Naked Justice by William Bernhardt

look in his eye when he talked to her. Contemptuous, superior. Violent. It was a look Deanna had seen before.
    She would not let Martha have her life ruined by some abusive son of a bitch.
    One time in this family was enough. Two was too damn many. This was a vicious cycle she was not going to allow to repeat.
    She walked outside to recover the groceries. She thought she was handling this right, she really did. She had to be tough. Still, something about Martha, something about the look in het eye when she tan out of the room, chilled her to the bone. What if she did something stupid?
    She closed her eyes and said a silent prayer. Please, God. Please, no. Take care of my little girl. Because I’m not sure I can do it alone.
    And if she spends any more time with that bastard Buck—anything could happen.

Chapter 11
    B EN WAS LATE GETTING to his office the next morning, not that that was unusual. What was unusual was that his entire office staff—Christina, Jones, and Loving—were standing shoulder to shoulder just inside the front door waiting for him.
    “Let me guess,” Ben said. “You’re on strike. Look, I don’t blame you, but until some of our clients pay their bills—”
    He stopped. The huge ear-to-ear grins on their faces told him that wasn’t it. “Okay, what, then? Is today my birthday or something?”
    “Where have you been?” Christina said, wrapping her arm around his shoulder and pulling him into the office.
    “At Forestview. I had to take Joey to school, and then there was this big sign-up for the spring bake sale—”
    “Never mind that.” Christina pushed him into a chair while the other two huddled around. “We’ve been trying to get hold of you all morning.”
    “Why?”
    Jones leaned forward. “I got a call the minute I came into the office, Boss.”
    “And?”
    “The mayor wants you!”
    Ben fell deep into thought. Was this about that incident with his daughter at Forestview last Friday? It was just a little bump. And she ran into him …
    “Can you believe it, Skipper?” Loving grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. “The mayor wants you!”
    “That’s nice … I guess.”
    Christina cut in. “Ben, do you even know what we’re talking about?”
    “Well, actually … no.”
    “The biggest cause célèbre to hit Tulsa in years, and you’re totally clueless. What were you doing last night?”
    “Well, let me see. I had soup for dinner, then I read Goodnight Moon to Joey about eight thousand times. After he went to sleep, I finished my Trollope novel …”
    She slapped her forehead. “I can’t believe it. Everyone in the state watched the chase last night. Except, of course, you.”
    “Chase? What are you talking about?”
    “Ben, the mayor has been charged with murder.”
    “Murder!” The light slowly dawned. “And he wants me to get him off?”
    Christina and Jones and Loving all exchanged a glance. “Well,” Christina said, “he wants you to represent him, anyway. Entre nous , I wouldn’t get your hopes up too high on the outcome.”
    “What do you mean?”
    Christina grabbed his arm. “I’ll brief you while we drive to the jailhouse.”
    Because Mayor Barrett had specified that he wanted to see Ben alone, Christina (after considerable protest) agreed to cool her heels outside while Ben went into his cell to talk to him.
    “Don’t worry about me, Christina,” he told her. “I’ll be fine.”
    “I’m not worried about you. I’m worried about us.”
    “Come again?”
    “I’m afraid you’ll do something idiotic like not agree to represent him.”
    “In fact, I do have some reservations …”
    “See! It’s starting already. You’re going to veer off on some wacky ethical tangent, and we’re going to go hungry.”
    “Just let me talk to him. Then we’ll see.”
    She grabbed him by the lapels. “Ben, promise me you’ll take this case.”
    “We’ll see.”
    “Ben!”
    “We’ll see.”
    Ben allowed the guard to lead him down the long