I glance at Doris, who looks confused by this conversational turn.
“I’ve made some progress,” I tell him, thinking of my last visit to the Devine house and of Dolores St. Denis. “But until you show me more than you have today, I think I’ll keep it to myself.”
“How’s that supposed to help Tom?”
With a quick glance at Doris, who seems to be silently pleading with me for something, I say, “How did Dad feel after court adjourned today?”
“He knew what to expect.”
“He wasn’t ready for the news about that Dumpster tape. I can’t believe today’s events didn’t shake him.”
“Go see him, if you don’t believe me. You can tell Peggy you tried to convince Tom to fire me. But it’s a waste of time. Your father knows exactly what I’m doing, and why I’m doing it.”
“Then why the hell don’t you enlighten me, so I can keep my mother from having a stroke?”
“You’re mother’s a lot stronger than you think, boy. She’ll be fine.”
“She’s strong, all right. But today . . . she just about gave out.”
He jabs a finger at me. “Then you find a way to be in that courtroom for her tomorrow. Because things are likely to get worse before they get better.”
A pall of dread settles on my shoulders. “How could they get worse?”
“Things can always get worse. If you came from the same generation as your father and me, you’d know that.”
A flash of anger makes my face hot. Having lost one wife and one fiancée, I feel I’ve endured my share of grief. “I know how bad life can get, Quentin.”
He snorts. “You’ve lost two women, Penn. I feel for you. But you ain’t sick or in jail, and you still got a beautiful little girl to raise.”
With shaking hands I take a step back toward the door, looking over Quentin’s head at Doris, who is shaking her head as though in apology.
“You’ve got half a day,” I tell him. “If you don’t start turning things around tomorrow morning, I’ll find a way to stop this circus. And I think I know somebody who can help me.”
“Yeah? Who’s that?”
I tilt my head toward Doris. Fear and anger flare in her eyes, but I’m past caring about marital intrigues. “If Doris and Mom get on the same side, you’ll be back in Jefferson County before Judge Elder even notices you’re gone. You and Dad won’t have a thing to say about it.”
This gives him pause. “And what if that happens? Who’s gonna take my place? You?”
“I don’t want the job. But I’ll take it before I let you sabotage the trial.”
“You might as well put your daddy on that old gray bus to Parchman this afternoon.”
“Quentin, I’ll put a night-school ambulance chaser in that courtroom, so long as he knows when to yell ‘Objection’ and he can tell hearsay from legitimate testimony.”
Doris marches out of the doorway, circumnavigates the island, and interposes herself between Quentin and me, then begins speaking softly to him, so softly that I can’t make out her words. I start to leave, but in a much more restrained voice Quentin says, “You don’t know anything about the Impressionists, Penn?”
My hand is on the back doorknob. “Some. What’s your point?”
“Only this. When hack artists looked over the shoulder of Monet, all they saw was a man painting dots. Daubs and dots.”
“But when they took a few steps back, they saw the whole picture?”
“You got it.”
“I need to get home. I’m sorry, Doris.”
“Come on, my brother!” Quentin says, as though I’m taking all this too seriously. “I’m just tryin’ to make you feel better.”
I walk out onto the gallery, then look back at him through the half-open door. “You get Dad acquitted, you can tell me what a genius you are all day long. Until then, why don’t you try to remember a little basic legal procedure?”
He shakes his head as though I’m a hopeless case. “Why don’t you get out of my light, hack?”
“Half a day, Quentin. Then you get your walking papers.”
As I shut the door, I see Doris watching me over her shoulder, her dark eyes inscrutable as ever.
One block away from my house, my cell phone rings. It’s Rusty, of course.
“What did Quentin say?” he asks.
“It’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
“Fuck.”
“At least he dropped his Leonardo bit. Now he thinks he’s Monet.”
“I think he’s freakin’ Big Bird. He’s got to go, amigo. When court opens tomorrow, you’ve got to be standing at the defense table. You, your father, and nobody else. That’s something the jury can believe in, right there.”
“I gave him half a day, Rusty.”
“You what? Q can sink your old man in less time than that.”
“I went with my gut.”
“Well, usually that’s a good thing. But not this time.”
“I’ll tell you what scares me most. There’s some kind of split between Quentin and his wife. I think Doris is worried Quentin’s out of his league, too. Something’s messed up. I don’t know what.”
“Go talk to your father.”
“There’s no point. He won’t fire Quentin. Whatever’s at the heart of this case, Dad won’t confide it to me.”
“Shit, man. Is he that embarrassed about all this? So he tagged Halle Berry, and she got pregnant. That’s no reason to go to jail.”
“I’m glad you’re not making the closing argument.”
“Better me than Quentin Avery. Dude, I’ve known your mom a long time, and she’s close to cracking. She doesn’t care who Tom nailed back in the Dark Ages, she just wants him out of jail. Why can’t he see that?”
“Maybe Dad really believes the Knoxes will kill Annie or me unless he takes the fall.”
Rusty breathes into the phone for a few seconds. “Well . . . if that’s it—”
“I know. Nothing’s going to change his mind.”
“Where’s Ray fucking Presley when you need him? Or your blond buddy from the Special Forces?”
“I know what you mean.”
“Call me later.”
“Yeah.”
Chapter 32
Snake Knox crouched behind the desk in the sod farm office, his mouth open and his hands lightly over his ears. Junelle Crick stood over him, begging him not to go through with it. Snake told her to shut up and get down.
His fling with the VK mama had paid off in spades. This morning she’d told him that his passport and other ID had been delivered two days ago, but that Toons Teufel had locked both in the company safe. Toons had also ordered two of his men to stay behind and make sure Snake didn’t leave the compound. After hearing this, Snake had lost no time liberating enough plastic explosive to blow the safe with a shaped charge. He’d planted the charge five minutes ago, after the security guys jumped on an ATV and went out to help change a PTO implement on the farm’s main tractor.