s [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

facts that he didn t yet know. And then it was time to give him every shred of
detail from the moment Isabella first was introduced to me and spent time in
our office through our most recent correspondence and her request to escape to
a private hideaway.
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The District Attorney waited for my presentation to conclude before he leaned
in, eyeballed me, and asked:
 Can you think of any aspect of this, any hint of scandal, that s going to
come back to hurt this office, Alexandra?
The unspoken portion of that sentence, I knew, was&
 Because if there is, Alex, you d better start cleaning out your desk drawer
and thinking about the advantages of the private practice of law.
 No, Paul, I said, shaking my head repeatedly,  I ve been thinking about it
all of last night and this morning. There s nothing more that I haven t told
you, really.
He sat back upright in his chair and reflected for several seconds before his
when began to soften and he took on the aspect of the Paul Battaglia I
idolized.
 Okay, Alex, how do you come out in all this? What are we going to do about
you?
 I m practically numb today, Paul. I think it s actually good for me to be at
work because it gets my mind-  Good for you, maybe, but I don t know how good
it is for the office. Patrick McKinney thinks I ought to put you on leave for
a few months and wait till this all clears up.
 Oh, Paul, that s ridiculous. What he really thinks is that I should throw my
body on top of Lascar s coffin and be burned alive. Of course Pat wants me to
take a leave he can t bear having me around in the first place.
 Well, I spoke to the District Attorney up there in Massachusetts this morning
the one in charge of the murder investigation. He and the police chief would
like you to fly up for a few hours tomorrow. They need a lot of background
from you, and they have to go through your house so you can tell them what
things are yours and what were Isabella s& and what belonged to the mystery
guest.
 So make your arrangements and, let s see, tomorrow is Friday I want you to go
up and give them whatever they need. And your detective goes with you,
understand?
Who ve you got?
 Mike Chapman, Manhattan North.
 Fine. Just keep in touch with me every step of the way.
I think you know that I don t like surprises, Alex.
 Yes, sir.
 Two other points. You are not to go to Lascar s funeral. No Hollywood, no
photo-ops, no way for the press to keep tying this back in to us. She s dead
say your farewells privately. Understood?
I nodded in agreement.
 And the other thing. You are not a cop, Alex. As I ve told you before, you
could have gone to the Police Academy and saved your old man a lot of money.
You are an assistant district attorney, an officer of the court, a lawyer. Let
the boys and girls in blue play police officers and keep your nose out of it.
I nodded again.
 Oh, I meant to ask you, do you have any idea who was paying her a visit up
there?
 No, I don t, Paul. She never mentioned it and I never asked.
 Well, when did she get to the Vineyard?
Whoops, I could feel it coming. I had a rough idea of the answer, but not an
exact time. Two  I don t knows in a row. Bad form with Paul Battaglia.
 How seriously should we be looking for this second stalker?
I was about to make the third strike.
 Paul, I just don t know the answer to that we re trying to evaluate it now.
 All right, Alex, be sure and let me know whenever you get some answers. Take
care of yourself, that s the most important thing right now. Oh is there any
progress on that serial rapist, Upper West Side? I m getting a lot of crap
from that local community board can t your guys wrap this one up?
Yeah, and if I have a free hour this afternoon I m going to go out looking for
Judge Crater, too, I thought, as I told the District Attorney,  We re trying,
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boss.
Mike Chapman was sitting at my desk eating one of the sandwiches that Laura
had ordered in for lunch when I returned from Battaglia s office.
 How bad did it hurt? he asked as I walked in, picking up the growing pile of
messages from Laura s desk.
 Not too bad, I replied.
 The mayor must have given him the money he wanted. He s clearly annoyed, but
not wild. Have you heard about the plans for tomorrow?
 Nope. What s up? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]