Page 92 of The Lincoln Lawyer

I reached over and turned it down a little.

“Hey, I’ll turn it off if you’ll sing to me like you used to.”

“Not tonight, Haller.”

“Nobody knows the Maggie McFierce I know.”

She smiled a little and I was quiet for a moment while I remembered those times.

“Maggie, why do you stay with me?”

“I told you, I can’t stay.”

“No, I don’t mean tonight. I’m talking about how you stick with me, how you don’t run me down with Hayley and how you’re there when I need you. Like tonight. I don’t know many people who have ex-wives who still like them.”

She thought a little bit before answering.

“I don’t know. I guess because I see a good man and a good father in there waiting to break out one day.”

I nodded and hoped she was right.

“Tell me something. What would you do if you couldn’t be a prosecutor?”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, what would you do?”

“I’ve never really thought about it. Right now I get to do what I’ve always wanted to do. I’m lucky. Why would I want to change?”

I opened the Tylenol bottle and popped two without a chaser. The next song was “So Many Tears,” another ballad for all of those lost. It seemed appropriate.

“I think I’d be a teacher,” she finally said. “Grade school. Little girls like Hayley.”

I smiled.

“Mrs. McFierce, Mrs. McFierce, my dog ate my homework.”

She slugged me on the arm.

“Actually, that’s nice,” I said. “You’d be a good teacher… except when you’re sending kids off to detention without bail.”

“Funny. What about you?”

I shook my head.

“I wouldn’t be a good teacher.”

“I mean what would you do if you weren’t a lawyer.”

“I don’t know. But I’ve got three Town Cars. I guess I could start a limo service, take people to the airport.”

Now she smiled at me.

“I’d hire you.”

“Good. There’s one customer. Give me a dollar and I’ll tape it to the wall.”

But the banter wasn’t working. I leaned back, put my palms against my eyes and tried to push away the day, to push out the memory of Raul Levin on the floor of his house, eyes staring at a permanent black sky.