There was a knock on his door, and Eagle looked up to find Judge Eamon O'Hara standing there, accompanied by two lawyers he knew. He had thought all his guests had left. 'Come in, judge,' he said. 'Take a chair. Can I get you a drink?'
The judge and the two lawyers went to his sofa and sat down. 'Thanks, Ed, we've already had one. You know Dan and Enrico, don't you?'
'Of course. Glad to see you, fellows.' He pulled up a chair. 'What's up?'
'You know James Reardon, don't you?'
'Sure.' Reardon was a local lawyer.
'Well, Jimmy just blew his brains out in the courthouse men's room, about four hours ago.'
'I hadn't heard,' Eagle said. 'Has he got a family?'
'Wife and a child. He shot them at home this morning, before he came to the courthouse.'
'The man must have been stark raving.'
'If so, nobody noticed, certainly not me,' the judge said. 'Now Jimmy solved his own problem by eating his gun, but he didn't solve mine.'
'And what's your problem, judge?'
'Jimmy had three cases scheduled for trial in my court over the next six weeks: one fellow with half a dozen charges of burglary against him, another for repeated domestic abuse, and a triple murder. All were court-assigned. My guess is they'll all eventually plead out, but we haven't gotten around to that yet, and the public defender's office is overwhelmed at the moment, so I'm going to appoint you three hombres to the cases, and I'm not in the mood to take no for an answer. Everybody got that?'
Nobody said anything. This was an annoyance that came up from time to time, and since all three lawyers regularly tried cases in O'Hara's court, they weren't inclined to annoy him by begging off.
The judge reached into his pocket and came up with three toothpicks. He broke one in half, an end off another and left the third whole. Behind his back he rearranged them, then held them up so the ends were visible. 'Pick a straw, each of you.'
The two lawyers on the sofa each took one, concealing them, then Eagle took the remaining one. Then they held them up.
'Enrico,' the judge said, 'you got the long straw, so you get the domestic abuse, so to speak; Dan, the medium straw and the burglar is yours; and Ed, you got the short straw. Boys, the burglar and the wife beater are in the city jail; Ed, your triple murderer is in the local hoosegow.' He handed each of them a file. 'There are their particulars. I'll expect to hear from you early next week on whether you want to go to trial.'
Shit, Eagle thought. He didn't want to think about this right now. 'Thank you so much, judge,' he said.
The judge got to his feet. 'And let's keep the hours down, boys; I don't want you busting my budget.'
Eagle shook the hands of all three men, and they left.
Betty came in. 'What did the judge want?'
'He's dragged me into a triple homicide,' Eagle replied.
'Oh, was one of them Barbara?'
'Nope.'
'Too bad.'
Five
EAGLE ARRIVED AT SANTA CAFE ON TIME AND FOUND Wolf Willett already at the bar, sipping bourbon. Eagle ordered a Laphroaig, his favorite single-malt Scotch.
'I don't know why you drink that stuff,' Wolf said, nodding at the amber liquid in Eagle's hand.
'Nectar of the gods,' Eagle replied, 'unlike that Kentucky horse piss you drink.'
'It's the patriotic thing to do,' Wolf replied, raising his glass. 'Unlike that foreign camel sweat you imbibe. How'd the party go today?'
'The way it was supposed to, I guess,' Eagle said.
'You don't sound too happy about it. Or is it the thing with Barbara that's got you down.'
'Jesus, Wolf, I was in love with the woman, really I was.'
'I was in love with Julia, too, right up to the moment when she tried to kill me and take my money. At least, Barbara didn't try to kill you.'
'Maybe she did. She put Ambien in my wine last night; I found the bottle in her bathroom, empty. Maybe she didn't use enough; maybe she forgot to refill the prescription.'
'You didn't see this coming, then?'
'I guess that's what really pisses me off. I pride myself on being able to read people, but man, I didn't read her.'
The head waitress came to the bar. 'Your table is ready, Mr. Willett, Mr. Eagle.'
They got up and followed her into the next room, where she seated them by the fireplace. The aromas of pinon smoke and good food filled the space. They ordered dinner and a bottle of wine.
'Are you going to put the cops on her?' Wolf asked.
Eagle shook his head. 'She hasn't broken the law, just me.'
'She steals what, a million two? And that doesn't break the law?'
'She was authorized to sign on both accounts. The brokerage accounts, too, but I got to the broker five minutes before he wired her another four million.'
'Good timing. What are you going to do?'
'Well, forgiving her and inviting her back isn't going to work, since she obviously wants to be somewhere else.'
'With somebody else?'
'I have no idea.'
'So, what are your options?'
'As far as I can figure, two: let her keep the money and divorce her, or find her and kill her.'
'I hope you're not considering the second option.'
'No, I'm not mad enough at her-not yet, anyway-just disappointed.'
'Well, if you can get a divorce without giving her any more money, that wouldn't be such a bad deal.'
'I guess not.'
'Does she have any other money?'
'Her first husband was a jeweler in New York; he gave her a lot of diamonds, but I've no idea what they're worth.' He recalled that he had met Barbara in prison, after she had let her boyfriend through the security to rob her husband's business, and the boyfriend had shot the husband. She had turned state's evidence and gotten a short sentence, then had been paroled in a general release of nonviolent prisoners due to prison overcrowding.
'So, she should be pretty comfortable.'
'Not as comfortable as she was here,' Eagle said, 'but I guess she could live well enough in Mexico on what she's got. Of course, she was counting on another four million.'
Eagle's cell phone vibrated on his belt. 'Hello?'
'Ed, it's Cupie.'
'Where are you, Cupie?'
'In Mexico City.'
'Jesus, that was fast.'
'I connected with a good flight.'
'Any luck?'
'I got a list of expensive hotels here off the Internet before I left, and I started calling them on the airplane phone. She's registered at an elegant little inn called El Parador, very swish. I'm standing across the street now. What are your instructions?'
'If I told you to shoot her, would you?'
There was a brief silence. 'I wouldn't want to discuss that on the phone,' Cupie replied.
