The Lawyer's Lawyer

CHAPTER Forty-Two



Two days after she returned from Boulder and a day before the funeral of Kathleen Jeffries, Danni received a surprise guest at her home. She opened the door and there stood Sam Jeffries, rumpled and disheveled with at least a three days’ growth on his face, maybe more.

“Sam, come on in.” She gave him a long hug after he entered the house. “I’m so sorry for your troubles, Sam.”

“Thanks, Danni. You know the funeral is tomorrow.”

“Yeah, they called me from the station and told me. That’s pretty quick.”

“I want it over with. I’ve got things to do.”

“Why don’t you come in and sit down, Sam. I’ll get you some coffee.”

“Thanks.”

Danni had an intimate little table for two in her kitchen. They sat there to drink their coffee.

“How are you doing?” she asked, knowing at least part of the answer. Sam’s hands were shaking, which told her he’d been doing what cops did in times of trouble—drowning his sorrows in alcohol.

“Well, you don’t need to take my guns if that’s what you’re asking. I’ve had my moments but now I’m focused.”

Danni was pretty sure she knew what he was focused on, but she felt obligated to ask the question.

“On what?”

“On finding Tom Felton and killing him. I’d like to cut his f*ckin’ balls off and stick them in his mouth and while he was choking slowly slit his throat, but I want to keep my job, so I’ll have to settle for a bullet to the head or the heart, whichever is most convenient.”

“Sounds good.”

“I’d like to do the same for your boy Tobin.”

“He’s not my boy.”

“He was at one time, Danni. You were head over heels for him. Don’t deny it.”

“What’s your point, Sam?”

“My point is that he’s a piece of shit and I’d like to spare the world his presence as well if I could get away with it.”

“Is that what you came here to tell me?”

“No. I’ve been thinking about this constantly, even when I was so drunk I could hardly move. Felton’s a smart boy. He had ten years in a small cell to figure out there was only a small group of people that had the ability to f*ck him over. He likes to kill women so he went after my daughter first. I assume you figured this part out already.”

“I have.”

“And Hannah is safe?”

“She is.”

“That leaves you, Danni. He’s coming for you as sure as I’m sitting here. He’s not going to back off. Killing the women of the people who f*cked him, or, in your case, the woman who might have directly f*cked him over, is probably the ultimate jolly for this sick bastard.”

“Are you trying to scare the shit out of me, Sam?”

“Absolutely not. You were a homicide cop for fifteen of your twenty years. You know all this shit already. I’m here to ask you if I can stay here at night and wait for him. You can stay here, too, if you like. I won’t be sleeping. Or you could go to my house. I want to catch this bastard, Danni. I need to catch him.”

Danni understood the sentiment all too well. Her feelings mirrored those of Sam Jeffries although Sam’s hunger was so much greater than her own. She would have let Sam do what he wanted but she just didn’t agree with his reasoning.

“I want you to catch him, Sam, I really do, but you can’t do it this way.”

“Why not?”

“Felton is smart—you said so yourself. You won’t be able to get in and out of this house every day without him seeing you. He wants me alone.”

“Then I’ll stay here all the time.”

“It won’t work, Sam. He’ll know you’re here.”

Sam started rubbing his hair with his hands and then working them around to his neck. He was like a big agitated grizzly. If Danni hadn’t known him so well, she would have been frightened. He was ready to snap. She needed to give him something.

“Where do you think he’ll come at me from?” she asked.

“The woods would be my guess.”

The street in front of Danni’s house was well lit and her home was bordered on both sides by other single-family homes. She had a small backyard with nothing but thick woods behind it. There was a road on the other side of the woods. A person could enter from the road and walk for a half mile or so and exit in Danni’s backyard. It was the logical place for Felton to come from.

“I think you’re right, Sam. So if you weren’t here waiting for Felton, where would be your next best spot?”

“The road on the other side of the woods.”

“Exactly.”

“But there’s no place to set up a surveillance back there. The other side of the road is all meadow.”

“I know. The best you could do is drive by—maybe do a circle of the front of the house and back by the road. You’d have to use unmarked cars and you’d have to change cars frequently. We don’t want to scare him away. We want him to come.”

“That’s hit or miss.”

“I know, but I’m going to be waiting for him every night, too, Sam. I’m going to sleep during the day. If a shot goes off or if you hear anything, it’s nice to know you’ll come running.”

It was obvious Sam didn’t like that option. He was rubbing his upper arms with his hands and then rubbing his hands together.

“I don’t like it. You’re too exposed.”

Danni knew it wasn’t about her being exposed. He’d already acknowledged that she could manage the risk. Sam wanted the kill, plain and simple.

“I could hide in the woods,” he said.

“Sam, you are a big man and I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re not in great shape. You wouldn’t be hiding in the woods, you’d be telling him you’re coming—telegraphing your every move. It might be a good idea to put somebody from the SWAT team in there, though.”

He didn’t like that option.

“I don’t want the department involved. Too many people know about this, it’ll get all f*cked up.”

That wasn’t true either. Sam was the chief of police, for Christ’s sake. He could easily take a SWAT team member, give him the assignment, and swear him to silence. He didn’t look or act like the chief of police though, sitting there at her little kitchen table.

He looked like a troubled, unstable man.