'So are you doing it?'
'Nah. Too big a risk. When I bought the warehouse, I knew in my gut
that the Pearl was going up. I didn't know just how far up I hit the
lottery in that sense but I knew I was ahead of the market. With
Glenville, the market's already full of people gambling that the
growth's going to continue. It didn't make sense to get in this late
in the game.'
'So no Lockworks for Glenville.'
'Right. Anyway, getting a second shop off the ground would have been a
major pain in the ass. Who needs it?'
'All that work might get in the way of hanging out with me,' I said.
'Couldn't let that happen.'
The waitress stopped to clear our plates. I left a token morsel on the
plate, so I could tell myself I didn't eat the whole platter. Grace
took great pleasure in telling the waitress she was still working on
it.
'And how's the rest of the new job? Are you going to share your toys
with the other kids this time around?'
'My problems, Grace, are never with the other kids. They're with the
supposed grown-ups watching over us.'
Grace knew about some of the run-ins I'd had with coworkers in the
office, all of whom happened to be my superiors. She says I have a
problem with authority. I say my only problem is that the assholes are
the ones who get promoted.
'And what lucky soul gets to put up with you now?' she asked.
'It's hard to believe, but he seems pretty decent so far. Supposedly
he makes people cry, but I've never actually heard that from anyone
firsthand.'
'Does the new boss have a name?' she asked.
'That would be one Senior Deputy District Attorney Russell Frist,' I
said, deepening my voice into the best Frist boom I could muster.
'Resident weight-lifting crew-cut-wearing stud muffin.'
Grace was smirking.
'What?'
'I can't decide whether to tell you,' she said.
'Well, you have to now. You can't announce that there's something to
be said and then hold out on me.'
After the requisite symbolic pause, she said, 'Fine,' as if I'd dragged
it out of her. 'I don't repeat the things clients tell me, but I
suppose there's no harm in telling you that someone's a client. I know
Russell Frist from the salon.'
'Big bad butch Russ Frist goes to Lockworks? For a crew-cut?'
'Nope, not the hair. No point paying sixty bucks for that.'
'Oh, please tell me that you wax his back,' I pleaded.
'Not that good. But he does get a monthly no-polish manicure and pays
extra for the paraffin wrap.'
When I got back to the office, I was still in a good mood from my big
food and small secret. The rest of the office might think of Frist as
a mister scary, but I knew he had soft hands. I like people who are
hard to sum up. They make life interesting.
My first stop was to see Jessica Walters.
She was leaning back in her chair with her stocking feet on the desk,
one hand holding the phone to her ear, the other tapping her trademark
pencil on her armrest. The person on the other end of the line was
having a bad day that was getting worse as the conversation
continued.
'You're smoking crack if you think I'll agree to probation.... I don't
care if your guy's in denial, Conaughton. As far as I'm concerned, the
most important part of your job is to smack him out of it. I'm not the
one who needs a talking to, but you'd rather waste my time from the
comfort of your office than haul yourself to county for a much-needed
sit-down.. .. I'm hanging up now, because it's not going to happen.
Either take the forty months or confirm the trial date. Call me back
with anything else and I'll stop talking to you.'
She set the handpiece in its cradle as gently as if she'd been checking
the weather.
'Close case?' I asked.
'Typical plea-bargaining bullshit. They're never as close as the
defense wants you to think.'
