Last Call by James Grippando Read Free Book Online Page A

Theo’s back?”
    “I’m not riding anybody’s back.”
    “So it’s all in my head, is that it? It’s always been just my imagination.”
    “Jack, please. Before . . .” She paused, as if wary of their immediate past. “When you and I were . . . you know, together, I wasn’t forcing you to choose between me and Theo.”
    44
    James Grippando
    “You said if I stayed friends with him, he was going to get me disbarred someday.”
    “I wasn’t even serious. Give me a little credit. I fully understand that Theo’s your friend.”
    “Best friend.”
    “Okay. Best friend. And I like Theo too. Really I do. I just made a stupid joke.”
    “That’s the funny thing about stupid jokes.They’re loaded with truth.”
    “Not this one.”
    “Is that what you came here to tell me?”
    She made a face, as if trying to stave off a migraine.“No. I came here to talk about Isaac Reems, and now I’ve bumbled the whole thing. I’m sorry.”
    “I am too. But you know what I’m most sorry about? Every time something goes wrong in this city, it seems like Theo’s on somebody’s list of suspects.”
    “You know that’s not true.”
    “Then why did you write his name in your notepad?”
    “There’s been a prison break, and the latest advisory said that Reems was last seen at Sparky’s around two thirty in the morning.”
    “Oh, I see. So you put two and two together and figure that—”
    “I’m not figuring anything, Jack. Can we please just drop the whole Theo thing?”
    Behind him, in the kitchen, the California door slid open.
    Rene stuck her head inside and called to him from the other side of the house.“Are you almost ready?”
    “I’ll be right there.”
    Rene turned and walked toward the dock behind the house, but she left the sliding door open. Jack looked at Andie and said,
    “Anything else?”
    “No.You go ahead. I think we’re done.”
    LAST CALL
    45
    We’re done. The awkward choice of words registered on his face as well as hers.
    “Okay, I’ll see you,” he said.
    “See ya.” For a moment she seemed to wonder if they should shake hands. They didn’t. She just thanked him the way she would have thanked any witness for his time and headed for her car.
    He called to her as she reached his driveway.
    She stopped.“Yeah?”
    “Take care of yourself, all right?” he said.
    She shrugged, gave a halfhearted smile, and said, “You know I will.”
    Jack watched as she opened the car door.“Hey, Andie,” he said before she could climb behind the wheel.
    “What?”
    Jack paused, summoning the right tone of voice. “If you’re thinking about talking to Theo, don’t. He has a lawyer.”
    Andie didn’t answer, but she seemed to understand that it wasn’t anything personal—that Jack was simply tired of the cops harassing his friend, and that Theo deserved better. She got in her car and drove away.
    Jack shut the door and leaned against it, thinking for moment, and finally chastising himself for thinking way too much. Stop overanalyzing everything, already.
    He grabbed the boat keys from the kitchen counter and went to find Rene, curious to know which CDs she’d chosen—and wondering if, by chance, she had chosen his and Andie’s favorite.
    Uncle Cy felt like he owned the place.
    It sounded like an oxymoron, but Theo said he had “personal business” in the upper Keys, so he left his uncle in charge of Sparky’s Tavern until his return. Cy was all over the chance to live 46
    James Grippando
    out this fantasy—even if the bikers and rednecks did outnumber the brothas and jazz lovers by about fifty to one.
    “Hey, Lenny,” said Cy. “Can you replace the number two keg for me?”
    Theo’s assistant was at the other end of the bar, setting up for the Saturday night crowd. If the rum he was stocking was 80 proof, it posted a bigger number than Lenny’s IQ.“Sure thing, boss.”
    Boss. The very ring of it made the old man smile.
    The day had been absolutely perfect, just him and Theo,