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Chapter 1

It was that crazy period between Thanksgiving and Christh light between dawn and dusk to get everything done

Still, our gang of four, e call the Woether dinner of drinks and bar food

Yuki Castellano had picked the place

It was called Uncle Maxie’s Top Hat and was a bar and grill that had been a fixture in the Financial District for 150 years It was decked out with art deco prints and e, neon-lit clock behind the bar dominated the rooht skirts and spike heels ore good jewelry

I liked the place and felt at home there in a Mickey Spillane kind of way Case in point: I earing straight-legged pants, a blue gabardine blazer, a Glock in my shoulder holster, and flat lace-up shoes I stood in the bar area, slowly turning my head as I looked around for my BFFs

“Lindsay Yo”

Cindy Thomas waved her hand from the table tucked under the spiral staircase I waved back, moved toward the nook inside the cranny Claire Washburn earing a trench coat over her scrubs, with a button on the lapel that read SUPPORT OUR TROOPS She peeled off her coat and gaveand a half

Cindy was also in her work clothes: cords and a bulky sweater, with a peacoat slung over the back of her chair If I’d ducked under the table, I’m sure I would have seen steel-toed boots Cindy was a cri her on-the-job hound dog clothes

She blew ive me her seat and a jasmine-scented smack on the cheek She had clearly come from court, where she worked as a pro bono defense attorney for the poor and hopeless Still, she was dressed impeccably, in pinstripes and pearls

I took the chair across from Claire She sat between Cindy and Yuki with her back to the roolass-and-chrome table

If it hasn’t been said, we four are a mutual heart, soul, and work society in which we share our cases and views of the legal systeirls orried about me