but he didn’t put it back in the envelope. “I need help with a legal matter. Are you still willing to represent me?”
“I’m not sure after the stunt you pulled.”
“I don’t blame you. Let me tell you what I’d like you to do for me. If you don’t want to do it, there will be no hard feelings.”
“Go ahead.”
“I was down on my luck when I came up with the idea for the Chamber of Death. I was certain that I could get a show if it was as spectacular as I thought it would be, but illusions are expensive to produce, so I needed backers. You remember Joe Samuels?”
“He showed up at your mansion and caused a scene.”
“He had every right to. Joe and some other people put up money for the illusion. As I said, I was down on my luck, so I borrowed some of the money my backers had put up and used it for, uhm, living expenses.”
“Is that another term for gambling debts?”
Chesterfield flashed a sheepish grin.
Robin wasn’t amused. “I believe that the legal term for what you did is ‘embezzling,’” she said.
“You’re right. I won’t deny that what I did could be seen as embezzling, but I was certain I could pay back Joe and the others when the show began. I didn’t think anyone would notice until I started getting paid by the Babylon Casino.”
“Only Mr. Samuels did notice.”
“And he was going to go to the police. Horace told me that Joe did file a complaint after I disappeared. I’d like you to negotiate with him. Get him to agree to drop his criminal complaint so I can put on my act without worrying about getting arrested. Then I can pay him back from the proceeds of my new show.”
Robin thought for a moment. “Fifteen hundred should cover my time. Where can I reach you?”
Chesterfield handed Robin the money and Horace Dobson’s business card. “I’m not at a fixed address right now, but you can contact me through Horace. And thank you. I can understand why you wouldn’t want to have me as a client.”
“I’m a lawyer, Robert. My job is helping people in trouble, not judging them.”
Chesterfield stood up.
“What about these people who are following you?” Robin asked. “Are you in danger?”
“I appreciate the concern, but I can take care of myself.”
There was a back door to the tavern, and Chesterfield disappeared through it. Robin was going to leave by the front door when she hesitated. She was fairly certain that someone had followed her, and she wasn’t certain that she’d lost them.
Robin turned around. When she opened the back door, she saw Chesterfield standing against the alley wall using a knife to hold two men at bay. One of his attackers looked like a nightclub bouncer. The other man was slender.
“Don’t be stupid, Bobby,” the slender man said. “That knife won’t protect you.”
“We’ll soon see, Rafael. I hope you brought a first aid kit with plenty of bandages.”
Robin pulled out her cell phone. “What’s going on here?” she shouted as she dialed 911.
Rafael turned toward Robin, and Chesterfield struck. Rafael looked at his stomach. Blood was streaming from a cut. “What the fuck!” he screamed as he slapped his hand against the wound.
The other man stepped forward, and Chesterfield danced away.
“I’ve just dialed 911!” Robin shouted.
“You should get Rafael to a hospital,” Chesterfield said to Rafael’s partner. “What will Auggie say if he bleeds out?”
Rafael doubled over and groaned, “Marco, let’s get out of here.”
Robin stepped back as Marco helped Rafael out of the alley. She watched them until they rounded a corner. When she turned back to talk to Chesterfield, he’d disappeared again.
“What’s your emergency?” the 911 operator asked.
Robin hesitated. Chesterfield and his assailants were gone. What would be accomplished by telling the police what had happened?
“Sorry. I misdialed,” she said as she ended the call.
* * *
Robin knew Rafael was wounded and was probably not following her, but she was spooked and she stayed on high alert during the walk back to Barrister, Berman & Lockwood. The first thing she did was go to Jeff’s office.
“I just saw Robert Chesterfield stab a man in an alley behind the Stumptown Tavern,” Robin told Jeff, who was sitting behind his desk, looking over a file.
“You what!?”
Robin dropped into a seat across from her investigator. “Chesterfield called and asked me to return his retainer. I told him I’d have it here tomorrow, but he said he didn’t want to come to the