Unfit to Practice

“To visit Kurt?” To keep her voice calm, she turned away from him. Couldn’t she get through tonight without another challenge? She had organized a last-minute party. She had bought Bob presents he loved that she hated. She rummaged in her suitcase for pajamas and a robe. How she would love a bath. She checked her watch. Not too late yet. Maybe Bob would give this up, give her until morning when she would be fresh-

“He misses me. And I never get to see him.” While Bob pressured her, he also watched the muted television.

“Of course you miss each other,” she said automatically. There were so many times, now, raising his son, when Kurt was recalled by a bend in Bob’s earlobe or a certain quality in his changing voice. He played a peculiar role in their lives, dipping in like a seagull to snatch fish now and then, otherwise flying around far away. She was not ready to deal with Kurt’s sudden interference or yet another need of Bob’s. She needed to sleep and gather up vibes that would give her strength for tomorrow. “I don’t know.”

“Mom, he needs me, too. I told you that.”

She tended to her clothes, folding some dirty ones into a zipper pocket, throwing others on her bed for the next morning. “Let me think about it, okay?”

“I hate when you say that. You might as well just say no.”

“I don’t mean no.”

“You do. Think about it is a euphemism for no way.”

“I am not saying that. I’m saying it’s probably all right, okay?”

“So the answer is going to be yes?”

“Just let me have a day or two to sit on the idea.”

“Don’t bother. I have my answer.” He turned the sound up on the television. “You have to tell Dad, though. I’m not going to break his heart.”

“Bob, I’m saying the answer is probably yes, not no! Nobody’s heart needs to be broken here! I just need time to be sure. I need to check some things.”

He brightened instantly, jumped up, and hugged her. “I’ll call him and tell him tomorrow night, okay? We’ve got a lot of things to talk about. And that’ll give you some time.”

“I haven’t promised you anything. Remember that,” she said, knowing it was useless. There was no going back. He had heard his power word, yes, and now he would never let her forget it. She sighed. “So what was all that stuff about Sweden and the North Sea?”

“He’s teaching at the Stockholm Music Institute this summer. Says there’s a great program up there for me that he’ll pay for. He’ll arrange everything. Mom, I can learn Swedish!”

Well, she thought a few minutes later, drawing a bath so hot it would burn her skin red, why the heck not? Swedish made as much sense as anything.

27

“D ID YOU SEE THE WAY he looked at me?” Nina said the next morning to Jack as they walked through the metal detector and into the reception area. Jeffrey Riesner sat in one of the small upholstered chairs in front of the circular table, lounging like a man who was relaxed and rich and on top of the world. Nina, on the other hand, had suffered another of the long, dark nights of the soul with Bob sleeping in the next bed over. She wasn’t far from rolling her bloodshot eyes at the judge after all, although eyedrops borrowed from the clerk at the hotel had helped.

“Ignore him,” Jack said.

“I knew this would be a tough day.”

“All days here are tough, Nina,” Jack said, holding open the door to the witness waiting room on the right for her. They walked in and shut the door behind them. “Now forget about him. We’ve got to get to this Cruz guy.”

“Jack, he’s gloating! I can’t help believing he’s behind this, and it’s driving me nuts, not knowing. Him or Scholl or Lisa or Kevin. Scholl or Lisa and Kevin together-”

“Drink your coffee,” Jack ordered. “All of it. And concentrate on what we can do right now. I’m thinking Riesner’s testimony will last until the lunch break. Then I want you to do something, Nina.”

If Riesner had his letter, and Scholl had hers, she would be too busy to do anything for Jack. If all had gone right, the three players had received letters at their hotels late last night that would occupy at least two of them during this upcoming lunchtime. Thank goodness all the witnesses had agreed to stay in town for the duration of the hearing in case they were needed. “What?”

“I want you to talk to Kevin.”

“No, Jack.” That couldn’t help now, and if her and Paul’s plan worked, it would not be necessary anyway. They would know who had set her up, and could proceed accordingly. Jack got his dark look, so she justified her refusal. “I tried to talk with him several times over the past several months, right after I got that letter from him and two other times. He doesn’t want to talk to me. Anyway, now we’re in the middle of this.”

Although she thought of it frequently, she had never confronted Jack with the fact that if he hadn’t insisted on her rushing the insurance check to the Vangs over that fateful weekend, she might have averted that particular catastrophe by waiting until Monday, when Marilyn Rose had called, hoping she hadn’t yet sent the check. She didn’t blame Jack for pushing her to send it before she was ready. That wouldn’t be right. Still, she wished he could acknowledge the error. If he had noticed, he apparently didn’t see it as his mistake at all.

“Kevin Cruz’s case isn’t a criminal matter,” Jack said. “He doesn’t have a lawyer representing him on this. You have as much right to talk to him as anyone.”

“What exactly could you expect me to say at this point? ‘Thanks for the nonexistent roll in the hay? Hope it was good for you ’cause it wasn’t for me’?”

“According to us, you never slept with this guy, never got involved sexually, were set up. It’s always hard to prove a negative. Look, I know it’s a long shot, but use your feminine powers of persuasion. Shut him the fuck up before he kills us.”

“Jack, I have no leverage with this guy.”

“You afraid?”

“Don’t be idiotic.”

“Then do it.”

They had squared off. She had her arms folded. He had his folded. Jack, master of all he surveyed, she remembered him well. She couldn’t help laughing at the two of them, on the same side but acting like enemies, adversarial as they always had been and always would be, wishing to control each other, wishing the best for each other. He wanted her to do what he wanted her to do. She wanted different.

“Whatever you say,” she said, because she used to say that when he made unreasonable demands and it always placated him long enough to get him off her back. She rubbed his arm to show she was friendly. She wasn’t willing to fight that way, using feminine wiles or legal wiles either; she was going to fight dirty. Jack would approve of their alternate plan when he heard all about it later if it paid off, because when it came down to it, Jack loved to win, however it happened.

Before they went into court, she planted a light kiss on his cheek. She wanted him to remember her sweetness.

After Judge Brock took his seat and the digital clock erupted into life, the attorneys spent the first few minutes going over some technicalities, then Nolan called Jeffrey Riesner.

This morning, the state bar attorney wore a slightly less rigorous uniform, a blue suit so light it verged on pastel. Nina herself had slicked her hair into a relatively tame position, tied it in a band at the back of her neck, and wore her best suit, in forest green, with a gold abstract pin her mother had left her stuck prominently upon her left lapel. If they were going to bring her down, she would go down looking like the woman of substance she was, not as a victim.

Riesner swore to tell the truth and sat down, a subdued and normal-appearing form of the devil Nina knew to be hiding up there in plain view.

Gayle Nolan introduced herself, then went through his credentials at great length, while Riesner, acting the consummate professional, casually gestured with his Stanford ring. He was wearing a blue pinstriped suit Nina could swear was identical to the one he had worn the first time she met him. Well, he knew what worked. He looked sleek and vulpine as always. His bright, white canines twinkled as he flashed his teeth.