Leaving the LAW by Robert T. Germaux Copyright ©2002 by Robert T. Germaux Cover Art by Brandi McCann www.ebook-coverdesigns.com For Cynthia: April 3, 1968 Everything changed . . . everything Books by Robert T. Germaux Jeremy Barnes Mysteries Small Bytes Leaving the LAW Speak Softly (coming soon) Hard Court In the Eye Daniel Hayes Mysteries Small Talk One by One The Backup Husband (a romance with a twist) Love Stories (a semi-biographical novel based on the six weeks the author’s wife spent in Europe when she was seventeen and, in this fictional narrative, after two decades of silence, reconnects with one of the boys from that summer) The Grammar Sex Trilogy (light-hearted essays about life and stuff) Grammar Sex (and other stuff) More Grammar Sex Grammar Sex 3 Table of Contents Author’s Note Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52 About the Author Author’s Note Leaving the LAW is the fourth Jeremy Barnes mystery I’ve published, but it was actually the second book about JB that I wrote. As of this moment, here are the five Jeremy Barnes novels I’ve written, in chronological order: Small Bytes Leaving the LAW Speak Softly (coming soon) Hard Court In the Eye Keen-eyed readers will notice that Hard Court was the first of the above to be published, followed by In the Eye. The reason for that is simple. At various times, the first three books all had a shot at, as my agent put it, “finding a home” in the traditional publishing world of hardcover books. While he was doing his best to find homes for those books, I wrote Hard Court and In the Eye, eventually putting them on Amazon, and when, ultimately, no publishing house was willing to take a chance on those first three Jeremy Barnes novels, I decided to put them on Amazon, too. Although there is a progression of sorts in characters I introduce, each book about JB can easily be read as a standalone. Whether you read just one (although I like to think of them as the literary equivalent of Pringles) or all five, thanks for giving my work a try. Chapter 1 It was a cool Thursday night in late September, and I had just gotten the outlet pass from Denny and was on my way down court. I couldn’t see him, but I knew that Todd Geter, a rookie cop who’d been second-team All Big East at Pitt, was just one step back, waiting for me to go in for the layup, which is exactly what I did, except that at the last second, I kicked the ball back out to Augie DeNunzio, who caught it in mid-stride, stopped and went up and squared his shoulders all in one motion, and then put in the game-winning basket from twenty-five feet. Nothing but net. “Shit!” shouted Geter. “I can’t believe you old farts beat us on a lucky shot like that.” “Uh, excuse me, officer,” Augie said with a smile. “That thirty-footer I made early in the first game? Maybe there was a tiny element of luck involved there, seeing as how I wasn’t sufficiently warmed up and all. But those last eight or nine? Pure skill. You’re just mad ‘cause a guy from the Patriot League whipped your sorry ass two games to one tonight.” Geter smiled and shook his head as he began walking off the court. “Maybe,” he said, “but next time I’ll be ready for you.” Glancing over at Denny, he added, “And besides, Detective Wilcox didn’t tell us we’d be playing tackle basketball tonight. No offense, sir, but at roll call tomorrow morning, the sergeant’s gonna think I got mugged tonight.” “What you get, son,” laughed Denny, “when you venture into the land of the giants.” At six-four and about two-hundred-forty pounds, Denny hardly qualified as a giant, not by the current NBA standards, anyway, but he usually managed to hold his own with guys who were much bigger. Todd Geter had Denny by a couple of inches, but Denny went after every rebound as though he were rescuing his firstborn. Looking at Todd and his two teammates, all cops in their early twenties, I asked, “You guys want to join us for a snack? We’ll make Augie pay as penance for the way he embarrassed you the last couple of hours.” “Thanks, JB,” said Todd, “but Nate’s gotta get home to his wife, and Timmy and I were thinking of showering and then hitting a couple of clubs in the Strip. We’ll take a rain check.” As I watched the three of them head for the locker room, I turned to Denny and said, “Remind me again, at what point in time did we become old farts?” “Todd’s twenty-three, JB,” said Denny, “which makes him about fifteen years younger than us. To him, that’s an eternity.” Glancing at Augie, he added, “Now, if you’re looking for an honest-to-god old fart . . .” “Hey,” said Augie, “let’s remember which fifty-five-year-old kept popping in those threes tonight to keep us in the game.” “Point taken,” said Denny. We played a few games of HORSE and then walked to the locker room of the Y ourselves. As we showered, I asked Denny where he’d like to go for a bite to eat. “Can’t do it, JB,” he said. “I’m, uh, working undercover tonight.” I gave him a look. “Uh-huh, right, Denny. And exactly whose covers will you be under? Wait, let me guess. The book lady, right?” Smiling, Denny said, “If by ‘book lady,’ you mean the manager of that new Barnes and Noble, well, yes, Eloise did invite me to join her for coffee when she gets off work later this evening. I believe we’ll be discussing things literary.” “Of course you will,” I said, “although I’ve never heard it called that before.” Looking at Augie, I said, “How about you, Pops? Wanna replace some of those electrolytes you expended tonight?” “You’re on,” he
