A taint in the blood by Dana Stabenow Page B

Kate's mind, Charlotte belonged to that group of people who put twenty-four-karat-gold faucets in their bathrooms, who embraced prenuptial agreements and liposuction as sacrosanct and who regarded taxes as something someone else paid.
     
    However, she, Kate Shugak, had an unimpeachable work ethic, and she, Kate Shugak, would fulfill her contract, thereby separating an exemplar of the Great Washed from some of that lovely, filthy lucre by that most legitimate of means, work for hire, a concept of which the Great Washed had no working— pardon the expression—knowledge.
     
    Suffused with a righteous sense of superiority, she sat down on the indicated chair and said without preamble, "Your mother fired me."
     
    Charlotte looked a little startled, but she rallied. "Would you like some coffee?"
     
    "Thank you," Kate said, inclining her head a regal inch or thereabouts, "no. I went to see your mother yesterday, and she was not enthusiastic about you reopening her case. Let me repeat: She fired me."
     
    "She can't fire you," Charlotte said, "she didn't hire you."
     
    "Yeah, well, as I told you from the outset, this whole endeavor is a long shot at best. Victoria not talking to me is not shortening the odds."
     
    "I told you she wouldn't," a voice said.
     
    Kate looked around and saw another woman standing at the bottom of a flight of stairs. She was pudgy in form and pugnacious in manner, with a short mop of tight gray curls and a jaw like a bulldog. She wore an elegant three-piece suit, charcoal with a faint pinstripe, the hem of the skirt hitting directly at midknee. The cream-colored blouse was tied beneath her chin in a soft bow. Her eyes were brown, and they narrowed as they stared at Kate.
     
    "Kate Shugak, allow me to introduce to you to Emily Gessner."
     
    Emily strode forward, the very high heels of her very narrow Italian shoes making a strong staccato statement against the wood floor. Kate saw Charlotte wince.
     
    "Kate," Emily said, and went to stand in back of Charlotte, placing one hand on her shoulder.
     
    "Emily," Kate said.
     
    "Emily's my attorney," Charlotte said.
     
    Emily rolled her eyes. "And her partner," she said.
     
    "You're an attorney, too?" Kate said to Charlotte.
     
    Emily huffed out an impatient sigh. "That's life partner."
     
    She didn't add "you moron," but Kate could tell the temptation was almost too great to resist. "Congratulations," Kate said.
     
    Emily, prepared for shock and disgust, blinked a little. Pressing her advantage, Kate said, "What did you tell Charlotte?"
     
    Emily rallied. "I told her Victoria wouldn't talk to you."
     
    "You know her?"
     
    Emily shrugged. "We've never met, but Charlotte's told me a lot."
     
    "What kind of law do you practice?" Kate said.
     
    "Criminal."
     
    "Are you a litigator?"
     
    Emily's smile showed all her teeth. For a moment she looked like Mutt in a bad mood.
     
    "And in your professional opinion, do I have a hope in hell of getting Victoria a get-out-of-jail-free card?"
     
    Emily opened her mouth to reply, but Charlotte beat her to it. "It doesn't matter what Emily thinks. It's what I want that matters."
     
    Kate sighed. "Look, Charlotte—"
     
    "You don't have to talk to my mother," Charlotte said. "What about the witnesses who testified at the trial?"
     
    "Most of them testified for the prosecution," Kate said.
     
    "Then most of them were lying," Charlotte said.
     
    Kate thought over the list of witnesses she had compiled from the trial transcript. "You realize who some of these people are?"
     
    "What," Emily said, "you afraid of rocking the establishment boat?"
     
    "No," Kate said, "I'm making sure Charlotte isn't."
     
    "I want my mother out of jail," Charlotte said flatly. "There is no way she'd try to kill my brothers. She didn't do it, and now she's dying, and I won't let her die in there."
     
    "I have to say that Victoria didn't look all that ill to me," Kate said.
     
    With jerky movements, Charlotte rose and