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“Stone. About six feet wide.”
Her head snapped up as she stared at him. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope. I’m not saying it’s not a nice fence and all. It works, but it’s in the wrong place.”
A stone fence? She’d been picturing chain link or cedar. “Why didn’t you stop them when they started to put up the fence? A project like that would have taken weeks.”
“I wasn’t around. Besides, it’s not my responsibility to patrol my own borders. This isn’t Iraq.”
“Fair enough.” But a stone fence. That had to cost a fortune. “Have you talked to your neighbors about this?”
His mouth tightened. “They’re young and they listen to rock music. Cotton wool for brains. No point in talking to them. They probably take drugs.”
She sent up a quiet prayer of thanks that Mr. Harrison didn’t live next door to her. “When was the fence built?”
“Near as I can tell, 1898.”
The pen slid from her fingers and landed on the hardwood floor. Her mind simply wouldn’t wrap itself around the information.
“That’s over a hundred years ago.”
His gaze narrowed. “I can do math, little lady. Why does it matter when it was built? It’s stealing, plain and simple. I want that fence moved.”
Jill might not know a lot about real estate law, but some truths were universal—one of them being that a fence in place for a hundred years was unlikely to be moved anytime soon.
“Why are you dealing with this now?” she asked.
“I don’t want to leave a big mess after I’m gone. And don’t bother telling me no one will care. Dixon already tried that argument.” He glared at the nearest fish.
Jill felt the first stirrings of a headache. “Let me do some research, Mr. Harrison. There might be a legal precedent for what you want to do.” Although she had her doubts. “I’ll get back to you next week.”
“I appreciate that.”
Mr. Harrison rose and shook her hand, then headed for the reception area. As he didn’t close the door behind him, she heard him clearly when he spoke to Tina.
“What were you going on about?” Mr. Harrison asked the receptionist. “She doesn’t seem like she has a stick up her ass to me.”
MAC CROSSED THE STREET from the courthouse to the sheriff’s office and pushed through the double glass doors. He nodded at the deputy on duty and did his best not to make eye contact as he walked toward his office in the back corner, but Wilma caught up with him in less than two seconds.
“You have messages,” the gray-haired dispatcher said as she thrust several pink pieces of paper into his hands. “You can ignore the ones on the bottom, but the top three are important. How’d it go in court?”
“Good.”
He’d managed to keep one bad guy behind bars for a couple of years. That had to count. He glanced down at the notes as he kept walking.
“The mayor called?” he asked, knowing that couldn’t be good.
“Uh-huh.”
Wilma had to take two steps for every one of his. She barely came past his elbow and, according to legend, had been around since before the earth’s crust cooled. She was a tough old bird and one of the first of his staff he’d known was a keeper.
“Mayor’s calling on behalf of the pier centennial committee. They want a temporary alcohol permit to serve beer at the car wash.”
Mac stopped in the middle of the room and glared at her. “What? Serve beer? High-school kids are going to be doing the work.”
“The mayor said the beer was for the patrons.”
He felt his blood pressure climbing. “He wants to serve beer to people who are going to get back in their cars and drive around town? Of all the stupid, ill-conceived, ridiculous, backward—”
“I said you wouldn’t like it,” Wilma told him. “But he didn’t listen.”
Mac had already had a few encounters with the mayor and he hadn’t enjoyed a single one. “Does he ever?”
“No.”
He swore. “Fine. I’ll call him back and tell him there’s no way he’s getting the permit.”
“He won’t be happy.”
“I don’t care.”
She grinned. “That’s one of the things I like about you.” She poked at the messages in his hand. “You also have a call from someone named Hollis Bass. The boy sounded like nothing but useless trouble. He’s not a relative, is he?”
Mac flipped through the notes until he found the one with Hollis’s number. “No. Not a relative. A social worker.” Just what he needed—one more thing. “What else?”
“Slick Sam is getting released on bond today and someone needs to go tell the judge’s daughter not to get messed up with the likes of him.” Wilma wrinkled her nose. “Slick Sam is proof our criminal law system is in serious need of an overhaul. Want me to give her a call for you?”
Mac glanced at the big clock on the wall. It was barely twelve. He’d promised Emily he’d be back for her by one. There was still time to drop by Jill’s office and warn her about Slick Sam.
“I’ll do it in person,” he said. “Then I’ll call the mayor and the social worker from home. Everything else can wait.”
Wilma’s hazel eyes widened slightly. “I figured you had to know Jill.”
“We go way back.”
“Her father may have retired to Florida, but he still stays informed.”
Mac grinned. “I’m going to warn her about a potentially difficult client, not seduce her.”
“It always starts with conversation. You be careful.”
With Jill? He doubted it was necessary. She might be gorgeous, sexy as hell and recently single, but she was also the daughter of the one man who’d practically been a father to him. No way he would betray that relationship by getting involved with Jill.
“You can stop worrying about me, Wilma. I have everything under control.”
“That’s what those lemmings always say right before they jump off the cliff.”
“I HEARD ABOUT what happened with Lyle,” Rudy Casaccio said in his low, smooth voice. “I can arrange to have him taken care of for you.”
Jill winced, then switched the phone to her other ear. “I know you didn’t mean that the way it sounded and if you did, I don’t want to know.”
“You’ve provided excellent service to our organization, Jill. We believe in rewarding that.”
“You send a fruit basket at Christmas. That’s more than enough. As for Lyle, I’m going to handle him myself.”
“How?”
“I haven’t exactly worked that out yet, but I’ll come up with a plan.” She glanced at the résumés spitting out of her printer. “Maybe I’ll go with that old standard of living well as being the best revenge.”
“Are you staying in Los Lobos?”
“No. I’ll let you know as soon as I land with another firm.”
“Good. In the meantime, we want you to continue to handle our business.”
Real corporate law, she thought wistfully. Wouldn’t that be fun? “You need to stay where you are right now,” she said regretfully. “I don’t have the resources to handle your concerns.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, but it was sweet of you to offer.”
Rudy chuckled. “Not many people call me sweet.”
She could imagine. Rudy was one tough businessman, but he’d always been good to her.
“Are you sure about Lyle?” he asked. “I never liked him.”
“I’m beginning to think I shouldn’t have, either. Thanks, but don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
“If you change your mind…”
“I won’t. I’ll call when I’m with a new firm.”
“You do that, Jill.”
Rudy said goodbye and hung up. Jill did the same. She allowed herself exactly two minutes of pouting over what Lyle had cost her, then went over to check the printer.
Her résumés looked great, and the content was even more impressive. Rudy was a man of his word, so she knew she could bring him over to whatever law firm hired her. The senior partners would appreciate the extra three million a year in billings.
A knock on her closed door made her turn. It couldn’t be Tina—for one thing, the woman never knocked. For another, she’d disappeared shortly before noon.
“Come in,” she called, then caught her breath when Mac strolled into her taxidermy aquarium.
“How’s it going?” he asked.
“Great.”
The single word was all she could manage. Man oh man did he clean up good, she thought as she took in the dark tan uniform that emphasized broad shoulders and narrow hips. She had the sudden urge to throw herself on her desk and pretend to be a music video slut.
“Nice,” he said as he glanced around the office. “I don’t think I’ve been in here before.”
She wrinkled her nose. “It’s hardly the sort of place you’d forget. Welcome to fish central. If you see one you like, let me know. I’m thinking of having a yard sale.”
Not that she would, really. The fish belonged to Mrs. Dixon and, until Jill talked the widow into reclaiming her property, she was stuck.
Mac turned in a slow circle, then slowly shook his head. “Generous offer, but no thanks.”
“Figures. I bet I couldn’t even give them away. Are you here officially? Should I ask you to sit down?”
“Do I only get to sit under certain circumstances?”
She laughed. “Of course not.” She circled around her desk and waved at the leather visitor chair. “Be careful not to get caught in the net there.”
“Thanks.”
He sat and looked at her. Jill felt his gaze settle on her face with a connection so intense it was nearly physical. She wanted to ask him if he saw anything he liked. She wanted to lean closer so he could replace his gaze with his fingers. She wanted to know if he thought she was beautiful and sexy and irresistible. She settled on checking to make sure her hair was in place.
“It’s straight,” he said, motioning to her head.
“Thanks to the miracles of modern hair-care products, yes.”
“It looks nice, but I like it curly better.”
A piece of information she would file away for later. “I’m going to guess that’s not why you’re here.”
“Nope, I’m here to give a friendly warning. Slick Sam was arrested for passing bad checks. He got out earlier today and may come looking for representation. You probably want to tell him no.”
Her back stiffened. “Why is that? Do you think I couldn’t handle a criminal case? I assure you I’m more than capable of defending my clients against any number of charges. Furthermore, I don’t appreciate you judging me. You don’t know one thing about my legal experience. For all you know I could have—”
One eyebrow rose as he leaned back in his chair.
“What?” she demanded.
“Go on. You’re doing all the talking.”
“I…” She pressed her lips together. Okay, maybe she’d overreacted. She cleared her throat and straightened the papers on her desk.
“So why did you want to warn me about Slick Sam?”
Mac grinned. “I thought you’d never ask. The last lawyer he hired, also a woman and also very attractive, ended up letting him move in with her, where he made the moves on her teenage daughter, trashed her house, then took off with her cash, her credit cards and her car.”
Mac thought she was attractive? How attractive? Could she ask?
Not in this life, she told herself, then laughed. “I appreciate the advice and I’ll be sure to be out when he calls. But I have to tell you, I’m tempted by a client willing to steal my car.”
Chapter Four
JILL ARRIVED home shortly after five. As she was used to working until at least eight or nine every night she wasn’t cooking for Lyle, she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do with an entire evening. What did people who worked regular hours do with their lives? Was this why they had hobbies? Would she like a hobby?
