CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
looked up at Brooke as I told her about getting bail for Beck. She shook her head, which loosened her braid a little and made me recall the way her silky hair had felt when I'd run my fingers through it the night before. I watched a long strand wind its way around her neck and I breathed deeply as I tried to maintain control of myself while she talked.
Brooke hadn't seemed too surprised by my drug business, but I could tell she had a lot of questions she wanted to ask. I knew her well enough to know that she was only going to ask what she needed to know and try to avoid getting caught up in shady dealings that would put her at risk. She was smart enough to recognize that defending me meant skirting the law in a way that wouldn't leave either of us vulnerable. And as I watched her do the mental acrobatics necessary, I found myself even more attracted to her.
"Dax!" she snapped.
"What?" I replied, shaking my head to clear it.
"If we're going to work together, you're going to have to stay focused on what we're doing," she scolded. I knew she was right, but I couldn't help remembering the way she'd moaned when I'd caressed her beautifully shaped breasts.
"DAX!" she yelled. "Jesus, you're going to have to focus! You do understand that your life is on the line here, right?"
"Got it," I said as I stared down at the table, willing myself to stay focused on the questions she was asking.
"You're going to have to give me a timeline of where you were the day that Lydia disappeared," she said. "Then, you're going to have to trace your movements for a week prior and post disappearance. Do you understand?"
"Sure, no problem," I said. I knew that the cameras at the club would verify my whereabouts. Every digital tape was time and date stamped and stored on a server away from the club. This was dangerous, because it meant that if someone conducted business on the premises we'd have evidence of that, as well. I crossed my fingers and hoped that no one had been that careless the week before or after Lydia's murder.
"Then, I'm going to need to check out the boat," Brooke said as she made a note on the yellow legal pad on the table. She was definitely formulating a game plan. "I think the police have it under surveillance until they can haul it back to the station for someone to go over it with a fine-tooth comb."
"Probably," I said, focusing on the legal pad and its yellow color. It was helping me keep my mind on what Brooke was saying and off of how she looked while she was saying it.
"Is there anyone you can think of who would be out to get you?" she asked.
"You're kidding, right?" I looked up at her in disbelief.
"What?"
"Brooke, I'm a drug dealer in LA," I said. "Of course there are people out to get me. The question is who would be so pissed at me that they'd kill my lawyer?"
"Alright, well, I'm going to need you to make a list of the people you think might be out to get you so that I can have Jordie and Roger go interview them," she said.
"Get the fuck out of here," I shot back.
"There's no need to swear, Mr. Malone," she said, as if speaking to a small, stupid child.
"Look, Counselor, do anything you need to do to win this case and prove my innocence," I said, my voice getting louder as I continued until I was shouting at the top of my lungs. "But do not send your legal colleagues into rival gang territory to ask questions about whether or not they framed me!"
"Do not yell at me, Malone," she warned as she narrowed her eyes.
"Oh, you're dispensing with the courtesy title, are you?"
"Only when you act like an idiot," she retorted.
"Me, act like an idiot? ME?" I shouted. "Jesus, lady, for a college-educated lawyer, you are one stupid woman."
"That's enough, Malone," she said in a voice that was so calm it chilled my blood. She placed both palms on the table and leaned in so that she was inches from my face and quietly said, "I'm going to say this one time, and one time only. I am the lawyer on your case, and you either cooperate with me and play nice or I will walk out of here and leave you high and dry. You've had your one freebie mistake – do not make a second one. Got it?"
In that moment, I knew I wasn't dealing with a sweet innocent girl from Lincoln Heights. No, I realized I was dealing with a woman who definitely knew what she was doing and that if I didn't let her do it, she'd leave me defenseless.
"I'm sorry, Brooke," I said. It was one of the few times in my life that I'd apologized, and I was glad that no one else was here to witness it.
"Apology accepted. Bygones," she nodded before looking back at the legal pad. "Now, I'm going to go arrange for your bail and bail for your brother. What did he do, anyway?"
"He's high as a kite," I sighed. "They arrested him for trespassing on the boat, but it's a bogus charge because it's my boat and he hangs out there all the time."
"He what?" she did a double take.
"He hangs out on the boat," I repeated. "Takes it out and goes fishing, you know. Stuff that a fuck-up little brother does."
"God, Dax, don't you get it?" she said. "Your brother could have killed Lydia! Or one of his cronies!"
"Who? Beck? That little fuck-up?" I laughed. "Right. He can barely tie his own shoes these days."
"But we don't need him to actually be the killer. Think, Dax, think!" she urged. "We just need him to cast reasonable doubt on your guilt. This is good! Very good!"
"It's a fucking joke," I said shaking my head. I knew where she was going with this, but it was so ludicrous that I didn't have any faith in it actually working.
"Alight, I'm going to go plead your case and get you two out," she said. "This will take a few hours. I've got to file paperwork, arrange for a bond, and get you both to the courthouse."
"Call Riza. She knows how to arrange the bonds," I said and gave Brooke the number. "How likely do you think it is that you'll get us out today?"
"I don't know. I've got to see who the judge is and then get the paperwork filed," she replied as she scribbled furiously on the legal pad. "I need to get this to Jordie."
Brooke quickly gathered up her things and shoved them in her briefcase before she looked at me and said, "I'm going to do everything in my power to get you out of here. Please don't do anything to screw that up."
"Now who’s being insulting?" I said defensively.
"I'm not kidding, Dax," she said quietly. "I'm only going to get one shot at it. Do not screw this up."
I could see the gravity of the task weighing on her, so I simply nodded as she walked to the door and knocked to be let out. Before the door opened, she turned and looked at me over her shoulder. The look told me everything I needed to know about what she was thinking.
I nodded as she left me sitting chained to the table. Alone.