hair stylishly cut, glacial blue eyes and a still-firm chin.
“ So what’s up, Mom? I’m a little busy.”
“ I’m here to help. It’s not like you’re in court every day. Not like your father. Now there was a lawyer.”
As opposed to me?
“ And there was a man,” she added, wistfully.
Ditto, he thought.
“ So, what’s the motive, Scottie?” his mother said.
Scottie.
Jeez, how many times had he asked her not to call him that?
He turned to his imaginary jury. “And just why did Dr. Macklin kill his wife? Because he was deeply in debt, his psychology practice foundering. Because Mrs. Macklin planned to divorce him, and she was his cash cow.”
“ Cash cow? Dear God, what a vulgarity. Why not call her his femme de miel?”
“ If I get any Parisians on the jury, I will.”
His mother lowered herself into one of the conference chairs. She gracefully crossed her legs and reached into her handbag, some Italian number made of supple leather the color of hay and soft as butter. She tapped a cigarette out of a blue Gauloises Blondes box and said, “Sometimes, Scottie, I wonder if you’re cut out for criminal law.”
“ The voters of Santa Barbara County think I am.”
“ Oh, come dear. They didn’t know they were voting for Scott Gardner, Junior. ”
That again. In any contest with his father, he would always come in second. Scott Gardner, Sr. had been D.A. for a dozen years before going back into private practice with his wife. Gardner amp; Gardner, LLP. For all those messy problems of the monied folk with big houses in the hills of Montecito and on the cliffs above the beach.
So, sure, Scott knew that a lot of voters mistakenly thought his old man was making a comeback, even though he’d been residing in a cemetery overlooking the Pacific for the past three years.
“ God, how I miss your father,” she said, lighting a cigarette in violation of state, county, and city laws.
“ Me too, Mom.”
“ I should never have gotten remarried.”
“ After what you and Dad had, you were bound to be disappointed.”
Scott once told his mother that her marriage was a lot like the Reagans’. Husband and wife adoring each other and basically ignoring their children.
She didn’t deny the charge, saying simply that little tadpoles need to swim on their own, or something to that effect.
She tilted her head toward the ceiling and exhaled a puff of smoke. “So what’s your proof this wasn’t an accident?”
“ Seventeen minutes. The car’s clock stopped at 10:18 P.M. Macklin called 9-1-1 at 10:35. What was he doing for seventeen minutes?”
“ Maybe he was in shock.”
“ Paramedics say he was fine.” Scott smiled, letting her know he’d covered that base, just like good old Dad would have done. “Say, have you eaten? Kristin’s stopping by with cheeseburgers.”
“ Cheeseburgers?” Making the word sound like “herpes sores.”
“ And fries.”
“ Kristin never did learn to cook, did she?”
“ Don’t start, Mom.”
“ I’m amazed she’s kept her figure. Must have been all that exotic dancing.”
“ Mom, she was a Laker Girl.”
“ So she was. A regular Isadora Duncan.”
“ If you want a burger, tell me now, and I’ll catch Kristin at the In ‘n Out.”
“ I’d rather eat glass.” She tapped cigarette ash into an empty coffee cup. “What makes you think Macklin didn’t dive into the water and pound on the car windows for seventeen minutes?”
“ He never claimed he did. Not a word to the cops at the scene or in the hospital. What does that tell you?”
“ His silence is inadmissible.”
“ I’m just saying, would an innocent man keep quiet?”
“ Maybe. If he had to think things through.”
“ Why? To plan his lies for trial?”
“ To tell a painful truth that would nonetheless prove his innocence.”
“ What are you talking about?”
“ The holes in your case.”
“ Hey, Mom. It’s one thing to play devil’s advocate, but I’ve been over this a hundred times. There are no holes.”
“ Do you remember the night of the crash?”
“ Hard to forget. The sheriff called me at home. I was at the scene in fifteen minutes.”
His mother exhaled a perfect smoke ring. She’d learned the trick from his father. “Did the lovely Kristin go with you?”
He thought a second. “No. She wasn’t home.”
“ Ten-thirty at night. Where was she, donating blood at the Red Cross?”
“ It was a Thursday. Girls’ night out. Racquetball.”
“ Was she there when you got back?”
“ Of course. I didn’t get home until nearly dawn. Kristin was asleep.”
“ How was she in the morning?”
“ I don’t understand the question, Counselor.”
“ Yes, you do. I always told your father you were brighter than you appear.”
“ Gee, thanks Mom.”
“ Was Kristin stiff or sore? Was she visibly injured in any way?”
“ What’s that got to do with-”
“ The witness shall answer the question.”
Fine, he’d play along. “I wouldn’t call it an injury. She had a bruised cheekbone from getting hit with a racquetball.”
“ Easily covered, I suppose, by all that Estee Lauder foundation she trowels on.”
The intercom rasped with a woman’s voice. “Honey, can you buzz me in?”
“ Only if you’re bringing food.” Scott hit a button and heard the lock double-click open.
“ We haven’t much time,” his mother said. “Don’t make me go through this when you already know the answer.”
“ Mom, I swear I don’t even know the question.”
“ You’re in denial, Scottie.”
“ Of what?”
“ Let’s say that Mrs. Macklin was supposed to be traveling that fateful evening. But a marine layer rolled in, and the Lear couldn’t get out of the municipal airport.”
“ Okay, she’s fogged in.”
His mother laughed, the sound of church bells pealing. “Oh my, yes. Was she ever fogged in. Anyway, she comes home and finds her husband in bed with a young woman. The woman was astride the miscreant in what I believe they call the cowgirl position, and sure as shooting, her whoops and hollers would have been appropriate for a rodeo.”
