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“Can we do this, or should I check with Channel Four?”
“Well, yeah . . . come to the studio. Anything to do with the Stahd murder is hot news.” Did she mean that asshole Phil, on Channel Four? He’d been dogging Delta, from the reporting she’d seen, but hadn’t gotten anywhere. Before Amanda’s call, Ellie had decided she would get the interview. They were friends . . . at least classmates, but Amanda? As her lawyer?
“What makes you so sure she didn’t do it?” Ellie asked.
“She told me she didn’t.”
“Oh. Good one.”
“I’ve got a stop to make, but I’ll be there in half an hour to forty-five,” she said, and clicked off.
Ellie shook her head. Did she really want to do this? Ed’s assistant, Peter, might be in already. The morning news would be going on, but they could tape an interview in another room, and she was riding high at work after her interview with Tanner’s father. Big ratings. Everybody loved watching someone just on the edge of crazy.
* * *
Amanda rode the elevator to the building’s sixteenth floor—the offices of Layton, Keyes, and Brennan. Her law firm took up a floor of the concrete and glass high-rise, which stood tall on Portland’s west side and faced the Willamette River and the colloquially called City of Bridges’ eastern shore. Amanda dropped her briefcase off in her office, which had a peek-a-boo view as its southeast corner, jutting out just a smidge to allow some light. She smoothed her skirt, then marched down the hall to her ex’s office, with its bank of windows and spacious appointments. The benefits of being a partner.
She checked her e-mails on her phone. No texts. But there was that phone message last night from Zora that she hadn’t listened to. Her finger hovered over the button, but she decided not yet. She was on a mission.
She headed over to her ex-husband’s office, knocking lightly on Hal’s door, even though she could see he was inside talking with Merl Keyes, another partner; all the walls were glass, which came to be after the other partner, Layton, was sued for sexual harassment. Now there were no more secrets, supposedly, though Amanda knew for a fact that her ex had been a cheater and a scoundrel, and she had no reason to think he’d changed.
Hal looked over at her, and she could see his expression harden. He was embarrassed that his ex-wife was the one bringing in the business. She hoped he died of embarrassment. He signaled her to enter.
“What brings you to darken my door?” he asked with a humorless smile.
Merl Keyes lifted his palms and sidled toward the door, but Amanda was blocking it.
“You might want to hear this,” Amanda said.
“I don’t need more ex-marital strife than I’ve already got,” Merl said with a fake smile.
“I’ve taken on Delta Stahd as a client who’s more than likely going to be accused of murdering her husband, Dr. Tanner Stahd.”
“That West Knoll murder?” asked Merl.
“Your ex-BFF,” Hal said, surprised.
“Yep,” said Amanda.
“Isn’t the victim’s father already threatening a lawsuit?” Merl asked.
“I believe so.”
“I don’t think this is a case for you,” said Hal.
She’d expected as much. He couldn’t stand whenever she became the center of attention, and this case was certainly going to do that for her.
Merl scooted out the door at that, but Amanda held her ground. Her ex’s dismissiveness was one of his least-attractive characteristics. That and his cheating. And patronage of titty bars. She’d hired a private investigator and had him followed during the worst of their divorce, and Hal couldn’t keep it in his pants, his choice being “professionals.”
“I signed a contract, and she paid me a retainer,” Amanda said. “Just thought I’d let you know.”
Hal had never been an especially attractive guy, but he’d been smart and clever. When Amanda first started at the firm, she’d gravitated to him for those latter reasons, though her mother had said he looked like a ghoul. The slicked-back hair hadn’t helped his looks, but now, with the added hair loss and a thickness to his lips that made his smile almost grotesque, he was a ghoul and then some, although the younger women who buzzed around, trying to get the partners’ attention, were able to look past that, just as she had.
“How much was the retainer?”
“Enough.”
He snorted. “You always pick the hard-luck cases.”
