Gail Bowen - The Brutal Heart

“If they’re lawyers, why don’t they talk to someone from their own firms?”

“Because the lawyers in their own firms are respectable, and they’ve done something they’re ashamed of. Sometimes only the Prince of Darkness will do.”

“Is that why Ned sought you out at the end?”

Zack sipped his coffee. “I guess, and isn’t that a hell of a note? He’d been partners with Doug Meinhart and Gerry Loftus for fifty years, but when he decided to end his life he couldn’t go to them because he’d indulged in a common sex act and some desperate fantasy.” Zack drained his juice. “Not nice stuff, according to the rigorous standards of Osler Meinhart and Loftus. Do you know that every Friday for fifty years the partners and staff there have gathered in their boardroom to have a glass of pale amontillado sherry. Ned told me once they look forward to it all week. Jesus, what a bunch of bloodless sticks.” Zack dug his spoon into his porridge. “Anyway, that explains why Ned came to me.”

“Does it ever bother you that you’re not Atticus Finch?”

Zack’s spoon stopped in mid-air. “No, because I don’t know who he is.”

“The lawyer in To Kill a Mockingbird . Gregory Peck played him in the movie.”

“Whoa, Gregory Peck.” Zack’s tone was sardonic. “So I’m guessing that Atticus Finch was noble, and that he won his case.”

“No, he lost his case, but he lost nobly.”

Zack swallowed his porridge. “Maybe if he’d been willing to get his hands dirty, he would have won.”

I didn’t respond, and Zack looked at me hard. “So does it bother you that I’m not Atticus Finch?”

I met his gaze. “I’m getting used to living on the edge,” I said. “Want some toast?”

“No time. I have to be in court this morning. And I haven’t quite figured out what I’m going to do.”

“Is it a big case?”

Zack shook his head. “Nope. Simple assault. Remember that woman who punched the mayor in the nose? It was in the news a couple of months ago.”

“The homeless woman,” I said. “She was protesting the gentrification project in the warehouse district.”

“Right,” Zack said. “Well, that’s my client. Her name is Francesca Pope, and she’s schizophrenic. The day of the incident, she was off her meds. She is quite literally not guilty by reason of insanity. She really didn’t understand what she was doing when she assaulted that officious prick.”

“So you can get her off?”

“Without breaking a sweat, but therein lies the problem. If I argue she’s unfit to stand trial, the Crown will go along with me, and she’ll be committed to the hospital in North Battleford.”

“Wouldn’t that be the best thing for her? She’d be cared for, and she’d get treatment.”

“And she’d be locked up, which is exactly what Francesca doesn’t want because she’s afraid they’ll take her bears away.”

“Her bears?”

“She has a backpack full of stuffed bears. She tells me they’re called Care Bears.”

“Mieka used to collect those when she was little.”

“I hope they were in better shape than these. The smell of them just about knocks me out. But gross as they are, they are Francesca’s treasure. Really, Jo, those Care Bears are like her kids. Try to think of it in those terms, and you can understand why she’s so frightened of being locked up.”

“But, Zack, if she’s a danger…”

“She isn’t. She’s no more a danger than you are, but the mayor was annoyed because the bears were ruining his picture, so he kicked them out of the way.”

“So you’re going to try to get her off?”

“That’s what she wants. The Crown will want to send her to North Battleford for treatment, but there aren’t many spaces. She’ll have to wait, and in the meantime she’ll go to Pine Grove and be thrown in with the general population. She’ll be housed and fed and her meds will be administered, but there’ll be no treatment. Pine Grove is a tense place, Jo, full of people who are quick to judge and quick to take advantage – just about the worst possible atmosphere you could imagine for a schizophrenic.”

“And the alternative is the street.”

“Right, where there’s no one to take care of her or make sure she has her medication, but where she will have her bears.” Zack swept a hand across his eyes. “So which door would you choose, Ms. Shreve?

“I don’t know,” I said.

“Well, luckily it’s not your problem,” he said. “Anything going on tonight?”

“We have that meeting about the Farewell at Taylor’s school.”

“Jeez, I almost forgot. But I’m prepared. Taylor told me exactly how to vote.”

I smiled. “Did she now? So, are you going to fill me in?”

“Let’s see.” Zack squeezed his eyes shut in concentration. “No on semi-formal dress because last year the boys kept pretending to hang themselves with their ties. No on a PowerPoint presentation of baby pictures, and no on having the principal read lame poems about the future. Yes on ham, yes on Nanaimo bars, and yes on getting the class picture taken at Waterfall Park.”

“You’re amazing,” I said.

“Especially since when I was in Grade Eight, there weren’t any ceremonies when we made it to high school. The teachers just booted us out the door.”

“And look how well you turned out,” I said.

“Any complaints?”

“Just the same old lament. I wish you didn’t work so hard.”

“I’m cutting back. I’ve turned down a couple of big cases lately.”

“Alleluia,” I said. “So are you finally going to start handing off some of your files to Sean?”

Zack shook his head. “No, not to Sean. I have somebody else in mind, but we haven’t had a chance to talk, so nothing’s official.”

“That’s a surprise,” I said. “Have you told Sean?”

“Yeah. I told him last night when we were driving back from the cop shop.”

“How did he take it?”

“Not great. He didn’t throw me out of the car or anything, but he was disappointed.”

“Understandably,” I said. “I’m sure he thought he was the heir apparent. He’s been working with you for a long time.”

“True, and while he was working with me, I was able to get a pretty good idea of his capabilities.”

“Good enough for an associate but not for a partner?”

“Yup. Sean is competent, but he’s not partner material.”

“That’s sad,” I said. “He’s devoted to you.”

“I’m not having him euthanized, Jo. As I reminded Sean last night, he has options. He can go to another firm or he can stay on as a senior associate at Falconer Shreve and eat what he kills.”

“What does that mean?”

“Right now, Sean gets a percentage of his billables and if his billables are high, he gets a bonus. As a senior associate, he’d get to keep pretty much everything he brought in.” Zack raised his hands, palms up. “He eats what he kills.”

I shuddered. “That terminology’s a little brutal, isn’t it?”

Zack pushed his chair back from the table. “Life is brutal. Madeleine could tell you that. On the five occasions she and I watched March of the Penguins , she alerted me to the line, ‘Not all penguins survive.’ ”

After we’d cleared away our breakfast things, Zack went to shower and dress and I went to Taylor’s room to get her moving. She was a girl who loved creature comforts, and her bedroom caught the morning sun. Nested in her sheets with the sunshine warm on her face and her cats, Bruce and Benny, at her feet, Taylor had many reasons for staying in bed, but even more reasons for getting up. I kissed her hair. “Time to get up,” I said.

She threw back her sheets and bolted upright. The hormones were kicking in. “Tonight’s the meeting about the Farewell. I am soooooo excited.”