Havoc (Tattoos and Ties 1)

“They want you to come back. They’ll take the one-hundred hours of community service and three years’ probation, but they want time served,” Blair said. She came up from behind, passed him, then pivoted on her heels to face him. She kept pace with him in a backward stride that left him kind of impressed.

“She’s a habitual offender,” Alec said, taking her arm when he needed to turn toward the elevators.

Blair just stared at him. He liked that about her. She was on her game all the time. If he asked her opinion, she generally had a very well-thought-thorough narrative with a helpful suggestion. If she wasn’t asked, she didn’t insert herself in the discussion. He didn’t ask her thoughts this time. Alec didn’t like those Dumb and Dumber attorneys and honestly struggled with the defendant’s attitude. And even more frustrating was that these were the bullshit cases he was assigned all the time. Alec stayed silent, pushing the call button. When the doors opened, he stepped inside. She didn’t follow, lifting her hands, silently asking what he had decided. “Thirty days county lockup.”

She nodded and repeated that fancy pivot on the heel of her shoe. He hated he’d caved. If nothing else, holding firm would have gotten him back inside a courtroom, trying a case. With that girl’s crimes and past history, he could’ve gotten her years, and it would have been well deserved.

“Alec, we got the probable DUI case from yesterday. She’s assigning it to you,” Janice, a paralegal in the criminal division, and one of his friends in the office, said, surprising him from behind. He turned, moving to the back of the elevator when a crowd got out on the second floor.

“Send me over what she has. He hit someone, correct?” he asked, tucking a hand in his slacks pocket, trying to remember what he’d heard about the case.

“Yes, taking the victim off life support today,” she filled in. The door opened on the third floor, but no one got on, leaving only him and her on the ride up to the thirty-seventh floor.

“So, what’s the word today?” Alec asked, leaning against the rail on the back wall.

“Don’t know the official word. Twiford and her special team were meeting when I got here this morning. Lots of raised voices and scared-looking interns,” she said, leaning back on the bar with him.

“I bet. Any word on what tipped off the feds?” Alec asked.

“Just speculation. I think that’s part of the problem. Twiford can’t figure out what’s going on,” Janice said.

Alec grunted his acknowledgement. Donice Twiford, district attorney, had an ego the size of this building. She was always cunning, constantly positioning herself, never making any true alliances. Hell, Alec was certain she’d sell her own mother if need be, and up until Friday, she had been damn good at playing the game.

“My most reliable source says two things.” Janice lowered her voice to a whisper. “One, Twiford thinks this was a personal attack against her. Someone in the feds’ office is trying to show her up, remind her who’s really in charge. Apparently, the feds just made a big show of tearing up the biker gang’s property, but didn’t really take anything important. They say, someone on the federal side even tipped off the media about what was going down. They wanted to show Twiford she isn’t in charge of this show. Her approval rating is down this morning. She’s gotta hate that.” Janice raised her eyebrows at him, but Alec only nodded his agreement.

“What’s the second thing?” Alec asked, encouraging her to finish before the elevator doors opened.

“Twiford’s Havoc informant hasn’t been on the up and up. She’s been led down a rabbit hole.”

“What about all the charges they’ve cooked up for the ones arrested Friday night?”

“Nothing’s substantiated.”

“So, the whole thing’s political? A one-up move?” Alec asked and tucked his portfolio against his chest, crossing his arms. Janice lifted both hands. Her guess was as good as anyone’s, and a lot more probable based on the crazy way this office ran. Hell, not only this office—he could totally see his father spending millions of taxpayer dollars ordering a federal raid just to show his authority.

“Lunch?” Janice asked when the elevator doors opened to his floor.

“Maybe. I’ve got a day,” Alec said. “Tomorrow would probably be better.”

Janice stuck her hand out, preventing the door from closing. “I heard about the potential judgeship. So didn’t see that coming.”

That stopped Alec in his tracks. He hadn’t told anyone the news. “How did you hear?”

“I heard from my boyfriend. His uncle is Tommy Black. I was shocked, but it’s going around the office this morning.” Janice watched him closely as the alarm on the elevator started to buzz. “I didn’t know you didn’t know. I should have warned you.” Janice pointed a finger in toward his set of offices which was the same direction as DA Twiford’s office. “She’s not gonna be happy. She doesn’t like any attention off her, even when it’s bad attention.”