eleven

Billy, in his leathers, was waiting at the end of the corridor, his flaming red and yellow helmet clutched to his chest. Karen stood next to him. Heads together, they seemed to be conferring quietly. When they heard the door close behind me, they straightened up and turned to stare. Then Karen moved toward the elevator bank and Billy looked down at the floor as I passed him, avoiding my eyes.

In the central room, Dani was busy bundling her court documents together with rubber bands. She was the last one left in the section. She gestured to Billy and he stepped into the room. “Here you go, Billy. All set for the judge.”

Billy’s expression was sullen, but he nodded.

Dani sighed and turned to me. “Electronic filing’s supposed to be so easy, but it doubles the work with these old judges who insist on having paper copies delivered. There were nineteen exhibits and every page had to be consecutively numbered. What a damn pain.” Her desk was littered with envelopes and exhibit tabs. “I’ll clean up later. Let’s go. I’m starving.” She grabbed her purse and we took the elevator down to the lobby. She suggested a fast-food Middle Eastern restaurant on Kearny. I knew the place. A little heavy on olive oil but the food was great. Once seated at the restaurant, our plates arrived quickly. Dani had ordered a giant falafel and I got the hummus plate with stuffed grape leaves.

“So, tell me about your gig.”

Dani made an effort to speak but only managed a mumble. After a few moments, she swallowed her bite. “We’re so excited we’re playing at Stoned. Do you know the place?” She wiped drips from her mouth.

“Sure. That’s a great place to play.”

“Oh, yeah, this is big exposure for us. We’re all really jazzed about it. We’ll be there the next four Thursday nights. Of course, there’s not a lot of money in it, not when we split it four ways, but it’s still a great place to be heard. I hope you can come.”

“I’d love to. I have a dinner to go to that night, but I’ll definitely try to stop in and have a drink. Break a leg, huh?”

“Thanks. So Julia, is all this stuff creeping you out or what?”

“That’s a good way to put it.”

“You probably didn’t have to come in if you didn’t want to. I’m sure they’d understand if you didn’t want to stay.”

“It’s okay. Really. I said I would, and I’d like to keep on good terms with the firm for future temp jobs, you know?” Hopefully not. “What about you? Are you worried?”

“Me? No way.” Dani continued to munch on her sizeable lunch and then said, “Well, yes, I guess it is kind of scary, although I don’t really think anybody’s after me. I mean, why should they be?”

I scooped a glob of hummus with a tiny piece of bread and popped it into my mouth. “Tell me, what’s with Karen? She seemed really distant initially, and then, today, she’s overly friendly.”

“She’s weird, Julia. Don’t pay any attention to her.” I kept my mouth shut, hoping Dani would be motivated to gossip more. “She can’t possibly have a life. I mean, she’s the first one here in the morning. Even if I get here as early as eight, she’s already at her desk when I get in.” Dani took another huge bite of her falafel, liquid dripping onto her plate. “And did you see that bilious green sweater she has on today? No taste either. I swear, she wears that thing days on end. Maybe she never changes her clothes, but if she doesn’t wear something different soon, I’m gonna burn it.”

“I thought she was married … or married in the past?” I hoped I wasn’t giving away my perusal of the personnel files.

Dani shrugged. “She’s either divorced or her husband died, I can’t remember which, but she’s definitely an odd one. Never ever talks about anything personal and when you ask her a direct question, she smiles and her eyes kind of glaze over.”

“Maybe she’s just really private.”

Dani didn’t need much encouragement to warm to her subject. “I mean, she’s so weird, working for Jack didn’t even bother her. And he was a real bastard around the office.”

“She never complained about him to you?”

“No. And that is really weird, ’cause nobody could stand working for him. That’s why they hired her from outside. But, hey, if she doesn’t want to get personal with anyone, that’s fine with me. I don’t really care. I was just asking to be polite, you know? Probably goes home and talks to her cat for all I know.”

I wondered what Dani would have to say about my conversations with Wizard, if she only knew. Maybe I’d be relegated to the same category as Karen. “I have yet to meet Suzanne. Do you know where she is?”

“Home, I guess. In all the confusion yesterday, I forgot about her. She called in after we spoke this morning, said she was still sick. Plans on coming in tomorrow.”

“Does she live in the city?”

“Yeah, out in the Laurel Heights area, I think. She has a flat she shares with a roommate.”

“Did you tell her about Jack and what happened?”

“I started to, but she already knew. Somebody told her.”

“I wonder who?”

“Could’ve been anybody. She might have called Ira or Nora directly. She was doing some work for both of them.”

“I heard Jack had an ex-wife the police want to talk to.”

“I’m sure they do, and a girlfriend too.” Dani smirked through a mouthful of food.

“Oh? Really? So who’s the girlfriend?”

“Suzanne.”

I was stunned. “Whaaat? How do you know?”

“Had to be. She was always following him around, working on special projects over the weekend. Can you believe it? Now, man, I think that’s truly weird. The guy’s a putz. I cannot imagine any woman being attracted to him.”

“How many people knew about this?”

“If I know, I’m sure they all did. I mean, I don’t know for certain, but I’m pretty sure.” Dani took a last bite of her falafel. “You wouldn’t believe some of the things that go on around here.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?” This was getting interesting.

“Well … Ira’s a perv, that’s for sure. He’s come close to a sexual harassment charge. He was writing gross notes and leaving them under one of the secretary’s keyboards when she was away from her desk. He was slipping down to the 40th floor and didn’t think anyone would notice. She was sure it was Ira but couldn’t really prove it. He’s just lucky the woman didn’t want to make it public.”

“Would he have been fired?”

“I think they would have had to, or at least fined him big time. Has to be a zero tolerance policy about that stuff.” She looked up quickly. “Which is a good thing, I think. Jerk denied it, of course.” She popped half a grape leaf into her mouth. “Believe me, if the clients knew half of what went on around here, they’d run screaming to another firm. Roger, he’s another slippery character. His business reimbursements aren’t for lunches or dinners with potential clients. They’re all his dates, and he’s charging the firm for them. Some ethics, huh?”

I’d have to remember to mention these confidences to David. I knew he didn’t involve himself in personnel issues and was probably clueless about the shenanigans among the attorneys. “So, this thing with Jack must have really hit Suzanne hard?”

“I imagine. She didn’t sound too good.”