didn’t think you could do something like that and the news not get out, did you?”
Fat birdie. Fraley. It had to be Fraley.
“I have absolutely no clue what you’re talking about, Sarge.”
He released the teenager and walked over and put his arm around my shoulders as I headed for the steps.
“Hell, son, I’m proud of you,” he said. “Any man that would beat on a woman deserves exactly what you gave him. I wish I coulda been there to help you, though the way I hear it, you didn’t need help.”
“Do me a favor, will you? Don’t spread it around.”
He let out a rich laugh. “Too late for that, counselor. Word’s already spread like jelly on a biscuit.”
On the way up the stairs I dialed Fraley’s number.
“Thanks a lot,” I said when he answered.
“For what?”
“How many people have you told about what happened the other night?”
There was a long silence. “Just a couple.”
“Great. In case you didn’t know it, what I did was against the law. It’s called battery.”
“What you did was karma,” he said. “What goes around comes around. Eye for an eye, all that shit. It was justice. And you did it with such conviction. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would’ve never believed it.”
“You need to tone it down. Mooney already knows about it. He’ll probably fire me as soon as I walk in the door.”
“Shit, I didn’t mean to cause you any-”
“Not your fault,” I said. “Somebody from the Crossville DA’s office called him.”
“Are they going to prosecute you?”
“I don’t think so. Just let it die down, okay? No more stories.”
Rita Jones was at her post in the reception area, smacking a piece of gum and wearing a turquoise sweater that clung to her like cellophane.
“Mr. Mooney would like you to come to his office,” she said. I noticed Alexander Dunn standing by the coffee pot, acting as though he weren’t paying attention.
I walked straight back to Lee’s office. His assistant waved me through without saying a word. I found him sitting at his desk, framed by the American and Tennessee flags, reading the newspaper. It seemed that every time I went into his office, he was reading the newspaper. Did he do anything else?
“Close the door and have a seat,” he said without looking up. His tone was firm and businesslike, unfriendly.
I set my briefcase on the floor and took a seat across from him. He folded his paper, removed his reading glasses, and sat there pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.
“Alexander was just in here,” he said. “He says you accused him of leaking information to the newspaper.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Didn’t waste any time, did he?”
“He said you threatened him.”
“That’s an exaggeration.”
“I knew there would be some resentment when I hired you, but I thought you were confident enough to overlook it.”
“There’s a difference between resentment and sabotage,” I said. “That article could have a tremendous effect on my case.”
He held up his hand. “I know. I know it could affect your case. Do you have any proof that it was Alexander who leaked it?”
“No, but there were only four people who knew what was going on: me, you, Beaumont, and Alexander. Beaumont had no reason to leak information to the press, I didn’t do it, and I don’t think you did. That leaves Alexander.”
“There are dozens of ways it could have gotten out. One of the guards at the jail might have overheard Boyer and Beaumont talking. One of Beaumont’s partners, one of his secretaries, a paralegal, anybody. He might have discussed it with Dunbar. Someone in our office might have overheard you talking on the phone. There’s just no way to be sure it was Alexander. Now, I want the two of you to cease fire, and I want you to make an effort to control your temper.”
As I sat there listening to him, I began to remember a few of the other reasons-besides money-that I never quite made it down to apply at the district attorney’s office. Interoffice politics. Nepotism. Lectures from the boss. It all seemed so silly, so ridiculous.
“I don’t think I have much of a temper,” I said.
“Really?” His brows rose and he began fingering his mustache. The habit was starting to annoy me.
“It takes a lot to set me off, Lee.”
“So what set you off last Wednesday?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. I got a call from the district attorney in Crossville.”
“Yeah, Alexander mentioned something about that.”
“You want to tell me about it?”
I looked down at my hands, suddenly ashamed. I felt like a schoolboy in a principal’s office.
“There’s this guy, Robert Godsey, used to be a probation officer here. He and my sister started dating. It got pretty serious, and then Godsey decided to transfer down to Crossville, where he grew up. So my sister follows him down there. And then Wednesday night I get a phone call and this woman tells me that Godsey has beaten my sister up. So I go. And when I saw her… I don’t know, Lee… I just snapped. Her eye was swollen shut and her lip was split and she had marks on her throat where he’d choked her. I went over to his house. I tried to convince myself just to talk to him, maybe scare him a little, but when I saw him standing in the door all I could think about was Sarah and how she looked, and I guess I sort of went off on him.”
“Sort of? You broke his nose and a couple of ribs.”
I shook my head. There wasn’t much I could say.
“The DA didn’t mention anything about him beating up your sister,” Mooney said. “I guess that’s why he’s not going to pursue it in court.”
“I’m sorry, Lee. I didn’t mean to cause you any problems.”
“He said someone else was with you. Who was it?”
“Just a friend. I’d rather not say. I called him and asked him to go. He was doing me a favor.”
He leaned forward on his elbows and rested his chin on his fists. “I like to keep a low profile, Joe. I like for my employees to do the same. This isn’t defense work, where you have to get yourself in the newspapers and on television to be noticed. The cases come to us whether we get publicity or not. You’ve handled yourself pretty well up to this point, but lately I see you making some questionable decisions. That little show in the courtroom the other day with Natasha, while amusing to some, was embarrassing to me. You had no business approaching her in the courtroom. And now you’ve gone to another district and assaulted a man, and I get a telephone call from an outraged district attorney who wants to know what the hell kind of people I’m hiring. This job is hard enough without having to deal with that kind of bullshit.”
“You’re right,” I said. “I apologize.”
“I knew Godsey when he was here, and I thought he was a jerk. And I know Alexander’s a snit, but my wife loves him and I’m stuck with him. Now, I don’t want to give you an ultimatum, Joe, but I don’t want to see any more of this kind of behavior. Do I make myself clear?”
I was so embarrassed I couldn’t look at him. I nodded.
“Good. Leave the door open on your way out.”
Two days later, I found myself standing with my hands against a gray block wall while a uniformed guard ran his hands up and down my arms, my back, stomach, chest, and legs. He clipped my driver’s license and my bar card
