Unfit to Practice

“Yikes,” Nina said. “Kind of a contrast to the piano bar.”

“Yeah, isn’t it great?” Paul said.

“It’s so clear after rain here. You can even see the stars.”

“Orion,” Paul said, pointing. “The one constellation I’m sure about.” He pulled her tight to keep her warm. “See what’s happening? Mad dashing to and fro. Chaos on the street. Stars exploding.”

“Guys peeing,” Nina said, watching one. “Ugh.”

Paul laughed. “You want life neat. It isn’t.”

“They’re saying I’m unfit to do my job.”

“You’re so much more than your job.”

They stood for a long time on the street. When they went back inside, Nina felt recharged, plugged into a power source. They warmed up again at their table. “I hate having the state bar after me. They’re my colleagues.”

“The bar court only operates based on the information it’s given-in this case, complaints that look perfectly legit. There’s a hidden agenda here, but it isn’t the California State Bar’s.”

“Yes,” she said. “We come back to that. My enemy.” She tinkled a spoon against her glass, took a sip, and tinkled it again. “Oh, Paul! Here’s an idea I had while we were celebrating with Bob.”

“Oh?”

“It’s about Mrs. Gleb. You know, after she testified she practically begged us to find something else for her to do.”

“What are you thinking?”

“I don’t want Jack to know about this, okay? I don’t want him to get into trouble.”

“Then I’m your man.”

She hesitated for a moment. “It involves Mrs. Gleb, and it involves you, and it involves some pretty shady stuff.”

“I’m liking this.”

She explained what she had in mind. Paul took out a pocket notebook. They took turns writing in it, erasing, and adding for several minutes.

Nina said, “I believe Kevin wouldn’t have lied about our relationship on his own. He had nothing to gain. It’s my theory he is being manipulated by someone smarter and more powerful. Lately I’ve been thinking maybe he and Lisa are in cahoots.”

“What a wild thought,” Paul said. “So she put him up to hiring you and then accusing you of the harassment for some kind of sick revenge? Boy, that’s damned nefarious. She didn’t strike me as that smart. I can see her better taking a bat to your car.”

“Maybe she offered him a better deal on the custody?”

“I guess that would be her bargaining chip,” Paul said.

“Anyway, for the moment, Lisa’s out of the picture because she’s in Tahoe. But Kevin’s here.”

“So we put Officer Scholl and Jeffrey Riesner on the short list,” Paul said.

Nina nodded. “Now, Scholl was Kevin Cruz’s associate in the past. She worked closely with him on the case that got him his first promotion. She hates me. Maybe she’s blackmailing Cruz into doing this. Maybe she knows something about that drug seizure that would get him kicked off the force.”

“He planted the drugs on those college students?”

“Could be. Everyone said it was a strange bust.”

“Hey, how come he isn’t fired already, considering Ali, the underaged wood chopper?”

“I hear he got himself a good attorney for a change,” Nina said with a straight face.

They cracked up.

“Okay, let’s move on to the subject of Jeffrey Riesner,” Paul said.

“Okay. He loathes me. He knows that Sandy and I know about past activities regarding a will that was rewritten in his favor that could cost him his job. Even though we’ve kept our mouths shut, he has to be worried.”

“Then there are the clients you stole.”

“And the way I mortified him in front of the big gaming guys. Oh,” she said. “Those were good times.”

“But we have to consider what his co

“Right. Well, the only thing that co

“How about-he promised to throw Lisa to the dogs. Maybe he told Kevin he knew something that would definitely assure that Kevin would win his kids in the permanent-custody hearing.”

Nina shook her head. “No. Riesner would never intentionally lose a case. Ten angels couldn’t persuade him to do that. Maybe a million bucks would, but Kevin doesn’t have a million bucks.”

“Has the permanent-custody hearing come up yet?”

“I believe it’s set in two weeks. There have been some delays,” Nina said.

“Because of Riesner?”

“Why, yes, now that you mention it. Paul, I think you might be on to something. Maybe I’m just collateral damage in a fierce divorce fight. Kevin cares more about his children than he cares about me. He sacrifices my reputation to get his kids. Kevin is a fool if that’s it, because Riesner won’t come through with his end of the deal.” She thought hard about that. “He’s got the timing worked out so that Kevin’s final custody hearing comes up after this hearing. He can get me, then double-cross Kevin later.”

“Kevin’s a cop. He’s not that stupid.”

“He is stupid, Paul. Stupid with desperation. I think he’d consider suicide if he lost permanent custody. I think he might fall for it.”

“You’re actually saying that Jeffrey Riesner stole your truck?”

“Seems incredible, but-Riesner could have picked up my key that Thursday at court. I just don’t know. On the whole, I’d say Jean Scholl is the better suspect. It’s nothing for her to rip off a car and take the files at her leisure. And she makes sure there’s no forensic evidence to discuss. And she knows forgers, if it comes down to that.”

“I always thought that was a squirrelly investigation she ran. So tonight we arrange for further information about the clandestine activities of one unscrupulous manipulator,” Paul said, putting the pencil to paper. “Who’s the big, bad wolf? Kevin Cruz, Officer Scholl, or Jeffrey Riesner?”

“Or if it’s not them, we’ll learn that, too. We’ll try to use Kevin to flush out the wolf.”

“Keep thinking about Lisa Cruz, even if she isn’t around at the moment.”

They wrote for a long time, drafting and redrafting.

“I won’t be forced out,” she a

“Okay, boss.”

They took a cab to the Marriott and located Mrs. Gleb on the fifth floor.

Mrs. Gleb answered in a red silk robe. Pink silk mules with delicate heels flopped on her feet as she moved to invite them inside. They sat down in two chairs next to a table stacked with books. Mrs. Gleb perched on the bed, tucking her legs comfortably beneath her.

“I expected you,” she said after Nina introduced Paul.

“You did?” Nina asked. “Why?”

“‘Truth is on the march and nothing can stop it.’ ”

Nina shook her head. “Sorry. I don’t know that expression.”

“I am reading Zola tonight. You have the same passion for life, struggle, and intensity. You refuse to lose, isn’t that so?”

“In this case, that’s so.”

“And you need me,” she said smugly.

“Mrs. Gleb,” Paul said. “You know all about forgery, right?”

“Correct.”

“Ever tried your hand at it?”

“Darling, I’m very, very good. You saw me on the stand. I tell the truth.”

“It’s not exactly truth we’ve got in mind here,” Paul said. “In fact, the opposite.”

“‘Noble lies to persuade the city,’ ” said Mrs. Gleb.

“Ignoble, noble, whatever,” Nina said. “Let’s get cracking.”

First thing, back at the Galleria Park, after a long good-bye at the door with Paul, Nina hit the bathroom, drank some more water, and gargled. Then she asked Bob how things went with his dad.

“Mystery solved,” he said. “Say, Mom, what do you think about me taking a little trip this summer?”