"Merry! Over here!" Jane waved me over to a quiet table in the corner of Oleo's. She'd already ordered appetizers. She was my favorite lawyer for that reason. Well, and for being good at what she does of course.
"Thanks for ordering!" I said as I sat down and dug into the potato skins—all at once.
"I got you a burger and fries. I remember from last time." My lawyer grinned.
Jane Monaghan was a petite blonde powerhouse who at one time worked on my father's campaign. She had helped me recently, but this would be the first time she actually represented me directly. Considering how clever she was, I figured I was in the clear.
"I got the files from the sheriff's office. I have to be honest. At first glance, it doesn't look good."
Why did people keep saying that? I deflated like a popped balloon, but kept eating because not doing so would be wrong.
"Before we do anything." She pulled a pen and pad folio from her bag. "Why don't you tell me what happened?"
It took all of two minutes to explain. Seriously, there wasn't much more to going to bed at home and waking up in Bladdersly with a body.
Our food arrived, and I began to dig in.
"We can try to discredit the witness," Jane mused. "But we need to know what you really were doing that night."
I toyed with suggesting that the druids would alibi the Bird Goddess but decided against dragging them into this.
"I'll look into a few things," Jane continued. "Don't worry. It looks bad because they found you at the scene of the crime with the body, but everything else is questionable. I'll need to find out how they got that phone call transcription. That part seems dicey."
"Have they found the weapon?" I took a breath from inhaling french fries.
Jane thought about this before answering. "No. They think it was a stiletto knife. And if they find it, it could have your fingerprints on it. If I were framing you, I'd place the knife in your hand."
"Then why wasn't it at the scene?" I asked.
"A valid question. I need to dig around on some statutes. But don't worry. It looks bad on the surface, but there's nothing solid beneath."
While she ate, I told her about my troop and how they wanted to help. Then I went off the rails with some interesting stories about Betty.
"She may need my services by the time she's a teenager," Jane laughed. "Either that or she'll make a crack investigator."
I nodded. "It's kind of a fine line between law and crime with her. But we have a few years yet…I think."
I snatched up the check when it came and paid it. Jane protested, but I told her that since I was giving her such a problematic case, the least I could do was buy her lunch. I left Oleo's and went home feeling better about the whole thing.
I was even cheered by the fact that, as a ten-year-old, Betty already had a lawyer waiting to represent her should she pursue a life of crime.
"In my professional opinion, it looks bad, Merry," Rex said later, back at home. "They've got a ridiculously credible witness who saw you shove Tyson into the building and heard him scream."
"Witnesses can be bribed," I said as I poured a glass of wine.
His right eyebrow went up. "By who? Who bribes a retired pastor into lying to convict someone of murder?"
"It's not that strange. Once, in Estonia, I bribed a Greek Orthodox priest to rat out his bishop. It only cost me a llama and five pigeons." I pointed my glass at him. "And if you think it's hard to find a llama in Estonia…you'd be right."
"Merry." Rex ran his hands through his hair. "This is no joke. You have to take this seriously."
"I'm not joking. Bribing Father Kokkinos was a hard sell! It took me weeks to land that deal!"
Rex sat in a chair. "It doesn't help that Bryce Vanderzee is calling for your head. He really doesn't like you."
"About that." I set down my glass of wine as Philby, my cat who looked like Hitler, entered the room. "Why doesn't he like me? I've never met the man."
His dark eyes studied me. "Your reputation precedes you, I'm afraid. He knows that you've meddled in several cases here and in the county."
"I haven't meddled," I groused. "I've investigated."
"You've meddled, and you know it," my husband insisted.
Philby trotted over to my wineglass. She sat her enormous bulk down and looked from it to me.
"Don't do it," I warned.
Philby cocked her head to one side. She stood up and kicked the glass over with her back leg. Then she sat down and stared at me again.
"She hasn't forgiven you for bringing home the golden poison frog." Rex pointed at the intruder in question. The frog swallowed.
I scooped up my glass that fortunately hadn't broken. "Rufus isn't bothering her in the least. He's in his terrarium."
As I walked to the kitchen, I gave the frog a little nod. He blinked. We had a bond. At least, I think we did. After returning to the kitchen with paper towels and cleaning up the mess, I sat back down sans glass of wine, which made me sad.
"Philby." I stroked her fur. "You are my first pet. How can anyone replace you?"
The feline führer narrowed her eyes.
"You've even helped me solve cases…"
"Meddle in cases," Rex amended.
I ignored him. "You have nothing to worry about. That frog won't replace you."
"She's waiting for you to get another glass of wine," Rex pointed out.
"I'm not wasting another glass. That's the wine from New Zealand by the guy who was in Jurassic Park! I will, however, have a glass of the cheap chardonnay."
Rex sighed as he got to his feet. "This conversation is not over. I'm worried about you."
I waved him off. "Riley and Kelly are helping me."
He paused in the doorway. "You hired Riley's firm?"
"No, of course not. He owes me. This one is pro bono."
Rex stretched his six-foot-three frame. "And how much has he done so far?"
"And Sheriff Carnack is on the case." I shook my head. "You worry needlessly. Ed Carnack is always on my side."
"About that…" My husband came over and started to rub my shoulders, which was either a good sign or a bad one.
"What?"
His fingers dug into my shoulders. "Since Bryce Vanderzee is back, Carnack had to hand the case over to him."
I turned to look at him. "He's back?" Then I faced forward and indicated that he should go back to massaging me.
"And he's fast-tracking it. He's been bragging that you're going to be his big catch." Rex let go and went into the kitchen.
"You'd better bring me the whole bottle," I shouted. "Of the good stuff."
I stared at Rufus. He gulped. I totally agreed.