Trial and Terror (20 page)

Summer always wondered how on their salaries she could have afforded it. She blew on her coffee to cool it. “Before that, you were into the gangs.”

Rosie absently stroked the scars on her arm. “I guess I’ve been circling around the point here.”

“Check that. You’re still in with the Latin Brothers.”

Rosie iced Summer with a stare. “Somewhat. How long have you known?”

“Actually, it just occurred to me now, although I should have figured it out a long time ago. Nice of them to let you remove the gang emblems from your arm.” Summer took a long draw of coffee, let it roll over her tongue and down her gullet. “This is delicious coffee, very aromatic.”

“
Gracias, El Exigente.
What do you mean, you should have figured it out long ago?”

Summer settled the cup on its saucer, splashing some coffee. “Every time I brought up running an investigation, you did your damnedest to dissuade me. You’re as gutsy a lawyer as there is. You never back down. It just wasn’t your M.O., you know? As I sit here now, it occurs to me that you didn’t want me peeling back the layers because I might find you at the core.”

“If you’re asking, I didn’t kill Gundy, OK?”

“But it’s clear the boys in the gang wanted Gundy gone, right?”

“I’m not privy to their deepest, darkest secrets, but yeah, that’s what I heard. I also heard they didn’t get to him because someone else did.”

“Are you sure?” Summer asked carefully.

“I’m sure. But if you’re thinking of angling your investigation in their direction, I would strongly recommend that you reconsider, because—”

“Because I could end up like Gundy?”

“Don’t do this.”

“Why can’t you just quit? Is that such a naive question?”

“No, it’s not, but I’m in too deep. They paid my college tuition; law school, too. In exchange, they get a feisty advocate who knows the system inside out and free legal advice for the asking. That’s the totality of my connection with them.”

“Gundy knew, didn’t he?” Summer couldn’t look Rosie in the eye.

“I honestly don’t know.” Rosie tapped three quick fingers on the table. “Hey, Ignacio at three o’clock.”

Summer looked left. Ignacio had just entered. She had lost weight in all the wrong places and she had puffy, blow-up doll lips, as if she had been beaten. She had looked toil-worn in jail, but now she looked like she’d taken a few more steps toward her final exit.

“I’ll get her.” Rosie intercepted Ignacio before she hit the drug store. After a peppery discussion, Rosie brought her over.

Ignacio’s perfume preceded her. She sat down, sullen, and crossed her legs, which were branded by bluish veins and cellulite.

“How’s your kid?” Summer asked.

Ignacio softened slightly. She might be a crackhead, but Summer could tell she really did love her son. “OK. The school called and said he played hooky, so I smacked him.
Mira.
I don’t want him ending up like me.”

She said it matter-of-factly, which broke Summer’s heart.

Rosie said, “Tell Summer what you saw the night Gundy got popped.”

Ignacio looked at the scraps of food on the table. “Could you get that shit out of here? Makes me sick, you know?”

Summer bussed the plates to a nearby cart. “So?” she asked after she sat down.

Ignacio said, “Like I told you in jail, I saw a woman run out of Gundy’s.”

“She carrying anything?” Rosie asked.

“Yeah, a garbage bag.”

Summer and Rosie snuck a glance at each other. This was new.

“When you saw the woman leave Gundy’s, what kind of shoes was she wearing?” Summer asked.

“Shoes? Pumps. No heels. Comfortable but classy. Black.”

“She wasn’t wearing boots?”

“No way.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure,” Ignacio said, her voice edged with irritation.

“What color was her hair?”

“Brown, but she was wearing a wig.”

“How do you know?”

Ignacio gave off an acidic laugh. “In my business, you gotta know wigs. Fucked up fantasies for all.”

“What else you notice?” Summer asked. “Was she white? Black? Tall, short, fat, thin?”

“She was white, thin, but I only saw her from the back. Can’t say how tall. She was moving fast.”

“If she was wearing a wig, how do you know it wasn’t SK?”

Ignacio chose a toothpick from a cup on the table and worked it between her teeth. She made a sucking noise, then said, “SK is too skinny and not so tall.”

Summer’s forehead was burning. Although she was full, her stomach felt pumped with helium. “Will you testify?”

“No fucking way,” Ignacio said. “I don’t owe you shit. You didn’t get me out.”

Rosie slapped the table. “What the fuck? I was your lawyer and the D.A. dropped the charges. Case closed. You owe me, so you owe Summer.”

Ignacio rolled her shoulders with attitude and said, “I don’t owe nobody nothing, ‘cause you didn’t lose the file.”

Summer whispered, “Who did?”

Ignacio looked around and shook her head.

“
Who?
” Summer’s voice lapped over Rosie’s.

“Look,” Ignacio reasoned stubbornly, “all I know is, you didn’t get me out.”

Rosie attacked in Spanish. To Summer, their conversation sounded like horn-mad salsa broken up by the occasional “No!” and “Look!” and “Fuck your mother!” Ignacio started out matching Rosie’s anger, but eventually backed down.

“Awright, awright,” Ignacio said. “Damn, Rosie! The fucking cops know you running with the Latin Brothers? Look, all’s I know is, I got sprung and went home and this fucking guy’s waiting for me. He has a gun and tells me, I testify, he’s going to make sure it’s the last thing I ever do.”

“What’s he look like?” Summer asked.

“Part Chink, Jap maybe,” Ignacio told her. “I can smell cop, and this guy was definitely cop. So I ain’t testifying. I gotta kid to think about.”

Chapter 24

Rosie dropped Summer off,
after which she called Tai’s answering service and was told he was rock climbing at the Ocean Spa Gym.

After paying an entrance fee and hiking past an Olympic-sized swimming pool; a track; basketball, squash, and tennis courts; a weight room; and various types of aerobics classes, she spotted him, sweaty and shirtless, peering up at the top of an artificial rock face marked with nooks, crannies, and plastic pegs.

He was adjusting his safety harness when Summer clamped a hand on his shoulder.

“What the—” he turned. When he saw it was Summer, he gave her an exaggerated smile. “Hey! I was going to call you. I just got back.”

Summer slapped him.

Tai stood there without a reaction, his smile intact. “What? Did I forget your birthday?”

Summer tried to temper her anger. “Why did you threaten Ignacio and tell her not to testify?”

“Ohhhh,” he revved. “That’s why you’re mad.”

“That’s right,” Summer said. “Before I fire you, I want to know why you’ve been interfering with my investigation.”

He twisted his mouth into a smirk. “Your investigation? You don’t know the first thing about investigating. The person who murdered Gundy is right under your nose and you don’t see it. But OK. I’m fired.”

He turned his back on her and started up the wall.

Summer grabbed his shorts. The elastic waistband snapped back when he pulled free. She called after him. “Don’t give me that cryptic shit. I’m paid to defend my clients, and if SK says she’s innocent, then I have to do my damnedest to get her off.”

Tai was already up ten feet. He stopped and looked down. “I’m not talking about SK.”

Summer watched him continue up the wall. “I’m not done with you,” she said.

Tai didn’t answer. He was carefully working his way up. As he ascended, a man at the top pulled the rope taut. Tai’s arms and back were pumped with blood, his muscles straining and defined.

“Tai!” she shouted.

Tai slipped momentarily but hung on.

Summer could feel her pulse pound at her temples. And the farther away Tai got, the harder her blood beat and the more her forehead boiled. Before she knew what she was doing, she’d kicked off her shoes, sending them flying into the wall, and started after him.

The man at the top cupped his hands and yelled down. “Yo, dude, dudette, whatever. It’s not cool without a safety harness.”

Summer shut him out of her brain. She placed the arch of her foot on a tiny crag and her hand on a peg and pulled herself up. Plagued by a severe fear of heights, she resisted the urge to look down, and instead focused on Tai, who was contemplating his next move.

The man at the top warned her he would call security. Summer’s lungs were beginning to ache. Her hands were slippery with sweat. She wished she had gloves like Tai. But she kept on, closing the gap on Tai, who looked down at her with alarm.

“Summer, what are you doing?” he said.

“I told you, I’m not done with you.” She rested her forehead against the wall for a moment, and then continued upward.

“OK, you win,” Tai said. “You can get down now.”

Summer ignored him like he had ignored her. She moved sideways a few steps to follow a course parallel to his. Her arms were shaking, but she urged herself on. She was more than halfway. Coming down would be far worse, she reasoned. Better to get to the top and take the elevator from the mezzanine.

“Those floor mats are pretty skinny,” Tai said. “If you fall, you could die. At the very least, you’ll break something.”

Summer took it one plastic rock, one movement, at a time. A wave of nausea passed over her. She took deep breaths until it passed. Even though she had slowed down, she was still closing in on Tai. She was close enough to smell his sweat. Her mind was wandering. She snapped back to attention. One foot slipped off. She frantically held on.

There were “oohs” from below. She glanced down and saw that a crowd had gathered. She struggled to plant her foot.

Tai said, “You have nerve, I’ll give you that much.”

“Are you working for the D.A., is that it?” She tried not to let her voice quiver. “Is that why you intimidated my only eyewitness?”

“You’ve got it all wrong.”

“Like hell I do. What did they offer you? A chance to get off disability and get back on the force? A promotion? I mean, how disabled can you be if you can climb walls?”

“First of all, I’ve learned how to compensate for my injury. Second, you’re ready to convict me without knowing the facts.”

He was a ten feet from the top, and Summer was five feet behind him. She shrugged off the dizzies. “All I know is that you ran from me when I confronted you.”

“SK ran from the cops, and you’re
defending
her.”

Summer was in an awkward position, the toes of one foot wrapped around a tiny jut, her fingers clawing a slight serration. The wall’s angle got steeper the closer she got to the top. She should have taken a different route.

Tai hoisted himself over the top. He leaned over and offered her his hand. “Just a few more feet and you’re home free.”

Summer didn’t think she could go another step. She was afraid she was going to black out. At least that way she wouldn’t feel the impact when she hit the ground.

Tai shouted. “C’mon, Summer. Move it! The longer you stay on the wall, the less time we’ll have to talk over dinner.”

She was too weak to tell him that the last incentive she needed was a date with him.

There was a rush of activity above. She heard Tai tell someone, “Keep the rope taut. I’m going after her.”

Summer prepped for a final run at the top, but a childhood memory pierced her. The minutes before meeting Sonia for the first time:
She’s in the car with Wib and he’s comforting her, telling her, “I know you’re too young to understand this, but you’re so much better off with us. It’s also better for your mother.” He’s feeding her strawberries, juicy and sweet. Bribery for good behavior.

There was hope. All the information lay within her, not with Marsalis. Maybe she could figure it all out without his help. She cleared her mind and began to finish the climb, tailing away from a descending Tai.

She ignored the hands hanging down, and with one last shot of energy, willed herself over the ledge. Safe now, she collapsed, barely aware of the circle of concerned faces over her.

“Should we call the police?” someone asked.

“I am the police,” Tai said, “and no. Don’t. Give her some air. I’ll take care of this.” When no one moved, he yelled, “Scram! Except you—” He pinched the collar of one man’s shirt. “Get her some water.”

The group dispersed.

Summer’s breathing was steadying.

Tai said, “I have never met anyone like you before, Summer Neuwirth. You are really something.”

She tried to sit up, but Tai pinned her shoulders.

“Rest easy,” he said.