Excerpt of Included!

DOWN RIVERabout something. And there was something about Dolf, too. What was it thatmy father had said? I stopped on the sidewalk, tilted my head as if to better hearthe words: And don’t you go talking to Dolf about this either. What I say goesfor him, too.Something to that effect.I pushed my feet up the sidewalk, toward the jail. It rose, hard-edged andgraceless, with windows as narrow as a woman’s face. I thought of Dolf, rottinginside, then was past, and moving up the courthouse stairs. The judge’s chamberswere on the second floor. I had no appointment, and the bailiffs at securityknew damn well who I was. They sent me through the metal detector threetimes, patted me down so well that I could not have slipped a paper clip pastthem if I’d put it in my underpants. I took it, like I could take it all day. Still,they hesitated; but the courthouse was public domain. They lacked the authorityto keep me out.The judge’s chamber was a different story. It was easy to find—up the stairs,past the D.A.’s office—but getting in was another matter. Nothing public aboutchambers. You got in if the judge wanted you in. The door was made of steeland bulletproof glass. Two dozen armed bailiffs guarded the building, and anyone of them would take me down if the judge told him to.I looked up and down the empty hall. Beyond the glass, a small woman satbehind a desk. She had a tea-colored face, yellow hair, and severe eyes. WhenI rang the buzzer she stopped typing. The eyes focused, she lifted a finger, thenleft the room as fast as her swollen legs could shift her.Gone to tell the judge who’d come calling.Rathburn had on a different suit, but looked about the same. A little lesssweat, maybe. He studied me through the glass, and I could see the wheelsturn. After a few seconds, he whispered to his secretary, who put her fingers onthe phone. Then he opened the door. “What do you want?”“A minute of your time.”“On what subject?” His glasses flashed, and he swallowed. No matter theverdict, he thought I was a killer. He stepped forward until his body filled thecrack in the door. “Are we going to have a problem?”“Why did you come to see my father the other day? That’s what I’m here totalk about.”197