The Lawyer's Lawyer by James Sheehan Page A

from a distance.
    “Who is it?”
    “I’m Detective Danielle Jansen from the Oakville Police Department. I’d like to speak to Sandra Davis.”
    More scurrying. No answer. Then the door opened slightly. A beautiful woman with smooth coffee-colored skin appeared in the
     doorway.
    “I’m Sandra Davis,” the woman said.
    Up to that moment, Danni had never met Sandra Davis. Someone else had taken the original complaint and Danni had followed
     up on it by telephone. This was the first time she had laid eyes on the supposed victim. The woman was drop-dead gorgeous.
    “You and I spoke on the phone, Sandra, about the complaint you made against Julian Reardon.”
    “Yes, I remember.”
    “Well, I’m here in Miami on another matter and I thought it might be a good time for you and me to just meet and chat for
     a few minutes. I have some follow-up questions.”
    “I’m a little busy.”
    “It won’t take long and it’s really important.”
    Sandra stole a glance behind her. Danni figured there was someone else on the other side of the door.
    “Okay, but only for a few minutes.”
    She opened the door, and Danni and Henry, who had positioned himself in the hallway so that Sandra could not see him, followed
     her into the apartment, which opened into the dining room. Danni looked around immediately. The living room was off to the
     left and the kitchen was to the right. There were no walls separating the rooms.
    It was a dingy place but surprisingly clean. The walls looked like they hadn’t been painted in years and the carpet was worn
     out. Danni saw two black men sitting in the living room, apparently watching television. They looked to be in their thirties
     and well-muscled. She couldn’t tell if they were packing. Another man, much more rotund and maybe ten years older, was in
     the kitchen cooking. It must have been spaghetti sauce or something of that nature because the aroma from the various herbs
     was enticing. The two men in the living room ignored them totally. The heavy man looked at Henry as if he recognized him.
    “You’re Henry Wilson,” he said.
    “That’s right.”
    “I heard about you.”
    Henry didn’t reply. He just nodded. A lot of people in Liberty City had heard about him.
    Danni looked at Henry as if for the first time. She hadn’t put the pieces together. Jack’s investigator, Henry, was Henry
     Wilson, the man Jack had freed from death row. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? she asked herself but could not come up with an answer at that moment.
    Sandra sat at the dining room table and invited them to join her. Both Danni and Henry sat down.
    “Like I told you, I only have a few minutes,” Sandra said.
    “Okay,” Danni replied. She’d decided to get right to the point. “I know in the past you were arrested for prostitution.”
    “That was ten years ago,” Sandra sneered.
    “I know, but I recently received some information that you made this rape charge up because somebody paid you to do it. Is
     that true?”
    “That’s bullshit. I’m not working for anyone.”
    “Do you know who Ted Collins is—the sports agent?”
    “Never heard of him.”
    “I don’t believe you. Do you know what the penalty is for making a false charge like this? You can go to jail for a long time.
     I shake down Ted Collins, he’s going to give you up in a heartbeat.”
    Danni was trying to play hardball to force an acknowledgment of some sort out of Sandra that the whole rape episode was a
     sham. At this point, even though Pablo was a piss-poor witness, she strongly suspected the rape charge had been trumped up.
    Everything kind of happened all at once after that.
    Danni had a written Miranda warning in her inside jacket pocket. She figured that putting the document in front of Sandra
     at that moment might bring home the seriousness of the situation to her.
    The two men in the living room who had seemed to be ignoring everyone drew their weapons as soon as Danni’s hand moved toward