The Lincoln lawyer - By Michael Connelly Page 0,157

tracking of Roulet. I dropped the thought when my call was answered by Teddy Vogel, the leader of the Road Saints.

“Speak to me.”

“Ted, Mickey Haller.”

“Counselor, how are you?”

“Not so good tonight.”

“Then I am glad you called. What can I do for you?”

I looked out the window at the rain before answering. I knew that if I continued I would be indebted to people I never wanted to be on the hook with.

But there was no choice.

“You happen to have anybody down my way tonight?” I asked.

There was a hesitation before Vogel answered. I knew he had to be curious about his lawyer calling him for help. I was obviously asking about the kind of help that came with muscles and guns.

“Got a few guys watching things at the club. What’s up?”

The club was the strip bar on Sepulveda, not too far from Sherman Oaks. I was counting on that.

“There’s a threat to my family, Ted. I need some warm bodies to put up a front, maybe grab a guy if needed.”

“Armed and dangerous?”

I hesitated but not too long.

“Yeah, armed and dangerous.”

“Sounds like our kind of move. Where do you want them?”

He was immediately ready to act. He knew the value of having me under his thumb instead of on retainer. I gave him the address of the apartment on Dickens. I also gave him a description of Roulet and what he had been wearing in court that day.

“If he shows up at that apartment, I want him stopped,” I said. “And I need your people to go now.”

“Done,” Vogel said.

“Thank you, Ted.”

“No, thank you. We’re glad to help you out, seeing as how you’ve helped us out so much.”

Yeah, right, I thought. I hung the phone up, knowing I had just crossed one of those lines you hope to never see let alone have to step across. I looked out the window again. Outside, the rain was now coming down hard off the roof. I had no gutter in the back and it was coming down in a translucent sheet that blurred the lights out there. Nothing but rain this year, I thought. Nothing but rain.

I left the office and went back to the front of the house. On the table in the dining alcove was the gun Earl Briggs had given me. I contemplated the weapon and all the moves I had made. The bottom line was I had been flying blind and in the process had endangered more than just myself.

Panic started to set in. I grabbed the phone off the kitchen wall and called Maggie’s cell. She answered right away. I could tell she was in her car.

“Where are you?”

“I’m just getting home now. I’ll get some things together and we’ll get out.”

“Good.”

“What do I tell Hayley, that her father put her life in danger?”

“It’s not like that, Maggie. It’s him. It’s Roulet. I couldn’t control him. One night I came home and he was sitting in my house. He’s a real estate guy. He knows how to find places. He saw her picture on my desk. What was I —”

“Can we talk about this later? I have to go in now and get my daughter.”

Not our daughter. My daughter.

“Sure. Call me when you’re in a new place.”

She disconnected without further word and I slowly hung the phone back on the wall. My hand was still on the phone. I leaned forward until my forehead touched the wall. I was out of moves. I could only wait on Roulet to make the next one.

The phone’s ring startled me and I jumped back. The phone fell to the floor and I pulled it up by the cord. It was Valenzuela.

“You get my message? I just called.”

“No, I’ve been on the phone. What?”

“Glad I called back, then. He’s moving.”

“Where?”

I shouted it too loud into the phone. I was losing it.

“He’s heading south on Van Nuys. He called me and said he wanted to lose the bracelet. I told him I was already home and that he could call me tomorrow. I told him he had better juice the battery so he wouldn’t start beeping in the middle of the night.”

“Good thinking. Where’s he now?”

“Still on Van Nuys.”

I tried to build an image of Roulet driving. If he was going south on Van Nuys that meant he was heading directly toward Sherman Oaks and the neighborhood where Maggie and Hayley lived. But he could also be headed right through Sherman Oaks on his way south over the hill and to