The Lawyer's Lawyer

CHAPTER Sixty-Nine



At eight o’clock on Tuesday morning, Danni heard somebody knocking on her door. She didn’t want to talk to anybody. The evening before had been excruciating. She couldn’t turn on the television without hearing her name. Hannah had called from Europe because she was worried about her. She had to assure her daughter that she was fine. Now somebody was at the door—at eight o’clock! She’d had just about enough.

She opened the door ready to give whoever it was a piece of her mind. There stood Ron and Henry. Ron had a big paper bag in his hand.

“We’ve got some bagels,” he said.

“And cream cheese,” Henry added, producing his own small paper bag. “Thought maybe you could supply the coffee.”

Danni just looked at them and shook her head.

“It’s hot out here,” Ron said.

“All right, come on in.” They followed her into the kitchen and sat at the table while she started the coffee.

“Don’t just sit there,” she said to Ron. “Here’s the toaster. Start making the bagels. Henry, you can set the table.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Henry said.

When the coffee and bagels were done, they sat down to eat.

“So what’s new?” Ron asked as he spread cream cheese on his bagel.

Danni looked at Henry. Henry looked at Ron.

“What?” Ron said. Henry just started laughing, which made Ron start laughing, which finally made Danni start laughing. It was totally unexpected, totally the opposite of how she was feeling, but it felt so good—for all of them. For the longest time they couldn’t stop.

“What are we laughing at?” Ron asked, still unable to control himself.

“I don’t know,” Henry said, which made them start laughing all over again. Finally, they were laughed out.

“I needed that,” Danni said. “I didn’t know I needed it but I did.”

“We just wanted you to know you’re not alone,” Ron said. “We’re with you all the way.”

“Thanks, guys. It’s been a rough couple of days.”

“You were awesome, Danni,” Henry said.

“Yeah. Awesome. I think I got Jack convicted single-handedly.”

“Don’t say that. You did everything you could possibly do.”

“It wasn’t enough.”

“It’s not over. We have closing arguments today. Tom Wylie is a great lawyer.”

“Nice try, guys, but I think Jack and I are both going to jail.”

“Tom told me to tell you he’s got your back no matter what happens,” Henry said. “He would have come today but he’s still got the closing to worry about before he can relax.”

“They haven’t arrested me yet although I’m in a prison of sorts. I can’t go out in this town anymore.”

“Sure you can,” Ron said. “You can come to The Swamp and hang out with me and Henry. We’ll be the oldest people in the place because none of my regular customers are showing up either.”

“I don’t blame them for feeling the way they do, Ron,” Danni said. “They want to believe Sam so bad. His tragedies are everyone’s tragedies. It’s like we’re all in collusion with Sam. Deep down, we all know he’s lost it but we don’t care.”

“You cared. You came out of it,” Ron said. “And you were closer to Sam than anybody.”

“I was also very close to Jack, as you may have heard—the proverbial fallen woman. And Henry nudged me a little bit.”

“All we need is one,” Henry said. “One holdout on that jury.”