Page 25 of Nobody's Fool

“So the DA could retry him.”

“They could,” Arthur says with great care. “But…”

I know. He knows. They won’t. There isn’t enough evidence anymore. It would be impossible to reconvict, and the DA’s office doesn’t really have the stomach to try. It would be embarrassing and an unpleasant reminder for all. I get all that. No one really cares anymore.

Arthur reads my mind. “It can’t be you, Kierce. Anything you find, any evidence you dig up, will be dismissed.”

I nod. “I better go.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

I wait.

“Courtney Booth’s email address,” Arthur says. “Do you want it?”

“No.”

“You’re not sending her the photos?”

“I’m not sending her the photos.”

“She won’t be pleased.”

“I gather that.”

“She probably has a legal right to them.”

“You’re the one with the law degree.”

“Work product on her case. She could sue you.”

I shrug and start toward the elevator. “What’s one more?”

CHAPTER SEVEN

I pick up Debbie on the way out to Connecticut. She wants a day out of the city, and I figure that maybe I could use her. We follow my late-night pin drop back to the lush estate of Maybe Anna. I don’t have much of a plan here. I consider trying to make some kind of approach as a delivery man, but that won’t work here. Whatever packages get delivered here are left at the gate, I’m sure. I debate casing the place from down the street, parking and waiting for a car to come out and then following it, but my guess is, the local authorities notice old beater cars held together by duct tape idling on these fair streets. Debbie might help with that. It’s one thing when a guy is in a car by himself. It’s a little less conspicuous with a couple.

Debbie has her window down and sticks her nose out of it like a golden retriever. “Can you believe all this green?” she asks in wonder.

“Is there no green where you’re from?”

“Not green like this,” she says. “It’s like even the trees smell like money.”

I get what she means.

“Can we go for a hike, Kierce?”

“This is all private land.”

“For real?”

“Yep.”

“There must be some walking trails nearby though, right?”

“I guess,” I say.

“You like hiking?” she asks.

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