Page 24 of Take the Bait

He didn’t respond, so she added, “I’m also not a shrink and I’m surely not trying to be yours. I’m just trying to understand what’s going on with this case so I won’t get ambushed and can best defend you.”

Abruptly, he looked so exhausted he could hardly stay upright. “I already told you, Dani,” he said tiredly. “Don’t bother.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“If you insist on doing your best to defend me, I’ll fire you and ask for the worst hack public defender the city has.”

She stared. “Are you kidding me?

The momentary crack that had revealed his exhaustion snapped shut, leaving behind only that laser sharp intelligence of his. “No. I’m not kidding.”

He pushed away from the table and rose to his feet. Staring down at her, he said succinctly, “Screw this case up, or I’ll get a lawyer who will.”

9

Dani’s jaw dropped as Alex turned smartly on his heel and strode to the interview room’s door, ignoring the buzzer and instead banging his open palm on the steel panel to be let out.

She stared at his back in shock as a guard unlocked and opened the steel door. Alex walked out without a single backward glance.

What the actual fuck?

She collected her coat and purse at the check-in area, made her way back to mid-town, and went for a long walk. The noise and bustle of the city soothed her, or at least anesthetized her until she felt no more shock. Who on earth had ever heard of a client insisting that their attorney do a lousy job of defending them?

Eventually, she pulled out her cell phone and called Zoey. “Hey, Zo. It’s Dani.”

“Ooooh, girlfriend, what did you say to Whitney?”

“Why?” she asked quickly “Did he say something? Do something?”

“No, no. But he’s been on the warpath since you sailed out of his office yesterday. He actually made Janice cry this morning, and she’s been his secretary for like thirty years. She said in the break room that she’s never seen him this pissed off.”

“Any rumors floating around the HR department that I’m going to be fired?” she asked lightly.

“Of course not! What did you two talk about, anyway?” Zoey demanded.

“Sorry. A case. Confidential.”

“Damn it!” Zoey exclaimed. “I was so looking forward to the juicy gossip!”

“Sorry again.” She paused, collecting her thoughts as she shifted from sexual harassment to her crazy case. Then she asked, “Any chance you’ve found something of interest about Alex Koronov?”

“Lots about your client is interesting. But I’m still not even close to done researching him. Is there anything in particular you want me to look for? It’s a big job trying to learn absolutely everything about a person’s entire life. I might run across the thing you need but not realize it’s the key tidbit you’re hoping I’ll find.”

True. Dani said, “I wish I knew what to tell you to look for. All I know is that something’s definitely off with him. You’ll never believe what he just asked me to do.”

“Aww, don’t tell me he’s a creep. He didn’t hit on you, did he?” Zoey demanded.

“No, no. It’s nothing like that.”

“Well, spill.”

Dani looked around to make sure nobody was within earshot of her in Central Park. “This is privileged information, okay?”

As an employee of the law firm, Zoey was entitled to hear privileged communications between lawyers and clients so she could do her investigative job properly, and hence, she was also bound by the rules of lawyer-client privilege.

“Got it. Privileged. What did that little shit do? Am I going to have to go down to the jail and kick his ass when this case is over?”

Dani said in a hush, “He told me to screw up his case. He said if I insisted on doing my best to defend him, he would fire me and hire the worst hack he could find.”

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