Page 62 of Fish in a Barrel

“Of course. You’re the best man I know.”

Not the best lawyer—or the smartest man or the best counselor. The best man.

“Next to Jackson,” Ellery said, almost like a test.

Langdon nodded as if in relief, as though Ellery had passed. “Of course.”

With that, Langdon strode off—hopefully to the bar, because he’d need it—and Jade took Ellery’s arm while they strode to the elevators. There were people in the elevators: a group of men dressed like basketball players, but all of them were five feet ten and white, with buzz cuts. Cops, if Ellery had to judge, and he must have made their radar because they scowled at him and Jade all twenty stories down to the garage. Ellery watched as they made their way to their own cars while he waited for the valet to fetch his beloved Lexus, and every time Jade opened her mouth to ask, he gave a subtle shake of his head.

It wasn’t until they were in the car and headed back home that Ellery took in what felt to be his first deep breath.

“Oh my God, you havegotto spill,” Jade said, probably feeling the tension in the car ease. “You’re killing me. You actually turned white, Ellery. I mean white-er. You are damned pasty right now. What in the hell happened?”

“He asked me for a consult,” Ellery said, mind racing. “For a case I think he knew I wouldn’t take.”

It happened sometimes. There were people and actions that were indefensible. Jackson and Ellery had founded the law firm on the idea that they were there to give people a fair shake; they werenotthere to help dangerous people escape the penalties of their actions. Their contracts were written with that thought in mind. Setting a monster free because they thought they were helping a guy with an assault charge was high up on the list of their mutual nightmares, and they’d done what they could to stop it from ever happening.

“Why wouldn’t you take it?” she asked, all traces of expensive scotch fading from her voice. She’d been tricked into scheduling one of those monsters on their consult roster, and Jackson had suffered nightmares for a week that featured that guy in particular. She’d vowed to never make that mistake again.

“It was for the policeman’s union,” Ellery said grimly. “Specifically to defend Neil Freethy and Keith Brown.”

Jade sucked in a breath. “Those two assholes?” She frowned. “Why not Goslar and McMurphy? They’re far more liable for criminal proceedings.”

Ellery nodded grimly. “I know. And that’s what’s got my knickers in a twist. Langdon was trying to tell me something—warn me somehow—without violating confidentiality. You remember that guy, Jade. He’s canny, smart, and as principled as he can be. He wouldn’t have asked me to consult for a case heknewI didn’t want to have a fucking thing to do with if he didn’t want me to know something was up.”

“Oh, I agree,” she muttered. “Damn.I thought we were going to play who’s a bigger gaping asshole, Trey Cartman or Charlie Boehner. But this is a whole new game.”

“Or is it the same game?” Ellery murmured.

“What do you mean?”

Pushing through the rattled clutter of his brain right now was painful, like cleaning out an old room that had been used for storage for years. But something Jackson had said….

“Jade, what was Jackson going to be doing tonight before he got sliced and diced?”

“Hunh.”

God, that sound drove him crazy when Jackson made it and made him even crazier when she did.

“That’s not a word,” he muttered.

“Sure it is. Right now it’s a word that means Jackson is a fucking genius. He was going to go to the police station and see who was working tonight, because the people on the DA’s and the union’s good side would be at the party.”

Ellery nodded grimly and waited for her to get there.

“Oh,” she said. “My God! None of those assholes were there!”

“No they were not,” he said, remembering that he’d been looking for them when they’d first arrived. “And we know there were policemen there because that entire elevator was balls to the walls white boys with crewcuts and cheap shoes under their costumes.”

“Those weren’t costumes. Those were some Kings jerseys they bought on Groupon.”

Ellery snorted because it was true—not particularly imaginative, and definitely not individual. “So our four choirboys weren’t there tonight. Why?”

“Because,” Jade said slowly. “Because they must have pissed somebody off.”

Ellery nodded. “And Cartman and Boehner were working Judge Brentwood enough to make him really uncomfortable.”

“Hedidlook really happy to see us,” she murmured. “God, Ellery, I feel like we should do something with all this information but….” Her voice wobbled.