Page 38 of The Devil's Advocate

They came in and went straight to Gus. Two big guys in checkered shirts, ball caps, jeans and a strong sense of civic duty stood up from their half-finished plates and kept their hands loose at their sides. I figured they might try to give law enforcement some back-up kicking our asses onto the street.

The cops came over with the owner.

The big cop beside him had rank. His nametag read ‘Shipley, Chief Deputy’.

Shipley stood a ways behind Leonard, watching how his deputy would handle things. Both of them wore black, short-sleeved uniformed shirts. Shipley’s was open at the collar and I saw a thick crucifix sitting at his throat. He kept his nightstick low, but I could tell from the white knuckles on that hand he was holding the stick tightly – ready to crack heads at the first excuse.

‘Gus here asked you to leave. No one wants you in this town. I’d take the hint, Flynn,’ said Leonard. He raised the nightstick, slapped the working end into his palm.

‘You should be careful swinging that stick. You might hit yourself in the balls with it,’ I said.

‘Come on, let’s keep this civilized,’ said Shipley.

‘Why is it we’re not welcome?’ asked Harry.

‘You’re acting for that murderer, Andy Dubois. Skylar was a ray of light in this town. We don’t want scum like you here. You’re not welcome,’ said Gus, peeking over Leonard’s shoulder.

‘But Andy Dubois is innocent until proven guilty. And we intend to make sure it stays that way,’ I said.

‘He’s not innocent,’ said Leonard. ‘Everyone in this town knows he’s as guilty as sin. You folks might want to stay someplace else. Eat someplace else, too. You’re not welcome here,’ said Leonard.

I glanced at Kate. She was smiling as she said, ‘Thank you, Officer.’

Kate took her phone out from below the table. Stopped the recording, played it back to make sure the sound was okay. It was fine.

‘That’s all we need to file a motion to change the venue for trial. You said it yourself, Officer. Everyone in this town thinks our client is guilty. We’ll have to move it someplace else,’ said Kate.

Leonard’s mouth fell open, but he quickly tried to make up for his mistake by leaning over the table and making a grab for the phone. Kate put it away and his hand took nothing but dead air.

Bloch stood up and both deputies moved back, sticks at the ready. Harry and I followed Kate out of the diner. I stayed at the front door, holding it open for Bloch.

‘If I were you, I would get out of town as fast as possible,’ said Leonard, pointing the baton at Bloch’s smiling face. He took a step forward, fast, drew the baton back over his shoulder, his eyes wide, lips curled into a snarl.

He swung it directly at Bloch’s head.

Bloch didn’t move. Her eyes locked on him.

The baton froze in mid-air, two inches from the side of Bloch’s skull. She was still smiling. She was a statue. No flinching, not even instinctively. If that had been me I would’ve started to duck at the upswing. Bloch knew he wouldn’t hit her. She was psyching him out. Telling the cops they didn’t scare her.

Nothing scared Bloch.

Leonard’s scowl fell away into surprise. He dropped the baton to his side, looked around to see if anyone was as shocked as he was.

Shipley was a block of ice. He hadn’t moved. Hadn’t reacted to Leonard’s attempt to frighten Bloch. She saw it too. She ignored Leonard, and locked eyes with Shipley. They stood like that for a time, unmoving.

When she was satisfied, Bloch turned away from Shipley and came toward me. I was still holding the door open as she strode past.

‘You’re such a badass,’ I said.

Bloch winked.

Back in the car, with the doors closed, I saw Shipley staring at us as we drove away.

‘Leonard is a pussy. A coward, but dangerous with it,’ said Bloch. ‘Shipley is different. There’s a seam of steel running through that guy, and something else.’

‘What?’ I asked.

‘I don’t know yet, but it’s not just his size. There’s something bad inside of that cop. He didn’t want to hit me. He wanted to kill me.’