W
olf and Ed Eagle left the Santa Fe County Jail, where Wolf had collected his belongings taken from him the night before. They got back into Eagle’s large BMW, and Eagle produced an electric razor from the glove compartment. “I expect you’d like some breakfast,” Eagle said, pulling out into traffic.
“How’d you know?” Wolf asked, checking his shave in the sun visor mirror.
“Most folks have to spend longer than a night in our local slammer before they’re willing to eat the food.”
“You’re right about that,” Wolf said with feeling. “Do you know what they gave us this morning?”
“Polenta, beans, fat bacon, and green Jell-O.”
“How’d you know that?”
“They’ve been serving the same breakfast for as long as anybody can remember. They change the color of the Jell-O at lunch and dinner, though.” Eagle turned in to
Guadalupe Street, drove a few blocks, and found a parking spot. He led Wolf across the street and into the Zia Café, then ordered him a big breakfast.
Wolf tore into the food. “God, this is good,” he said.
“Your first meal out always is. I’m sorry you had to go through that, but even if I had been here I couldn’t have prevented it. They wanted a shot at you, and they got it, for what it was worth to them. We’re lucky that this guy Carreras put himself on the case. He’s sloppy about his work, and that makes my job easier.”
“Can you believe he forgot to serve the warrant?”
“Yes. It’s one of my favorite stalling tactics, to make them rearrest my client, but in this case I didn’t want to lean on a technicality. If we go to trial we’re likely to have the same judge, and I didn’t want to annoy him.”
“I was amazed he didn’t dismiss the charges when you finished in there,” Wolf said, stuffing a sausage into his mouth.
“He didn’t want the D.A. to look too bad, but I can tell you, if that had been their whole case at a trial, you’d have walked without its ever having gone to a jury.”
“Will he go for the indictment now?”
“Maybe, but he’ll probably wait until he feels he’s got a stronger case. I expect Carreras instigated the arrest just so he could get you in his jailhouse.”
“I think I have a better understanding now of why so many people confess to crimes they haven’t committed. Just the experience of being locked up is so demoralizing that the police have you at a tremendous disadvantage.”
“Did they do the ’good cop, bad cop’ routine?”
“Yes, and it was surprisingly effective. It took me a few minutes to grasp what was going on.”
“I see you’ve got Ms. Deering back on the scene.”
“Now, look, Ed, I’m not flaunting her presence. She
and her daughter are here for Christmas, that’s all.”
“Okay, but no public places, no dinners at the Santacafé, you hear me?”
“All right, agreed.”
Wolf finished his huge breakfast, and they left.
“Now,” Eagle said as he turned toward Wilderness Gate, “remember that I’ve now promised a
judge
that you won’t leave the jurisdiction. That means you can’t leave the county, not even to take Ms. Deering to the Albuquerque airport when she returns to L.A. Get the lady a taxi.”
“All right,” Wolf said, beginning to feel trapped. “I’ll stick close to Santa Fe.”
“Don’t cross the county line, you hear me? I wouldn’t put it past Carreras to put a tail on you, in the hope that you might jump bail and give him a chance to arrest you again.”
“I hear you, Ed.”
“There’s something I want you to do, now that the police have made a move.”
“Sure.”
“I want you to call or write to everybody you know who is somebody—all those movie people who have public names—and get character references. Absolutely anybody you think might be of any help. Also, any politicians you may know, and any clergymen.”
“That’s kind of embarrassing, asking people to do that. Is it really necessary?”
“It is. If it embarrasses you, ask somebody you know to write to them for you. And there’s something else that isn’t going to be easy for you.”
“What’s that?”
“If we go to trial, I’m going to put Julia’s sister on the stand.”
“What for?”
“I’ll want a jury to know the kind of person Julia had been, her record of arrests, all the sleaziness. If worse comes to worse and the jury starts thinking you might be guilty, I want them to have somebody else to blame, and Julia’s ideal.”
“Yeah,” Wolf said. “Julia won’t be there to defend herself. That’ll make me look just swell.”
“Don’t hand me that. I know enough about her now to know that the woman was a slut and a con artist, and that she never gave a fuck about anybody but herself. What you have to get used to is that she never gave a fuck about you, either.”
“I don’t believe that,” Wolf said stubbornly.
“Well, just look at the newest wrinkle in all this,” Eagle said. “She sent Grafton to you—an escaped convict, an armed robber, a con man, a
murderer
, for Christ’s sake, and she snookered you into having lunch with the guy and helping him sell his screenplay.”
“It was a good screenplay,” Wolf said. “Crude, but that never put off a major studio. Anyway, Grafton must have been blackmailing Julia.”
“How do you know that? For all you know, she could have welcomed him with open arms. I have it on good authority that he was an absolute ace in bed.”
“Oh, thanks for that, Ed, that really helped.”
“I hope it helped you to understand what Julia was. I deal with people like her every week of my life; I see what they’re capable of and how they always blame somebody else when they get caught. Now, I’m telling you it is
critical
to your defense to make you look as good as possible and to make Julia look as bad as possible, and we’re lucky that it won’t be hard to do. Julia gave us that, anyway.”
“All
right
, Ed, do what you have to do to get me free of this, but I don’t want to hear about it until I’m in a courtroom, unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“You’re giving me a free hand, then?”
“Yes, a free hand.”
Eagle pulled into Wolf’s driveway. “I’m sorry this is so hard for you, Wolf, but I said I’d get you off; I didn’t say it was going to be fun.”
“All right, Ed.” Wolf sighed. “I understand my position.”
Eagle pulled to a stop at Wolf’s door. “No, you don’t. There’s something else you haven’t grasped yet.”
“Not something else.” Wolf groaned.
“Yes, and something important. Even if you’re acquitted, even if you walk out of that courtroom a free man, a substantial percentage—maybe even a majority—of the people you now know and later meet are always going to wonder if you committed those murders. An acquittal isn’t exoneration.”
“So how do I become exonerated?”
“The only way I can do that is by proving that somebody else did it.” Eagle looked away. “And considering the facts of this case—or rather, the lack of them—that may not ever be possible.”
Wolf slumped. “I see,” he said.
“Take care of yourself. Call me day or night, if you need me.”
“Thanks.” Wolf got out of the car and trudged toward the door. As he turned the knob, the door opened before him. Jane rushed to him and put her arms around his waist. “Boy, am I glad you’re here,” she breathed into his ear. “I was wondering if I would ever see you again.”
He hugged her back. “So was I, love; so was I.”
W
hen Wolf awoke, someone was in bed with him. He opened his eyes, and Jane was there, asleep, wearing a sweater and jeans.
He turned to face her, and she opened her eyes. “How long have you been there?” he asked.
She looked at her wristwatch. “About half an hour.”
“Oh,” he said, disappointed. “I wish you had been there longer.”
She laughed. “I got up and made breakfast for Sara and Flaps. They went out to build a snowman, so I thought I’d look in on you. You were sleeping like a child; I couldn’t bring myself to wake you.”
He leaned over and kissed her.
“Unshaven!” she said, rising to her knees. “Okay, out of bed and scrape that face. I’m not kissing whiskers this early in the morning.”
He got out of bed and staggered into the bathroom for a
shower and a shave. She had breakfast on the kitchen table when he surfaced.
“Yesterday was nice,” she said. “Thank you for the tour; Sara liked it, too.”
“Tonight we’ll take a different kind of tour and look at the Christmas decorations. Is it all right for Sara to stay up?”
“We wouldn’t be able to get her to bed before that time, anyway. She’s a coiled spring on Christmas Eve. What’s on for today?”
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to spend some time working on some stuff Ed Eagle asked me to do. I’ve got to write some letters and make some calls.”
“Okay. We’ll amuse ourselves.”
“Why don’t the two of you take the car and do some shopping?”
“Sounds good. I’ve got one or two last-minute things to pick up. I’d just like to lie around and read for a while, too.”
“My library is yours. Maria is coming tomorrow to cook Christmas dinner for us. I thought I’d ask Mark Shea over, if he hasn’t got plans.”
“He’s the shrink I met at the D & D’s party?”
“Right. He’s probably my closest friend in Santa Fe, and I think you’ll like him when you’ve had a chance to sit down with him for a while.”
“If he’s your friend, he can’t be all bad.”
Wolf finished his breakfast and glanced at his watch. “I’ll call him now, before he starts with patients.” He went into the study and dialed Mark’s number.
“Mark Shea.”
“Hi, it’s Wolf.”
“Oh, Wolf,” Mark replied, sounding tired. “I’ve been wondering how you were. I’m sorry I haven’t called, but I’ve been swamped.”
“Jane Deering and her daughter are in town, and Maria’s cooking us a big Christmas dinner tomorrow. Why don’t you join us?”
“Thanks, Wolf, but I’m committed to something. I…I would like to talk with you, though. Listen, do you think you could come around here late tomorrow afternoon?”
“Sure. Can I bring Jane and Sara?”
“I’d really like to talk to you alone. Do you mind?”
“No, not at all. What time?”
“Around six?”
“Fine. Mark, are you all right? You sound a bit…weary.”
“Well, a lot has been going on; that’s what I want to talk with you about. I’ve got some explaining to do, Wolf, and I’m looking forward to getting it off my chest.”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“I’ll tell you everything tomorrow. See you at six. Oh, and Merry Christmas.”
“You too, Mark.”
Wolf hung up, got his address book, and started to make a list of people who would be good for character references. He had a hard time concentrating; Mark had sounded depressed, and he was
never
depressed. Well, he reckoned, he wasn’t the only one with problems. He’d hear about Mark’s tomorrow.
After dinner, he drove Jane and Sara around downtown Santa Fe and the East Side Historic District.
“What are all those little lights along the tops of the houses?” Sara asked.
“They’re called
farolitos
,” Wolf replied. “You take a paper bag, put some sand in the bottom to weight it, then stick a candle in the sand and light it. Presto! A
farolito!
Then you line them up along the roof.”
“They’re beautiful,” Sara said, pressing her nose to the window.
“Of course, these days a lot of them are plastic and electric, but it’s the thought that counts.”
They drove slowly through the narrow streets of the east side. Traffic was heavy—everybody went out on Christmas Eve in Santa Fe to see the lights.
“What’s that nice smell?” Sara asked. “It’s like incense, or something.”
“That’s piñon smoke,” Wolf replied. “All the adobe houses have fireplaces, and everybody burns piñon wood. Piñons are the short, gnarled pine trees that you’ve seen all over the place.”
“It’s lovely,” Jane said. “It seems to fit right into the Santa Fe atmosphere.”
“We’ll burn some ourselves when we get home.”
By the time they got home, Sara had fallen asleep in her mother’s lap. Wolf carried her into the house, and Jane got her tucked in. Flaps climbed onto the bed, tail thumping, and laid her head across Sara’s small body, then gave them all a goodnight grin. Wolf and Jane tiptoed from the room.
Wolf lit a fire in the study and poured them a brandy.
“I’ve never seen her fold so completely on Christmas Eve,” Jane said.
“It’s Flaps,” Wolf replied. “She’s never had her own little girl before; the two of them wore each other out today.”
“You’re good with her,” Jane said.
“I like her. I haven’t spent a lot of time around children, but I feel very comfortable with Sara.”
“She feels comfortable with you, too,” Jane said. “That hasn’t always been the case with the men in my life.”
Wolf reclined on the sofa and pulled her head onto his shoulder. They kissed, then began to move against each other.
“You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into,” Wolf said.
“Maybe not,” she replied, “but I’m willing to find out.”
They made love on the floor in front of the fire until only glowing coals were left.
“Best Christmas I ever had,” Wolf sighed.
W
hen Wolf woke on Christmas morning, Jane was under the covers with him again, this time without clothes. But they were not alone; Sara was jumping up and down on the bed, screaming “It’s Christmas! It’s Christmas!” and Flaps was on the bed too, dancing and barking.
“All right! All right!” Jane cried. “Just give us a minute! We’ll meet you at the tree!”
The little girl and the dog bounded from the room.
“What was that?” Wolf said sleepily. “A terrorist attack?”