Dawn Patrol

104

Petra sits on a plastic chair bolted to the wall of the receiving station at the downtown jail.

She's glad to be there, though, glad to be anywhere that isn't in the proximity of Alan Burke, who'd gone off on her like a pit bull on crank.

“Good job,” he'd said, storming down the street outside the courthouse.

“I didn't know,” she said, working hard to keep up with him.

He stopped and whirled on her. “It's your job to know! It's your job to get witnesses ready to testify! For our side, Petra! Not the other side! It's my fault for not having mentioned that earlier, I guess!”

“You're right, of course.”

“I'm right?” he yelled, holding his arms out like Christ crucified, spinning in a 360 and yelling to everybody on Broadway, “Hey, I'm right! Did you hear that? The associate attorney who's never tried a case in her fucking life tells me I'm right! Does it get any better? Does life get any happier than this?”

People walked by them, chuckling.

“I'm sorry,” Petra said.

“Sorry's not good enough.”

“My resignation will be on your desk by the end of the business day,” Petra said.

“No, no, no, no,” Alan said. “Too easy. You're not walking away from this. No. You're going to stay for the whole long, miserable march to death, humiliation, and destruction. Right by my side.”

“All right. Certainly. Yes.”

“Are you sleeping with him?” Alan asked.

“With whom?”

“With Todd the Rod!” Alan yelled. “Boone! Who did you think I meant?”

Petra turned beet red and stared at him, mouth agape. Then she said, “I don't think that's an appropriate question for an employer to ask an employee.”

“Sue me,” Alan said, and walked away. Then he turned around, came back, and said, “Look, we fell for a trick older than dirt. It's not your fault, I should have spotted it. They set us up. Burned a cheap building down, produced a phony arson witness, then had her flip on us in court to get a punitive damages award. They win; we lose. It happens. Now go bail Boone out. We don't shoot our wounded.”

So now Petra sits on the plastic chair waiting for the desk sergeant to process paperwork. He seems to be working at glacial speed.