When the policeman had removed David’s handcuffs, then shut the doors on them, Ariel sat on the end of the bed, her back rigid, and looked straight ahead. She was in such a state of trauma that Sara didn’t think she was capable of speech.
R.J. walked to the shared wall of bars and glared at Sara. “What did you do?”
She sat down on the opposite end of the bed from Ariel and tried to smile. “Did we ever fool you with our disguise?”
“Not for a second,” R.J. said in dismissal. “I want to know why all of you are in here. Did you call my lawyer?”
“No signal,” Sara said, looking down at her hands. She was trying to think how long it would be before R.J. was missed. No one would miss her until her rent was due, but R.J. was a different matter. How many of his adoring secretaries knew where he was going this weekend? The answer was that only she knew R.J.’s schedule.
“Sara,” R.J. said quietly. “I’m waiting.”
Before she could come up with a reply, David said, “She told the chief of police that you were a very important man and that you’d bring so many lawyers into this two-bit town that World War Two would look like a picnic.”
“I see,” R.J. said and when she glanced up at him she saw a twinkle in his eye. She knew he was thinking that she’d said exactly what he would have said if they’d given him time to talk. He put on a fake frown to cover his smile, then turned to David. “Not what she should have said, right?”
“No.” David’s face was stern, a
nd he kept looking at Ariel, who seemed to be in a state of near catatonia.
Before R.J. could say anything else, the door that led into the cell opened and in came a man who had the air of a lawyer. Lawyers came and went in R.J.’s office so often that Sara knew she could have picked them out naked (them naked, that is, not her). They had a certain walk and an arrogance that not even doctors could match.
The man was wearing a cheap, dark green summer suit. He was tall and thin, no lips at all, small eyes and a pointed nose, and he was chewing gum. In spite of the fact that he looked like a rat, he had a big smile and an attitude that said all of life was a laugh.
“Hi!” he said, as though the four people in the two cells were his long-long friends. “I heard you were in a predicament so I came right over to see if I could help. Now, which one of you is Sara?” As he said this he looked from her to Ariel, then back again. He stopped at Sara, as though he guessed she was the one with the big mouth.
“You have to apologize,” he said, and when she nodded, he looked at R.J. “You the dog killer?”
R.J.’s face turned red and Sara could see that it was all he could do to keep from telling the man off.
David stepped between the two men—behind the bars, that is. “I am David Allenton Tredwell,” he said. “Of Arundel.”
“Arundel, huh?” the man said. “Tea party people.”
Sara looked at R.J. in question and he shrugged. What tea party? they wanted to know. Sara got up and moved closer to the bars.
David smiled. “Yes, sir, I am,” he said proudly. “One of my ancestors—”
Rudely, the man turned away. “We’re still loyal to the king around here and we drink tea, not coffee.”
Sara started to laugh, but then she saw the look on the man’s face. He was serious.
“I’m Lawrence Lassiter,” he said, “and I’m an attorney. Unfortunately, there’s only one attorney in town and I happen to be defending Mr. Nezbit. He’s the man whose dog you killed.”
“I didn’t kill any dog,” R.J. said softly, but in a voice that carried weight.
Lassiter stepped closer to the bar and narrowed his eyes at R.J. “I’ve known John Nezbit all my life and I know that he has responsibilities that would weigh heavy on any man. He has a wife and six children, all of whom he struggles to support. That dog of his …” The man paused and swiped at his eyes as though wiping away a tear. “He raised that dog from a puppy and it was a companion to his children and to him. That dog guarded his family from danger and watched over them while they slept. That you mainland people would maliciously run over that dear animal again and again, all while hanging out of the windows and laughing, is beyond anything we’ve ever heard of about you people.”
When David started to say something, Sara saw R.J. put his hand on the younger man’s arm. R.J. was watching the lawyer with narrowed eyes. Sara had seen that expression on R.J.’s face only twice before. Both times the recipient learned why R.J. Brompton was called “ruthless.”
“That poor dog,” the lawyer said, then pulled a handkerchief from his back pocket and wiped his nose. He lifted his chin and gave a little smile, as though he was smiling through his tears. “Oh, well, all we can do is warn our children about you people and hope that the stories will make them stay at home where they belong. So! Now it’s done and you must pay the price.”
“And how much would that be?” R.J. asked in a voice that made the hairs on Sara’s neck stand on end.
“I have no idea,” Lassiter said, his eyebrows raised, as though R.J. had asked him an odd question. “That’s up to the judge to decide. How much is the safety of a man’s family worth?”
“We’ll buy him a new dog,” David said. “A trained guard dog. A rottweiler. Or a Doberman.”
“I guess if it had been one of his children you’d buy him a new kid too, right?” Lassiter said as he looked at Ariel, who was staring at him, her face flushed, her eyes wide. “Or maybe you’d let one of these beautiful young ladies have a baby with him to replace the child you killed.”