Show of Evil

Guido, a chunky, little man with a great mop of silver hair and a permanent smile, led Vail to the corner table. While still the state's most feared defence advocate, Vail had established the booth as his own. There he could eat, read, or talk business in relative seclusion. A few barflies hugged the long oak and marble bar and a half-dozen tables were occupied. Conversation was a low rumble.

Vail ordered a glass of red wine and settled down to read what the Trib had to say about Yancey and the bodies in the city dump, both of which were prominently displayed on page one. He didn't see Jane Venable until she appeared beside him at the table. He was genuinely surprised when he looked up and saw her and it was a moment before he reacted. He stood up, throwing the paper aside.

'I don't know what I'm doing here. I must be crazy! I guess I'm as tired of that bunch of hucksters as you are and…'

She was babbling to cover her embarrassment, obviously having second thoughts about following the man she had ignored - and who had ignored her - for a decade. Vail held a chair for her.

'You don't have to apologize to me for anything,' he said quietly. 'Ever.'

'I'm not apologizing, I'm…'

'Glad to be here?' he suggested.

She glared at him for a moment and then her consternation dissolved into a sheepish grin as she sat down opposite him.

'It has been ten years,' she said sheepishly.

'Well, we've been busy,' he said casually. 'What are you drinking?'

'I'll have a glass of champagne. If I switch to something else, I'll end up on my nose.'

'Eddie,' Vail called to a nearby waiter. 'Champagne for the lady and I'll have the same. Why don't you just bring us a bottle? Taittinger '73 would be nice.'

They sat without speaking for half a minute, then both started speaking at the same time and then stopped and laughed.

'Hell, Janie, it's time we started acting like grown-ups.

'Why not? You've been divorced for what, two years? I'm free as a bird.'

She seemed surprised that he knew anything about her personal life. 'Been keeping track of me, have you, Lawyer Vail?' she asked.

He did not answer. He was looking across the table, his eyes directly on hers. Their gazes locked for several seconds and she finally broke the stare.

'The one that got away, huh,' she said, reaching for a cigarette.

'If I thought about all the ones that got away I wouldn't have time to do anything else.'

She laughed. 'I suppose we have been acting juvenile, haven't we?'

'Maybe it's just the right time and the right place, Janie.'

'I've told you before, Martin, nobody calls me Janie.'

 'Except me,' he said, taunting her. 'What're you gonna do, get me arrested? I'm the friggin' DA.'

'Somewhat reluctantly, I assume,' she answered.

'Want a job?'

'Why, are you quitting?'

He whistled softly through his teeth. 'You haven't lost your edge, I see. So why do you suppose we're sitting here, Janie?'

She shrugged. 'We're both forty…? she suggested.

 'Plus,' he added ruefully.

'We both hate cocktail parties?'

 'We both hate lawyers?'

'Good one,' she said.

 'Or maybe we're both just lonelier than hell.'

'I can only speak for myself,' he said. 'I've missed you. Me and every other male who ever saw you in a courtroom. You really turned it all on. You were a real dazzler - the Hope diamond of the Cook County Courthouse. Don't you miss it? The roar of the courtroom, the smell of the crowd?'

'I still have my days in court.'

'Not like the old days. Defending polluters in civil cases really ain't the same.'

'Come on, Vail, I did one.'

'And won, unfortunately.'

'Hey…' she started, anger creeping into her tone.