“SURPRISE!” my friend Vicky screamed in my face as I entered the lobby of my building, located within walking distance of Hunter College on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Alfonse, the doorman, was one step behind her. Carrying two bottles of champagne, Vicky looked stunning in a fire-engine red bandage dress and gunmetal grey pumps.
“What’s the occasion?” I asked, grinning.
“Well, your big acquittal, of course,” she replied. “It’s all over the papers.”
Alfonse picked up a copy of The New York Times, already open at the right page. There I was, leaving the courthouse with my client, Andy Collins.
“‘Up-and-coming lawyer behind acquittal in a high-profile case of illegal trafficking of art and antiquities’,” Alfonse read out loud for our benefit. “Congratulations, Ms. Lake, quite a coup. And you look great in the picture, too.”
I tried to smile, really tried, but my victory was bittersweet. I’d only been entrusted with the case because Bill Peterson, the senior lawyer handling it, had suddenly been taken ill and Judge Barnes wouldn’t grant a postponement. Being the only one who had worked on the defense with Bill and the client for days, I knew the case inside out. And yes, I had won, but God and I both knew that Andy Collins had been guilty of all the charges brought against him and that I had enabled him to evade justice.
Some of my mixed feelings must have shown on my face because Vicky was already pushing me into the elevator. “What’s wrong?”
Naturally, I couldn’t tell her Collins was guilty. I’d have to take that to the grave with me. Bill always said I’d eventually get used to the bittersweet aftertaste of defeating the justice system. I sincerely hoped so. I liked my job and was already addicted to the adrenaline rush that comes with every trial.
Of course I could have lied, said I was exhausted from a long day at the office. I could even have told her the vampires were hiring me to represent one of them in court. But I really just needed a girlfriend to confide in so I told her what I could.
“I kissed Andy Collins,” I said, my eyes never leaving the elevator’s electronic panel.
Would she judge me?
“When?”
“He came to drop off a gift late last night, after the trial.”
We had reached my floor and I unlocked the front door of my one-bedroom apartment, a place I could only afford after I’d inherited a large sum of money from my mother when she was declared legally dead—a mother who I hadn’t seen since I was ten, and an ex-model who’d amassed a small fortune during her seven year career on the runways.
I nodded towards a painting leaning against a wall. Vicky was unusually quiet, or unusually quiet for her in any case, as she studied Andy’s gift. I left her to open the champagne and got into the shower.
“It’s pretty,” Vicky said through the door, “and expensive. I hope it’s not counterfeit. Was it a good kiss?”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not sure,” I shouted back, referring to the kiss. “He sort of took me by surprise.”
“Hmmm…yeah. Sucks when it’s like that. You’re seeing him again tonight, aren’t you?”
The woman was a mind reader.
“Yes, he’s throwing a party at his place to celebrate.”
Just then, we were interrupted by a knock on the door.
I stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around me, and went to open the door.
“Probably Catherine,” Vicky said. “She’s late.”
