Gail Bowen - The Brutal Heart

When I handed the paper to Zack, opened to this page, he grinned. “Hey, nice picture of the newest members of our bowling team.”

“They look promising,” I said. “Margot could bowl a perfect game without breaking a sweat or a single one of her fabulous red, red nails, and Sean is certainly single-minded.”

Zack raised an eyebrow. “Do I detect a note of criticism?”

“No,” I said. “If you’re happy with the hires, I’m happy with the hires.”

“I’m happy. I know it started as a joke, but Delia’s convinced we have to find our soul again. Maybe bowling is a start.”

“Well, if it is, I get to be in the team picture,” I said. “It was my joke.”

“Palman qui meruit ferat . Let him bear the palm who has deserved it,” Zack said. “But it was neat that Margot picked up on the joke.”

“She does look sensational in that bowling shirt,” I said.

“We were lucky to get her,” Zack said. “And not just because she looks good in a bowling shirt. She’s a hell of a good lawyer.”

“Were you lucky to get Sean?”

“He’ll be fine,” Zack said. “He doesn’t have the feel for the law Margot does, but I was impressed with the work he did tracking down the sources of Jason Brodnitz’s income. I was also impressed that he wasn’t afraid to use what he knew to get Brodnitz to back down on the custody case.”

“You don’t think what Sean did was ruthless?”

“Sean wasn’t the one who was living off money he earned from prostitutes. We all have to live with the consequences of our actions.” Zack pushed his chair back from the table. “Speaking of, I’d better get a move on or I’ll miss my flight.”

“I hate being apart overnight,” I said. “How come you’re always the one who has to speak at these dinners?”

“Because, Ms. Shreve, your husband is the only lawyer in the province who knows when to leave the podium.”

We weren’t in a rush, so I parked and waited with Zack in the terminal until his flight was called. We had a cup of bad coffee from a kiosk and talked about the weekend ahead. When the announcement came, Zack drained his cup and pitched it in the recycling bin. “What do you think about calling our team the Piranhas?”

“I think it stinks,” I said.

Zack reached out and pulled me towards him. “Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes,” he said.

I spent the morning at my laptop looking at video clips of Ginny’s career. The material was familiar, yet I found myself moved and saddened by the documentation of Ginny’s rise and fall. Her career had the kind of arc that television loves: beginning with her promise as an athlete, moving onto her success in business, building to her political wins, her exemplary handling of her cabinet post and the growing belief that she was destined for great things, and then suddenly the climax – when at the moment where everything seems possible, the protagonist self-destructs, leaving nothing behind but the shards of lost possibilities.

At a little before noon, I e-mailed my draft proposal to Jill, then called the massage centre Zack and I used and booked an appointment. In my opinion, I’d earned an afternoon of indulgence. I had a glass of wine with lunch, then I had a nap and a swim and went to my massage. Two hours later, with the life force once again flowing unimpeded through my body, I came home, made a salad for Taylor and myself, and took my Matisse biography outside with a glass of iced tea. The good life.

Ed Mariani called just as Taylor and I were about to leave for Mieka’s. “Glad you caught me,” I said. “Taylor and I were just on our way out the door.”

“Actually, I wanted to talk to Zack,” Ed said.

“He’s in Saskatoon. He had meetings there all day and he’s speaking at a dinner tonight. Do you want his cell number?”

“Thanks,” Ed said after he wrote the number down. “Everything okay with you?”

“Couldn’t be better,” I said. “I spent an entire afternoon following my bliss.”

“Well, I won’t keep you,” Ed said. “Thanks for Zack’s number.”

“Ed, you sound a little distracted. Is something wrong?”

“Nothing that can’t be fixed,” he said, and he hung up.

Taylor and the granddaughters and I were sitting on the steps of Dessart Ice Cream Emporium when Zack called. “What are you up to?” he said.

“I’m sitting on the steps of Dessart with the young women in your life. We’re all eating double-deckers with sprinkles.”

“You’re lucky. I’m at a reception with a bunch of other lawyers waiting to get our joints bored off by an evening with Morty Lamb.”

“Isn’t the expression ‘tits bored off’?”

“I was attempting to be inclusive,” Zack said. “The last time I used the term tits, you took umbrage.”

“You sound a little lubricated.”

“Probably more than a little. Some of us got together for drinks before we came here.”

“Always a good idea to have a few drinks before you go to a reception where the wine will be flowing.”

“I’ll slow down.”

“That’s my boy. Hey, did Ed Mariani get in touch with you?”

“I had my cell off. I’ll call him later.”

“Ed says it’s important.”

“Okay, I’ll call him now. Hold that. We are being waved into dinner. I’ll call him after the prime rib.”

“Make sure you eat something.”

“I will. And I’ll call you when I get back to my room. It won’t be late. Morty joined us for drinks, and he’s already nodding.” Somebody who was demanding Zack’s attention was speaking to him. When Zack came back, he sounded wistful. “Tell me again exactly what you’re doing.”

“Sitting on the steps of Dessart with the girls. The sun is setting behind the cathedral. We’re finishing our ice cream, and we all miss you.”

“That is precisely what I wanted to hear.”

The girls were tucked in, and Taylor and I had just started perusing Mieka’s DVDs when Francesca Pope called.

She got right to the point. “Your husband can’t be trusted,” she said. “I want my bears.”

“I can’t do anything tonight, Francesca,” I said. “I’m not at home. You called my cell.”

“I know,” she said. “I got the number from your voice mail. When will you be at your house?”

“Probably not till around ten. You can come by then if you like.”

“It’s not safe for me there.” Her voice was thick. “It’s not safe for them either. I have to get them out of there.”

“I’ll bring the bears to you tomorrow morning.”

“No! It could be too late by then.” Her voice rose with desperation.

“All right,” I said. “I’ll bring them to you tonight. Where can I meet you?”

“At the side of Acme Store-All. It’s right next to the Pendryn.”

“Where Cristal Avilia lived.”

“And died,” she said.

My pulse quickened. “Francesca, how close were you and Cristal?”

“She was my best friend,” Francesca said, then the line went dead.

I thought about calling Zack but realized he’d be in the middle of dinner. The news about the nature of Francesca’s relationship with Cristal could wait, but Francesca’s fear stayed with me as Taylor and I settled in to watch Atonement .

Mieka came home just as the credits at the end of the movie were rolling. Taylor and I had polished off a pitcher of iced tea and most of a bowl of popcorn. We’d also gone through a substantial number of tissues, but I would have been hard-pressed to identify exactly for whom I was crying.

When Mieka walked into the family room, I stood up and looked past her for Sean. “Where’s the junior partner?” I asked.

Mieka scooped out the last of the popcorn. “Where junior partners go at the end of an evening – back to the office.”