“Ellie Foreman.”
“Georgia Davis.” It was barely eight in the morning, but Georgia was too wired to sleep. She had already downed two cups of coffee.
“Hey, Georgia. Good morning. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, you?” She forced herself to engage in the necessary conversational niceties. They were important to Foreman. “How’s Rachel?”
“When I hear from her, which is about once a quarter, she’s fine.” Ellie’s daughter was now in college, but Georgia had known Rachel before Foreman. Georgia had been the youth officer on the force, and Ellie’s teen daughter had needed some “guidance.”
“So how is he?” Ellie asked.
“How is who?”
“Don’t play coy. Jimmy told us he was taking you to dinner the other night.”
Georgia blinked. “He did.” An awkward silence followed.
“Well,” Ellie said after a few beats, “I guess that’s all I’m going to hear.”
Georgia kept her mouth shut.
Ellie cleared her throat. “So what can I do for you?”
“Ellie, I’m working on…a case, and I need to talk to a lawyer who handles adoptions. For couples who—live around here.”
“Around here?”
“You know, on the North Shore.”
“You mean couples who have money.”
“Would you happen to know someone like that?”
She laughed. “It would be hard not to. Know people with money, I mean.” She paused. “As for a lawyer, you’re in luck. The lawyer who handled my divorce handles adoptions too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. She gets them coming and going.” Another chuckle. “Actually, that’s not fair. She’s a good lawyer. I like her.”
“Can I call her?”
“Of course. Her name is Pam Huddleston. She has an office downtown, near the Daley Center. Plus a satellite office in Winnetka.”
“That’s convenient.”
“She thought so too. Oh—be prepared.”
“For what?”
“Pam doesn’t mince words. She’ll tell it to you straight. And she swears like a sailor.”
“I think I can handle it.” Georgia wrote down the number Foreman gave her. “Hey, thanks, Ellie. I owe you.”
“Okay. How about this?”
“Excuse me?”
Ellie’s voice went flat. “How about you remember that Jimmy Saclarides is one of Luke’s best friends?”
It sounded like a warning. Georgia ended the call.