“You want me to take you out?” Braden asked me. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“I hadn’t really given it much thought, but sure. That would be fun,” I said just before bending down to pick up my napkin and smacking my head on the table. Braden checked to make sure that I wasn’t bleeding. He was so sweet. He was always checking to make sure that I wasn’t injured too badly. That was true love.
“Personally, I think that if you want to marry her, you should at least court her a little,” Jess went on. She gave Braden a stern look before finally locating the elusive crouton she had obviously been searching for and popping it into her mouth.
“Court her? What is this, 1800?” Adam asked. “He banged her at a fundraiser. I think they’re a little beyond the ‘courting’ stage, Jane Austen.”
“I’m just saying that maybe it would be a good idea if they went out on a few dates before they got married,” Jess responded. “He should romance her. What kind of memories will she have otherwise?”
“Well, let’s see,” Cam said. “She can remember being covered in garbage, dressing up like a dominatrix and running around South Philly at night …”
“I would be happy to take you out,” Braden interrupted. “I don’t know about a club though. I would rather we didn’t go somewhere filled with players and women who are looking to hook up with them.”
“Uh, Braden? Wouldn’t that include the criminal courts building?” Mark asked.
“We work there,” Braden said testily. “There’s nothing I can do about that.”
“Oh come on, Braden,” I broke in. “We’ll go as a group. We can invite our friend Lily along. I meant to ask if she could come to your parents’ place for the weekend too.”
“Oh no!” Adam said in a tone of voice most people reserved for discussing IRS audits, septic tank overflow or hemorrhoids. He tossed down his corn dog stick in disgust.
“What is your problem with her?” I asked.
“We don’t get along,” he said, sounding almost petulant.
“How can you not get along with her? She’s so nice,” Jess chimed in.
“She’s a bi … a bit overbearing,” he said catching himself just in time. He would be lucky if he lived through this day.
“When’s the last time you even saw her?” Jess asked, sounding annoyed.
“I don’t know. A year ago? It doesn’t matter! We don’t get along!”
“Oh come on!” I said, again. “Adam, you can be civil for a little while and Braden, you and I will be together so there’s nothing to worry about. We should check it out. We might find out something important and it would be fun!”
“Fine.” Braden sighed. “If that’s where you really want to go, that’s where we’ll go, but you stay near me the whole time.”
“Okay, although the other women in the ladies room may not like it much. Let’s go on Friday at ten-thirty. Then we can see for ourselves if there’s anything to it or if it was just somebody’s trash.”
“I’ll take trash for twenty,” Adam said to Mark. “Tell me, Gabrielle, what does that cigarette butt on the floor say to you?”
“Do you really want to know?” I asked with a smile.
“Okay, I’ll take that action,” Mark told Adam. “Enough weird shit happens to Gabrielle that there’s always a possibility. Besides, she’s been wrong so far; she’s got to guess something right eventually.”
“Come on, Braden!” Cameron coaxed. “Take your girlfriend out on a date to the conspiracy joint with all of us. You can’t beat that for romance.” Braden shot him an amused, if exasperated, look.
“Okay! We’ll go check out that club Friday at ten-thirty. Saturday we can all meet at my parents’ place,” Braden said resignedly. “We’ll hang out by the pool, go to the festival that evening and then spend the night there.”
“And can we invite Lily?” I asked.
“Sure!” he said, smiling at Adam.
“This is because I said ‘nice tits, Gabrielle.’ Isn’t it?” Adam muttered, rolling his eyes.
After lunch Mark and I walked to his car together. He had to go out to the prison too so I was grabbing a ride with him. We were talking about some of the cases we had coming up, when I accidentally tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and fell on my ass. As Mark helped me back up, I turned around to pick up the pad I had dropped and noticed a figure that looked familiar some distance behind us. I couldn’t place him, though. There was just something about him that made me think I knew him. We were in a hurry and the guy turned a corner anyway so I just forgot about it. The whole thing probably only took about ten seconds. It was a few hours later when it came to me. I thought that it might have been the same guy I had seen in the alley the night before and it made me feel pretty uncomfortable. Even if it was mostly a convenient way for me to get Jess and Cam together, I did want to get to the bottom of this.
CHAPTER SIX
Tuesday
IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF PHILADELPHIA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Commonwealth v. Luchinsky
“Ms. Luchinsky,” Judge Channing began, “you understand that you are pleading guilty to criminal trespass and disorderly conduct?”
“Yes, judge.” My client, Tammy Sue Luchinsky, six feet and two inches of badass mama, with tattoos covering her arms, wild long dark hair and a gold tooth, did her best to sound contrite and ladylike. Good luck with that last one. That fact that she sounded like she smoked about three packs a day didn’t help. I shuffled around a little nervously. I couldn’t wait until the judge heard the facts of this case.
“And you understand that you have a right to a trial and you are waiving that right?” Judge Channing was eyeing her up suspiciously. He probably couldn’t wait to hear what Tammy Sue had done either.
“Yes sir.” She smiled and the light glinted off of her tooth. Lovely.
“Mr. Pierce, please summarize the facts of the case.” Here we go, folks!
“Your Honor, just after midnight on June first in the County of Philadelphia, alarms were triggered at the Curren Fromhold Correctional facility and the defendant Tammy Sue Luchinsky, was found by guards climbing a wall.”
“She was breaking out?!” Judge Channing cut in. Suddenly he looked very serious, but then it dawned on him. “Wait a minute! Curren Fromhold is a men’s prison!”