Free The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly

reminding her of her situation. She didn’t seem to notice.
    “You think maybe you could get me into one of those pretrial whatchamacallits where I can get myself right?”
    I thought it was interesting how addicts call both getting high and getting sober the same thing-
getting right
.
    “The problem is, Gloria, we got into a pretrial intervention program last time, remember? And it obviously didn’t work. So this time I don’t know. They only have so many spaces in those things and the judges and prosecutors don’t like sending people back when they didn’t take advantage of it in the first place.”
    “What do you mean?” she protested. “I took advantage. I went the whole damn time.”
    “That’s right. That was good. But then after it was over, you went right back to doing what you do and here we are again. They wouldn’t call that a success, Gloria. I have to be honest with you. I don’t think I can get you into a program this time. I think you have to be ready for them to be tougher this time.”
    Her eyes drooped.
    “I can’t do it,” she said in a small voice.
    “Look, they have programs in the jail. You’ll get straight and come out with another chance to start again clean.”
    She shook her head; she looked lost.
    “You’ve had a long run but it can’t go on,” I said. “If I were you I’d think about getting out of this place. L.A., I mean. Go somewhere and start again.”
    She looked up at me with anger in her eyes.
    “Start over and do what? Look at me. What am I going to do? Get married, have kids and plant flowers?”
    I didn’t have an answer and neither did she.
    “Let’s talk about that when the time comes. For now, let’s worry about your case. Tell me what happened.”
    “What always happens. I screened the guy and it all checked out. He looked legit. But he was a cop and that was that.”
    “You went to him?”
    She nodded.
    “The Mondrian. He had a suite-that’s another thing. The cops usually don’t have suites. They don’t have the budget.”
    “Didn’t I tell you how stupid it would be to take coke with you when you work? And if a guy even asks you to bring coke with you, then you know he’s a cop.”
    “I know all of that and he didn’t ask me to bring it. I forgot I had it, okay? I got it from a guy I went to see right before him. What was I supposed to do, leave it in the car for the Mondrian valets to take?”
    “What guy did you get it from?”
    “A guy at the Travelodge on Santa Monica. I did him earlier and he offered it to me, you know, instead of cash. Then after I left I checked my messages and I had the call from the guy at the Mondrian. So I called him back, set it up and went straight there. I forgot I had the stuff in my purse.”
    Nodding, I leaned forward. I was seeing a glimmer on this one, a possibility.
    “This guy in the Travelodge, who was he?”
    “I don’t know, just some guy who saw my ad on the site.”
    She arranged her liaisons through a website which carried photos, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of escorts.
    “Did he say where he was from?”
    “No. He was Mexican or Cuban or something. He was sweaty from using.”
    “When he gave you the coke, did you see if he had any more?”
    “Yeah, he had some. I was hoping for a call back… but I don’t think I was what he was expecting.”
    Last time I had checked her ad on LA-Darlings.com to see if she was still in the life, the photos she’d put up were at least five years old and looked ten. I imagined that it could lead to some disappointment when her clients opened their hotel room doors.
    “How much did he have?”
    “I don’t know. I just knew he had to have more because if it was all he had left, he wouldn’t have given it to me.”
    It was a good point. The glimmer was getting brighter.
    “Did you screen him?”
    “’Course.”
    “What, his driver’s license?”
    “No, his passport. He said he didn’t have a license.”
    “What was his name?”
    “Hector