Bailed Out (The Anna Albertini Files #2) - Rebecca Zanetti Page 0,86
like it. Yet the spirit of competition gave me a boost, and frankly, I didn’t like that either. Even so, I smiled at the jury of seven women and three men. “My client does a service to the community, to many communities, and that’s what we want, right? He has others deal with the guns, and he works with the survival aspect in the wilderness.” Pucci had explained that to me when I’d asked. I finished up and took my seat.
“You’re not bad,” Pucci said.
I didn’t answer.
The state called the guy Pucci had gotten into a fight with to the stand first. His name was George Dorsey, he was around forty, and he had a beer gut. His story was exactly what the charges had been. Alice got the story from him without my having to object often. Then she tendered the witness.
I smiled and stood. “Mr. Dorsey, how long had you been in the bar?”
“A couple of hours,” Dorsey said, his blond hair slicked back and his face clean shaven.
“What were you drinking?”
“We had a couple pitchers of beer between the four of us,” he said.
I paused because I’d read the entire police report. “Just beer?”
He frowned. “We may have had a shot or two of Jaeger.”
One woman in the jury box shifted her weight. I ran him through the night, the bars they’d been to before that, and the fact that he grabbed Krissy by the butt. He adamantly denied it. I made a mental note to run through Krissy’s statement again.
We worked through the afternoon, and the judge called an end to the day at around four o’clock, right after the state finished its case.
“We’re on tomorrow,” I told Pucci as we exited the courthouse. “Make sure both Krissy and Kelsey are here to take the stand.”
“No problem.” His hand rested at my waist as we walked outside, and I looked around for Aiden. “If you’re looking for your man, he had business to deal with,” Pucci said. “However, I’m fairly free right now. Why don’t we go get a drink and celebrate the day? I think it went well.”
“No, thanks.” It had gone well. I’d been able to successfully cross-examine all of the state’s witnesses and show that they’d pretty much been drinking all day.
“Your loss.” Pucci released me as Krissy hurried our way.
She handed my car keys to me. “We had your car brought in, and here are the keys.”
“Where’s Aiden?” I asked.
“Haven’t seen him.” Then she leaned in and kissed Pucci. “We need to celebrate what looks like a good day, based on that smile you have going.”
He had a smile going because the jerk had just made a move on me.
Pucci nodded. “All right. See you tomorrow, Anna.” He slid his hand into the back of her linen pants, and they walked away.
I sighed and dug out my phone to call Aiden. It went instantly to voice-mail. The man was driving me crazy. He’d finally agreed to let me in, and now he’d disappeared. What business? Even if I had asked Pucci, he wouldn’t have answered.
So I turned and strode along the sidewalk to my former office building, heading inside.
“Hey Anna,” the receptionist said. We’d been buddies since I saved her picture of Stan Lee from a DEA raid the month before. “What’s up?”
“Hi, Juliet. Is Alice around?” I asked. Maybe we could plea out Oliver Duck’s case.
Juliet shook her head. “No. She planned to work from home tonight.”
I glanced down the hallway. “What about Nick?”
“He’s here. Go on back.” She smiled.
At least I still had one friend left in the prosecuting attorney’s office. “Thanks.” I hurried off before she could think twice and soon knocked on Nick’s door.
“Come in,” he called out.
“Hey.” I stepped inside and shut the door, quickly heading to what had often been my seat on the other side of his desk.
He looked up from behind his desk, still in a gray power suit with light green tie. “Hi. Alice called in and said you did a good job your first day in trial.”
“Thanks.” I wished I still worked with Nick. “Did she tell you I took on the Oliver Duck case?”
Nick’s eyebrow rose. “What’s an Oliver Duck?”
I gave him the whole story, and when I’d finished, he just shook his head.
“What?” I asked. “Come on. You grew up dirt biking, four wheeling, and snowmobiling anywhere you wanted. Probably on that farm at some point. You can’t want that kid to get a felony.”