Jake Lassiter.

Bum Rap.

Paul Levine.

For my grandchildren . . . Jonah, Lexi, Ruby, and Violet.

"Jake Lassiter. The Jakester! The mouthpiece who took the shy out of shyster and put the fog into pettifogger."

-State Attorney Ray Pincher.

-1-.

Nicolai Gorev.

The gunshot hit Nicolai Gorev squarely between the eyes. His head snapped back, then whipped forward, and he toppled face-first onto his desk.

There were two other people in the office of Club Anastasia.

Nadia Delova, the best Bar girl between Moscow and Miami, stared silently at Gorev as blood oozed from his ears. She had seen worse.

Steve Solomon, a South Beach lawyer with a shaky reputation, spoke over the echo still ringing off the walls. "I am in deep shit," he said.

-2-.

Nadia and the Feds.

One week earlier. . .

Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

In Re: Investigation of South Beach Champagne Clubs and one "John Doe"

File No. 2014-73-B.

Statement of Nadia Delova.

July 7, 2014.

(CONFIDENTIAL).

Q: My name is Deborah Scolino, assistant United States attorney. Please state your name.

A: Nadia Delova.

Q: How old are you?

A: Twenty-eight.

Q: Where were you born?

A: Saint Petersburg. Russia. Not Florida.

Q: What is your occupation?

A: What do I look like? Nuclear physicist?

Q: Ms. Delova, please . . .

A: Bar girl. I am Bar girl.

Q: What does that entail?

A: Entails my tail. [Witness laughs] Is simple job. I get men to buy cheap champagne for expensive price.

Q: How do you do that?

A: We go to nice hotel. Fontainebleau or Delano. Me and Elena on hunting parties.

Q: Do you dress as you have today? For the record, a tight-banded mini in hot pink. I'm guessing Herve Leger.

A: Is knockoff. But shoes are real. Valentino slingbacks with four-inch heels. I dress good on hunting parties.

Q: And just what are you hunting for?

A: Tourists. Men with money. We look for expensive watches. Patek Philippe. Audemars Piguet. Rolex Submariner.

Q: So you approach the men?

A: At the hotel bar. We make small talk. "Oh, you are so handsome. Tell us about Nebraska." We say we know a private club with good music.

Q: What club is that?

A: Anastasia. On South Beach.

Q: What happens when you get there?

A: Bartender serves free vodka shots, except ours-mine and Elena's-are water. When the man is drunk, we order champagne. Nicolai buys it for twenty-five dollars at Walmart. Charges a couple thousand a bottle, but the man is so drunk, he signs credit card because Elena has her tongue in his ear, or my hand is in his crotch. Or both.

Q: Just who is Nicolai?

A: Nicolai Gorev. Owner of Club Anastasia.

Q: Ms. Delova, we need you to help the government's investigation of Nicolai Gorev.

A: Nyet.

Q: Ms. Delova . . .

A: I am not as stupid as you might think.

-3-.

Your Lawyer or Your Lover I didn't shoot the bastard," Steve Solomon said.

"Tell me the truth, Steve."

"Jeez, Vic, I am." Sounding frustrated. Telling the story over and over. He spread his arms and held his palms upward, the gesture intended to show he wasn't hiding anything.

Victoria studied him. She'd been studying Solomon for several years now. He was her law partner and lover. Solomon & Lord.

Victoria Lord. Princeton undergrad, Yale Law.

Steve Solomon. University of Miami undergrad. Key West School of Law.

Victoria graduated summa cum laude. Steve graduated summa cum luck.

She practiced law by the book. He burned the book. But in court . . . well in court, they were a powerful team.

Solomon & Lord.

Steve had street smarts and was a master of persuasion. Victoria knew the law, which helped with judges. Plus, she was likable, a necessity with juries. Steve also had one talent Victoria lacked: he could lie with a calm certainty no polygraph could ever discover.

She loved Steve. And hated him. Sometimes they argued over "good morning." But life sizzled when they were together and fizzled when they were apart. Right now, one wrong move, and they could be apart forever.

"Tell me again," she said. "Everything."

"Why?"

"I want to see if you tell the same story two times in a row."

"Aw, c'mon, Vic."

They were sitting in a lawyers' visitation room at the Miami-Dade County jail. The metal desk and two chairs were bolted to the concrete floor. Victoria hated the place. It smelled of sweat and disinfectant and something vaguely like cat piss. Her ankle-strap Gucci pumps had slipped on something wet-and yellow-when she had walked down the corridor. She always felt nauseous visiting a client here. Now that the accused was Steve, she also felt a throat-constricting fear.

To get into the jail, she had shown her Florida Bar card. To get out, Steve would need a very good lawyer. She had tried-and won-several murder trials. But with all the emotional baggage, she felt incapable of representing Steve. A surgeon didn't operate on a loved one.

"If you didn't kill Gorev, who did?" she asked.

"Like I said, Nadia Delova, our client."

"Our client?"

"Okay, you were at a hearing in Broward. Nadia was a walk-in. She had five thousand in cash and said she just needed me for a one-hour meeting."

"Where's the money?"

"In an envelope in my desk drawer."

"When were you going to tell me about it?"

"That reminds me of a lawyer joke."

"Not now, Steve."

"A lawyer sends out a bill for five thousand dollars, and the client mistakenly sends him ten thousand dollars. What's the ethical question?"

"Obviously, should he return the money?"

"No! Should he tell his partner?"

Steve laughed at his own joke. He had a habit of doing that. A lot of his old habits were starting to irritate her. Accepting new clients without her approval was one. Straddling the border between ethical and sleazy conduct was another. Getting charged with murder was a new one.

"Where's Nadia now?"

"That's what I need to find out. Or you do."

"You understand your predicament?"

"The cops found me in a locked room with a dead man and a smoking gun. Yeah, I have a pretty good idea."

"Tell me everything from the top."

"Nadia was waiting when I unlocked the door to our office at about eight fifteen a.m. She said she was a Bar girl. Very up front about it."