Issabella closed her eyes, wanting to say, “Independence. Autonomy. The ability to never compromise myself. You know, all the things you preached to me when I was a kid? Those words that were easy to say, but that nobody ever seems to actually want to adhere to? That’s what I’m gaining, Mom. I’m gaining the self-respect you earn knowing that you’re living entirely on your own wits and grit.”
But she didn’t say any of that. Not only because it would wound her mother, but because she was battling her own doubts about her lot in life. Fighting the near-daily bouts of panic was all she could manage. She didn’t have the strength to also shoulder the guilt of having lashed out at her mother.
“I guess I’m just stubborn,” she laughed.
“I’ve always said that. Since you were a little girl. You get so hard-headed...”
“I know.”
“But you’re okay?”
“I am. I’m fine.”
“You’re taking your prescription?”
Issabella looked sidelong at her purse in the client chair. The orange bottle full of the little white pills that made her feel dull-witted and sleepy was inside.
“Yes,” she lied, because she didn’t want to have a fight about it.
“Alright, then. Good. So...did you read about that man who killed a police officer yesterday?”
“No, I haven’t heard anything about it.”
“You really should keep informed.”
“I’ll get right on that.”
“It sounds like he was into all kinds of things. Guns all over the house.”
“Really?” She had the phone wedged between ear and shoulder now, her hands reaching for the pile of files on her desktop. Her mother would wind herself down on her own if Issabella limited her responses to one word.
“Well, apparently, they came to arrest him and he barricaded himself in his home. That’s when he killed one of the officers.”
“Sad.”
“That poor man he killed. Can you imagine? I wish you’d think about practicing somewhere else, Bella.”
Issabella stopped. An idea was forming, as hard and exact as a cut diamond.
She stared at the mass of folders she dreaded opening. She saw the weeks ahead—a never-ending flow of those folders arriving on her desk, building up, towering over her, a wall of mind-numbing briefs and hopeless motions, all waiting for her red pen.
The idea grew brighter in her mind’s eye. The light it radiated pushed back the shadows of her fears and doubts, promising deliverance from them. She didn’t pause to question it.
“So...he’s still alive?” she said.
“No, I told you, he was killed. He was young, too, with a family. The paper said his name was Lee Weens and he had a wife and a daughter.”
“No, not the cop. The other guy. The shooter. They didn’t kill him?”
“You shouldn’t say cop. It’s disrespectful—”
“Hold on a sec, Mom.”
Issabella peddled her chair Flintstones-style around her desk. Lying in the chair reserved for non-existent clients were her purse, keys and the morning edition of the city paper. She picked up the folded rectangle of newsprint, snapped it open and stared at the front page.
LOCAL MAN KILLS OFFICER IN DEADLY POLICE RAID.
The idea solidified, and she knew what she was going to do.
“Holy shit.”
“Bella!”
“Mom, I have to go.”
“A professional degree is no license for vulgarity, and I don’t—”
“Love you, Mom.”
She flicked her phone shut, eyes scanning the contents of the headline’s accompanying article.
Fifteen minutes later, Issabella Bright had paced the length of her office thirteen times, re-read the lead paragraph of the story twice, sat down and stood up, and written a list in pen on the cover of one of the file folders on her desk.
Reviewing documents for others is NOT your future.
This would take a lot of balls.
Gumption, not balls. Mom’s right about the language.
The worst that can happen is he says no.
If you pull this off it means real clients and real money.
You won’t have to work across from that spooky old building. It looks like a creepy stone penis and you need to get out of its shadow.
Stop making lists. You’re just wasting time.
That’s a fair point. Okay, I’m going.
Don’t miss
MOTOR CITY SHAKEDOWN by Jonathan Watkins,
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Copyright © 2015 by Jonathan Watkins
Acknowledgments
Thanks and appreciation go to Curtis P. Russell, Kerri Buckley and to every person out there who has expressed support for the adventures of Darren and Izzy.
Also available from Jonathan Watkins
and Carina Press
Motor City Shakedown
Dying in Detroit
Isolated Judgment
Author’s Note
Jonathan Watkins is the author of the Bright & Fletcher Mysteries series of novels. A lifelong Michigander, he lives in Ann Arbor and practices as an attorney when not busy writing. He adores his wife, is proud of his sons and suffers a profound suspicion that he is far luckier than he has any right to be. You can find him online at brightandfletcher.blogspot.com.
Don’t miss the first books in Jonathan Watkins’s Bright & Fletcher Mystery series!
MOTOR CITY SHAKEDOWN
A Bright & Fletcher Mystery, book one
Unexpected danger and unlikely romance converge on rookie criminal lawyer Issabella Bright when she partners with the reckless and charming Darren Fletcher to unravel an insidious Detroit conspiracy of drugs, lies and murder.
DYING IN DETROIT
A Bright & Fletcher Mystery, book two
As soon as criminal defense lawyer Issabella Bright’s long-lost father blows into the Motor City, kidnapping, ransom and murder follow him and threaten to tear asunder the work-and-romance partnership she’s built with the man who will go to any length to keep her safe. And that man, Darren Fletcher, soon learns that shielding Issabella from danger could swiftly end...
ISOLATED JUDGMENT
A Bright & Fletcher Mystery, book three
Bright & Fletcher are summoned to Wailing Isle, the sprawling private estate of one of Michigan’s most legendary—and reviled—retired judges, Bernard Prosner. Judge Prosner’s troubled nephew has turned up dead, run through with what appears to be a sword straight out of Braveheart. But is the ailing magistrate more interested in Darren and Issabella finding the killer...or keeping the whole thing off the record?
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Learn the five W’s in the Joe Gale Mystery series!
“Equal parts courtroom thriller and small-town mystery, Brenda Buchanan’s second Joe Gale Mystery is destined to win her legions of new fans. COVER STORY is a whip-smart page-turner of a read.”
—CrimeSpree Magazine
QUICK PIVOT, A Joe Gale Mystery, book one
COVER STORY, A Joe Gale Mystery, book two
TRUTH BEAT, A Joe Gale Mystery, book three
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Discover dark crimes, deep secrets and powerful stories in the Dylan Scott Mystery series.
PRESUMED DEAD
DEAD SILENT
SILENT WITNESS
DEAD CALM
DYING ART
DEADLY SHADOWS
DEAD END
DEAD SIMPLE
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ISBN-13: 9781459290389
A Devil’s Bargain
Copyright © 2016 by Jonathan Watkins
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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A Devil's Bargain Page 26