Over the years, David and Quiller had remained close friends. They, and their wives, had dinner together once a week.
Jesse Quiller had always fancied tall, sylphlike, sophisticated blondes. Then he had met Emily and fallen in love with her. Emily was a prematurely gray dumpling of a woman, from an Iowa farm - the exact opposite of other women Quiller had dated. She was a caretaker, mother earth. They made an unlikely couple, but the marriage worked because they were deeply in love with each other.
Every Tuesday, the Singers and the Quillers had dinner and then played a complicated card game called Liverpool.
When Sandra and David arrived at the Quillers' beautiful home on Hayes Street, Jesse met them at the door. He gave Sandra a bug and said, "Come in. We've got the champagne on ice. It's a big day for you, hub? The new penthouse and the partnership. Or is it the partnership and the penthouse?"
David and Sandra looked at each other. "Emily's in the kitchen fixing a celebration dinner." He looked at their faces. "I think it's a celebration dinner. Am I missing something?"
David said, "No, Jesse. It's just that we may have a - a little problem."
"Come on in. Fix you a drink?" He looked at Sandra.
"No, thanks. I don't want the baby to get into bad habits."
"He's a lucky kid, having parents like you," Quiller said warmly. He turned to David. "What can I get for you?"
"I'm fine," David said.
Sandra started toward the kitchen. "I'll go see if I can help Emily."
"Sit down, David. You look serious."
"I'm in a dilemma," David admitted.
"Let me guess. Is it the penthouse or the partnership?"
"Both."
"Both?"
"Yes. You know about the Patterson case?"
"Ashley Patterson? Sure. What's that got to do with - ?" He stored. "Wait a minute. You told me about Steven Patterson, in law school. He saved your mother's life."
"Yes. He wants me to defend his daughter. I tried to torn the case over to you, but he won't hear of anyone but me defending her."
Quiller frowned. "Does he know you're not practicing criminal law anymore?"
"Yes. That's what's so damn strange. There are dozens of lawyers who can do a hell of a lot better job than I can."
"He knows that you were a criminal defense lawyer?"
"Yes."
Quiller said carefully, "How does he feel about his daughter?"
What a strange question, David thought "She means more to him than anything in the world."
"Okay. Suppose you took her case. The downside is that - "
"The downside is that Kincaid doesn't want me to take it. If I do, I have a feeling that I'll lose the partnership."
"I see. And that's where the penthouse comes in?" David said angrily, "That's where my whole god-damn future comes in. It would be stupid for me to do this, Jesse. I mean really stupid!"
"What are you getting mad about?" David took a deep breath. "Because I'm going to do it."
Quiller smiled. "Why am I not surprised?" David ran his hand across his forehead, "if I turned him down, and his daughter was convicted and executed, and I did nothing to help, I - I couldn't live with myself."
"I understand. How does Sandra feel about this?" David managed a smile. "You know Sandra."
"Yeah. She wants you to go a bead with it."
"Right."
Quiller leaned forward. "I'll do everything I can to help you, David."
David sighed. "No. That's part of my bargain. I have to handle this alone."
Quiller frowned. "That doesn't make any sense."
"I know. I tried to explain that to Dr. Patterson, but he wouldn't listen."
"Have you told Kincaid about this yet?"
"I'm having a meeting with him in the morning."
"What do you think will happen?"
"I know what's going to happen. He's going to advise me not to take the case and, if I insist, he'll ask me to take a leave of absence without pay."
"Let's have lunch tomorrow. Rubicon, one o'clock." David nodded. "Fine."
Emily came in from the kitchen wiping her hands on a kitchen towel. David and Quiller rose.
"Hello, David." Emily hustled up to him, and he gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"I hope you're hungry. Dinner's almost ready. Sandra's in the kitchen helping me. She's such a dear." She picked up a tray and hurried back into the kitchen.
Quiller turned to David. "You mean a great deal to Emily and me. I'm going to give you some advice. You've got to let go." David sat there, saying nothing. "That was a long time ago, David. And what happened wasn't your fault. It could have happened to anyone."
David looked at Quiller. "It happened to me, Jesse. I killed her."
* * *
It was deja vu. All over again. And again. David sat there, transported back to another time and another place.
It had been a pro bono case, and David had said to Jesse Quiller, "I'll handle it."
Helen Woodman was a lovely young woman accused of murdering her wealthy stepmother. There had been bitter public quarrels between the two, but all the evidence against Helen was circumstantial. After David had gone to the jail and met with her, he was convinced she was innocent. With each meeting, he had become more emotionally involved. In the end, he had broken a basic rule: Never fall in love with a client.
The trial had gone well. David had refuted the prosecutor's evidence bit by bit, and he had won the jury over to his client's side. And unexpectedly, a disaster had occurred. Helen's alibi was that at the time of the murder she had been at the theater with a friend. Under questioning in court, her friend admitted that the alibi was a lie, and a witness had come forward to say that he had seen Helen at her stepmother's apartment at the time of the murder. Helen's credibility was completely gone. The jury convicted her of first-degree murder, and the judge sentenced her to be executed. David was devastated.
"How could you have done this, Helen?" he demanded. "Why did you lie to me?"
"I didn't kill my stepmother, David. When I got to her apartment, I found her on the floor, dead. I was afraid you wouldn't believe me, so I - I made up the story about being at the theater."
He stood there, listening, a cynical expression on his face.
"I'm telling you the truth, David."
"Are you?" He turned and stormed out. Sometime during the night, Helen committed suicide. One week later, an ex-convict caught committing a burglary confessed to the murder of Helen's stepmother.
The next day, David quit Jesse Quiller's firm. Quiller had tried to dissuade him.
"It wasn't your fault, David. She lied to you and - "
"That's the point. I let her. I didn't do my job. I didn't make sure she was telling me the truth. I wanted to believe her, and because of that, I let her down."
Two weeks later, David was working for Kincaid, Turner, Rose & Ripley.
"I'll never be responsible for another person's life," David had sworn. And now he was defending Ashley Patterson.