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“Why did you take this case?”
“Part of it is because it’ll be high-profile. I suspect you detect lies easily, so I won’t bother with them. At least, not directed to you. But I like a challenge. Cases are puzzles. All the pieces are there. Sometimes they fall on the floor or get left in the box. But if I look, I can find them. Then I arrange them and put them together.”
“You like watching the picture grow without being the one to paint it.”
Her brow furrows for a moment.
“Yeah. Is that how you see it?”
“Yeah. Sinead, we have to talk about something practical but more important than my defense.”
“What’s more important than your defense?”
“Your safety.” I pull out a chair for her. “Please sit.”
I wait until she does, then I pull out a chair for me. Her right eye narrows a sliver. I have manners. I just didn’t use them earlier. I sat when she stood. Normally, I wouldn’t. I would be on my feet when a woman stands, and I don’t sit until she has. I don’t see these types of Italian traditions as archaic. If they’ve lasted this long, why change them?
“Now that you’re associated with my family— not just me and my case —but with theCosa Nostra, you’re in danger. Did Uncle Sal or Uncle Massi explain that? Did they warn you?”
“They never admitted that you’re Mafia. But they didn’t have to. They said there were risks involved, but that’s a given with a crime— with a syndicate.”
“Crime family? I’m not offended, and neither would anyone in my family. That’s the least of the things we’ve been called. You are working for the Mafia as a criminal defense attorney on a felony case. Reporters and bloggers and nosey assholes will follow you.Everywhere. That’s annoying, but you can get a protective order against them if they make you feel unsafe. But there’s an entire world who doesn’t give a shit about a restraining order. You couldn’t serve them if you wanted to. And you sure as hell can’t enforce it.”
“I know all of this.”
“Maybe on a theoretical level. But not in application. This is more complicated than you could imagine. Yes, I tested you because I need the best defense I can get. But I also want you to understand just what’s happening here. Once the public and press link your name with mine, there’s no going back. There’s no undoing the ties to the Cosa Nostra. Even if we never see each other again, everyone will always know you as the attorney who represented a Mafioso. It will keep you from getting clients, even if it boosts your firm’s reputation. It’ll put your entire career under scrutiny until the day you retire. But the thing that worries me the most is your safety. Being near my family is a risk. That’s a given. Being near me when someone is clearly framing me means you’re in as much danger as I am.”
She absorbs everything I’m saying. I can tell she’s considering every layer I reveal. She’s moving those puzzle pieces, and I’m giving her time to find all the corner and side pieces. I haven’t even begun to give her the center pieces to put together.
“Do you not want me to represent you?”
I offer her a smile that’s genuine. There’s no smugness or arrogance. It’s not provocative or patronizing. I think an author would describe it as soft.
“I want you to represent me. You impress me, and my intuition is the only thing that has kept me alive more times than I can count. I trust it. It says you’ll be excellent at this. I wish Uncle Massi could represent me simply because it keeps anyone outside the family from getting sucked in. I don’t know why they approached you, but I trust both men with everything I have— including my life. They wouldn’t have hired you if you weren't excellent.”
We’re going around in circles. I need to get to the point, but I don’t want to. I want to keep talking to her. She said she’s going on a vacation soon, but she’s already suntanned. It’s the permanent kind, but she doesn’t have olive skin like I do. I just go from dark to darker in summer. She’s not fair, but it’s more of a sun-kissed, peaches and cream. With the black hair and blue eyes, she’s entranced me.
“I’m glad we’ve agreed to that much.”
“It’s the next part that I don’t think you’ll agree to. Sinead, if you represent me, you must have a safety detail at all times.”
“Okay.”
“That’s it?”
“Is it someone in a dark car parked outside my place? Someone who follows me to work, the store, the gym, and stands outside the restroom door?”
I grit my teeth. She’s not making light of this. She’s genuinely asking. I’m not controlling in anything outside of work. But I want to demand she goes nowhere ever without me at her side. It’s utterly unreasonable. It’s fucking batshit bonkers.
“You don’t want me to go to the store or the gym. You don’t want me to go anywhere where I might need a public restroom.”
“I want you safe. I don’t want anything to happen to you because of me.”
“I suppose hiring private security isn’t an option.”
“No. We’ll provide it for you. Does anyone know you came here?”
She shakes her head, then looks down at her watch.
