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“I can go back with my lawyer and my slashed shirt and accuse Vlatko of viciously attacking me at the party.”
“Who’s your lawyer?”
“Briggs. When all else fails, he’s good at playing the short card.”
“I like it, but if something goes wrong, you’re on foreign soil and a rescue will be more difficult.”
“But not impossible?”
“Not impossible,” Ranger said. “When do you want to do this?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
I watched Ranger drive away, and I called Briggs.
“Do you have a suit?” I asked him.
“Did you say ‘fruit’?”
“I said ‘suit.’ ”
“Sorry, my ears are ringing from the explosion. I had a suit, but it went up in flames with everything else I owned.”
“I need you to pretend to be a lawyer tomorrow morning, and you need to look the part.”
“My friend Nick is my size. I might be able to borrow some clothes from him. What kind of lawyer am I?”
“Litigator.”
“Oh man, I’m going to be a kick-ass litigator. Who are we suing? I can do this. I’ll scare the crap out of the sonsabitches. I even thought about being a lawyer when I was in college.”
“I’m not suing anyone. This is sort of a con.”
“A what?”
“A con. A scam.”
“Say again.”
“A con,” I yelled into the phone.
“A con. Even better!”
“Call me if you need a ride to pick up the clothes. Otherwise I’ll come get you tomorrow at eight A.M.”
Lula was on the couch, reading email on her smartphone, when I walked into the office.
“This here’s from my cousin Joleen,” she said. “She’s gonna get married as soon as her boyfriend gets a parole. He’s got a hearing coming up in a couple weeks, and they’re thinking about a December wedding if everything goes right.”
“Gee, that’s great,” I said. “What’s he in for?”
“Armed robbery with intent to kill, but it wasn’t his fault. He was on a lot of drugs.”
“And he’s off them now?”
“Yeah. Drugs are expensive in prison, and he don’t have a good source of income there.”
“I need to have another conversation with Buster,” I said. “Do you want to ride along?”
