Donny’s client wasn’t there either. His grandma was, however, in one of her vintage People’s Lawyer outfits. And after Judge Larriva got done welcoming Carol, whose career she knew of, the current status of Donny’s client was the first thing the judge asked.

The second thing she asked was whether it was true Donny had walked into a burning building to save that client.

“Not really save, Your Honor,” he said. “Persuade. And it wasn’t just my client there. Ms. Keller’s client was there too.”

“So you negotiated this ex parte, without telling Ms. Keller?” said the judge. Ex parte was lawyer code for talking to the other lawyer’s client without the other lawyer present, unless you had their permission—a big no-no in a system that took for granted every lawyer’s ability to perform necromantic mind tricks on anyone untutored in their dark arts.

“Well, it wasn’t until after we left the building that she, Ms. Hamilton-Green, became Ms. Keller’s client. And technically she still isn’t. She just became the controlling stockholder of the corporation, and that indirectly, through a series of investments.”

“Are you okay with this, Ms. Keller?” asked the judge.

“Mr. Kimoe has walked up to the edge of the rules, but not crossed it,” said Karen. “And we now have new instructions from our client. A settlement.”

“What are the terms?” said the judge.

Donny told her.

The judge only blinked a few times.

59

The news of the escaped ex-president’s capture and delivery into the hands of international war-crimes investigators was all over the news when Donny stepped into the private club that had taken over the viewing area of the Reunion Tower. The images of the President were the old ones, from before, because the international authorities didn’t do perp walks. The new footage they had was from the airfield in Metairie, of a bright-blue United Nations C-130 sitting on the tarmac preparing to leave the country with its precious cargo already loaded. They had kept it quiet for a few days as they debriefed him and the others who were involved, but now it was all anyone would be talking about for weeks.

Donny stood and watched for a minute while the host checked his name against the guest list, trying to look at the windows of the plane, thinking maybe he would see Marianne. Then the guy led him to a booth in the back, where Thelen was already waiting.

“Thanks for the wire, sport,” he said, standing to greet Donny. “Looks like I owe you a small refund.”

“You can make it a prepayment against the next one,” said Donny.

“Doesn’t sound like you’re going to need any loans for a while,” said Thelen. “I know it’s not public, but this is a small town, and word gets around.”