Silk and Stone (54 page)

Jake moved to the bars, stopping close to them, careful to keep space between them and his body. “How do you do it?”

“Comes with time. Lots of time. I was in for five years once. I learned. Figured I could hold on to the outside if I thought about it enough. My wife, she said she’d wait, but she didn’t. She got lonely, run off with somebody. My kids were calling him Daddy by the time I got out. Hell, that was a good thing anyway. A man does much time, he ain’t the same anymore. Might as well be dead.”

“You made it.”

A quick, brutal laugh echoed softly from the bunk. “Yeah, and here I am, fucked up again.” More laughter, trailing off into a hiss. “You got a wife?”

“Yes.”

“You won’t have her when you get out. And even if you do, you won’t be fit for her. You ever see a dog that’s been chained in a yard all his life? Chained up and left alone so much that he don’t know anything else? You let that dog go, and he’ll either run out in front of car like a fool, or he’ll just creep around, like he’s always waitin’ to hit the end of the chain again. He don’t even know how to act around other dogs. And they don’t want nothing to do with him.”

Jake walked to his bunk. Slowly, he sat down. “That’s right,” the other man called, chuckling. “Settle down. Don’t look no farther than the end of your chain.”

Chapter
            Twenty-Four
 

S
ammie Raincrow was pale, desperate, prettily blond, and gritty as sandpaper. Ben Dreyfus liked her from the moment she walked into his small, luxurious office at Dreyfus and Dreyfus, carrying a lined yellow notepad, a dog-eared pamphlet about the trial process, and a wad of twenty-dollar bills. “I need a lawyer who’ll stick with my husband for the long haul,” she said immediately. “If you haven’t got what it takes, tell me today. I’ll pay you for your time and move on.”

“I’m afraid, from what I’ve learned about the case, I can’t do anything spectacular for him.”

“Are you tough?”

Ben launched defensively into his résumé, feeling like a fool. He had, after all, a law degree from Harvard, and he came from a very old, rich, and hardworking family of lawyers who had instilled in him a dedication
to doing every task, no matter how small, thoroughly and well. He had a brother on the state supreme court and a sister in cardiology at Johns Hopkins. His father, Abraham, had not made him a junior partner in the family law practice just to keep him off the streets. Besides all that, his mother was president of the ladies’ auxiliary of Temple Beth Tikvah, serving greater metropolitan Durham.
So there
, he added silently as he finished.

She stared at him across his desk and said, “How old are you?”

“Twenty-seven,” he blurted out. Then, recovering, he arched a brow and grunted, “A child genius.” He smoothed a hand over his leather suspenders, silk tie, and natty dress shirt. “I’ve been told I have the presence of a young F. Lee Bailey.”

“I was thinking of Dustin Hoffman. In
The Graduate.
”

Ben had heard that before too. “I have much better hair,” he said grimly.

“I’ll be honest with you.”

“Please, I don’t know if I can take anymore.”

“I wanted your father to handle this. Everybody knows him. He’s done a lot of good work for the Cherokees. Joe Gunther says he picks his clients on principle, not just to make a buck. Is that how you operate?”

Flustered, Ben waved a hand at a stuffed bass on the paneled wall. “Well, I did inherit the Dreyfus
fishing
gene. I suppose I can dredge up a little integrity too.”

“Do you believe, really believe, my husband’s innocent? Because I won’t have a lawyer who isn’t one hundred percent on his side.”

“Look, it’s my job to see he gets a good defense, not write him a letter of recommendation to the Boy Scouts.”

“That’s not good enough.”

“Give me a chance. I haven’t even talked to him yet.”

“All right. Talk to him. But if you don’t believe him, don’t take his case.”

“Okay, we have a deal.”

“Good.” She sank back in the leather chair as if some of the invisible strings that held her up had snapped. Her face ashen, she curled one incredibly flawless hand over her mouth. “You have to understand something.” Her voice was muffled, weak. “I don’t quit. Whatever happens, I’ll keep fighting for him. I’ll expect you to do the same.” She swallowed hard. “Excuse me. Where’s the bathroom?”

Ben stood anxiously. “Down the hall. Second door on the right.”

She staggered out, covering her mouth. He followed as gallantly as he could, keeping one eye on the Oriental rugs and hoping she’d make it to the ladies’ room before she threw up. She did. He sighed and walked into the small office next to his. The paralegal, a crusty woman who had worked for his father since dinosaurs roamed the earth, stared at him over her word processor. “Raincrow” she barked. “Whadd’ya think?”

“Odds are he’s a goner. Poor bastard—first his family fries, then he goes nuts and slaps around some pathetic jerk who romanced his wife’s mother out of her nest egg a few years ago. The jerk decides to take a flying lesson off a balcony.” Ben shrugged. “What the hell. I like a challenge. And Dad wants me to take it.”

“Is this gonna be a freebie?”

“Oh, no. I’ve got house payments. Women to impress. A Porsche to support.”

“You crummy shit.” Ben blinked at the paralegal. No, even she wasn’t
that
crusty. She nodded toward the door to her office. “Say hello to Sammie Raincrow’s sister. Charlotte.”

Ben turned around reluctantly, wishing he were in court, where he was much better at not offending people unless he intended to. Sammie’s baby sister glared up at him, and he gazed back with undeniable intrigue. She was shorter, rounder, younger, and not nearly as even-tempered, which was saying a lot. The term
baby sister
evaporated from his thoughts.
Lolita
came to mind.

“You crummy shit,” she repeated. “You’re just interested in money.”

“I’m a lawyer. I always talk that way. It’s nothing personal. But I apologize.”

“
Right
. Where’s my sister?”

“Here.” Sammie walked up, wiping her face with a damp paper towel, hoisting a bulging, handsomely woven tote bag over one shoulder of a slender wool coat. She looked at Ben hopefully, and he felt like a snake. “When can you meet with my husband?”

“Tomorrow. I’ll call you.”

“I’ll be at the jail. I sit in the lobby as much as they’ll let me.”

That tragically devoted image bored into Ben’s mind permanently. Lolita grabbed her gentler kin by one arm and pointed at Ben. “He’s in this just for the money. I heard him say so.”

“That’s not true,” Ben said dryly. “I’m a masochist, and I enjoy working for people who verbally abuse me.”

Sam shook her head at her sister. “He’s a lawyer.” As if that both excused and condemned him. “He’s a good lawyer, I hope. That’s all that matters.”

She gave Ben one last look, tired and sad and more than a little wishful. Her pet tigress joined in with a slit-eyed appraisal. “You can count on me,” Ben told them both. He was suddenly righteous and determined to see this thing to a happy conclusion, regardless of how long it took. To please the noble Sammie Raincrow and wipe that look off her sister’s cocky, luscious little face.

Sam stood across the bare little room from Jake, the same room where they’d been allowed to talk before. She had run up to him as soon as the guard closed the door behind her, putting her arms around him, drawing his face close and scattering small kisses over it. He’d surrendered for a second, half out of his mind with love and desperation, kissing her, tasting her tears in his mouth.

Until he sensed Alexandra’s presence around her and how hard she was trying to hide it. Rigid with alarm,
he stepped back from her and moved away. Her eyes filled with anguish and bewilderment. “Jake?”

“Did you get it from the sheriff?” he asked bluntly. “Did you do what I asked you to do—get the ruby?”

She nodded vaguely and looked even more upset. “I’ve got it. They let me have all your things, to take home. But what, what—”

“Then what are you afraid of? What are you ashamed of?” His voice was accusing.

“What … what do you mean? Is this about Ben Dreyfus? Do you want me to interview another lawyer?”

Ben Dreyfus was solid, dependable. Jake had sized him up quickly by picking up the gold fountain pen Ben had laid on the table during their brief meeting. Ben Dreyfus’s most sentimental possession—an engraved pen his grandfather had given him at his Bar Mitzvah. A map of Ben’s life, with all the moral landmarks Jake needed to judge him by. “No. He’ll do.” Fear washed through him like an acid. “But we don’t have enough money to pay him for long.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ve got work. I’ll—”

“You’re hiding something from me. I’ve always known when you do. It’s about money.”

“Oh, no. Joe Gunther has offered to help. And other people have—”

“That wouldn’t take care of things, and you know it.” He paused, bitterly holding her agonized gaze. “You asked Alexandra for help.”

She went very still. The battle between guilt and honesty was painfully clear to him. He wanted to slam his fists into a wall. Alexandra was already after her, and Samantha didn’t have an inkling of what that really meant. “We need money,” she said finally. “It’s just a loan. I’m going to work for her and pay it back. She’s changed, Jake. She promised she wouldn’t try to take over. She’ll leave Charlotte alone.”

“Oh, God.” He trembled with fury and dread. “She didn’t waste any time. She slid right back into your life as soon as I was out of her way. And you let her.”

Sam held out her hands, pleading, angry. “Listen to me,” she said in a low voice. “It’ll be months before your case comes to trial. I’m sure I could work out something with Ben about his fees, but I can’t stop bill collectors. I can’t send the government an IOU for taxes on the Cove. I won’t let pride stop me from doing whatever it takes to help you and keep hold of everything that’s important to you.”

“This is how you do it? By running to her when you know it’s the last thing I want?”

“Can’t you understand? I’m doing this for your sake.” She trembled miserably. “You’re here because of me.”

Hurt her. Make her go. Because the farther she is from you, the safer she’ll he. Loving her isn’t enough to make a difference. You know that now
.

They had no future until he finished with Alexandra, until she paid for what she’d done. “That’s right,” he said, dying inside. “So, by God, do what I tell you to do. You owe me.”

It took all his willpower to form a lifetime of devotion into a weapon, to ignore the shattered expression dawning in her eyes.

The nightmare was complete. Sam stared at him in despair. He had confirmed her worst fear. Moving as if in a trance, she staggered toward him, reaching for him. He grabbed her by the shoulders and held her away. The hard look in his eyes cut to the quick. “You really do believe in curses,” she said. Sam’s voice was thready with alarm. “And that I’ve brought you bad luck.”

“I’ve hurt everyone—my family, you—by believing what I wanted to believe instead of what I should have
known,
” he said slowly. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes. I won’t make any more.”

“Is loving me one of those mistakes?” Her voice was a bare whisper filled with dread.

Say it. Lie. Say it for her sake, because you’ve never loved her more than you do right now
. “Yes.”

The small, devastated sound she made ripped into him. He released her and stepped back, fearing his
courage would fall apart if he didn’t put some distance between them.

Sam couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. His logic, so warped and incomprehensible, was clear on only one point. He believed that somehow he’d destroyed his family and himself by loving her.

Dimly she heard the lock rattle. The door to this, this
cage
opening. The deputy’s voice telling them time was up.

Time was up. A whole life of unswerving loyalty had come to an end.
No
. He might not want to love her, but he did. And she would never,
never
give up. “What do you want me to do?” she asked Jake, surprised at how calm she sounded.