Page 31 of Matlock
“I would settle for a fucking window,” I rasped as I pleaded with the man upstairs to end my suffering. “I need a way out, God. ‘Cause Lord knows I don’t have the strength to walk away on my own.”
I ate breakfast alone, the same as I did every day of my life since my parents retired. I needed to call them before UncleAlex did. I just wanted to let them live in ignorance a little longer before I shattered their lives the way I destroyed mine.
I was finishing up the dishes when Tony returned, walking into my house as if he lived here. I tried to ignore the way it felt seeing him walk in without knocking, carrying a garment bag as if he’d been away on a business trip.
Silently, I begged him to walk over and pull me into his arms and kiss me hello, showing me how much he’d missed me. That was a fantasy I had to let go of. It was a reality I would never have.
“Grace wanted me to ask if you wouldn’t mind coming to the clubhouse tomorrow?”
I turned and focused on Tony, trying to hold my anger back. “Grace?” I asked.
“She needs a haircut and still has trouble leaving the clubhouse.”
My anger deflated in an instant. Grace had been through something no woman should ever have to go through. No man for that matter, as I thought about what Tony had shared with me.
“Of course,” I answered. “I need to go into the shop today, anyway. I have a few appointments. I can grab everything I need before I come home.”
I busied myself getting ready to go. I sat down to put on my shoes when Tony dropped his bomb.
“I think you should close the shop until after the trial.”
My hands froze mid-tie, and I turned to look at him. “No.”
“Simon.”
“No, Tony.” My movements were jerky as I angrily tied the other shoe and stood up, slamming my hands onto my hips. “I won’t let the shop suffer. If I go to prison, Sadie will need it.”
“You’re not going to fucking prison, Simon.”
“Maybe,” I muttered. “The point is, I need to work. I can’t sit in this house doing nothing, waiting for the trial.”
“I can’t sit at the salon when I need to be working on your case.”
“Then have someone else do it.”
Tony’s growl rumbled through me. “I’m your fucking lawyer. I can’t trust someone else to try this case.”
I stared at him for a minute. My heart fluttered with the thoughts running through my head.
“I meant, get one of your brothers to sit at the salon with me. Or a prospect.”
Tony cursed and looked away. He’d just revealed something to me I wanted to ignore, but my heart wouldn’t let me. My resolve had weakened with those few words.
“Let’s go,” he grumbled. And I smiled as I followed him out the door.
The salon had been busy all day. I had Carly call Sadie’s clients in between my own and reschedule those who were willing. A few insisted on still coming in, but their motivation was to ask questions. About Alan, about Sadie... about why I’d killed him.
Tony cut them off each time, letting them know we couldn’t speak about an ongoing case. I’d thought that was only the police, but Tony quickly reminded me that anything I said to anyone about Alan’s death could be used against me.
It was a hard time to be a hairdresser, knowing a good portion of why people came in was to get the local scoop from me.
Tony spent most of the day complaining and muttering under his breath about the time he was wasting when he should have been working on my case.
Only, he hadn’t stopped working.
If he wasn’t on the phone, he had his head buried in his computer. I didn’t know what he was looking for, but going by the muttered curses coming from him, he wasn’t having any luck finding it.
There was only an hour left, and I considered closing earlyuntil Tony insisted on it. Instead, I dug my heels in and insisted I stay open for walk-ins.
