Carol O'Connell - Bone by Bone

As I recall," said Hannah, "you told Addison to grind up Sally Polk for dog meat."

Still following those instructions, the lawyer yelled, "It gets better! Judge Montrose-the man who signed the warrant-he was under the impression that there was probable cause. There wasn't. Let me tell you, that's one pissed-off judge."

"Now that last part's true enough." Henry Hobbs nodded at the screen. "Judge Montrose and I had a little talk. Good man. Seems Miss Polk likes to stretch the truth a bit. But so does Addison. He's talking about the search warrant. There never was a warrant for Oren's arrest. He must've been brought in for questioning. That means there's no evidence against him."

"But you always knew that."

"That I did."

They turned back to the television set as a reporter asked, "Oren? Will you be offering any assistance on this case?"

"Absolutely," said Ad Winston, answering for his client before Oren had a chance to open his mouth and say something true. "He's a decorated CID agent. That's the Army's Criminal Investigations Division. He has quite a track record for solving homicides. Incidentally, my client was the one who found the first evidence of his brother's murder. So you might say he's been on the case for a while now."

Oren seemed about to disagree with this, and the lawyer pushed him, forcing him to jump off the hood of the car before he could fall. Ad Winston also jumped to the ground and propelled his client through the crowd to a waiting limousine. The reporters regrouped and followed them across the parking lot. All that was missing was the music of a marching band.

In the distance, Evelyn Straub could be seen standing alone as the parade passed her by To the camera's undiscerning eye, she was a stout, drab figure who blended into the background and faded away.

Oren rode in the backseat of the stretch limousine hired for this special occasion of a carnival press conference. It was equipped with a stereo, television, a coffeemaker and a full bar. All that seemed to be missing was a hot tub. He turned to his lawyer. "Did my father really hire you?"

"Who else? You thought Isabelle might've asked me to defend you?" Ad Winston depressed a button on the console to raise a glass privacy barrier behind the chauffeur's seat. "And now, may I ask, what goes on between you and my daughter?"

"Sir, I've never even spoken to her."

"And yet, reliable witnesses tell me she recently decked you, flattened you out on a town sidewalk. That could pass for rough sex in the third world."

"I tripped."

"Of course you did."

"I'll pay for this myself," said Oren. "What do I owe you?"

"Not one dime. I never earned out the retainer your father paid me twenty years ago. And I won't make much of a dent in what's left. It looks like you're going to walk away from a double homicide."

"You think I murdered my brother and that woman?"

The attorney stared at him with keen interest. "The other set of bones belonged to a woman? Interesting. Don't ever tell me how you knew that. It'll make my job easier if I have to put you on the witness stand." He lifted his briefcase from the floor and settled it on his lap. "But I'm not anticipating a trial. Sally Polk's about to get a direct order to stay out of the sheriff's way. And Cable Babitt doesn't have the talent to catch a shoplifter."

"When Josh disappeared, was it your idea not to bring in the feds and the CBI? Or was that the judge's call?"

"Your father and I discussed the matter. I thought it was in your best interest if there was only one police agency to deal with-the mediocre one. I call it damage control."

You told him to send me away?"

No, that was the judge's decision. I was against it. At least he waited a few months before he shipped you out of state, but it was still a bad move. I gather you had some kind of alibi. The sheriff isn't a complete idiot." The lawyer's fingers did a little dance on the top of his briefcase while he awaited a response.

Oren had no plans to share the details of two bogus alibis. Evelyn Straub's old statement was folded in his wallet, and there it would stay. He had set fire to Isabelle's statement in full view of the sheriff and the patrons at the Water Street Cafe.

Ad Winston opened his briefcase and perused the paperwork inside. The top sheet was a list of military commendations and decorations, ribbons from combat zones, medals for Oren's valor and medals for his wounds.

"Stunning record," said the lawyer. "I was relieved to discover that you were honorably discharged. And that's all the information Sally Polk is likely to get from the Army. She probably doesn't know as many five-star generals as I do. When my general looked into the matter, what he found was very jarring." The lawyer consulted a sheet of handwritten notes. "I know you left Coventry when you were seventeen years old, but you didn't join the Army until your eighteenth birthday-legal age. When you quit, you were nine months shy of qualifying for a twenty-year pension. You walked away from that-every dime, every benefit."

Winston paused for a moment. "No comment?"

The lawyer turned back to his notes. "Well, with no prompting from me, the general investigated." He pointed to a paragraph. "This lists all the perks you were offered. In the general's own words, the Army offered you the moon if you would only stay. He tells me you never had to quit. They would have given you a leave of absence-all the time you needed. You could've claimed a family emergency, but you didn't. And your father insists you knew nothing about Josh's bones being found-not before you came home."

"My father never lies."

"Henry's better at arithmetic than I am. He knows what you lost when you walked away. He never asked why?" They rode the rest of the way in silence.

The sun had come out again, and the light from the immense window was brilliant. Beyond the glass were the muffled sounds of hammers and the sight of workmen building a large wooden platform on the grass behind the Winston lodge. Truckers unloaded tables and chairs for the guests who soon would fill the house to overflowing.

Oren had not set foot in this place since the age of twelve. Today the front room was an empty cavern of cedar paneling and glass. All the furnishings had been removed to accommodate a night of dancing beneath a ceiling that soared more than thirty feet, and the floor space had the dimensions of a grand ballroom.

Walking alongside his lawyer, he was told that the lodge had been built with the annual festivities in mind. Oren could only see it as a needy display of wealth, a stage for a man who was always performing, always smiling. He wondered what Ad Winston was like when there was no one around to play the audience. He pictured the lawyer sitting in a darkened room, insanely grinning for no reason at all.

No difference.

"You must come to the ball this year," said Winston, leading the way across the wide expanse.

"Maybe I will." Oren delivered this line in a manner close to a threat.

The lawyer paused and turned, eyes flickering, uncomprehending, and then he walked around a screen of potted fruit trees, motioning for his guest to follow him. On the other side of the foliage was a small mahogany bar, ornately carved. A cabinet full of bottles had been built into the wall, and its shelves were enclosed by glass doors with a sturdy lock. A single key lay beside a glass of melting ice cubes. The keeper of the key, a woman in a maid's uniform, was capping a whiskey bottle.

"Hello, Hilda," said the lawyer as he joined her behind the bar. He looked down at the abandoned glass. "No refills, right?"

"She's only had the one-"

"That s enough. You can go, Hilda. I'll do the honors. Young man, pull up a barstool."

Oren was distracted by his view of a small private terrace beyond a pair of French doors. Outside in the sunlight, Isabelle Winston's red hair was fire bright. A taller woman with long pale hair stood beside her. This champagne blonde could only be Sarah Winston, and she was slowly turning toward him, but he never saw her face. The lady was led away like a passive invalid.