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office. I can't release you until they say so. You're a lawyer; you understand."
Ben nodded wordlessly. He understood, all right. Somewhere along the line, Michel Aid Rhi had
greased some political wheels. He should have expected as much. He thanked Wilson anyway and went
back inside the office, closing the door once more. He sat down again beside Willow and cradled her
against him.
"Well, you tried, Doc," Miles offered quietly.
Willow's head lifted momentarily from his shoulder. "It will be all right, Ben," she whispered. "Don't
worry."
He did worry, though. He worried that time was slipping away. He worried that all the doors out of this
mess were closing one after the other, and he wasn't going to be able to do a thing about it.
He was still worrying twenty minutes later when there was a brief knock, the door opened, and a young
man in a neatly pressed, three-piece suit and carrying a briefcase appeared, spoke momentarily over his
shoulder to Wilson, and stepped inside. This had better be the cavalry, Ben thought. The young man
stopped. He was not prepared for what greeted him.
"Mr. Bennett?" he asked, looking doubtfully at the skeleton, gorilla, shaggy dog, and pale green lady
facing him. Miles stuck out his hand and the young man shook it. "Lloyd Willoughby, Mr. Bennett, from
Sack, Saul, and McQuinn. Mr. Sack called me and asked me to come over."
"We appreciate it, Mr. Willoughby," Miles said and proceeded to introduce the others. Ben shook his
hand. Abernathy and Willow just looked at him, and he in turn looked back at them. Ben thought he
looked awfully young and that meant awfully green. You could tell from the way he was looking at
them that he was thinking much the same thing Chief Deputy Wilson had been thinking a short time
earlier.
Willoughby put his briefcase on Wilson's desk and rubbed his hands together nervously. "Now, then,
what seems to be the problem?"
"The problem is simple," Ben offered, taking charge. "We are being held on a bogus theft charge a
charge made by a Mr. Ard Rhi. This man apparently has some clout in the Attorney General's office,
because that's where the order to hold us originated. What we want and right now is to be allowed
to go home and worry about this another time. Willow is quite ill and needs to be put to bed."
"Well, I understood that there was a possible theft charge pending," Willoughby said, looking
increasingly nervous. "Some sort of medallion? What can you tell me about that?"
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"I can tell you that I have it and that it is mine," Ben answered, seeing no purpose in pretending
otherwise. "Mr. Ard Rhi has no basis for his charge that I stole it."
"Have you told this to the Chief Deputy?"
"No, Mr. Willoughby, because if I did, he would want to take the medallion, and I have no intention of
giving it up."
Willoughby now looked as if he were waist deep in alligators. He managed a faint smile. "Certainly, Mr.
Holiday, I understand. But, do you have the medallion on you? Because from what I understand, if they
choose to charge you, they might search you, find the medallion, and take it from you anyway."
Ben fumed. "What about probable cause? Isn't it Ard Rhi's word against ours? That's not enough for
probable cause, is it?"
Willoughby looked perplexed. "Actually, Mr. Holiday, I'm not sure. The truth is, criminal law is only a
sideline in our firm's practice. I handle a small amount to satisfy those of our clients who want one of us to
represent them, but I don't do much otherwise." He smiled weakly. "Mr. Sack always calls me to cover
for him on these nighttime matters."
Green as new wood, Ben thought. We're doomed.
"You mean you're not even a criminal attorney?" Miles began, coming to his feet as if he might actually
be the gorilla he was dressed as. Willoughby took a quick step back, and Ben restrained Miles with a
hand on his shoulder, pushing him back down again into his seat with a quick warning glance in the
general direction of the door that separated them from Wilson.
He turned back to Willoughby. "I don't want them to search me, Mr. Willoughby. It is as simple as that.
Can you prevent it?" Willoughby looked doubtful. "Tell you what, then," Ben followed up quickly. "Let's
play it by ear. You be local counsel, but I'll call the shots. Just follow my lead, okay?"
Willoughby looked as if he were considering whether or not he was being asked to do anything
unethical. His brows were knit and his smooth, young face was deeply intense. Ben knew he would be
useless if push came to shove. But there was no time to bring in anyone else.
The door opened to re-admit Wilson. "Mr. Martin of the Attorney General's office has asked me to
bring you up to Three Court for a short meeting, Mr. Holiday. All of you, please. Maybe now you can go
home."
When cows fly, Ben thought dismally.
They took the elevator up several floors and got off in a carpeted waiting area. The Chief Deputy led
them down a short hall to a pair of paneled doors and from there into an empty courtroom. They stood at
the head of an aisle that led down through a dozen rows of a viewing gallery to a gate that opened onto
the trial floor and the judge's bench. The jury box and the witness stand sat to the left, the reporters'
stand to the right. Further right, a bank of windows that ran the length of the wall opened out onto the
lights of the city. Shadows lay over the room, broken only by a pair of recessed ceiling lamps that
spotlighted the counsel tables situated directly in front of the gate.
A man with glasses and graying hair rose from one of the tables and said, "Chief Deputy, would you
bring Mr. Holiday and his friends down here, please?"
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Willoughby stepped to the forefront on their arrival, sticking out his hand and announcing, "Lloyd
Willoughby of Sack, Saul, and McQuinn, Mr. Martin. I have been asked to represent Mr. Holiday."
Martin shook his hand perfunctorily and promptly forgot him. "It's late, Mr. Holiday, and I'm tired. I
know who you are. I've even followed a case or two you've tried. We've both been around the block, so
let me get right to the point. The complainant, Mr. Ard Rhi, says you took a medallion from him. He
wants it returned. I don't know what the dispute is, but I have Mr. Ard Rhi's word that if the medallion is
returned, the whole matter will be forgotten. No charges will be filed. What do you say?"
Ben shrugged. "I say Mr. Ard Rhi is nuts. Is that why we're being detained because someone says
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