Read Fallen Angels 02 - Crave for Free Online Page B

off, but they were serving her drinks in a single paper cup just in case she got another bright idea—
    As the steel door opened down at the end of the hall, Billy sat up a little straighter in his chair.
    The woman who came in was a sight to see, all right, but not for the reason most of the freaks here were. She was about ten feet tall and had blond hair that was always up in a twist on her head. Wearing a perfectly fitted suit and a long, formal coat, he knew without asking that her purse and her briefcase were worth more than he had in his 401(k).
    To say nothing about that huge gold rope around her neck.
    As a couple of guards passed her, they also stretched up their spines and dropped their voices…and immediately looked over their shoulders to get a look-see at the back of her.
    And when she came up to the Plexiglas partition in front of him, he was glad he‟d already slid the thing back, because he got to smell her perfume.
    God…it was always the same. The scent of rich and expensive.
    “Hi, Billy, how‟s Tom doing at the police academy?”
    Like a lot of Beacon Hill types, Grier Childe‟s intonation made a simple question seem 30

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    better than something Shakespeare had written. But unlike those tight-asses, she wasn‟t a snot and her smile was genuine. She always asked about his son and his wife and she really looked at him, meeting his eyes like he was so much more than just a desk jockey.
    “He‟s doin‟ great.” Billy grinned and crossed his arms over his puffed-up chest. “Graduating in June. Working out of Southie. He‟s a marksman like his pops—kid could take out a tin can from a mile away.”
    Unfortunately, that reminded him of Coke Girl, but he pushed the image right out of the way. Much better to enjoy the view of Ms. Childe, Esq.
    “It doesn‟t surprise me that Tommy‟s an ace.” She signed into the log and braced a hip on the counter. “As you said, he takes after you.”
    Even after two years of this, he still couldn‟t believe she stopped to talk to him. Yeah, sure, the DA types and the regular public defenders chatted him up, but she came from one of those old-school, white-shoe firms—and usually that meant just the facts on where their clients were.
    “So how‟s your Sara doing?” she asked.
    As they talked, he typed her name into the system to pull up who she‟d been assigned to.
    About every six months or so, she came up on rotation as a public defender. It was, of course, pro bono for her. Her hourly rates were undoubtedly so expensive, he was damn sure the clients she got here couldn‟t afford more than two words from her, much less a whole hour…or, Christ, even a case‟s worth of time.
    When he saw the name that was next to hers, he frowned.
    “Everything okay?” she asked.
    Well, no, it wasn‟t. “Yeah. You‟re good.”
    Because he was going to make it his business for her to be.
    He reached to the side for a stack of files. “Here‟s the paperwork on your client. If you go to number one, we‟ll bring him out to you.”
    “Thanks, Billy. You‟re the best.”
    After he buzzed her through the main door into the jail‟s receiving and processing unit, she walked off to the room he‟d given her—which just happened to be right next to his office.
    Making a note in the computer, he picked up the phone and dialed down to holding.
    When Shawn C. answered, he said, “Bring up number five-four-eight-nine-seventy, last name Rothe. For our Ms. Childe.”
    Little silence. “He‟s a big one.”
    “Yeah, and listen—could you have a talk with him? Maybe remind him how being polite to his counsel‟ll make things easier on him.”
    There was another pause. “And I‟ll just wait outside the door when he‟s in with her. Tony‟ll cover me down here.”
    “Good. Yeah, that‟s good. Thanks.”
    As Billy hung up, he wheeled himself around to face the security monitoring screens. In the lower left one, he watched as Ms. Childe sat down at a table, cracked