Access to Power by Robert Ellis Read Free Book Online Page B

fresh pot.”
    Hardly walked out of the room. Wiping her cheek, Linda turned from the door, her eyes moving over Frank’s face gently, lovingly.
    “I’m sorry, Frank. We were together when Lieutenant Randolph called. Jason wouldn’t let me come alone.”
    Frank looked about the small room, realizing that Hardly had used the coffee as an excuse to give them time together. It was an elegant gesture and it hurt. Linda had found someone real.
    “He thinks of everything, doesn’t he,” Frank said.
    She nodded, still holding him.
    “Are you okay?” he asked.
    She nodded again. “What happened?”
    “I don’t know.”
    She let go of him and moved to the next chair. As she wiped away the tears that were still coming, the shock of seeing Woody’s dead body staring at him began to lift and Frank got his first glimpse of the reality beneath. In the end, Woody fought for what he believed in and was right more often than he was wrong. He had been the better half of their partnership, Frank thought. The good one, the one with all the heart. Since their beginning, Frank was the one with brains, the one who always seemed to be getting into trouble. In Woody’s death, Frank had lost his part-time guide, his part-time conscience. And there was an emptiness that came with the loss. A loneliness. A fear of the vacuum ahead. Watching Linda struggle with her emotions only seemed to deepen its reach.
    “It’s three weeks before election day,” she said. “What are we gonna do?”
    He shook his head. They were in a crisis. He needed to think, but couldn’t.
    “In the morning,” he said in a low voice. “We’ll call Woody’s clients in the morning. We’ll see who wants to stay and who wants to go.”
    She was leaning toward him. He felt her breath against his face and watched her green eyes wander down to his mouth. A moment passed. Before he could tell what she was thinking, the door opened and Hardly walked in with three cups of coffee. He passed them out and sat down beside Linda, sipping the fresh brew. No one said anything. As Frank watched them, he wondered how long they had been together, how far they’d gone.
    His mind was drifting again. Going places.
    He dug into his pocket for his cigarettes and stepped out of the room. He took a deep breath and glanced down the hall. The lobby had thinned. Two people who looked like worried parents were talking to the cop at the front desk. Frank wondered if they were the mother and father of the boy with the smile who had just been led away in chains. When the public defender joined them, looking tired and bored, his thoughts were confirmed. She was saying something to them. The boy’s mother burst into tears. Then the father sat down in the corner and began sobbing as well.
    He heard a door open behind him and turned. Grimes walked out of the observation booth, stiffened and gave him a long look. The detective had been watching him, listening to his conversation with Linda.
    “You’re all business, aren’t you,” Grimes said evenly.
    It wasn’t posed as a question. Grimes thought he was a mind reader. Frank could see the disapproval on the detective’s face, the attitude and ignorance, before the man turned and made his way down to the detective bureau. Frank lit a cigarette, leaning his head against the wall and trying to suppress his anger. There was no escape, the horror all around. And the night felt like it still had legs.

 
     
     
     
    Chapter 14
     
     
    Frank’s car was parked on the street across from their office. Linda dropped him off with Hardly asleep in the backseat. There wasn’t much to say that hadn’t already been said. Linda wanted to take a short nap, but would be in by nine to help out.
    Frank watched them drive off, then got into his car, keenly aware that he was alone. The sun had just cleared the horizon, the bright light raking the city in what looked like fool’s gold. He switched on the radio and scanned the dial, avoiding the news and