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“Ungrateful son of a bitch.”
She smiled, a little meanly. “He doesn’t know it yet, but he won’t be getting any money. I’m going to tell Edwin about the rape. He’ll be dropping Stu.”
“Doesn’t that violate attorney client privilege?”
“Stu didn’t tell me anything, you did.”
I nodded. “Okay. Can’t he just get another lawyer?”
“He can try. Anyone he hires will have to call me for the files. I’ll mention what happened to Candy and that it was reported to the police. It was reported, wasn’t it?”
“We went to the ER, so yes. I don’t think she gave the police Whatley’s name. At this point, she doesn’t want to pursue it.”
“Doesn’t matter. Just the possibility a judge might allow her to testify during a civil trial is enough to prevent Stu from getting representation.”
“So he made a big mistake.”
She nodded. “He did. I do need you to go and check on Joanne Yardley today.”
“Why is that?”
“While I was on the phone with Stu, he asked a couple of questions about double jeopardy. He said he took a few creative writing classes in prison. He thinks he might write about someone who’s wrongly convicted, then gets out of prison and commits the same crime. He thinks that person can’t be tried.”
“He thinks if he rapes Joanne Yardley, they wouldn’t be able to try him?”
“Apparently it’s a common belief among prisoners. I explained that wasn’t true. That double jeopardy meant one crime at onetime. Being convicted of shoplifting at Target doesn’t give you carte blanche to shoplift there whenever you feel like it.”
“Did he understand that?”
“He told me I was wrong. That I didn’t understand the law.”
“In other words, he’s an idiot.”
“Unfortunately, idiots are always dangerous.”
“Okay, I’ll go see Joanne.”
****
I drove back to the hospital and picked up my green frog. Then I called John and left a message that he needed to take a cab to the hospital and told him where The Lunchbox was. I’d pay him back for the taxi ride later.
Then, without calling ahead, I drove to Joanne Yardley’s house in Elysian Heights. When I got there, I parked the Taurus and walked back to her intercom and pressed it.
“Hello.”
“It’s Dom Reilly. I need to talk to you.”
After a long moment, the intercom buzzed and the gate began to slide to one side. The dogs had started to bark, which I thought was a good thing. Or at least I hoped it was. The neighbors might be so used to the dogs yapping away that if someone did break in they wouldn’t pay a bit of attention.
Before I reached the house, Joanne was out on the porch asking, “Why are you here? You got your guy out of prison. I saw it on TV. Can’t you leave me alone?”
I got to the porch and standing at the bottom of the two steps that led up to the porch, I said, “Candy Van Dyke was raped last night.”
“By Stu Whatley,” she supplied. “You wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
“Yes, by Stu Whatley.”
“You think he’s coming for me next.”
