“I have no idea. He won’t let me leave.” Justine dropped into a chair.
“Shut the door,” Frank told Mamie.
Mamie did as he asked but didn’t sit. “What’s wrong?”
“Did you know?” Frank asked.
“Did I know what?”
“That she’s been working with Mulligan on our cases?”
Mamie’s lips pressed together and she apologized to Justine with her gaze. “Yes.”
Frank made an angry sound in the back of his throat, something between a huff and a growl. “Goddamn it, Mamie. Why would you not tell me?”
“Well, you saw him at the fundraiser with her. This cannot be a surprise to you.”
“He said he did a favor for her. I had no idea that was in relation to our cases. She took Mrs. Gorcey to see him, for God’s sake.”
“Because Gorcey works for Jack.”
Frank sent Justine a withering glance. “Oh, it’s Jack now?”
“Stop it,” Mamie snapped at him. “Be angry with me, but do not take it out on Justine. She’s done nothing wrong.”
“Are you serious?” He dragged his hands through his hair. “How many cases has he helped you with, Justine?”
She cleared her throat and debated on how to answer. “Do you mean my own efforts, or cases brought to the legal aid society?”
Frank pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and two fingers. “Jesus Christ,” he muttered.
Mamie smacked his shoulder. “Language, please. And that’s all in the past. She’s not seeing him anymore. Are you, Justine?”
“Jack and I are friends,” she said, not giving a direct answer. “Furthermore, it’s none of anyone’s business.”
“It is my business.” Frank motioned to the room. “Literally, this is my business. And if you are involving Jack Mulligan in it, then I damn well should have a say about it.”
“I am not involving him in legal aid business.”
“Then what was that?” He pointed to the door Mrs. Gorcey had just gone through. “Because that felt like involving him. You are planning to go see him, aren’t you? To find out why Gorcey hasn’t been paying.”
“Yes. I owe her answers and Jack can get them for me.”
“Do you hear yourself?” Frank put his hands on his hips. “Jack Mulligan is like a spider, Justine. You’ve fallen into his web and the more you let him, the deeper he’ll pull you in.”
“That’s absurd.”
“I have to agree with Frank,” Mamie said. “Mulligan trades in favors and bribes. The more help you ask him for, the more he’ll demand from you in return.”
But I’ve already given him everything.
She didn’t tell her sister that, though. If Mamie found out the true depth of Justine’s feelings for Jack, her sister would go straight to their parents and tell them. That would bring about a series of uncomfortable conversations Justine would rather not have right now. Not when things were so perfect with Jack.
“You’re wrong. Jack doesn’t mind helping me.”
“Of course he doesn’t,” Frank said. “He’s trying to corrupt you. To get you and your family in his debt.”
“That’s not why he helps me.”
Frank exchanged a glance with Mamie, and Justine could tell exactly what they were thinking. That Jack was taking advantage of her, likely physically. And that she sounded like a naive fool for falling for it.
She was very tired of being underestimated and dismissed.
Coming to her feet, she stared them both down. “If I am able to help people, including the clients here, then what is the difference how I go about it? You never questioned my methods before.”
Mamie shook her head. “This is different, Justine. And you know it.”
“No, it’s not. What I do know is that neither of you think I am able to handle myself. That I’m following Mulligan down a path of rack and ruin.”
“We are right to be worried,” Frank said, a little more gently this time. “I’ve known Mulligan a long time, the kinds of things in which he’s involved. You’re not cut from the same cloth.”
She strode to the door. This conversation was going nowhere and only serving to upset her. “Maybe, but I hardly see how that matters. People change.”
As she went into the corridor, she thought she heard Frank say, “Yes, they certainly do.”
Jack was in his office, getting his weekly manicure, when the door burst open. Frank Tripp appeared, his expression as dark as a thundercloud. Only, the lawyer wasn’t alone. Behind him was Clayton Madden, the former casino owner and Jack’s biggest rival until Florence Greene came along.
Oh, Christ. What was all this? He was glad to see Cooper trail the other two men inside. Mrs. Jenkins didn’t