Free 17 - A Hard Days Night Searcher.doc by Unknown

she was well muscled and in great physical condition. Her face was dour and stern
    as she brushed her short brown hair back from her face. She looked up with a bored stare
    as they approached.
    "We're here to make bail for… um…" He looked at her expectantly.
    "Wren," she said.
    "Wren who?" the clerk asked in an agitated tone.
    Marguerite hesitated as she realized that she had no idea what his last name was. "Um…
    I'm not sure."
    Mr. Givry gave her a stunned look. It probably did seem strange that she was willing to
    spend several thousand dollars to get a man she barely knew out of jail. But to her it made
    perfect sense, and she didn't dare explain to the lawyer or clerk that Wren had saved her
    life.
    With her luck, that would make the local news and she would be in deep trouble.
    "Well," Marguerite said quickly, "he's around my age, about six three, and has blond
    dreadlocks. They brought him in about six hours ago for fighting at Tulane."
    An African-American male clerk came up and shook his head. "You know who that is,
    Marie. He's that kid we had to isolate earlier."
    The woman screwed her face up in disgust. "The crazy one?"
    "Yeah."
     
    "Crazy?" Marguerite asked as she frowned. "How so?"
    The man snorted. "When he was first brought in, we put him in with the normal crew of
    prisoners. He beat the shit out of three of them. It took seven officers to pull him off and
    stick him in a cell alone. Since then he's been pacing back and forth in his cell like some
    kind of wild animal. He glares and growls at anyone who comes near him. It's spooky as
    hell. There's something definitely not right with that kid."
    Her lawyer arched a brow at her. "You sure you want to bail him out?"
    "Yes. Positive."
    Mr. Givry looked extremely skeptical, but he turned dutifully to the female clerk. "How
    much is his bail?"
    "Seventy-five thousand dollars."
    Both she and her lawyer gaped.
    That couldn't be right, could it? "Are you serious?" she asked them.
    "Yes, ma'am," Marie said without hesitation. "He assaulted an officer."
    Marguerite was indignant on Wren's behalf. "Not on purpose. He didn't know it was an
    officer when he struck out."
    The male clerk scoffed at that. "Yeah, that's what they all say."
    Marguerite felt ill and angry. She didn't have that kind of money. At least not without
    going to her father, who would stroke if she told him why she wanted it.
    "Hi, Daddy, I met this man who is a busboy in a local biker bar and he needs to get
    out of jail… What did he do? Nothing much. Just assaulted an officer and Blaine. You
    rememberBlaine , don't you? His father is one of your major campaign contributors. But
    that's okay, isn't it? Wren's a good guy. He even got shot when he kept me from being
    raped after I was down in the area of the Quarter where you told me not to go.
    "Daddy? Are you seizing? Should I get the pills for your heart?"
     
    Oh yeah, that would go over well.
    Mr. Givry gave her a sympathetic look. "What would you like for me to do, Ms.
    Goudeau?"
    Loan me the money?
    Before she could answer with something more reasonable than that, the outside door
    opened to admit three men. She knew one of them instantly. He was Dr. Julian Alexander,
    who had been her undergraduate advisor.
    Tall, blond, and absolutely gorgeous, he was with two other good-looking men. One
    who was two inches taller and blond and another one who had short black hair. The
    brunette stood even in height to Dr. Alexander.
    "Bill," her attorney said to the dark-haired man as he offered his hand to him. "What
    brings you here? I didn't know you made personal calls anymore."
    Bill laughed as he shook Mr. Givry's proffered hand. "I don't."
    "Then I must be imagining things."
    Bill continued to smile. "I wish, but I have an extremely valuable client to bail out. He
    always gets my personal attention, if you know what I mean."
    The look on Mr. Givry's face said he knew exactly what Bill was talking about.
    Marguerite had no idea who Bill's client