Bear Is Broken by Lachlan Smith Read Free Book Online

came to my senses I was lying on the dusty
floor. The door was shut and I was alone. My fingertips tingled. I
figured that in about five more minutes I would feel like getting up.
~ ~ ~
    On the way down I met the dreadlocked man again. He gave no sign
of remembering having abandoned me at the sight of the gun, and I
didn’t speak of it, either. We treated each other with the utmost courtesy,
and he even dusted off the arm of my suit as we walked. “You see, the
way I figure, it was entrapment,” he began as we went down together.
    “I didn’t have even five bucks on me. The cop offered to give me the
stuff if I agreed to pay him later.”
    “Did you agree?” It was easier to listen to him than to think about
what had happened.
    “Well, yeah. I’d never seen him before and I figured I’d never see
him again. Anyone would have gone for it.”
    “Let the PD plead you out. They end up getting the best deals
anyway. It’s called a volume discount.”
    “You don’t think we could prove it was entrapment?”
    “Not unless you didn’t say a word, didn’t so much as look in his
direction.”
    “What if we had a witness say I walked away and he kept following
me, and he stuffed the baggie in my pocket?”
    “Is that what happened?”
    “What if we had a witness?”
    “Then your lawyer would be guilty of suborning perjury. He could
lose his license and go to prison.”
    “Oh come on man, don’t do me like that. Don’t you never work
pro bono?” On his lips the term sounded lewd. “Your brother would
help me. Your brother and I are tight. Teddy would step up, man.”
    When we reached the bottom of the stairwell, I turned and slammed
him against the wall, my breath coming in bursts. It was only after I’d
gotten him there that I realized how much larger and stronger than
me he was, even in his obviously run-down state. But I was too angry
to care whether I got my ass kicked again. “My brother would never
have done what you’re suggesting, knowingly put a liar on the stand.
You got that?”
    He looked at me in puzzlement. “Just take it easy.”
    I let go of his shoulder and stepped away, hesitating briefly to make
sure he wasn’t going to try anything. When he didn’t budge, I pushed
through the lobby door and left him.
    “You have yourself a family reunion?” asked the man behind the
desk, his eyes boring into mine with a lascivious smile.
“Those two look like Teddy’s sisters to you?”
    He shrugged. “You all had the same last name. How was I supposed
to know you weren’t related?”
    “Hamilton. Same first name, too, I suppose. Alexander. That’s some
coincidence.”
    His smile spread. “Like I said, how was I supposed to know?”
“Look, you ever see either of those women before?”
    “Hamiltons?” He went on grinning. “Now and then. Not as often
as I’d hope.”
    I had another twenty ready. “With my brother?”
    “The taller one mostly.” He looked away as he took the bill, his face
becoming serious. “I think she must know your brother pretty well. I
let her in. No nonresidents in the rooms, but I let her go up. I did it
for Teddy. Ain’t no limit to the things I would have done.”
    “You mean for Alexander Hamilton? You ever see either of them
again, you give me a page, and I mean right away, and there’ll be three
more Hamiltons in the family.”
    I wrote the cell phone number on the back of one of Teddy’s cards
and palmed it to him along with another twenty, the last of the petty
cash from Teddy’s office. I realized I should call the police, file a report,
give a description of the two women, let Detective Anderson know,
but I also understood that I would do none of these things. First I had
to find out what they’d been looking for in Teddy’s room.
    I didn’t want to get Teddy into any more trouble than he already was.

Chapter 6
    “Legal visit,” I said to the woman behind the bulletproof glass. Behind
her, half a dozen video monitors cycled through views of