Authors: Lisa Scottoline
Final Appeal (31 page)
“Lisa Scottoline supplies a…fresh perspective and a sense of humor…with immensely pleasurable results.”
—
Houston Chronicle
“May change the way readers think about lawyers…Scottline merits a big rounds of applause.”
—
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A lovely combination of high energy, imagination and nasty humor.”
—
Chicago Tribune
“Philadelphia lawyer Scottline provides nonstop action, smart narration, and dozens of helpful tips on going underground in your own home town.”
—
Kirkus Reviews
Credits
Cover design by Robin Bilardello
This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues are the products of the author’s imagination and are not to construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
FINAL APPEAL. Copyright © 1994 by Lisa Scottoline. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of PerfectBound™.
PerfectBound™ and the PerfectBound™ logo are trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Mobipocket Reader edition v 1. January 2003 eISBN: 0-0607-6985-8
First HarperPaperbacks printing: November 1994
20 19 18
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)
Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia
http://www.perfectbound.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
55 Avenue Road, Suite 2900
Toronto, ON, M5R, 3L2, Canada
http://www.perfectbound.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK
http://www.uk.perfectbound.com
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
http://www.perfectbound.com
Table of Contents
1 At times like this I realize I’m too old to be starting over, working with law clerks. I own
2 “Are you saying it was Shake and Bake?” I ask, incredulous. “Yes. I’m busted. Totally,” Art
3 Empty coffee cups dot the surface of Armen’s conference table, along with sheaves of curly f
4 The ringing of a telephone shatters a deep, lovely slumber. I hear it, half in and half out
5 I pack Maddie off to school in record time and barrel down the expressway into Center City,
6 Judge Galanter’s breath carries the harsh tang of Binaca. Cigar smoke clings to the fine woo
7 His breast pocket bears a plastic plate that says R. ARRINGTON over the shiny five-star badg
8 “Shake and Bake is in jail?” Artie says, shocked. “Show me where, Grace.” “You can’t visit
9 “She’s too big, Mom,” Maddie says, shuddering in her nightgown. “Look at her teeth.” Bernic
10 EXECUTIVE PARKING LOT, says the sign on the steel racks of Samsonite briefcases. It’s the o
11 “Bernice, no!” I shout, but she pays even less attention than usual. Driven by instinct, he
12 Only an hour later I have crossed the threshold into another world. A scented, serene world
13 My head buzzes with liquor from the night before; my stomach gurgles like a polluted stream
14 “Who’s there?” I shout, terrified. “Are you all right?” says the man. Concerned, professio
15 Maddie’s gone outside to play, and my mother hands me her dinner dish for rinsing. The chil
16 “Let’s do it,” Eletha says grimly as we encounter the first wave of reporters along the wal
17 I wake up on a green plastic couch in a room I’ve never seen before. My head hurts, but I c
18 Bernice rests her chin on the top of the plastic gate like Kilroy over the fence. My mother
19 The phone rings after the police leave. “Grace.” It’s a man’s voice, almost in a whisper. “
20 Needlepoint is usually surefire therapy. I take refuge in it at the most stressful times an
21 I spend a long time at the dining room table, feeling awful as Maddie sits enchanted by her
22 It’s Sunday, and Bernice, Ricki, and I sit on the bottom row of the hard steel bleachers, w
23 Monday morning I push open the glass door into the courthouse lobby. It’s mercifully clear
24 “You had a phone call, Grace,” Eletha calls out from Armen’s office, as soon as I get into
25 I slip my master key into the doorknob. It turns with a satisfying click, admitting me to t
26 Galanter’s office gleams in the morning light, all sparkling surfaces with sharp edges. Gla
27 I tell Winn the story while I pop chicken with rosemary into the oven and check on Maddie,
28 Wednesday is my alleged day off, but I decide to go in until Maddie gets out of school. I d
29 I sit at my desk with the form letter in my hand, reading it to Winn: We have been unabl
30 “Hang up, Grace,” Ben says. He closes the door behind him and locks it from the inside. “Ha
31 I wake up in silence and semidarkness. There’s a bed table at my side and a boxy TV floatin
32 “Will you look at that!” Artie says in amazement at the kitchen window. We all gather aroun
33 I sit in the darkened back row of the courtroom, where Winn sat that first day. Susan will
34 I turn the Magic Eight Ball over in my hands and read the bottom. Yes, definitely, it says
35 We sit uncomfortably in the darkness, on the carpeted steps that serve as seats in the elem
