As soon as he got up, Daniel called Amanda Jaffe’s office, but Amanda was in Washington County for three days handling pretrial motions in a murder case. After breakfast, Daniel went downtown and spent the day job hunting. He returned to his apartment, tired and discouraged, to find the light on his answering machine blinking. He pressed the play button, hoping that the caller was Kate or Amanda Jaffe. “Ames, this is Arthur Briggs. I was wrong about you and I need your help. There’s been a development in the Insufort case and you are the only one I can trust. Meet me tonight at eight.” The rest of the message told him how to get to a country cottage near the Columbia Gorge. Daniel’s first reaction was that the message was a hoax engineered by Joe Molinari, but Daniel had heard Briggs’s voice enough to know that it was his ex-boss on the phone. Only the message did not make sense. Briggs hated him, and even if he didn’t, why would he need his help? He had partners, associates, and investigators galore.
Daniel was a disgraced, disgruntled ex-employee-not exactly the person Briggs would be expected to call in an emergency. And why would Briggs want to meet miles out of town instead of in his office? Daniel decided that there was only one way to discover if the call was genuine. He dialed Briggs’s office. “Renee, it’s Daniel Ames.” “Oh, Daniel, I am so sorry. Are you okay?” “I’m fine, thanks. Is Mr. Briggs in?” “No. He’s gone for the day. He’ll be here in the morning.” Daniel thought for a moment. “Mr. Briggs left a message on my answering machine. He said there was a new development in the Insufort case. He wanted to talk to me about it tonight. I’m supposed to meet him at a cottage off I-84 on the Columbia Gorge. Do you have any idea why he wants to see me or why he wants me to meet him at this cottage instead of his office?” “No, but Arthur was excited about something today.
This is a good sign, isn’t it? Maybe he’s going to rehire you.” “Yeah, maybe,” Daniel answered thoughtfully. “Look, if Mr. Briggs phones in would you ask him to call me?” “Sure.” “Thanks.” Daniel hung up and called Kate, but she was not in. He leaned back and stared at the wall. What would he do if Briggs offered him his job back? He’d convinced himself that he didn’t want to work at the firm anymore, but did he really mean it? Working for Reed, Briggs had been his dream job. Daniel made a decision. He wasn’t certain that he wanted his job back, but he did want to hear what Arthur Briggs had to say. And he was very curious about the new development in the Insufort case that Briggs had mentioned. Maybe he had convinced Briggs that there was something wrong with the drug and Briggs was now on his side. The only way to find out was to meet with the man who had just fired him.