Page 24 of Dodge

“Hey.” The voice was as baritone as Avery’s was tenor.

“You’re not sleeping.”

“In bed with a pizza,” said Evan Quill.

The man had OCD and for him to dine in bed meant he was beyond exhausted. This happened with every trial he’d ever run, as long as she’d known him.

Quill was prosecuting the case she’d just alluded to: the man accused of being a conspirator in Cynthia’s death.

Maybe innocent, maybe not ...

He asked, “You still in Wisconsin?”

“Yep.” Then she told him, “I got a call. Richard Avery.”

“And?”

“Heard I was up here, on quote ‘vacation.’ Wasn’t happy, but he won’t dare do anything about it.”

“I read about the deputy up there who was shot. How is he?”

“Point blank, face. He’ll live. But still ... Oh, Quinn, I almost had him. He sensed my trap. How does he do that?”

There was a pause.

“I’ll start drafting extradition papers to get him back to Illinois if he’s collared up there.”

This reminder of proper procedure probably wasn’t his chiding her for wanting to circumvent the judicial process and deliver a writ of execution personally, rather than drag him back for trial. He was the sort who would be thinking logically and methodically of tasks that lay ahead in the lengthy process of the law. Unlike her, Evan Quill didn’t improvise and he didn’t break rules.

She asked, “And the trial?”

A hesitation. “Gone to the jury. I’m confident. He’s got no defense—some bizarre alibi that he was plotting to murder a pervert.”

“What?”

“Yep. And a mysterious stranger on Route 28 who really did it.”

“The man on the grassy knoll.”

Quill said, “There’s one in every case. You sure Offenbach’s still in Harbinger?”

“I’m sure.”

He didn’t respond for a moment. She sipped milk and asked, “Any thoughts, how long the panel’ll be out?”

“You want to flip a quarter?”

“Be careful, Quill.”

Did he laugh at this? Couldn’t be sure. He said, “I’ll be in court. Armed guards.”

“You won’t be in court forever ... And you never know how Offenbach’ll come at you.”

“Need some sleep. I’ll call tomorrow.”

After another pause, he said, “Wait. Ask you a serious question?”

“Hm?”

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