The Naked Typist

42

Fitzpatrick’sface was hard. “You should have told me.”

Steve Winslow was slumped back in his desk chair. He ran his hand over his head. “I know,” he said.

Fitzpatrick was sitting in the clients’ chair. Mark Taylor, too agitated to sit, was pacing back and forth. Tracy Garvin stood in the background, looking on. Her eyes were sad.

“If you’d told me, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“If I’d told you, you wouldn’t have taken the case.”

“This is true.”

“You have every right to be angry.”

“I know.”

“I let you down. I let Mark down. The whole thing’s a mess.”

“No argument here,” Fitzpatrick said.

Steve straightened up in his chair, pointed his finger at Fitzpatrick. “But you’re not on the hook, and you don’t have to be,” he said. “That’s the saving grace. If I’d told you, you’d be in the soup. But I didn’t. You didn’t know any of this. You can testify to that, and Mark and I will back you up.”

“Fat lot of good that will do.”

Steve shook his head. “You’re wrong. You don’t have to take the fall for this, Fitzpatrick. You stand up in court tomorrow, you tell the judge all this comes as a complete surprise to you. You were caught flat-footed, taken aback and feel you cannot continue with the proceedings. You ask permission to withdraw from the case.”

Fitzpatrick shook his head. “No, I don’t.”

“Why not?”

“I’m mad as hell, but I’m not a quitter. That would be unfair to our client and unfair to you.” He pointed his finger at Steve. “Don’t make any mistake, I’m pissed as hell. If you think I’d ever handle another case with you, you’re out of your mind. But as far as this case goes, I’m sticking it out, sink or swim. So get your shit together and figure out what the hell you’re gonna do. On the off chance you should happen to, do me the favor of letting me know.”

Fitzpatrick stood up. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to my firm and see if I’m still senior partner or if the other partners got together and voted me out.”

Fitzpatrick pushed past Tracy Garvin and went out, slamming the door.

“Can’t blame him a bit,” Steve said.

Taylor sighed. “That’s a fact. Oh, Jesus Christ, what the hell are we going to do?”

“It’s bad, Mark, but it ain’t over yet.”

Taylor collapsed into the chair. “That’s easy for you to say. You know the law. I don’t know shit. The way I see it, they got me dead to rights, I lost my license, and I’m up shit creek.”

“You haven’t lost anything yet.”

“So what’s my defense? The devil made me do it? My attorney made me do it? That ain’t gonna cut no ice.”

“I know how you feel.”

Taylor looked at him. “Do you? You’re an actor all your life. You’re used to losing one job after another, bouncing from place to place. Me, what do I know? Football and this. If it weren’t for the injury, if I’d played pro a year or two, I could have had a name, maybe opened a small restaurant. Or got a job on the radio doin’ play-by-play. As it is, this is all I know. Fifteen years now. I’m not trained for anything else.” He shook his head. “I just don’t know what the hell I’d do.”

“It ain’t over till it’s over.”

“Great. Thanks, Yogi. Sorry to piss and moan. You got your own problems. But, Jesus Christ.”

Taylor stood up. “I’m gonna get back to the office. See if anything’s come in that will help. Like a plane ticket out of the country.”

“It’s not that bad, Mark.”

“No,” Taylor said flatly. “Of course not.”

Mark Taylor went out. Steve leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Tracy standing next to him. Her eyes were misted over. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“I know,” Steve said. He sighed. “It’s my own damn fault. I shouldn’t have done it.”

“No. You should. You did right.”

Steve looked at her. “I did?”

“Of course you did. You have to fight for your client. That comes first.”

Steve looked at her for a moment. Chuckled. Shook his head.

“What’s so funny?” Tracy said.

“You. That’s the thing about you. You think I did right because you like our client. That’s the bottom line. You like her, so anything I did for her is okay in your book. If you didn’t like her, you’d think I was a total schmuck. Remember how you felt in the Jeremy Dawson case?”

“You didn’t do anything like this in the Jeremy Dawson case.”

“That’s for damn sure. If I had, you’d have pinned my ears back but good.” Steve exhaled heavily. “Jesus, what a fucking mess.”

“So what can you do?” Tracy said.

“Do?”

“Yeah,” Tracy said. “We’ve been kicked in the teeth and we all feel bad. But it’s not like you to just quit. So tell me, what the hell can you do?”

Steve shook his head. “I don’t know. Believe me, I really don’t know.” He rubbed his head, then looked back up at her. Managed a small smile. “The way I see it, there’s only one saving grace in the whole thing.”

Tracy frowned. “What’s that?”

“Dirkson reopened his case.”