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I went down the rope ladder to my office after bathing in the big iron tub. I had slept eleven hours and the world had moved ever so slightly off its axis. People were milling down the avenue unaware of the mad machinations I was hatching over their heads.

My time in the prison cell, Gladstone Palmer’s betrayals, even the loss of my shield no longer had a hold on my soul.

I picked up All Quiet on the Western Front and read without a break until the buzzer of my office door sounded.

Willa was wearing a blue dress reminding me of the femme fatale of one of my favorite novels. Her hair was up, and seeing her red lips, I realized that she hadn’t worn makeup at our first meetings.

“Mr. Oliver.”

“You look gorgeous.”

“Thank you.”

“Come on in.”

I sat at Aja’s desk and Willa took the seat across. She was looking very good and I wondered why. Was this an attempt to make sure that I helped her one-night lover?

“I read the in-depth article about Mr. Braun in the paper this morning,” she said. “I had no idea that his daughter had been taken.”

“That’s why he was backing off.”

“He called and said that he wanted me to meet with Manny on Monday at noon.”

“That’s what I want. He was just the mouthpiece.”

Willa got the joke and smiled.

“I’m going to ask you to go off the reservation,” I said.

“What does that mean?”

“In a little while a man will come here and he’s going to give you a note that we want you to bring to Man. There’s an item in the note that is vital to his case.”

“Vital in what sense?”

“I can’t answer because of…what do you lawyers call it? Oh yeah, plausible deniability. Just bring him what my friend gives you.”

“They search you too closely for something like that.”

“My friend has been smuggling contraband for his entire life.”

“In prison?”

I nodded and a hint of concern entered her eyes.

“I love him,” she said, connecting the fear with this revelation. “I don’t want him hurt.”

I smiled.

“You find that funny?” she asked, the woman she’d become echoing in her tone.

“You got a man with his comrades mostly slaughtered and him sitting on death row for the murder of two cops. His lawyer has betrayed him. Judges in the high court are whispering that he will most certainly die. And here you think I might be the one to bring him pain.”

“What…what about his wife and child?”

“What about them?”

“Shouldn’t they be made aware of your plans?”