She looked at me. 'He probably thinks he's doing his job.'

I shook my head.

'It's his job to attack the prosecution's case. That's how he creates reasonable doubt.'

'Is it his job to lie?'

'No, but you're assuming it's a lie. Reasonable people can disagree and have opposing interpretations of the facts. It's Jonathan's job to present an interpretation that's favorable to his client. It would be malpractice for him to do otherwise.' When she said it she was stiff and testy, and it felt like we were having a confrontation.

I said, 'What's wrong?'

'Nothing's wrong.'

'Are you mad that we had to leave the party?'

'Why are you staying with this? I told you that nothing is wrong.'

'Fine.'

'Fine.'

I turned on k. d. lang. k. d. sang, but I'm not sure either Lucy or I listened. Neither of us spoke.

Peter Alan Nelsen's black Range Rover was parked off the road across from my house, waiting. I said, 'Looks like they're home.'

Lucy still didn't speak.

We parked and went inside. Peter and Ben were on the couch watching a laser disc of When Worlds Collide. The house smelled of popcorn. Peter yelled, 'Hide the babes, Ben! It's the police!' Peter always yells things like that.

Ben said, 'Hi, Mom. You shoulda seen the neat stuff on Peter's set!'

'You can tell me in the morning, sweetie.'

Lucy walked across the living room and into the guest room and shut the door. Ben and Peter looked at me. I said, 'I guess she's tired.'

Peter said, 'Oh, yeah. Looks that way to me.'

I frowned at him, and then I stalked up to the loft.

Another fun evening in Tinsel City.

CHAPTER 20

Sometime before sunrise the cat's door made its sound, then, a few minutes later, made its sound again. Come and gone.

When the eastern sky was lit gold and the great glass steeple opposite my loft with rilled with copper I pulled on gym shorts and slipped down the stairs. The door to the guest room was closed. I went out onto the deck and breathed the cool morning air and did twelve sun salutes from the hatha yoga as the finches and the sparrows and two mockingbirds watched. The canyon was still and quiet and just beginning to fill with light. I did one hundred push-ups and one hundred sit-ups, enjoying the rhythm of the count and the feeling of accomplishment that came with the exertion and the sweat.

The cat climbed onto the deck and watched me from the corner of the house. He didn't look happy.

I worked through the stronger asanas, starting with the half locust, then the full, and then the scorpion and the peacock. The air warmed and the sweat began to flow more freely, and then I saw Ben standing in the glass doors, his face thoughtful. I said, 'You're up early.'

He nodded. Upset about last night, maybe.

'Come on out.'

Ben came out. He was wearing baggy pajama bottoms and a white T-shirt. When he came out the cat lowered his ears and growled. Ben said, 'He doesn't like me.'

'It's not you. He doesn't like anyone.'

'He likes you.'

I nodded. 'Yeah. He likes me and Joe, pretty much, but he doesn't care for other people. I've never known why.'

The low gutter of his growl spiraled up into his war cry and I grew worried he might charge. I'd seen him charge, and it wasn't pretty. I said, 'Knock it off.' Loud.

The growling stopped.

'That's better.'

His ears stayed down, but at least he didn't leave.

Ben crossed the deck to the rail, keeping one eye on the cat, and looked out at the canyon. He put his weight on the rail, then leaned out. He said, 'Hawks.'

Two redtail hawks were gliding low over the canyon. 'They're redtails. They nest up the canyon.'

He bounced on the rail. 'I think I heard coyotes last night. Was that coyotes?'

'Yep. A family lives by the reservoir.'

He bounced faster, then edged along the rail and bounced more. Nervous. I guess he hadn't come out just to look at the hawks. 'Your mom and I are going to work things out, Ben. It's okay.'

The bouncing stopped and he gave me the same eyes that he'd given me when we'd first met, eight-going-on-nine and taking care of his mom. 'She was crying.'

I drew a deep breath. I squinted at the canyon, then looked back at him. 'Is she crying now?'

He shook his head. 'I think she's sleeping.'

'She's upset about something, but I'm not sure what.'

The bouncing was over, but he still looked uncomfortable.

'She say anything?'

He looked down at the deck, and seemed even more uncomfortable.

'She seemed okay until Darlene called.' I watched him. 'After Darlene, she seemed kind of upset.'

Ben looked at the cat. The cat's ears were up now, and he seemed calm. Ben said, 'She's fighting with my dad.' Fighting.

'Ah.'

'My dad didn't want us staying here. He said we should be in a hotel.'

'I see.' The hawks reappeared, higher now, following the air back toward their nest. The female had something in her talons. 'Are you okay with this, Ben?'

He shrugged without looking at me.

I went to the rail and leaned next to him. 'It's tough when your parents are fighting. You get caught in the middle and no matter what you do, you always feel like you're letting one of them down.'

Ben said, 'She really likes you.'

'I really like her. I like you, too. I'm glad you guys are here.'

He didn't seem moved by that, but there you go.

I took a breath and went to the center of the deck and worked through a simple kata from the tae kwon do called the Crane. You do a lot of bending and your arms pinwheel a lot and you spin, but it isn't difficult. Ben watched me. I did the Crane slowly, moving from one end of the deck to the other, and taking great care in my movements, sort of like with the tai chi. When I reached the end of the deck, I turned and did it again, back to the other side, only much faster, moving at three-quarter speed. Ben said, 'What's that?'

'Ballet.'

Ben grinned. 'Nunh-unh.' He stopped leaning over the rail and crossed his arms. 'Is that karate?'

'Korean karate. It's called tae kwon do.' I went through it again. Left to right, right to left.

He said, 'They do that on Power Rangers. They beat up monsters.'

'Well, it's a fighting skill, but only if you look at it that way. That's a choice you make. You could also choose to look at it as a way to make yourself stronger and more flexible and healthy. It's also fun.' I did it again and watched him watch me. 'Want me to show you how?'

He came over and I showed him. I modeled the postures and adjusted his position and walked him through the moves. 'Don't try to hurry. Slow is better.'

'Okay.'

We did the Crane. After the Crane I showed him the Tiger. Ben took off his T-shirt and tossed it aside. Sweating. We worked through the katas together as the sun floated up from the eastern ridge and the air warmed, and then I saw Lucy watching us from the door. I smiled. 'Morning.'

'Hi.'

Ben said, 'Look at this, Mom! This is called the Crane. It's a tae kwon do kata. Watch.'

Ben worked his way through, and as he did, Lucy put her hand to the glass, fingers spread, and I put my hand to hers. She said, 'Joe's on the phone,'

Ben said, 'Mom, you're not watching!'

I went in and found the phone on the counter. 'Now what?'

Pike said, 'Put on Channel Five.'

I put it on and went back to the phone. The morning anchor was recapping yesterday's report on Green's accusations, and again ran the clip where Green made it look like I had been the one who turned up Mrs LeCedrick Earle. I said, 'We quit last night. We're no longer working for the Big Green Defense Machine.'

Pike grunted. 'Keep watching.'