The Lawyer's Lawyer by James Sheehan

that?”
    “We live in the same neighborhood—same apartment complex.”
    “What did she tell you about the rape charge in Oakville?”
    “She said it was bullshit. She said she just did it for money. She does things for this guy once in a while, she says.”
    “What guy?”
    “Hell if I know. Just some guy with money who pays her to do stuff.”
    “Like claim somebody raped her?”
    “Yeah. Why not? Money’s money.”
    “Why would she tell you?”
    “I don’t know. We were just shootin’ the shit, you know. Kind of like what me and Big Henry was doin’ the other day and now
     I’m here talkin’ to you all formal and shit.”
    “And why are you talking to me now?”
    “Why?”
    “Yeah, why?”
    “For the money, what else?”
    “How much money?”
    “Two hundred bucks for an hour.”
    “Okay, thanks.”
    Danni stood up and walked over to where Henry was standing in a corner.
    “Tell your boss this isn’t going to fly. Paying a drug addict to tell a story is not going to get your client off.”
    “I didn’t pay him to tell me the story to begin with. I just paid him to come down here and talk to you.”
    “That’s a distinction without a difference.”
    “Well, here’s another one: You cops pay snitches all the time for information. At least I didn’t pay Pablo beforehand.” Henry
     turned his attention to Pablo, who was starting to nod off again. “Pablo, what would happen to you if Sandra found out you
     were talking to the police?”
    Pablo didn’t open his eyes. He just took his index finger and passed it across his throat. There was no need for words.
    Danni did not have a counter to that so she changed the subject.
    “How do I get to Liberty City? I want to stop and see Sandra Davis while I’m here.”
    “I’m going there to drop Pablo off. I’ll take you and drop you back here.”
    “That’s okay. I want to go alone.”
    “I can’t let you do that, ma’am. I’ve got orders.”
    “Orders? From who?”
    “Jack. I told him that neighborhood is dangerous day and night. You wouldn’t know what you were getting into. He asked me
     to stay with you.”
    “That doesn’t sound like orders.”
    “No, ma’am.”
    “Listen, Henry. This isn’t my first rodeo. I can handle this alone.”
    “I’m sure you can, ma’am, but if you walk in Sandra Davis’s door, I’m gonna be with you.”
    Danni gave him her best defiant stare but Henry was not going to back down, she could tell.
    “I could arrest you for impeding a police officer in the performance of her duties.”
    “You could but I’m not impeding you at all.”
    “If I agree to allow you to come, I don’t want you interfering in any way.”
    “I won’t as long as things don’t get out of hand.”
    She thought about it for a moment. “All right, let’s go.”
     
    Danni didn’t like it, but there was a part of her that felt a little more secure with a man of Henry’s size as backup. She
     didn’t know if he had a gun, but she suspected he might since he was a private investigator. Besides, although she was an
     experienced homicide detective in Oakville, Miami was a whole different animal.
    Sandra’s apartment was on the fourth floor of a dilapidated apartment complex in a very poor section of town. Men and women,
     young and old were loitering in the parking lot. Danni was sure drug deals were being made at that very moment. The entire
     area was dirty and run-down as if everyone had lost the pride of at least keeping the place where they lived clean. The hallways
     held the stench of urine.
    Everyone looked at Danni as she walked by. She obviously didn’t fit for a lot of reasons. They could probably tell that she
     was a cop. Once again, she felt better that Henry was with her.
    She knocked on Sandra’s door and immediately heard scurrying in the apartment, like rats running for cover at the sound of
     a human approaching.
    Nobody answered the door.
    Danni knocked again. Finally a woman’s voice answered