Adriana motioned and the cameras followed her to River’s side. “Thanks to an inside source, we found out that not only is Black Pinnacle going back on their word, but they’ve also actually paid off certain inspectors and people in legal positions to get this building behind me condemned so they can move forward with demolition and rebuilding at a pace that is simply unheard of.” She turned to River. “Do you have any idea why Black Pinnacle has made this move?”
River froze. The natural answer to that meant throwing Marina under the bus, and no matter what she had or hadn’t done, she wouldn’t do that to her. “I don’t know. What I do know is that it feels personal, and I think it’s indicative of the type of person we’re dealing with.”
Before Adriana could say anything further, a truck with a City of Chicago logo on the side pulled up, yellow light on top throwing strobes over the crowd that seemed to turn toward it as one. The driver didn’t get out and was clearly arguing with someone on the phone.
“Here we go,” River murmured.
The crowd’s chanting got louder. The music was turned up. The signs were raised high. The thought occurred to River that even if everything went truly sideways, she’d never forget this moment of support and togetherness.
The inspector got out of his truck, his shoulders hunched against the cries of fraud and bribes, of sellout and liar hurled at him. He tried insisting he was only doing his job, but his words were pretty much drowned out.
He stopped in front of River and Adriana. “I need to inspect the building. There are concerns that it’s a safety hazard and has structural failures.”
“Oh?” River asked, folding her arms. “And who raised those concerns?”
His jaw worked, and he held a clipboard like he was actually reading it. “It doesn’t say. But I need you to move aside so I can do my job.”
“I imagine you can do it from the outside.” River motioned the length of the building, most of which couldn’t be seen thanks to the crowd. “Surely if it’s structural you’d see that from out here.”
His face grew an interesting shade of blotchy strawberry. “If you don’t get out of my way, I’ll be forced to call the police.”
“Maybe you should do that. Then we’ll find out who ordered you to come on down here, and you can answer their questions too.” Adriana smiled sweetly at him.
He looked around, his eyes tight, his teeth almost visibly clenched. “Look, ladies?—”
“No. Don’t say anything.” Marina stepped out of the crowd and moved to River’s side.
River’s heart sank. This would be the moment Marina sided with her client. When she told people what they wanted to hear and used legalese to get everyone to back down. It would be the moment when whatever might have been between them became what would never be instead.
Adriana turned to Marina. “Just to be clear, you’re the lead attorney for Black Pinnacle here in Chicago, is that correct?”
Marina, in her black suit and heels, her thick hair pulled back with wisps around her face, looked about as much like a lawyer as a person could. She glanced at River, her expression inscrutable, and then at Adriana. “No. That’s incorrect. As of yesterday, Black Pinnacle decided they no longer wanted to be represented by me, or by my firm in general. They are no longer our clients.”
There was a murmur of uncertainty in the crowd. No one knew what to do with that information, including River. But she did know it couldn’t have been good for Marina’s career.
Marina turned to the inspector, and the cameras all shifted that direction. Adriana angled the microphone toward Marina.
“My name is Marina Fuentes. As stated, I no longer represent Black Pinnacle. Not only that, but I’m here now to say that as of early this morning, I turned over a large amount of evidence to the FBI regarding Black Pinnacle’s fraud, corruption, and bribery. Under the Crime and Fraud Exception, I was legally bound to break confidentiality in order to protect innocent people from being harmed. My firm, in the interest of public safety, supported my decision to help the federal investigation.” She slipped her hand into River’s and squeezed. “The names of those people who aided Black Pinnacle’s underhanded tactics have been turned over to the authorities, and they will be prosecuted accordingly.”
Marina looked pointedly at the inspector, who had gone from looking like a strawberry to the color of a vanilla milkshake.
He took a step back. “This is chaos, and I don’t feel safe doing my inspection today. I’ll be in touch to reschedule.”
Jeers and cheers broke out as he pushed through the crowd and got back into his vehicle.
Adriana turned to Marina once again. “What does this mean for the community of South Shore as we go forward?”
Marina gave an elegant shrug. “I can’t say, but I don’t believe Black Pinnacle will have the ability to proceed.”
The cheers around them were deafening, and the camera crews panned the gathering. Adriana’s personal camera guy zoomed in on River.
“River, how does that make you feel?” Adriana asked.
She swallowed hard and blinked away the tears that had rushed to her eyes when Marina had taken her hand. “I don’twant to get ahead of ourselves, and there’s still a lot to talk about. A lot of issues were raised, and we could still use someone to help us make this community what it could be.” She raised Marina’s hand and kissed it. “But right at this moment? It feels pretty damn good.”
The crowd roared in approval, and Adriana and her crew moved to walk among the people. River turned to Marina. “Let’s go inside.”
Marina’s expression didn’t change, but River felt the tremble in her hand as she led her in and closed the door behind them. She kept hold of her hand as she went downstairs, out of sight of the cameras and other watchers. The shop door opened and closed, and she heard Billy’s booming voice and Audrey’s answering one, so she knew everything would be okay up there.
