Perri O'Shaughnessy - Unlucky in Law

“And had two children, I’m thinking,” Ginger said.

“But-what did Stefan know? Did he knowingly go there to kill his own sister and then dig up his own father? Could he want the money from her inheritance?” They talked all around the subject, speculating on the repercussions.

“Try to give me twenty-four hours notice on the testimony thing, if you decide to call me,” Ginger finally said, “so I can get down there from Sacramento. I’m leaving my calendar as open as I can. Look. Why don’t I drive down right now and take you out to a fashionably late dinner. You must be feeling like shit with the case in the dumper, and Paul…”

“Paul?”

“You don’t have to act all brave with me, babe. This is Ginger. Go ahead, cry on my shoulder. Or maybe you’re not crying? Maybe it’s okay? Which is it?”

“Which is what?”

“Who’s on first?” Ginger said, and laughed merrily, then went on in a kindhearted voice, “You know, I think I mentioned, there aren’t that many Japanese-American gal pathologists in California. In point of fact, there are only three of us. We keep in touch, tell autopsy horror stories late into the night and stuff. As I said, I know Susan.”

“You know Susan Misumi.”

“She told me she’s in love today.”

“With Paul? Well, he’s taken,” Nina said.

Ginger seemed to have dropped the phone. There was that rhythmic, awful, machinery wheeze again, like some monster coming to rip Nina’s heart out…

“Babe, I am about to become the bearer of seriously majorly bad tidings,” Ginger said. “Because you have to know, there’s no way I’m going to let you walk around with a foolish grin on your face. And I’m warning you right now, it’s going to blow your work tonight.”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Nina said. “Get to it.”

“Okay. Susan spent the night with Paul last night. She’s in love. She couldn’t wait to tell me. She’s been alone a long time, and she’s dead earnest. So that puts you somewhere brand-new. I don’t understand why two smart babes like you let Paul do this to you. And I liked Paul, too, in spite of my reservations. I took him for basically cool. Nina?”

Nina said through her tears, “What?”

“Let me come down there.”

“No. I have another three or four hours of work tonight.”

A pause. “You sure?”

“I’m fine.”

“Liar, liar, pants on fire. Look, call me tomorrow. I’m going to stay up late in your honor and figure out this blood evidence thing. It’s the least I can do. I’ll think of something.”

At nine P.M., Paul came to the office. Nina went out front and let him in. He looked sporty in a red windbreaker and new white shoes. Relaxed. Happy.

“What happened to you?” he said, examining her. “Your eyes look like someone jabbed them with a poker stick. And did you know your phone’s off the hook?” He followed her into her office. “That looks an awful lot like Klaus’s special Napoleon brandy on the desk. Almost empty, too.”

“It is.”

“Well, I’ve got news worth celebrating,” Paul said, sitting down in the chair opposite the desk and putting his feet up on it. He smiled brilliantly. “Sit down, honey, and let me get to my report.”

“Your report,” Nina said. She sat down.

“Two breaks, Nina, big ones. Number one: we’ve caught Alex talking to Stefan on the phone right before the murder. I already subpoenaed the bastard. Maybe you’re right, maybe he did hire our poor schmuck of a client to dig up some bones and leave his footprints around. Anyway, he’s a perjurer, and you’re gonna rip him apart.”

“Rip him apart,” she repeated.

“What’s that look? You sick?”

“Yeah, I’m sick.”

“Well, this’ll make you feel better. I got a hit on Wanda Wyatt. Ready? Constantin Zhukovsky engaged in holy matrimony with Wanda Ruth Wyatt on May twelfth, 1973. After his first wife died, he married his housekeeper.”

“Huh.”

“You don’t seem surprised.”

“It’s a little anticlimactic.”

He stared at her. “Well, I can’t figure out what it all means, but man, look at the birth dates on the Wyatt boys. Wanda’s a liar, for one thing. Dominoes, Nina. The bones could be Stefan’s father! Let’s get Ginger right on it. She’ll prove the relationship.”

“No need. She already did.”

Startled, Paul paused. “You knew? Well, what do you think?”

Nina got up, came around the desk, and pushed Paul’s feet off the desk. “I think you should make an appointment when you want to come into the office and report. I think you should keep your freaking shoes off my desk. That’s what I think.”

Panic flickered in Paul’s hazel eyes. “What’s got into you?” he said.

“I have court tomorrow at nine-thirty and we are starting the defense case. I didn’t sleep much last night and I don’t plan to sleep much tonight. You have just given me two crucial pieces of information, and I’m trying to incorporate them into a mind that is already at the bursting point.”

“Oh. Is that all?”

“That’s all I can stand right this minute. Now. The phone record. Zhukovsky.”

“What’s our strategy?”

“Get the truth out,” Nina said. “Zhukovsky did hire Stefan, so we give him a chance to tell the jury why and save himself from his previous perjury. And maybe we start understanding why Christina was murdered.”

“What’s he gonna say? What do you think?”

“No idea,” Nina said briefly. “But he’s not going to implicate Stefan any worse than he’s already implicated. He’s not going to say he hired Stefan to do the killing, I promise you that. I know it’s never good to ask questions without knowing the answers, but you’ve talked to him twice, and the witness stand is where he belongs. Is Wanda subpoenaed?”

“Not yet. I-”

“Here’s another issued subpoena. Go get her. Right now. I want her back in court tomorrow. Stefan is Constantin Zhukovsky’s son. I believe he doesn’t know it.”

“His brother, Gabe, too, who may know. He’s closer to his mom.”

“Which makes Christina and Alex Zhukovsky-assuming the rest of the story is true and they had a different mother-half-siblings with Stefan and Gabe.”

“Yes. It connects Stefan to Christina directly for the first time.”

“Which is bad,” Nina said, “extremely. There may even be a money angle, someone trying to get some. The two older kids got all of it. Maybe that’s where the consult to Alan ties in. Well, the only person who can fill in the background is Wanda.”

“She’ll be there. But be careful, Nina. You sound frustrated. Don’t make any mistakes tomorrow.”

“Right. No more mistakes,” Nina said. She opened the door. “Better get going.”

“Can I drop you at home on my way to Wanda’s?”

“I have my car.”

“How much of that brandy have you had?”

“I’m not going home for a long time yet. I’ll be fine.”

Paul hung in the doorway. Nina went back to her desk. She read phone records and took notes.

“No kiss?” he said finally.

“We’re in the middle of a trial. Let’s keep things on a business footing, okay? It’s easier right now.”

“If that’s the way you want it.”

“That’s the way I want it.”

“You’re the boss.”

“Then get going.”

She heard the Mustang roar to life on the quiet street outside, dropped the records, and put her hands on her cheeks and her elbows on her desk.

She had seen it in the shifting of his eyes and felt it in the distant politeness of his body. Paul had been with another woman.

But Stefan was depending on her. She had to concentrate on the case. Talking with Paul would incapacitate her.