my grandfather.”
Judy fell momentarily speechless. Frank was turning the tables on her, and she didn’t like it much. His voice carried authority and weight, and she couldn’t let him win, for Pigeon Tony’s sake or her own. Frank’s words attacked the law she had been trained in, believed in, and had even come to love. Judy’s speechlessness stretched into two moments, which worried her.
“John and Marco Coluzzi are not about to let this pass, Judy. They’ll come looking for him. That’s what sure as hell is going to happen next. What would you have me do then? He’s my grandfather. And your client.”
Judy threw up her hands. “If that’s true, then why did I just get him out on bail? Why didn’t we leave him in jail?”
“No, we did the right thing. He’d be in more danger in jail. On the outside I can protect him, and it’s my job to protect him. Your laws are going to be useless.”
“Why?”
“Because the Coluzzis are too smart for your laws. They have been so far. They have money and power, and they’ll get to him if we let them. Your laws can’t arrest anybody until
Pigeon Tony nodded sadly. “
“Fair enough,” Judy said to Frank suddenly. “I’ll give you that your grandfather may be in jeopardy. But we have to investigate this case, to build a defense. We have to go forward. So you protect him your way, and I’ll protect him mine. You fight back, only to save him, and I’ll use the law.”
Frank broke into a relieved smile. “You want to bet on who wins?”
“I can’t take your money,” Judy told him. “Now let’s go.”
Judy had no religion per se, but she did believe in karma, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and Vincent van Gogh. In fact, she was sure it was her terrific karma that had sent her boss out of the office when she had arrived with her battered clients. She hoped she had enough in her reserve tanks to get out of the conference room as cleanly. She had changed back into her yellow clogs to help her escape, and also for obvious style reasons.
She cracked the conference room door to check if the coast was clear. Her eyes swept the office. A square, open meeting area with fancy blue carpet, ringed by lawyers’ offices with secretaries’ desks in Dilbert cubicles in front of each. Printers were printing. Keyboards were clacking. Lawyers were yapping. Secretaries were doing the real work. All was in order. And no boss.
Judy snuck out of the conference room with Frank and Mr. Di-Nunzio at her side. The Three Tonys, which sounded like an operatic trio but wasn’t, trailed behind. The secretaries averted their eyes pointedly as the injured passed, the way the nicest people avoid gaping at car accidents, but the lawyers contributed to gaper block. Murphy and Murphy’s lawyers, wasting time in the hallway, stared as Judy approached. And Murphy’s lined lips parted when she spotted Frank, though Judy wasn’t sure whether her reaction was due to the fact that he was so good-looking or that he was so good-looking even with an open wound.
“These are my clients,” Judy said to Murphy’s lawyers, as they passed them. “Please don’t drool, stare, point, or laugh. Just say good-bye.”
Murphy thrust a manicured hand at Frank. “I would never do such a thing. You must be Frank Lucia. I saw you on TV.”
“Yes, you did,” Judy said. The courthouse fight qualified as Action News. “Now, say good-bye.”
“Hello,” Murphy said to Frank, ignoring Judy. She shook Frank’s hand, and he shook back, which Judy noticed with disapproval. “That was quite a show you put on at the courthouse. Everybody throwing punches, even outside, when the cops tried to break it up. The news guy said it was the biggest brawl they ever had there.”
Frank smiled. “He was just being modest.”
Murphy laughed, as did her friends, since that was their job. And the only job for which they were qualified. Judy had had enough.
“Well, we have to go. Say good-bye.”
“But aren’t you going to introduce me?” Murphy asked, and Judy gritted her teeth. Murphy wasn’t interested in meeting The Three Tonys.
“Frank Lucia, this is Murphy. She uses only one name. Nobody knows why. Now let’s go.”
“Nice meeting you,” Frank told Murphy, as Judy took his arm. She wanted to avoid Bennie, and, okay, she was a little jealous of Murphy. She was allowed to have more than one reason for doing something. She was a complex girl.
They headed for the reception room followed by The Three Tonys, who no longer reminded Judy of anything musical but rather of those municipal trucks that were signed SLOW-MOVING VEHICLE. They shuffled across the plush carpet, war-weary, and though she felt sorry for them, she wanted to go. They had almost made it to the reception desk when Judy’s karma reserves ran out.
“Just the lawyer I want to see!” Bennie boomed, bustling into the office, carrying her heavy briefcase and two newspapers under her arm. She stopped momentarily, introduced herself to Frank and The Slow-Moving Vehicle, and smiled for their benefit. The smile remained fixed as she yanked a newspaper from underneath her elbow and handed it to Judy. “Judy, I have to get to my office, but I thought you might like to have this. You may want it for your scrapbook. And this story is very informative. Looks like your boxing lessons are paying off.”
“Thank you,” Judy said, also for the clients’ benefit, and opened the
“Apparently. This isn’t the kind of thing you want to do too often, Judy. Assault and battery in a courthouse, that is.” Bennie turned to Frank, and at least she was still smiling. “By way of explanation, we at Rosato and Associates usually confine our felonies to the office.”
Frank smiled grimly. “Don’t blame Judy for this. It’s on me, and she has already dressed us down. I know it doesn’t help our case. It won’t happen again. Sorry about that.”
Bennie waved it away and took off. “No need to apologize,” she called back. “Not if you won.”
“We did,” Frank answered, calling after her, and as Bennie hurried to her office, she shot him a thumbs- up.
It left Judy and The Senior Citizens standing there in amazement, until Judy realized she had to get rolling. She grabbed her telephone messages from the receptionist on the way out and paged through the soft pink slips on the way to the elevator. Three were from opposing counsel in her civil case, one was from the general counsel in Huartzer, and one was from Mary. She’d ignore all but the GC’s and Mary’s for the time being. Her e-mail would go unread, her voicemail unchecked.
She had Italians to defend.
Chapter 9
Judy was relieved to find there was no press outside the office, and the only congestion was the standard rush-hour traffic on a warm evening. The sun dropped low, a cool, fiery disk edging behind the buildings, filling the twilight sky with a dusky orange wash. Businesspeople flowed onto the sidewalk from the buildings lining Locust Street, their heads bobbing as they moved en masse to the PATCO train station to New Jersey at the end of the street. Couples walked hand in hand, heading for the ritzy shops and restaurants in Center City. Judy noticed Frank’s eyes scanning the crowd, his smooth brow a worried wrinkle, and she realized it wasn’t the press he was worried about. She edged closer to Pigeon Tony, though it was hard to believe the threat was real.
She and Frank herded Tony-From-Down-The-Block and Tony Two Feet into a cab with Mr. DiNunzio, directing them to their respective houses. She and Frank grabbed the second cab, sliding into the backseat with Pigeon Tony in the middle. Judy and Frank were roughly the same height, but Pigeon Tony, squeezed between them, came only
