The Upstaged Coroner by Paul Austin Ardoin

Author:Paul Austin Ardoin [Ardoin, Paul Austin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781949082111
Publisher: Pax Ardsen

Chapter Fourteen

Piper said she would text Fenway as soon as she finished with Jordan, so Fenway bit the bullet and went to the jail to see her father. As she left her office building, she noticed the streetlights coming on, casting shadows that shrank and lengthened as she walked through them. The shadows stretched and shortened, elongated then snapped back, with the painfully blue leds that illuminated the plaza.

Fenway had a lot on her mind, turning over how she’d find a replacement for Piper—or how in the world she’d close the case without her.

Quincy greeted her as she walked into the foyer of the jail building, in front of the metal detectors. Fenway was lost in thought and missed the jokes about Aunt Dez; she didn’t even give Quincy an empty promise of coming over for Sunday dinner one of these weeks.

“You okay, Fenway?” Quincy said, snapping her out of her reverie.

Fenway blinked and looked at Quincy. “No, not really. The murders are piling up, one of the best people I’ve been able to count on is getting forced out of her job, and my father was arrested for murder.”

Quincy winced. “You’re here to see him, I take it.”

“Yeah.”

“Official capacity?”

“Sure.”

Quincy looked at the logbook, flipped around a little, and then looked up. “Room one. I’ll have him in there in a few minutes.”

“Thanks, Quincy. Sorry. I’m not myself today.”

“You’ve had a rough week.”

Fenway shrugged. She had at least won her election.

In the jailhouse interview room, Fenway felt claustrophobic. Room one was the smallest of the four rooms available, with one of the walls at a forty-five degree angle, cutting off a good chunk of space.

The man who came in wearing the orange jumpsuit was much more like the rich, confident, arrogant businessman she knew from the outside than the meek, depressed man she had seen on the inside the day before. Nathaniel Ferris nodded at Fenway and quickly sat down, his back straight, his knees bent, leaning forward slightly. Fenway studied his face. His eyes had lost every trace of the haunted look that had worried her the last time she had seen him.

“You seem like you’re ready for a fight, Dad,” Fenway said.

“I’m ready to stop feeling sorry for myself,” Ferris said. “Do you know the name Imani Ingram?”

“I don’t think so. New witness?”

“My new criminal lawyer. She loves the law, she doesn’t trust the system, and she believes I’m innocent.”

“That’s refreshing. Usually defense attorneys don’t want to know.”

Ferris grinned, one of his million-watt disarming smiles. “Okay then, she believes she can get an acquittal. Same thing.”

Fenway paused. “Are you drunk?”

Ferris guffawed. “Where in the world would I get a drink?”

“From bribing a guard. Or maybe Charlotte slipped you something. Or you’re making jailhouse gin. I don’t know.”

Ferris stood up and rocked back on his heels. “None of the above. Just excited because I see a few ways out of this, and they all go through Imani Ingram.”

“Well, you’ll get out of here in just about an hour.” Fenway scrutinized Ferris’s face, but found little to go on.

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