Stuart Woods - Dead In The Water

"It's very kind of you to include me in the possessive pronoun, Leslie, but may I remind you…" He stopped himself. "Allison, do you think I could have a few minutes alone with Leslie?"

"Of course," she said, standing up. "I was just going to the little girls' room, anyway."

"How did you get here?" he asked.

"I took a taxi."

"I've got one waiting; we'll be leaving in just a minute."

"I'm not sure I'm ready to leave," she said.

"I said, we're leaving," he said, trying to hold his temper.

She turned and, without another word, walked into the house.

"Leslie," Stone said, "what is Allison doing here?"

"I invited her to lunch," Hewitt said. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"Leslie, may I remind you that I am Allison's attorney, and you are a consultant on the case, hired to help me with the local judiciary at the trial. You are not the lead attorney, and I must ask you not to have meetings with my client from which I am excluded."

"Of course I'm the lead attorney," Hewitt said. "You vouched that to the court yourself."

"Only because local law requires a local attorney," Stone said. "I am still making the decisions in this case."

Hewitt shrugged. "As you wish," he said blandly.

"Thank you. By the way, I have just come from a command lunch with Sir Winston Sutherland."

"Oh, you must have lunched very well indeed," Hewitt said. "Winston always lays on a good spread with the taxpayers' money." He looked at Stone. "What did he 'want?"

"I was hoping you, with your knowledge of the locals, could tell me. We ended up shouting at each other."

"Stone, I must tell you that in St.Marks, we place the highest possible value on civility among members of the bar. You should not have shouted at Winston."

"I'm sorry, but he shouted first…sort of."

"Winston is not a man to be dallied with," Hewitt said.

"I didn't dally with him."

"He could be a very dangerous man to insult. I hope you did not insult him."

"I tried not to, but he really began to get up my nose."

"I sincerely hope he does not decide to retaliate," Hewitt said sadly. "It could be the end of Allison."

"Oh, Jesus, Leslie, don't tell me that," Stone moaned.

"Tell you what?" Hewitt said.

"Tell me…" He looked closely at the old man. His eyes had taken on that glazed look again. "Oh, never mind."

Allison came out the back door and came to the table.

"I'm afraid that was as long as I could take in the powder room," she said. "I did everything I could think of."

Stone stood up. "We have to be going," he said.

"Oh don't go," Hewitt cried. "Please introduce me to this beautiful young woman."

Allison turned and looked closely at Hewitt. "What?"

"Leslie," Stone said, "thank you for your hospitality, but we have to go now. We'll see you soon." He took the protesting Allison by the arm and steered her through the house. In the cab he leaned back and wiped his face with his handkerchief.

"What was that all about?" Allison demanded. "What did he mean,introduce me? Doesn't he know who I am anymore?"

"Allison, please be quiet until we get to the yacht," Stone said through clenched teeth, pointing at the driver. They made the rest of the trip in silence.

Back aboard Expansive, Allison practically stamped her foot. "Now tell me, what was that all about?"

"You first," Stone said, getting himself a beer from the fridge. "What were you doing at Leslie's house?"

"He invited me to lunch," she said, "and sent a taxi for me."

"Allison, I don't want you ever to meet alone with Leslie again."

"And why not? Isn't he representing me?"

"He is a consultant; I am representing you. Leslie is not…the man he once was."

"Is that why he didn't seem to recognize me?"

"Yes."

"You mean he's…gaga?"

"At times."

"I'm being represented by a lawyer who's gaga?"

"You're being represented by me. Leslie is simply advising me on the local judicial system."

"Well, he was talking to me as if he were my only lawyer in the world," she said. "He made me go through the whole story again, and in the greatest possible detail."

"I'm sorry that happened, but you should not have gone to see him without me."

"And speaking of you, where the hell were you?"

"Two policemen showed up this morning and dragged me to Sir Winston Sutherland's office." "Why?"

"I'm not sure; I think he was fishing for something he could use. He asked a lot of questions about Libby."

"And what did you tell him about her?"

"The truth, but without the financial details."

"God, how could you do that?"

"Why shouldn't I answer his questions? We've nothing to lose by telling him the truth about her. Believe me, this is no time to start lying to the local authorities."

"What did he want to know?"

"Mostly, he wanted to know about next of kin. I think he's having trouble notifying someone about her death."

"Well, that's not our responsibility, is it?"

"I told him where she was from and suggested he get in touch with the nearest American consulate."

"He couldn't figure that out by himself"

"Apparently not."

"What if he starts talking to her relatives?" she asked.

"What if he does? That doesn't matter to us, does it?"

She didn't reply.

"Does it? Allison, is there something you haven't told me about Libby?"

"No, certainly not," she said.

"Because this is no time to start withholding information from your lawyer. I need to know everything there is to know."

"You do. I mean, I've told you everything I know about her."

"I certainly hope so, because I don't want to get into that courtroom tomorrow and have Sir Winston raise something I've never heard about. You do understand the necessity of my being fully prepared, don't you?"

"Of course I do," she cried. Now she was really getting upset; there were tears in her eyes.

"All right, all right, don't cry," he said. He hated it when women cried; he didn't know what to do. "Everything will be all right, as long as I know everything I need to know." He put his arms around her.

"I wouldn't lie to you," she sobbed. "Why don't you believe me?"

"I do believe you, really I do," he whispered. "It's going to be all right, don't worry." He hoped that was the truth, because he was very, very worried himself.

Having placated Allison, Stone returned to the Shipwright's Arms to continue working on his opening statement for the trial. As he entered, Thomas beckoned.

"Bob Cantor called you," he said.

"I'll call him from my room," Stone said, then ran up the stairs,let himself in,and dialed the number.

"Cantor."

"Bob, it's Stone."

"Thanks for calling; I've got some stuff on Elizabeth Manning, but I didn't think you'd want me to fax it."

"What is it?"

"A guy I know is on the Palm Beach force, and he did a little moonlighting for me. Elizabeth Manning is, rather was, something of a gadfly in the town-a hanger-on, sponger, whatever you want to call it. She writes this column for a newspaper-an advertising sheet, really-and she practically lives on the food she gets at parties."

"Any family?"

"A mother."

"Did your man find out anything about her?"

"She's a widow in her early seventies; name is Maria Peters, a former actress, ill much of the last ten years with MS. She lives on Social Security and what she earns playing the piano in a hotel lobby at tea time for tips, plus what her daughter brought in. The two of them shared an apartment."

"Nobody else at all? A brother or sister?"

"Nobody. My guy is sure of that; he talked with the mother."

"He didn't tell her anything about the crash?"

"Nope; I didn't tell him. He told her he needed some information about some society type from her daughter, asked her to have Elizabeth call him when she got home."