Outside, he fired up one of the few cigarettes of the day. He shivered in the brisk October air. His gaze followed a puff of smoke as it sailed upward to meet the gray clouds of the day. It was going to rain before long, making for a messy trip to North Carolina. But gray clouds and rain were the least of his worries.

Jack jerked his attention to the left when he heard someone call his name. Brad Devane, a colleague from his softball team. A guy he had a beer with occasionally. "What's up, Brad?"

"Same old, same old, overworked and underpaid. I heard you're going to let that guy Josephson plead out. True or false?"

Josephson? Jack drew a momentary blank before it came to him who Josephson was. He forced a grin he didn't feel. "Decided to save the taxpayers some money. He'll be back in ten months, then we can throw away the key."

"Call me next week, and we'll have a beer," Devane said as he crushed out his cigarette in the sand.

"You got it. Next week is wide open." He wondered if that was true. He followed suit and stuck his cigarette in the sand, then followed Devane, who was holding the door for him.

As the two attorneys walked to the elevator, Devane asked, "You think your buddy Navarro is going to be confirmed on Friday? Pays to have friends in high places."

Jack stiffened. He'd heard the envy in Devane's voice. "Navarro is no friend of mine. You need to update your information, Brad. I personally don't give a good rat's ass if he's confirmed or not."

Devane pressed the elevator button, stepped back, and said, "Whoa! Hey, I thought you guys were friends. The scuttlebutt. . ."

"Look, Devane, I don't care about scuttlebutt, and I don't like discussing my private life in public. Just drop it, okay?"

"Sure, sure. No problem. Sorry I brought it up."

The two men were silent as they entered the half-filled elevator and rode upward without further comment. When the elevator stopped at the fifteenth floor, Devane got out, waved airily, and turned right. Jack waved his index finger and turned left.

"For whatever that was worth," Jack muttered as he entered his office and hung his jacket on the hook hanging over the door. He sat down and turned on his computer. Checking his e-mail was the first order of the day. He grinned from ear to ear when he clicked and clicked again to bring up his home e-mail to read the note from Nikki.

The message was short and simple. "Love you, am counting the hours till I see you." As always she signed the e-mail with a question mark.