“Gee, whatever happened to the truth?”
“Sometimes the truth is a lawyer’s biggest enemy. You can’t spin it. Nine times out of ten, with the truth I lose. Now, I’m not paid to lose, but I try to be fair. So we all do our little shuffle during the day, the tuna nets go out at night and catch a batch of fresh meat, and we all come back and do the dance again. And on and on it goes.”
“Your version of real life?” she asked.
“Don’t worry, you’re never going to see it. You’ll be teaching at Harvard, or working at some gold-plated New York law firm. If I’m ever up there, I’ll be sure to wave to you from the Dumpster.”
“Can you please stop?” Sara exclaimed.
They drove on in silence until something occurred to Fiske.
“If you had already seen me at the trial, why did you make a show of not knowing who I was back at the Court when Perkins introduced us?”
Sara took a short breath. “I don’t know. I guess because in front of Perkins, I couldn’t think of a clever way to tell you how I had already seen you.”
“Why did it have to be clever?”
“You know what they say about first impressions.” She shook her head at the thought now. Christ!
As Fiske watched her, the last of his hostility faded. “Don’t let my cynical ass dampen your enthusiasm, Sara.” He added quietly, “Nobody has that right. I’m sorry.”
Sara looked over at him. “I think you care more than you let on.” She hesitated for a moment, debating whether to tell him or not. “You know a little boy named Enis, don’t you?” Fiske stared over at her. “I saw you talking to him.”
It finally hit Fiske. “The bar. I knew I had seen you before. What were you doing, following me?”
“Yes.”
Her frankness caught Fiske off guard. “Why?” he asked quietly.
She spoke slowly. “That’s a little difficult to explain. I don’t think I’m up to it right now. I wasn’t spying on you. I could see how difficult it was for you, talking to Enis and his family.”
“Best thing that ever happened to them. Next time the old man might have killed them.”
“Still, to lose your father like that . . .”
“He wasn’t Enis’s father.”
“I’m sorry, I thought he was.”
“Oh, Enis is his son. But that doesn’t make somebody your father. Fathers don’t do what that guy did to his family.”
“What’ll happen to them?”
Fiske shrugged. “I give Lucas two more years before they find him in some alley with a dozen holes in him. The really sad thing is, he knows it too.”
“Maybe he’ll surprise you.”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
“And Enis?”
“I don’t know about Enis. And I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
They remained silent until they pulled up in front of the Homicide building.
“I’m parked right in front.”
Sara looked at him in surprise. “Pretty lucky. In the two years I’ve lived in this city, I don’t think I’ve ever found an empty parking space on the street.”
Fiske stared at one spot. “I could’ve sworn I parked right here.”
Sara looked out the window. “You mean right next to that tow-away zone sign?”
Fiske jumped out of the car just as the rain picked up, and looked at the sign and then at the space where his car used to be. He climbed back in her car, leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes. Water droplets clung to his face and hair. “I really can’t believe this day.”
“They have a number you can call to get your car back.” Sara picked up the cell phone and punched in the numbers as she read them off the street sign. The phone rang ten times, but no one answered. She hung up. “It doesn’t look like you’re going to get your car back tonight.”
“I can’t go to sleep until my dad knows.”
“Oh.” She thought for a moment. “Well, I’ll drive you.”
Fiske looked outside at the pouring rain. “You sure?”
She put the car in gear. “Let’s go find your dad.”