The Anonymous Client

Steve.”
    “Yeah, Mark.”
    “It wasn’t hard, really, once you told me what you were looking for. I got men out digging around and—”
    “Mark. Please. I don’t need a rundown. Who’s the client?”
    “Whoa. I’m not making any deductions. That’s your department. All you said was find someone with a connection with Sheila Benton. So that’s what I did.”
    “Yes? And?”
    “And it’s a definite. Hell, they went to school together, for Christ’s sake.”
    “Yes, damn it. But who?”
    “Oh. Sorry,” Mark said. “I thought you knew. It’s Marilyn Harding, of course.”

23.
    J UDY M EYERS WATCHED THE WAITER depart with their orders, grimaced, and said, “I’m going to have to diet for two weeks to make up for this.”
    “Then why did you order so much?” Steve said.
    Judy smiled. “Are you kidding? Because you’re paying for it. I don’t get breaks like this that often.”
    “You gettin’ any work?”
    Judy shrugged. “A few auditions. I’m making the rounds.”
    “Any callbacks?”
    “Nothing to speak of. Things are slow. Look. Enough chitchat. This is a payback dinner, and, for your information, the payback’s gonna take more than food.”
    Steve raised his eyebrows. “Oh?”
    “You have a dirty mind,” Judy told him. “I mean the piece of paper. I’ve never been mixed up in a mystery before. So let’s have it.”
    “Oh,” Steve said.
    Judy stared at him. “You are going to tell me what’s going on?”
    “Look,” Steve said. “I told you. I’m in trouble. Big trouble. I could be charged with something. If I am, anything I tell you could be construed as an admission of guilt. You could be forced to testify. I could—”
    “Oh, bullshit,” Judy said. “I got that paper for you. If there’s anything illegal about it that makes me an accessory. If you think you can make me an accessory to a crime without letting me know what’s going on, that makes you a candidate for the Asshole of the Month award.”
    “You got the paper without knowing what it’s all about. At worst, you’re an unwitting accomplice. The more you know, the more trouble you’re in.”
    “Spoken like a lawyer. Hey, Steve, look, it’s me. It’s Judy sitting here. If you want to get all cutesy-poo legal on me, well, fine, tell me a hypothetical story of what might have happened. Then we’ll all be protected because we were just saying ‘what if.’ But let me tell you, if you don’t start talking, you are going to wind up with your salad in your lap.”
    He told her the whole thing. More than he’d told Mark Taylor or Tracy Garvin. He told it from the beginning, from getting the letters, to finding Bradshaw’s body and tossing the note out the window, to everything that had happened since.
    “So,” Judy said. “How true to form. The white knight on the charger. You raced down to the police station and rescued your secretary from the clutches of the law. No wonder the poor girl’s so starry eyed.”
    “Come on,” Steve said irritably.
    “Well, what girl could resist such a courtship?”
    “She happens to have given two weeks’ notice.”
    “Oh? Was that before or after the daring rescue?”
    The food had long since arrived and was sitting untouched in front of them. Steve picked up a knife and fork and cut into his steak. After a moment or two, Judy followed suit.
    They ate in silence.
    “So,” Judy said. “What do you do now?”
    Steve shook his head. “That’s the problem. There’s nothing I can do.”
    “Why not?”
    “I’m not her lawyer. Fitzpatrick is. The grand jury’s indicted her for murder. He’s got her out on bail. Dirkson’s pushing for a speedy court date, and Fitzpatrick is stalling like crazy. It’s the same old shit. Business as usual. But it’s not my business.”
    “If she’s out on bail, why can’t you talk to her?”
    “You don’t understand. I’m not her lawyer. But everyone from Dirkson to Fitzpatrick thinks I am, or at least used to be. And if Dirkson can prove it, he’s going to have me disbarred. The minute I go sniffing around her Dirkson’s gonna go bananas.”
    “Fuck him.”
    Steve stared at her. “What?”
    “Fuck him. Let him go bananas.”
    Steve sighed. “Judy, I’m afraid your usual incisive wit is somewhat lost on me. What the hell are you saying?”
    Judy took a sip of her drink. “This thing has really got you tied up in knots, hasn’t it?”
    Steve shook his head. “Yeah.”
    “Talk to