As they were out of earshot Mercy said, “I don’t trust people in suits who carry briefcases.”
“Well, you just knocked out the entire legal profession.”
“I know.”
Blum said, “I’m not sure she’ll be able to help us. I think she was lying about the bad hombres. That’s why I didn’t mention what had happened to Agent Pine. There would have been no point.”
“But if the guys working with her didn’t snatch Lee, who did?”
Blum said glumly, “I don’t know. And we’re running out of time. I can just feel it.”
Back with Callum, Blum talked to him about a possible deal in exchange for information on Pine’s whereabouts.
“I’m certainly sorry to hear about Agent Pine,” said Callum. “But I don’t think we can do any deals, at least not right now.”
“Why?”
“Because the lady is represented by counsel now. He’ll have to come up to speed and then we’ll have to have the prosecutors meet with him. If we don’t go by the book, we can jeopardize our entire case.”
“Who’s her lawyer? A local guy?”
“Nope. Guy named Marbury, Stephen Marbury. He’s in from New York. You probably passed him in the hall. Older guy, gray hair, dressed in a suit that probably costs more than my truck.”
Mercy said, “That’s the jerk we passed in the hall. He’s her lawyer?”
“That’s right. Just flew into town, he said.”
Blum thanked Callum for his help, told him not to mention them to the lawyer, and then she led Mercy outside.
They climbed into the Porsche and eyed the black Escalade that was idling out in front of the detention center, with the driver on his phone.
Mercy said, “Probably Marbury’s ride. He looked like a guy who gets driven around.”
“So maybe we wait around and see where that ride takes him.”
“Maybe to my sister?” said Mercy.
“Maybe,” said Blum in a distracted tone.
“What’s the matter?” asked Mercy, glancing at her.
“Something Desiree said,” Blum suddenly exclaimed. “Stay here, I’ll be right back.”
She hurried back into the facility. About two minutes later, she came out and got back into the Porsche.
“So what’s going on?” asked Mercy.
“I just talked to Callum. He said Desiree has made no phone calls since she’s been here. And you recall she told us she was going to get a lawyer?”
Mercy nodded slowly, thinking this through. “So if she made no calls and said she was going to get a lawyer, she obviously had no idea this Marbury dude was even coming today.”
“So if Desiree didn’t send for this high-powered lawyer from New York, who did?”
CHAPTER
50
PETER BUCKLEY LISTENED ON HIS PHONE for a few minutes. He liked to listen. That was the way one learned things. When you talked, you gave away things.
He said, “Fine. But I want to meet face-to-face and you can give me a fuller briefing. I’ll text you the address. I’ve arranged a place for the very short-term.”
He put his phone back in his pocket and returned to the room where Pine was seated in the chair. They had tied her to it this time, so if any more beatings happened, she wouldn’t fall off it. Britt Spector stood off to one side, watching, a nervous expression on her features.