Part 32 (1/2)
”Why?”
”You're hesitating” she said.
”I'm afraid you're going to drop my case.”
”Jesus,” he thought to himself. Here he was half scared of her.
And now she was upset that she'd be dropped as a client.
”I'm sorry,” she said.
”I've trusted you this far. I've trusted you with my story, with my claim, practically with my life. I was speaking rashly before. I was upset” Her hands were folded in her lap.
The thin nightgown, one of Andrea's, clung snugly to her legs and body.
”I don't want to start all over with someone else,” she said.
”I.
want you to continue.”
She sat sideways to him. He could see the nightgown's low neckline.
Her face in the soft light was even more delicate and alluring than it was by day. He knew he was being manipulated. She established eye-to-eye contact, but he broke away from it, looking down her trim arms to where the hands and fingers were folded in her lap.
”That telephone call earlier,” she said.
”It concerned me, didn't it?”
He didn't speak.
”The truth,” she said evenly.
”Yes ' ”You don't trust me anymore, do you?” she asked.
”You think there's something wrong.”
”I took your case for two reasons,” he said softly.
”One, I needed money. Two, I believed you. I believe in simple justice under the law, you see” His smile was pained.
”You appeared with a credible, interesting Story. You had been wronged. You had doc.u.mented proof and a certain amount of apparent sincerity. I felt you deserved your day in court.”
”But something has changed she observed.
”Why are your fingerprints in Was.h.i.+ngton?”
For a moment her eyes were angry. But they softened quickly.
She calmed herself. Her body was motionless. The question hung in the air.