Free The Guilty by Gabriel Boutros Page B

suited his mood. As he undressed in his bedroom he noticed a tiny red light flashing from the direction of his night table. He walked over, turned the table lamp on and saw that he had two messages sho wing on his answering machine.
    For a moment he considered ignoring them, but then thought that one might be from Jeannie. He sat on the edge of his bed and pressed play, only to be greeted by the sound o f his partner’s wheezing voice.
    “Hey, Bobby-boy. Didja get the verdict yet? I hope you didn’t go and blow this case. Think of what that would do to office morale, eh. Anyway, I hope the verdict did come in, so you’d be free tomorrow. Pete-,” and for a moment Bratt couldn’t remember who Pete was, “-is going up to R.D.P. to meet Small. I gave him the OK on that, in case you’re wondering, because time is obviousl y of the essence, as they say.
    “So, maybe tomorrow would be a good opportunity for you to go up and meet the client too. I know you’re probably going to be out late celebrating this latest triumph of your glorious career, or whatever, but try to drag yourself out of bed in the morning and go up there with Kouri. Congrats again. You did win, didn’t you? Bye.”
    Bratt’s blood had begun boiling from the second he heard Leblanc’s voice and was turning to steam by the time the message had ended. He couldn’t believe that his partner had the gall to ask him to jump into the Small file without even taking a few days off to recover from the previous trial, as well as from the emotional roller coaster of the past week. He also had no interest in spending his Saturday morning with a rookie lawyer at the detention center. He considered phoning Leblanc and telling him off, when his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a woman’s voice that he had never heard on his machine before.
    “ Allô, Maître Bratt. C’est sergent-détective Morin . Ah, merde. You know: Nancy. Your favorite cop. At least, I like to think so. Sorry I couldn’t speak to you after the verdict today, but I think Brenton would have had me kicked off the force if he saw me getting all chummy with you at that point. Besides, you don’t really need me to tell you what a great job you did in court, not that I think your client shouldn’t be in jail right now. But, hey, that’s showbiz. 
    “Anyhow, you may not have realized this, what with this trial obviously preoccupying you so much, but I’ve gotten used to seeing a lot of you recently. I hope I don’t sound too pushy or overconfident. See what happens when they put a big gun in a woman’s hands?”
    A light, disembodied laugh sounded from the speaker, and it occurred to Bratt that she might have taken a drink or two before calling him.
    “So, I hope you have no plans for tomorrow night because I thought we could get together for dinner or whatever. We were interrupted in our little chat the other day and I think we should f inish what we began, don’t you?
    “I hope you didn’t lose my number. Bonne nuit, Robert .”
    So much for being angry with Leblanc. His earlier thoughts about his partner had disappeared at the first sound of Nancy’s voice. Bratt lay back on his bed and looked up at the ceiling, much as he had done that morning, but this time he was in a much better frame of mind. Nancy, he was happy to see, was not a woman who wasted time beating around the bush.  She certainly wasn’t someone who would let him waste a lo t of time on self-pity either.
    He decided it was time to forget about the little problems that had haunted him the previous week. He had, after all, just won another seemingly unwinnable case and tomorrow he’d be off to meet the client for his next one. As for Jeannie, she was still just a child and, like most children, she tended to over-react. She’d be back to her senses and home soon enough. And tomorrow night he would finally be able to do something about the courthouse flirtation he had carri ed on for the past two months.
    He