Page 67 of Maddy's Justice

“That’s a relief. If he calls back do you want me to cooperate?”

“No, no,” Blake said a little too quickly. “In fact, I’ll get word to them to leave you alone.”

“That would be good, thanks.”

The two of them chatted for another five minutes, catching up with each other. Then Blake excused himself and ended the call.

“We may have a problem,” Blake told Cliff Spenser.

As soon as he ended the call with his former assistant, Blake called Spenser. It took Blake less than a minute to excitedly tell Spenser about his recent call.

“This must be coming from Melanie Stewart,” Spenser said. “We need to find out exactly what our lawyers are up to. They’re obviously looking for more problems and we need to be kept up-to-date to monitor it.”

“I knew we should have handled this in-house,” Blake claimed.

“Then why didn’t you say so?” Spenser quickly asked. “Besides, it’s too late now so don’t complain. You’re Melanie’s immediate superior. You talk to her first thing tomorrow. Find out what she gave them.”

“All right. I’ll do that.”

* * * * * * *

“Are you going to get a list of people you want to invite to Vivian’s engagement party for me? So far, all you have are Eric and Jessie,” Maddy asked referring to Marc’s adult son and daughter.

They were at a table in a downtown bar Maddy knew Faye Hayden frequented.

“I don’t know,” Marc answered. “You’ve already put everyone I would ask on your list.”

“You have no other friends? How about Karen?” Maddy asked referring to his ex-wife.

“I don’t think so,” Marc said. “I suppose I could ask Steve Gondeck and a couple of other prosecutors,” Marc said referring to a colleague in the Hennepin County Attorney’s office, “Steve’s always had a thing for you. Oh, yeah, I know,” Marc continued snapping his fingers, “Philo Anson from the Strib. He’s…”

“I’ll shoot him if he comes near the place,” Maddy said.

“Did you call Paxton?” Marc asked. Paxton O’Rourke was a prosecutor with the Feds in Chicago.

“Oh, no. Thanks. I’ll put her down and call her first thing tomorrow.”

“How about Gabriella?”

“On the list with a plus one,” Maddy said. “She’s seeing a reporter from a different station.”

“Tell Paxton if she doesn’t bring a friend, Tony will be a single,” Marc said.

“Should I?” Maddy asked.

“Yes,” Marc said.

“There she is,” Maddy said seeing Faye Hayden enter the bar. “She’s making a beeline for an empty seat at the bar. You can look,” Maddy told Marc.

Marc turned his head just in time to see Faye sit down. On her right was a woman who was with a man. To her left were several chairs all filled with single men. Or, at least, none of them appeared to be with a woman.

By the time Faye placed her purse on the bar, the man next to her had turned and was trying to talk to her. Clearly, she was not interested but too polite to tell him to simply get lost. Within thirty seconds of the time she sat down and without having to order it, the bartender, a young woman, placed a drink in front of her. Obviously, Faye was well known in this establishment.

“I’ll watch for an opening. If I get an empty seat next to her…” Maddy started to say.

Faye said something to the guy next to her. His head moved back, and he turned away from her.

“Atta girl,” Maddy said.

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