trouble. I need a favor.”
In the last year, Eva had never asked for one favor. “Come back to my office.”
Angie led them down a hallway painted in a hunter green and decorated with expensive-looking landscapes. Charlotte was very into the Old Virginia, traditional look, which she said her clients preferred. Angie would have opted for sleek modern, but until she made partner such decisions were beyond her.
The furnishings in Angie’s office were in keeping with the firm’s look, but her bookshelves weren’t crammed with leather-bound volumes. Instead they featured bits of artifacts from her father’s museum and family pictures of Eva and their mother and some of her father, Frank Carlson. Angie had her icy Nordic look from Frank whereas Eva had gotten her dark gypsy looks from her father, Blue Rayburn.
Angie shrugged off her coat, hung it on the back door hanger, and held out a hand for Eva to sit in one of the leather chairs in front of her desk.
Angie took the seat next to Eva. “So tell me about this person.”
Eva smoothed her hands over her jeans. “You know her, as a matter of fact.”
“Do I?”
“Her name is Lulu Sweet.”
Angie sat back in her chair. She knew Lulu Sweet very well. Lulu had been the prime witness for the prosecution in the Dixon case. She’d been the prostitute whom Dixon had hired and brutalized.
After nearly two hours of abuse, he’d told a half-conscious Lulu that he had to stop. He didn’t want her to die yet.
She panicked and somehow managed to grab the light on the nightstand and hit him on the side of the head. He’d been stunned long enough for her to run naked into the streets, screaming for help.
“What does Lulu want?”
“She wants you to represent her.”
“Really? I would think I would be the last person she’d want as an attorney.”
Eva’s lips curled into a half smile. “She said, and I quote, ‘I want your sister to represent me because there is no meaner bitch alive.’”
Instead of being insulted, Angie laughed. “She said that?”
“Word for word.”
As a woman, Angie had pitied Lulu. But as an attorney she’d been forced to look beyond her youth and bruises. She’d focused on Lulu’s arrest record and her meth addiction. The woman had had a string of arrests under her belt, and she’d been known to perjure herself. Angie had used all those facts against Lulu and torn her apart on the witness stand.
“Lulu made it very clear what she thought about me the day she testified. She called me more than a few names as she was leaving the courthouse.”
“So she told me.”
Angie shifted in her seat. “So what is Lulu up to these days?”
“She moved out of the halfway house a few weeks ago and into her own place. Before the house, she did ninety days for possession. But she swears she’s clean now.”
“They all do.”
Eva shrugged. “I’m not a wide-eyed innocent. I’ve seen enough. I know when someone is using.”
“I’ll trust you on that. So if she’s not using and she’s out of jail, where do I fit into the picture?”
“Lulu has a son.”
Angie frowned. “I had her completely investigated. There was never a mention of a child.”
“She got pregnant shortly after the trial.”
It shouldn’t have mattered that Lulu wasn’t pregnant when she’d gone after her. But it did.
“She lost custody?”
Eva shrugged, seemingly unsurprised by Angie’s guess. “When the boy was born, Lulu was living with her mother. She’d been clean during her pregnancy, but when the baby was a month old Lulu took a hit of meth. Her mother found her sitting in a stupor with the baby crying in his crib. Her mother kept the baby and threw her out. And she really went downhill from there.”
“Okay.”
“That’s how she landed in jail. But she’s clean now.”
Angie’s thoughts jumped to the baby, who would be about nine months now. Unreasonable outrage burned through Angie as she thought about the baby. “You know my
In the last year, Eva had never asked for one favor. “Come back to my office.”
Angie led them down a hallway painted in a hunter green and decorated with expensive-looking landscapes. Charlotte was very into the Old Virginia, traditional look, which she said her clients preferred. Angie would have opted for sleek modern, but until she made partner such decisions were beyond her.
The furnishings in Angie’s office were in keeping with the firm’s look, but her bookshelves weren’t crammed with leather-bound volumes. Instead they featured bits of artifacts from her father’s museum and family pictures of Eva and their mother and some of her father, Frank Carlson. Angie had her icy Nordic look from Frank whereas Eva had gotten her dark gypsy looks from her father, Blue Rayburn.
Angie shrugged off her coat, hung it on the back door hanger, and held out a hand for Eva to sit in one of the leather chairs in front of her desk.
Angie took the seat next to Eva. “So tell me about this person.”
Eva smoothed her hands over her jeans. “You know her, as a matter of fact.”
“Do I?”
“Her name is Lulu Sweet.”
Angie sat back in her chair. She knew Lulu Sweet very well. Lulu had been the prime witness for the prosecution in the Dixon case. She’d been the prostitute whom Dixon had hired and brutalized.
After nearly two hours of abuse, he’d told a half-conscious Lulu that he had to stop. He didn’t want her to die yet.
She panicked and somehow managed to grab the light on the nightstand and hit him on the side of the head. He’d been stunned long enough for her to run naked into the streets, screaming for help.
“What does Lulu want?”
“She wants you to represent her.”
“Really? I would think I would be the last person she’d want as an attorney.”
Eva’s lips curled into a half smile. “She said, and I quote, ‘I want your sister to represent me because there is no meaner bitch alive.’”
Instead of being insulted, Angie laughed. “She said that?”
“Word for word.”
As a woman, Angie had pitied Lulu. But as an attorney she’d been forced to look beyond her youth and bruises. She’d focused on Lulu’s arrest record and her meth addiction. The woman had had a string of arrests under her belt, and she’d been known to perjure herself. Angie had used all those facts against Lulu and torn her apart on the witness stand.
“Lulu made it very clear what she thought about me the day she testified. She called me more than a few names as she was leaving the courthouse.”
“So she told me.”
Angie shifted in her seat. “So what is Lulu up to these days?”
“She moved out of the halfway house a few weeks ago and into her own place. Before the house, she did ninety days for possession. But she swears she’s clean now.”
“They all do.”
Eva shrugged. “I’m not a wide-eyed innocent. I’ve seen enough. I know when someone is using.”
“I’ll trust you on that. So if she’s not using and she’s out of jail, where do I fit into the picture?”
“Lulu has a son.”
Angie frowned. “I had her completely investigated. There was never a mention of a child.”
“She got pregnant shortly after the trial.”
It shouldn’t have mattered that Lulu wasn’t pregnant when she’d gone after her. But it did.
“She lost custody?”
Eva shrugged, seemingly unsurprised by Angie’s guess. “When the boy was born, Lulu was living with her mother. She’d been clean during her pregnancy, but when the baby was a month old Lulu took a hit of meth. Her mother found her sitting in a stupor with the baby crying in his crib. Her mother kept the baby and threw her out. And she really went downhill from there.”
“Okay.”
“That’s how she landed in jail. But she’s clean now.”
Angie’s thoughts jumped to the baby, who would be about nine months now. Unreasonable outrage burned through Angie as she thought about the baby. “You know my
Similar Books
