Chapter Twenty-nine

Tully smiled when she recognized two of the newly arrived cars in Alma’s driveway. The vehicles were bug- and mud-splattered, but the fact that they were there at all made her hope their occupants had fared better.

Roxanne’s husband and her teenage son James had been at the office when Tully had called everyone in to prepare for their evacuation. James had talked about the upcoming football season as his mother made backup disks for her and Tully to take with them. Tully wondered now what would happen to the school year. The flooding had damaged much more than the homes and businesses.

The other car belonged to her junior associate Josephine. Jo was single and had headed up to Baltimore to stay with her parents, but in her few telephone conversations with Tully she’d said she was coming back to her newly adopted home. She said she had heard from the nightly news that cases were still pending and clients were waiting to be represented.

“Carrying on the fun without us?” Roxanne asked from the porch.

“Some fun is hard to resist, and then there’s the kind that’s like having your wisdom teeth removed without meds.”

“Which one were you out having?” Jo asked as she appeared next to Roxanne.

“I just had a short visit with Kara Nicolas. She’s in jail in an attractive orange jumpsuit with a Plexiglas window separating us.” Tully rocked on her heels and laughed. “I haven’t had that much fun at work in a long time.”

“If you’d said in a long time, period, I’m thinking of someone who’d have knocked your head back a few pegs.” Roxanne pointed behind her at Libby, who was walking out of the house carrying two glasses. “Congratulations, by the way. Your mother and I had every faith in you to finally get it right. And this time around you got it right.” She put her arm around Libby’s shoulders and kissed her on the cheek.

“Thank you from both of us,” Tully said. She accepted a glass of tea and a kiss from Libby. “I see you all made it okay. How did your homes fare? Have you had a chance to make it back to the city yet?”

“My house in Lakeview got about twelve feet of water,” Jo said. “After I saw it was close to the eaves, I didn’t really need an accurate figure. My neighbor, who I begged to come with me, didn’t make it. I saw one of those painted messages in front of his house.” Jo shivered and rubbed her hands along her arms.

“Our place in Metairie got six feet,” Roxanne added. “They still won’t let us in, but a policeman who lives on our street called everyone and gave them the bad news. James is still upset over losing the baseball cards he’s collected since he was five. Of all the stuff in the house, that’s what’s got him down.”

“I know a little bit about the way he feels,” Jo said. “Some woman in a gas station on my way back here told me I should be happy because I was safe and my family was all right. She said the rest is just stuff.”

“She’s right about the family part, but hell if it isn’t our stuff and we liked it, huh? Losing it all isn’t exactly a picnic,” Roxanne said with a laugh.

“After so many died, I hate to complain about things, but some of the furniture I had belonged to my grandmother. Pottery Barn can’t replace those memories.” Jo exhaled at length. “But enough morbid thoughts.”

“True.” Roxanne patted her on the knee and turned to Tully and Libby. “Jo and I were in touch the whole time we were on the run, as it were, and we also spoke to Pasco a few times.”

“After that we donned our WWTD bracelets,” Jo said.

“WWTD?” Libby asked.

“What would Tully do,” Roxanne supplied, getting a snort out of Tully. “After we got the information Pasco passed on to us, we made a few appointments.”

“Not without a little difficulty, mind you,” Jo said. “We worked on the case file and have a court date Wednesday in Baton Rouge with a Judge Archibald Raymond. With Pasco’s help we were able to serve Neil Davis at Children’s and their attorney, Victor Williams.”

“I hope you both realize that right now we can’t prove that Evangeline died because Kara was taking an illegal substance. We all know she was, but unless we have a witness willing to come forward to testify to that, all we have is speculation,” Tully said as she flipped through what they had filed.

“That’s why we’re going to court Wednesday—not on the Hebert case, but to argue that Dr. Nicolas should be barred from practicing until all this is sorted out. We have enough evidence to back us up on that one.” Jo got up and flipped to the final page of the brief so Tully could see the meat of the document she’d compiled. “The meeting with Neil and Victor tomorrow morning is merely a courtesy on our part, but I think Victor is going to see that our getting that injunction Wednesday is the first step in winning our case.”

“A little speculation never hurt anyone, huh?” Tully asked with a laugh.

“If you were a gambling woman, you’d be putting your money on us not even needing to go to court tomorrow. Victor’s going to talk the board into settling this as quickly as possible.”

“Let’s roll the dice, then,” Tully said. She stood up and put the brief under her arm. “And let’s get back to work.”

“You need to call Neil and tell him to contact someone on Victor’s staff and get me out of here,” Kara said through the glass. “Once you get through, you should try and get some sleep, Jessica—you’re not looking too good.”

“I haven’t slept in days, so I’m sorry I’m not up to par, and dragging Neil into this isn’t the wisest thing to do right now. We need to get an appearance in court and see if we can’t post bail so we can leave for Texas.”

Kara laughed, but her eyes remained cold. “I’ve never been in jail, but on TV part of the deal is you don’t leave the state, baby. These hicks will most likely outfit me with one of those ankle devices, just to stay on Tully’s good side.”

“I’m trying my best to help you, and I think it’s time you start listening to me.”

“Wait.” Kara put her fingers up to the side of her head and closed her eyes as if trying to read Jessica’s mind. “You gave up everything for me, and I’m supposed to just roll over and play your bitch now, right?”

“I did give up plenty to be with you, and if it isn’t enough, then you need to tell me. This is about both of us and what we have to lose.” Jessica tried taking long, deep breaths to keep her temper under control. “You didn’t believe me about Tully and what she’s like when she gets her teeth into something. It’s bad enough when she has to work for the truth, but you’ve been more than accommodating when it comes to just handing yourself over on a platter.”

“I thought you said not to give her that much credit.”

Jessica laughed, starting softly and gathering steam that ended in tears. “When it came to me, not her job. It was the job that made her forget all about me a long time ago, and it didn’t matter enough to me to fight to get her back.”

“So what are you trying to tell me?”

“That it’s not just you that’s going to lose out big on this one. I have a lot on the block too, and Tully is going to exploit every weakness we’ve exposed, and she’s going to start stripping us of everything important. You have your career to worry about, and I have my kids. Tully might have been a lousy spouse, but she’s a brilliant attorney, especially if she’s pissed at something and someone. Up to now we’ve done an excellent job at ratcheting up her anger, so it’s time to stop poking the bear with a sharp stick and go into survival mode if we’re going to get through this.”

“You can’t walk away from me,” Kara said with her hand on the glass. She appeared close to panicked.

“I’m trying to fix this, not leave. If that’s what I wanted, I wouldn’t be here.”

“Do what you have to, but get me out of here and I’ll do whatever you ask.”

Jessica nodded, then got up to talk to the guard. She knew that the only way to get Kara out was to talk to the sheriff—which wouldn’t be easy; he’d known Tully since kindergarten. To her surprise, she was immediately taken to Carl’s office.

“Thanks for seeing me so quickly, Sheriff,” Jessica said, grimacing when she saw the moose head.

“Anytime.” He waved to the chair across from his so she’d take a seat. “What can I do for you?”

“I need you to help get Dr. Nicolas a court appearance for a bail hearing.”

“Between you and me, if she volunteers to take a drug test I can have her in front of Judge Larkin within the hour.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, ma’am, but we had a storm blow through here not that long ago. Things are moving like molasses these days.”

She glared at Carl, literally biting her tongue, as his smile grew wider. “I believe that’s what’s called extortion.”

“Make accusations like that and our meeting is over. Good luck in getting that court date, and please let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.”

When Jessica stood up abruptly, her chair scraped along the tile floor, filling the quiet room with a screech. “I thought you were innocent until proven guilty.”

“And I thought you and the yahoo you came into town with took an oath to first do no harm. Life’s a bitch, ain’t it?”

“You’ll be hearing from our attorney.”

“Looking forward to that. But before you go off hunting for one, make sure you’ll have a room at that place you’re staying. It’s going to be a long search.”

“I’ll leave the hunting up to you, since it seems to be a barbaric hobby of yours.” Jessica gestured at the moose head.

“Freddie here proves a point of mine, so that’s why I keep him hanging around.” Carl stood up and patted the trophy on the snout.

“That you have the ability to kill a defenseless, stupid animal?”

“That I have the ability to bring down what I’m hunting for. A doctor who likes to use recreational drugs might just be good to keep Freddie company, but I wouldn’t want to stink up the place.”

“Fuck you, Carl.”

“You have a nice day now, Jessica, and happy hunting.”