"Do you?"
She looked at Caroline, who foundered. "We, uh, Dodge and I haven't had time to discuss all the particulars of his ... uh ... inclusion."
He jumped in. "I introduced myself to Nyland as a friend of the family. I'm not official."
"Until your bill comes due," Berry said drily. "What do you charge for
keeping your ear to the ground?"
"A fair rate. I won't fleece you. That I promise. And as long as I'm not on retainer, we can honestly say to Nyland, or to anyone else who asks, that I'm operating in an unofficial capacity."
Obviously Berry still had misgivings. "It's a strange setup. But these are strange circumstances, at least for Mother and me. I don't suppose it can hurt to have someone working for us behind the scenes."
"I believe Dodge will be a tremendous help," Caroline said.
"Does Mr. Carlisle know about him?" Berry asked her.
"I'll inform our attorney when the time is right."
Berry withdrew her hand from her mother's clasp, stood up, and began to roam restlessly around the room. "I don't understand the need for a lawyer. I haven't done anything wrong."
"All the more reason to have an advocate," Dodge said. "Anytime Nyland wants to interview you, you don't say a word without a lawyer present."
"I already have."
Dodge cursed under his breath.
Caroline asked, "When was this, Berry?"
"At the hospital before you arrived. He and I talked."
"About what?"
"Oren's characteristics. Anything that might give Deputy Nyland a lead to follow. It was harmless."
Dodge had his doubts. "Don't do it again. Understood? My boss would advise the same thing."
"Of course he would. That's how he makes his living."
"True. And a damn good living. But I would trust him with my life. Lots of people have."
"Guilty people."
"Innocent people, too," he returned calmly. "Including the woman he ultimately married."
Caroline sat forward. "He married a client? I sense an interesting story."
Dodge looked across at her. "Yeah. It's a story about a woman in trouble, and the guy who came to her rescue. A very old-
fashioned kind of story. Boy meets girl, and just like that, he's in over his head."
"Boy lost girl?" Berry asked.
"No," Dodge said. "Lucky for Derek and Julie, their story had a happy ending." His eyes remained locked with Caroline's, and for several seconds the atmosphere was fraught with tension. She was the first to look away.
Dodge uncomfortably shifted his position in the squeaky chair and motioned down at the tray on the coffee table, calling Berry's attention to it. "That seemed to spark a memory earlier. You mentioned wineglasses."
She resumed her seat in the corner of the sofa and tucked her feet beneath her. "After dinner, Ben and I decided to split what was left in the bottle of wine. So before going upstairs, we sat in here to drink it. Deputy Nyland must have seen the glasses on the coffee table and jumped to the wrong conclusion about what they implied."