Quick Fix by Linda Grimes Page A

implied it,” I said, thinking back to our conversation. Thomas wasn’t impressed by the distinction.
    “Why would he leave before he made bail?” James said. “He knows it will only add to his trouble.”
    “Only if someone finds out,” Thomas said.
    I stood, shifting Molly to my hip and picking up the ice-cream carton. “How could they not find out? Wouldn’t the empty cell tip them off?”
    “The cell isn’t empty.” The fury reignited in Thomas’s eyes.
    Oh. “Uh, who?” Somebody had to be filling in for Billy, somebody with adaptor capabilities. And whoever it was, Thomas wasn’t pleased.
    He looked from James to me. “Our brother.”
    I sucked in a breath. “Not Brian .” Geez. No wonder Thomas was pissed. Brian was a lot like Billy in his propensity for getting himself into scrapes, but not nearly as successful at getting out of them.
    “We have another brother I’m not aware of?” Thomas said.
    I made a face at him. “But how could he? Don’t they monitor those cells?”
    “Billy convinced a rookie coming on shift that he hadn’t had his phone call yet. He called Bri, and ever so cleverly conveyed to him that he needed to see me, his lawyer. So Bri showed up as me—and see if I don’t break his neck for using me without permission—and made the switch with Billy while they were conferring privately. Then Billy left as me—I’ll break his neck, too, twice, for thinking up this scheme and dragging Bri into it. So Bri is sitting pretty in jail as Billy, waiting for me to bail him out tomorrow. Serve him right if I left him to rot.”
    “You can’t do that—Bri could never handle himself in prison.” This from James, ever the voice of reason.
    “Gee, ya think?” More sarcasm from Thomas. He seldom resorted to it so blatantly; when he did, it tended to hit you in the face, like slamming into a glass door you hadn’t known was there.
    Not one to throw fuel on the fire, James cocked his head to one side but didn’t comment. Brian in jail was a scary thought. Billy knew Brian couldn’t wrap his head around violence—what in the hell was he thinking to leave him in that place, alone and unprotected?
    “Isn’t it at least possible Billy has a good reason for doing it?” I asked, though I personally couldn’t think of one. What was wrong with me? I ought to be throwing Billy under the bus. I’d never had any trouble getting angry at him before. If this is what hormones did for you, screw it. I wanted mine back under control.
    Thomas looked at me with shuttered eyes. “Oh, I’m sure he does. At least in his mind.”
    “Never mind that for now. The question is, what can we do for Brian? Is there any way to get him out of jail tonight?” James said.
    “Don’t you think I would have already if—” Thomas stopped dead and looked at me, the shark returning to his eyes.
    “What?” I said, wary.
    “What was the judge’s name?”
    “Huh?”
    “The judge Billy told you was letting him go—who was it?”
    “I don’t know. He didn’t say her name.”
    He looked pleased. “Her? Well, that narrows it down. Okay, what’d he have on her?”
    “What do you mean?” I stalled, not wanting to admit what I knew. No point in getting Thomas even angrier. My compulsion to protect Billy was confusing the hell out of me, but it was there.
    Unfortunately, Thomas had plenty of experience reading my face. “Blackmail, Ciel. I’m going on the assumption that Billy wasn’t entirely lying when he told you the judge released him. Maybe he was going to try blackmail next if he couldn’t get Brian to fill in for him. Come on, what did he have up his sleeve?”
    No point in arguing it. “The judge apparently doesn’t want Billy dating her daughter in the future.”
    Thomas expelled a blast of air through his nose. “Figures. At least it gives me a pretty good idea which judge. Distasteful as it is, I think it might work.” He looked at his watch. “I’ll try my best, but I probably