Her phone rang as she finished. She glanced at her watch, then excused herself to take the call. While she was on the phone, I looked at the people in the conference room. Two men in conservative business suits were making a PowerPoint presentation to the five people who were now seated at the table. The man at the head of the table was a balding guy with a large stomach and white shirt rolled to his elbows. Everyone else was twenty years younger.

While the suits made their presentation, a young man seated beside the older man was texting on his PDA. Nobody seemed to mind. He nudged the older man, then showed him the PDA. The older man took out a PDA of his own and fired off a message. The two guys with the PowerPoint looked as if they didn't know whether to keep going or not.

Stokes put down her phone and checked her watch again.

I'm sorry I couldn't be more help, but perhaps you'll have better luck with Debra's neighbors. Please tell her parents that, personally, I think this rumor was and is absurd.

She stood to show me out, but I didn't stand with her. When I didn't get up, she sat.

I'm sorry. I don't know what more I can say.

I'm speaking with you and not Debra's neighbors because of something we learned from the police. I feel awkward about bringing it up, but her family is in a great deal of pain. We need to clear the air.

She waited without saying anything, so I went on.

The Repkos recently learned that when the rumor first surfaced about Debra being involved with a married man, you folks here at Leverage refused to cooperate. In fact, the detectives felt you were sandbagging them.

Her mouth drew into a knot as she tapped a perfectly manicured nail on her desk.

That's not precisely true.

Seems like it should be either true or not true, Ms. Stokes. Without the precisely.'

She tapped the nail again.

You have to understand. As a first-year, Debra attended meetings with most of our clients. The police wanted to talk to these people. I understood that. We all understood. But our clients are people who live their lives in the public eye, and here were these officers wanting to question them about a young woman most of them probably didn't remember. Just being questioned could be used against them by their enemies.

It was a murder investigation. Questions have to be asked.

Ms. Stokes shifted uncomfortably.

And those questions were asked. You can assure the Repkos we cooperated.

Stonewalling the investigation for two weeks doesn't sound like cooperation.

No one here stonewalled. We simply went over the heads of the original detectives and consulted with the command structure. They understood our concerns.

I stared at her.

The command structure where?

The police. We reviewed our concerns with Deputy Chief Marx. He made what could have been and was an uncomfortable situation much more tolerable.