Michael Connelly: The Lincoln Lawyer

I knew she would say that.

“No, don’t come to me.”

“Why not?”

“Because he might come to me.”

“This is crazy. What are you going to do?”

“I’m not sure yet. Just go get Hayley and get somewhere safe. Then call me on your cell, but don’t tell me where you are. It will be better if I don’t even know.”

“Haller, just call the police. They can -”

“And tell them what?”

“I don’t know. Tell them you’ve been threatened.”

“A defense lawyer telling the police he feels threatened… yeah, they’ll jump all over that. Probably send out a SWAT team.”

“Well, you have to do something.”

“I thought I did. I thought he was going to be in jail for the rest of his life. But you people moved too fast and now you have to let him go.”

“I told you, it wasn’t enough. Even knowing now about the possible threat to Hayley, it’s still not enough.”

“Then go to our daughter and take care of her. Leave the rest to me.”

“I’m going.”

But she didn’t hang up. It was like she was giving me the chance to say something more.

“I love you, Mags,” I said. “Both of you. Be careful.”

I closed the phone before she could respond. Almost immediately I opened it again and called Fernando Valenzuela’s cell phone number. After five rings he answered.

“Val, it’s me, Mick.”

“Shit. If I’d known it was you I wouldn’t have answered.”

“Look, I need your help.”

“My help? You’re asking for my help after what you asked me the other night? After you accused me?”

“Look, Val, this is an emergency. What I said the other night was out of line and I apologize. I’ll pay for your TV, I’ll do whatever you want, but I need your help right now.”

I waited. After a pause he responded.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Roulet still has the bracelet on his ankle, right?”

“That’s right. I know what happened in court but I haven’t heard from the guy. One of my courthouse people said the cops picked him up again so I don’t know what’s going on.”

“They picked him up but he’s about to be kicked loose. He’ll probably be calling you so he can get the bracelet taken off.”

“I’m already home, man. He can find me in the morning.”

“That’s what I want. Make him wait.”

“That ain’t no favor, man.”

“This is. I want you to open your laptop and watch him. When he leaves the PD, I want to know where he’s going. Can you do that for me?”

“You mean right now?”

“Yeah, right now. You got a problem with that?”

“Sort of.”

I got ready for another argument. But I was surprised.

“I told you about the battery alarm on the bracelet, right?” Valenzuela said.

“Yeah, I remember.”

“Well, I got the twenty percent alarm about an hour ago.”

“So how much longer can you track him until the battery’s dead?”

“Probably about six to eight hours’ active tracking before it goes on low pulse. Then he’ll come up every fifteen minutes for another five hours.”

I thought about all of this. I just needed to make it through the night and to know that Maggie and Hayley were safe.

“The thing is, when he is on low pulse he beeps,” Valenzuela said. “You’ll hear him coming. Or he’ll get tired of the noise and juice the battery.”

Or maybe he’ll pull the Houdini act again, I thought.

“Okay,” I said. “You told me that there were other alarms that you could build into the tracking program.”

“That’s right.”

“Can you set it so you get an alarm if he comes near a specific target?”

“Yeah, like if it’s on a child molester you can set an alarm if he gets close to a school. Stuff like that. It’s got to be a fixed target.”

“Okay.”

I gave him the address of the apartment on Dickens in Sherman Oaks where Maggie and my daughter lived.

“If he comes within ten blocks of that place you call me. Doesn’t matter what time, call me. That’s the favor.”

“What is this place?”

“It’s where my daughter lives.”

There was a long silence before Valenzuela responded.

“With Maggie? You think this guy’s going to go there?”

“I don’t know. I’m hoping that as long as he’s got the tracker on his ankle he won’t be stupid.”

“Okay, Mick. You got it.”

“Thanks, Val. And call my home number. My cell is dead.”

I gave him the number and then was silent for a moment, wondering what else I could say to make up for my betrayal two nights earlier. Finally, I let it go. I had to focus on the current threat.

I moved from the kitchen and down the hallway to my office. I rolled through the Rolodex on my desk until I found a number and then grabbed the desk phone.

I dialed and waited. I looked out the window to the left of my desk and noticed for the first time that it was raining. It looked like it was going to come down hard and I wondered if the weather would affect the satellite tracking of Roulet. I dropped the thought when my call was answered by Teddy Vogel, the leader of the Road Saints.

“Speak to me.”

“Ted, Mickey Haller.”

“Counselor, how are you?”

“Not so good tonight.”

“Then I am glad you called. What can I do for you?”

I looked out the window at the rain before answering. I knew that if I continued I would be indebted to people I never wanted to be on the hook with.

But there was no choice.

“You happen to have anybody down my way tonight?” I asked.

There was a hesitation before Vogel answered. I knew he had to be curious about his lawyer calling him for help. I was obviously asking about the kind of help that came with muscles and guns.

“Got a few guys watching things at the club. What’s up?”

The club was the strip bar on Sepulveda, not too far from Sherman Oaks. I was counting on that.

“There’s a threat to my family, Ted. I need some warm bodies to put up a front, maybe grab a guy if needed.”

“Armed and dangerous?”

I hesitated but not too long.

“Yeah, armed and dangerous.”

“Sounds like our kind of move. Where do you want them?”

He was immediately ready to act. He knew the value of having me under his thumb instead of on retainer. I gave him the address of the apartment on Dickens. I also gave him a description of Roulet and what he had been wearing in court that day.

“If he shows up at that apartment, I want him stopped,” I said. “And I need your people to go now.”

“Done,” Vogel said.

“Thank you, Ted.”

“No, thank you. We’re glad to help you out, seeing as how you’ve helped us out so much.”

Yeah, right, I thought. I hung the phone up, knowing I had just crossed one of those lines you hope to never see let alone have to step across. I looked out the window again. Outside, the rain was now coming down hard off the roof. I had no gutter in the back and it was coming down in a translucent sheet that blurred the lights out there. Nothing but rain this year, I thought. Nothing but rain.

I left the office and went back to the front of the house. On the table in the dining alcove was the gun Earl Briggs had given me. I contemplated the weapon and all the moves I had made. The bottom line was I had been flying blind and in the process had endangered more than just myself.

Panic started to set in. I grabbed the phone off the kitchen wall and called Maggie’s cell. She answered right away. I could tell she was in her car.

“Where are you?”

“I’m just getting home now. I’ll get some things together and we’ll get out.”

“Good.”

“What do I tell Hayley, that her father put her life in danger?”