Page 17 of The 1 Lawyer

Inside my car, I checked my cell phone. Jenny wanted to schedule a meeting with a defense expert on Saturday. Mason had invited me to meet him for a drink at Mary Mahoney’s. Carrie Ann had texted too. Her message was terse: the house payment was due.

She’d finally gotten in touch with me, and it was a reminder to pay a damn bill. I hadn’t missed a house payment in the seven years we’d been married. I deleted the text without answering and drove to my office.

I had my evening mapped out. There would be no detour to Mary Mahoney’s. I’d be spending it at my office, alone.

That was my intention, anyway. Until I got to the office lot and saw a familiar vehicle, a shiny black Cadillac Escalade with a personalized license plate—LUCKY 7S—parked in my usual spot.

I pulled up to the passenger side of the Escalade. A hand holding a cigarette extended from the open window. My client’s father, Hiram Caro, had apparently decided to pay me a visit.

I stepped out of my car, and Caro said, “You got a minute?”

“Sure, Mr. Caro. Come on in.”

I hauled the big briefcase up the front steps and unlocked the office door. Caro followed me inside, and right behind him was his driver and bodyguard, Joey Roman. I led them past my office and flipped on the light in the conference room; I thought I’d feel more comfortable if I kept some distance between us.

I took the chair at the end of the long table, nodded in their direction, said, “Have a seat.”

Caro pulled out the chair opposite mine at the other end of the table. The bodyguard dragged over a chair and set it next to Caro’s so they sat shoulder to shoulder, facing me.

There was an uneasy silence. I broke it. “What can I do for you, Mr. Caro?”

“We need to talk, Stafford Lee. I’m not happy with the job you’re doing in court.”

I wasn’t especially happy with it either. But I tried to keep my game face on. “Can you elaborate on the problem, sir?”

He lifted his eyebrows in disbelief. “You can’t guess? You’re not winning the case. My boy hired you with certain expectations about your legal ability.”

“Mr. Caro, it’s the second day of evidence. The trial has barely begun.”

Caro pulled a pack of Marlboro Reds from his jacket pocket. He shook out a cigarette, held it between his thumb and forefinger, and waited for his bodyguard to flick a lighter.

When Caro exhaled his first cloud of smoke, I spoke up, trying to cover my irritation with joviality. “I don’t run this office on casino regulations, sir. This is a nonsmoking business space. No free drinks and no ashtrays.”

Caro took another hit and blew it out. The gray ash of the cigarette grew longer.

“Mr. Caro, you’ll have to smoke outside.”

Caro’s bodyguard cupped his hand. After Caro flicked the ash into his palm, Joey Roman rubbed the fabric covering his thigh. It left a gray stripe on the black denim.

Caro puffed on the cigarette again. “My son could have hired anyone, here in Mississippi or out of state. He chose you. Because everyone said you were the best. But you’re letting that Black DA from Gulfport beat you.” He inclined his head to Roman. “What do you think, Joey?”

“I think he’s phoning it in.”

Shaking his head with regret, Caro ashed the cigarette again, this time directly onto my hardwood floor. “What’s it gonna take to motivate you, Stafford Lee?”

It was a clear threat. Everyone in Biloxi knew what getting on the wrong side of Hiram Caro brought. And Joey Roman was the current guy in charge of inflicting the penalty.

I was framing my reply when I heard the front door open. A voice called out, “Stafford Lee! You in here?”

Jesus. Not the old man.

CHAPTER 15

JENNY WAS determined to find Stafford Lee. She had an important insight to share with him before trial resumed. When he didn’t respond to her message or show up at the Salty Dog, she shot off a text to Mason, who was waiting for Stafford Lee at Mary Mahoney’s.

She took a roundabout route to the bar on Magnolia Street that passed Stafford Lee’s office. Everybody in Biloxi knew where Stafford Lee parked. The blue Prius was a sign that he was open for business.

In the lot, Jenny saw three cars side by side: Stafford Lee’s Prius flanked by Hiram Caro’s LUCKY 7S Cadillac and Charles Penney’s Buick sedan. Undeterred by the visitors, Jenny pushed the door open, followed the voices to the conference room, and announced herself by knocking on the wood-trimmed doorway.