‘You’re not coming with me to work,’ I said to Angie.
We were getting dressed the next morning and shouting to each other through the corridor separating our bedrooms. The couple in the next apartment, Roy and Howard, were probably listening and having a laugh.
‘I work for Patrick McNabb,’ Angie said back. ‘If you think his instructions to me are interfering with your life, you need to take it up with him.’
‘I took it up with him for an hour and a half last night,’ I told her. ‘Why do you think I came back here at one in the morning?’
Angie leaned out of her room wearing what she believes to be professional attire: a black T-shirt so tight it was a wonder she could still process oxygen through her body, a pair of equally snug blue jeans and a ‘working’ jacket, bright royal blue. If she were the kooky best friend in an eighties romcom she might have gotten away with it.
‘Please. Your love life is not part of my job profile,’ she said.
‘Angela. You’re dressing for a shift at a really classy Seaside Heights arcade. I work at a law firm. If you’re coming with me you need to frump it up a little.’
Angie, understanding that I’d just given up the argument about her coming to work as my bodyguard, grinned. ‘You want to come look in my closet for something appropriate, Sandra?’
‘No. I want you to stay here or go work for Patrick. Or bother Nate. How can you do all three of those things at once?’
She ducked back inside her own bedroom but her voice came through loud and clear. Loud, I think, because she wanted Roy and Howard to hear her exit line.
‘I’m multitalented.’
We went to the office in my Hyundai and not the new Lamborghini that Patrick had loaned to Angie ‘for professional activities’, because I would have been terrified to ride in such a vehicle and, besides, I was hoping to duck Angie at some point in the day. Having my own car would make that so much easier.
She was, however, wearing muted colors that allowed for blood to circulate all through her body. That was the concession she’d made to being at my office.
First, though, we had a judge to meet. Or I did, anyway. And this meeting would be critical to the case that the Plain Man didn’t want me to defend. I’d given it a good deal of thought, considering whether I wanted to take his subtle advice. For one thing, I wasn’t the least convinced that Robert Reeves hadn’t actually killed James Drake. As I’ve said, that in itself wouldn’t necessarily be enough to have me withdraw, but there were other circumstances. One was that the man I was currently considering moving in with was a figure in the case. Another was that I preferred to cower and run when threatened rather than offer resistance. It hadn’t been my strategy in every possible instance, but it had served me well when employed.
There was also the fact that I didn’t like Robert Reeves. I’ll grant you that was kind of secondary, but don’t tell me there’s a lawyer on the planet who isn’t affected by the temper and personality of the client. Sometimes they just (unconsciously) do a less-than-stellar job on the case. Other times they do it on purpose. In rare instances it doesn’t actually have an impact on the defense or prosecution either way. But it’s always there in the back of your mind.
‘So am I going to get to meet the jerk later today?’ Angie has an uncanny ability to read on my face what I’m thinking.
‘He’s my client. You can’t refer to him as “the jerk”, and frankly, I’d be much happier if you didn’t meet him later because that would mean you weren’t following me around all day like an attack dog trained to protect me.’
‘Nice way to talk about the woman who’s here to save your life.’ She was kidding. I’m almost certain.
Maybe I could pivot. ‘I don’t suppose there’s any way I can talk you into staying out of the meeting with Judge Franklin,’ I said. ‘Judges don’t enjoy having extra participants in private sidebar meetings. You can just stay in the car.’
I caught a glimpse of Angie rolling her eyes, something I had seen many times in my life but never had it cross over from annoying to endearing. ‘I’m not here to protect your car,’ she snarled. ‘I don’t know why this old bucket of bolts would need protection anyway.’
‘It was already shot up once.’
‘And I wasn’t there, was I?’
Somehow she thought that proved something. So much for pivoting.
We drove in silence for a while and I got back to musing on the reasons to withdraw from the case. But the only thing that I kept coming back to was that if I left because of the vague threat from the Plain Man, Trench would know, and the thought of him thinking I was a coward – even if he had suggested dropping Reeves was the logical thing to do – was too much. Because now I had an imaginary Trench in my head, along with the imaginary Angie who had been there for years. If the two met it was possible the universe would come to an end.
But what it mostly came down to was that if I withdrew from the case, I would think I was a coward and that wasn’t acceptable. I wouldn’t ask the judge to excuse me from the defense. But I certainly was going to make as convincing a case for an adjournment as I possibly could, and there I was on considerably more solid ground. Nine weeks to prepare a major murder trial in Los Angeles under the spotlight that every entertainment and crime reporter in the world would be bringing to the courtroom? I’d have to make sure Franklin saw that in his mind’s eye. He was fastidious about his court and absolutely hated the idea of it being clogged with untidy people.
I parked the car in the courthouse’s garage and, after another round of not getting Angie to stay with the Hyundai, took the elevator up to the judge’s chambers with my best friend in tow.
Angie stretched her arms into the air in the elevator just to get loose after the car ride. There was a glint of something shiny in the area of her belt, which had been covered by the mauve jacket she was wearing to show off how professional she was.
‘What’s that?’ I asked.
‘What’s what?’
‘That.’
I pointed at her waist and she gave me a look like I had suggested she’d never been in possession of a midsection before. Then she shook her head in understanding. ‘Oh you mean this,’ she said, and – I swear to you – pulled a very shiny pistol from her belt. ‘I got it yesterday after the waiting period was over. Patrick thought I should carry one and then, once I became your bodyguard, we figured I should have it with me all the time.’
My eyes must have been the size of hubcaps. ‘Are you out of your mind?’ I said. ‘Taking a loaded gun into a judge’s chambers? How’d you get it through the metal detectors in the lobby?’
‘I showed it to the guard and gave him my permit to carry,’ she said. ‘I had written permission from the judge. He knows I’ll be there.’
‘Nice of you to tell me,’ I grumbled.
Judge Franklin, who had seen Angie before during Patrick’s trial but might not have remembered, did indeed welcome both of us into his chambers and asked that she put her gun into her purse and zip it up before we began our meeting. Angie complied but the looks she was shooting around the room indicated she expected an attack from any area at any moment. I reminded myself to stay away from my trigger-happy roommate as much as possible while she was protecting.
I already had a headache.
‘I granted you the adjournment, Ms Moss,’ Franklin began. ‘I’m not sure I understand why this conference is necessary.’
‘Yes you did, Your Honor. And I appreciate that. But I believe the extra three weeks is simply not enough time to prepare my case adequately. I’ve only been Mr Reeves’s defense attorney for a few days. Nine weeks is, I’m sure you’ll agree, much less time than one would normally expect to get a defense like this together.’
Franklin looked over at Angie. I’m used to men looking at Angie when she’s with me; she has the kind of look that attracts their eyes, among other body parts. But I didn’t think the judge was lusting after my roommate. He was trying to avoid looking me in the eye, and that wasn’t good.
‘It’s going to be a high-profile, highly covered murder trial, Your Honor.’ I went on to avoid his dismissing me on the spot. ‘You know what that’s like. Every move and every word will be dissected and analyzed. You’ll be second-guessed on television and so will I. But the real reason I need the extra time is that I don’t definitively know what happened on that movie set the day James Drake died, and I need to have more information in order to provide a suitable defense.’
The judge closed his eyes for a moment and I worried momentarily that he was feeling ill. Franklin is not a young man. But then he exhaled and looked back over at me.
‘I want to help you, Ms Moss, truly I do,’ he said and I knew I was sunk. ‘But the fact of the matter is that the three weeks I gave you is the most time I could possibly justify. Mr Reeves had an attorney representing him until this week and he had been working with that attorney for six months. And I’m sorry to say it, but the courts are so completely backed up now that we’re still adjudicating cases that are pre-pandemic. If I postponed the Drake murder again, I’d have to do it for more than a year.’
‘We wouldn’t object to that amount of time, Your Honor,’ I said.
‘No, but the prosecution would and they’d be right,’ Franklin answered. ‘They’ve built a case and they believe they can convict your client. That’s not a reason to deny your adjournment, but I haven’t done that. I’ve literally given you all the time I can possibly offer, and I’m sorry but you’ll have to be satisfied with that.’
There was no point arguing. Franklin truly believed he was doing the best he could do for me, and wasn’t being unreasonable from his viewpoint. Not even from mine. I stood and Angie followed, no doubt weighted down by the firearm in her purse. I chose not to think about that, but I chose it too late. I had already thought about it.
‘I do appreciate your courtesy, Your Honor,’ I said. ‘Thanks for seeing us.’
‘I’m sorry I can’t do more, Ms Moss. But if it makes you feel any better, Lieutenant Trench has informed me of your situation, and there will be added security in and around the courthouse during the trial.’
Yeah, that made me feel tons better. ‘Um … thank you, Your Honor.’ What did you want me to say, ‘Big help that is, Walt, you ineffectual old coot?’ That wouldn’t have served me well in court. And he’d cited me for contempt before.
‘Don’t worry, Judge,’ Angie said. ‘I’ll be behind her the whole time, packing heat.’ She patted her purse.
‘I have no doubt,’ Franklin answered. He was visibly impressed.
Nine weeks.
Once we were out of the judge’s earshot, I called Nate. ‘Whatever you’re doing,’ I told him, ‘start doing it faster.’