Page 30 of Nothing to Beat (Nothing to… #13)
“It’s not completely unheard of for me to get a call late at night. If there’s been an incident and they need a prosector on-scene, I might get a call.”
“How often does that call come from State’s Attorney Unst?”
“Never.” Porter’s head swung left and right, sending a clear signal he wanted to give them equal attention. “That call never comes from the SA.”
“So you knew something was different as soon as you picked up?”
“As soon as I got with it. Until about halfway through the conversation, I thought it was a dream. That I imagined the whole thing.”
“What did he say?” Breck asked.
“He told me to get my ass on a plane to LA. That I shouldn’t wait until daybreak, I had to move fast.” Why the urgency? “I wasn’t going to question him. All I asked was what I should do when I got here.”
“And he said?”
“Go to the Platinum Suite of the Grand Hotel. That I was needed in a meeting.”
“You didn’t think to ask more than that?”
“I asked what it was in relation to, though I did have my suspicions. He said it was related to the case, that I’d find out more when I got here.”
“Did you know what case?”
“The only case I’m working right now is your father’s. Tim’s doing his part, but this is the most important case either of us has on the docket. This is…”
“I know how earth-shattering it is,” she said, refraining from rolling her eyes. Just. “It’s career defining. Ground-breaking. News-making. Headline-grabbing…”
“I don’t mean to imply your father deserves any kind of reverence. What he’s done… You made it clear how important it is for him to be stopped, and I want to make that happen for you, for all of Chicago. Taking your brother off the streets is one thing, that’s cutting off the tail.”
“Without taking the head, you’ll never kill the beast.”
“No,” Porter answered Breck. “We will not.” If only they could have certainty that would happen. “Is DA Ackley coming here?”
Wouldn’t that be great, Alice, Carolyn, some Hollywood stylist with racks of clothes and accessories, and them, waiting for Ackley to show up and blast them all to hell.
What if Ackley didn’t summon Porter because of her father?
Maybe it was Joey. Maybe it was her. What had she ever done that LA’s DA might think to summon another prosecutor?
It couldn’t be anything… this wasn’t a gang against her…
Yet, somehow, she didn’t feel like this bolstered her team either.
Porter had been fine with her, great; they’d made good ground working together. In Chicago. Hmm, yeah, in Chicago. That felt an awful distance, in time and space, from their suite in LA. What might’ve changed since then?
“Do you have experience with DA Ackley?” she asked.
“We had one conversation, over the telephone.”
“Today?”
“No, months ago. Before I knew about Joey, before Trish agreed to testify.”
Curious. “Why did you call him?”
“I didn’t. He called me.”
“To…?”
“Tell me…” And the movement of his shoulders returned him to the awkward squirming of a few moments ago. “About Zairn’s involvement in Dayah’s death. His alleged involvement.”
“Which is false,” Breck was quick to add. “Zairn Lomond had nothing to do with Dayah Lynn’s death.”
“I’m aware of that now.”
“You weren’t then?”
“I didn’t know Zairn then, we’d never met. Roxie came to me after my conversation with Ackley about Dayah. Told me Zairn had nothing to do with it.”
“And you believed her?”
“I believed it after Zairn brought Trish to me and Tim. That was a long night.”
“You didn’t trust a woman you once loved?” she asked, the notion foreign to her. “You can’t have loved her very much.”
Porter shook his head. “It was a different time. Zairn and I were strangers. Roxie’s relationship with him was still… They weren’t public, but I could see she was infatuated with him.”
“You trusted the woman, but not her feelings.”
Was Breck aiming at her? “You better trust me and my feelings.”
“Sometimes with you I don’t know, Coy.”
Okay, the deadpan thing was funny when everyone in the room got it. Porter didn’t know Breck that well.
“Truth be told,” Porter said. “I was worried about her. Roxie. She’s usually got her head screwed on, doesn’t take any shit. With Zairn, I could tell it was different just from the way she talked about him. I didn’t want her to be taken in, I wanted to protect her.”
“From a potential murderer.” Breck got there before she did. “I can understand that.”
Okay, were they bonding now? This was no time for bromance.
“We have a meeting to get to,” she said because they had to be overdue for Ackley. “The only way we find out what is going on, is to get there and hear it from him. So can we…?”
Another tap of her non-existent watch.
“Yes,” Breck said, raising an arm, which she went to immediately, allowing his hand to settle on the small of her back. “We shouldn’t keep him waiting any longer.”
“Is Roxie coming to the meeting?” Porter asked.
Breck paused. “Do we need her?”
“The woman is getting married soon.” And had already done so much for them. “She doesn’t need this kind of pressure right now. Plus…”
“Ackley isn’t a fan.” Breck voiced what she hadn’t wanted to verbalize. “We don’t want the meeting to be antagonistic.”
And that meant everyone had to keep their egos in check. At the last meeting, Bastian, at least, didn’t have skin in the game, both Breck and Porter did.
Without hesitation, Porter nodded. “I’ll follow your lead.”
What did that mean? He’d walk away if Breck told him to walk away?
She doubted that. This was “career-defining,” remember?
If Porter Clement had to stand up to someone, would it be someone as powerful as LA DA Ackley?
Instinct said no… she could be alone, out on a limb, no allies, and the potential for her father to learn what she’d done. And that was kind of terrifying…
Or it was until the press of a hand on her back guided her from the room.
As powerful as LA DA Ackley? How about as powerful as Rankin “Breck” Breckenridge?
Her guy may not put criminals behind bars, but when it came to getting a man elected…
or not… She’d put money on her guy coming out on top every time.