Outfoxed (Andy Carpenter, 14) - Hardcover

Rosenfelt, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1250055342 ISBN 13: 9781250055347

Verlag: ST MARTINS PR, 2016

Inhaltsangabe

Defense lawyer Andy Carpenter spends as much time as he can working on his true passion, the Tara Foundation, the dog rescue organization he runs. Lately, Andy has been especially involved in a county prison program where inmates help train dogs the Tara Foundation has rescued to make them more adoptable, benefiting both the dogs and the prisoners. One of the prisoners Andy has been working with is Brian Atkins, who has 18 months left on a 5-year term for fraud. Brian has been helping to train Boomer, an adorable fox terrier the Tara Foundation rescued from a neglectful owner. Brian and Boomer are clearly a terrific match. In fact, Andy hopes that Brian will adopt Boomer himself, once his sentence is up. But one day, Andy arrives at the prison to discover that Brian has used Boomer to make an ingenious escape, and man and dog are both in the wind. The next day, the man on whose testimony Brian was convicted is found murdered. Brian is caught and arrested for the crime, though he forcefully protests his innocence. Suddenly, Andy finds himself with a new client in Brian and a new dog in Boomer. And as he starts to dig deeper into the murder and the events leading up to it, Andy realizes he might be putting them all in far more danger than anyone had realized.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

DAVID ROSENFELT is the Edgar-nominated and Shamus Award-winning author of several stand-alones and a dozen Andy Carpenter novels, including Who Let the Dog Out?. After years living in California, he and his wife moved to Maine with twenty-five golden retrievers that they’ve rescued. Rosenfelt's hilarious account of this cross-country move, Dogtripping, and his moving memoir of the dog that inspired his love affair with dogs, Lessons from Tara, are published by St. Martin’s Press.

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Outfoxed

By David Rosenfelt

St. Martin's Press

Copyright © 2016 Tara Productions, Inc.
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-250-05534-7

Contents

Title Page, 
Copyright Notice, 
Begin Reading, 
Also by David Rosenfelt, 
About the Author, 
Copyright, 

CHAPTER 1

I've been enjoying work lately. I'd have to check my diary, but I think the last time I said that was never. Of course, the last time I wrote in a diary was also never, but that's another story.

My change in job satisfaction is probably because I'm doing very different work these days. I'm a defense attorney, have been my whole life, but lately I've been successful in not taking on new clients, leaving me no one to defend. I like it that way; trials can be very trying.

I wouldn't say that I've retired, it's more like taking a year off, much in the way a baseball pitcher does when he blows out his elbow. I like to say that I haven't had "Tommy John surgery," it's more like "F. Lee Bailey surgery."

My current work involves dogs, which are pretty much my favorite things, living or otherwise, on the planet. My partner, Willie Miller, and I run the Tara Foundation, a dog rescue group in Haledon, New Jersey, that covers Paterson and surrounding communities.

I've been spending a great deal of time helping Willie and his wife, Sondra, handle the day-to-day activities of the foundation, work that I couldn't do as a practicing lawyer, especially during trials. The days are enjoyable and rewarding, no more than when I watch a dog go to his or her new home with a terrific family.

And, best of all, I don't have to cringe and wait for a jury to decide whether I did well or not. All I need to see is a wagging tail.

I'm also heading up a program called Prison Pals. Passaic County has followed the lead of a number of other communities around the country in bringing rescue dogs in need of training and socialization into prisons to be trained by the inmates.

It's a win-win: the dogs get needed training and loving care, and the prisoners get the chance to interact and bond with some really great dogs.

Because I have a familiarity with the prison and criminal justice systems, and because I corun a dog rescue foundation, I was the county's choice to run this program, and I was glad to accept. I am Andy Carpenter, spreader of human and canine happiness everywhere. And the truth is that I've enjoyed every second of it.

One of the inmates working in the program is Brian Atkins, who is also a client. His lawyer had been Nathan Cantwell, a legend in New Jersey legal circles for sixty years. I had dinner with Nathan a couple of years ago and he told me that he would never retire, that even though at that point he didn't have many clients, the only way he would quit working would be by dying.

And dying is exactly what he did, three days later, at the age of eighty-seven. He had neglected to mention at the dinner that his will included a request for me to watch over his clients. Had he mentioned it, I would have pleaded for him to reconsider.

But Brian, at least, has been an easy client. He has served three years of a five-year term after being convicted of embezzlement and fraud, the victim being the software company that he cofounded. He's in the minimum-security area of East Jersey State Prison, and he will be up for parole in four months. I have it on good authority that he'll be granted that parole.

Today I'm bringing dogs and trainers to the prison, including the dog that Brian has been working with, an adorable fox terrier named Boomer. He clearly loves Boomer, and in a way it's a shame that Boomer is almost done with the program and will be finding a permanent home. If the timing had been just a little different, he could have been Brian's dog when he gets out. I really like Brian, so I'm looking forward to this conversation.

"Fred will be coming in, but I wanted to talk to you first," I say, referring to Fred Cummings, the trainer who has been working with Brian and Boomer.

"So you're not staying while Fred is here?" he asks, petting Boomer the whole time.

It seems like an odd question, but I say, "No, I'm meeting Laurie for lunch, and then we've got a parent-teacher meeting at the school. I just wanted to tell you that I've been pretty much assured you'll be getting your parole. You'll be out in no more than four months."

He nods. "Good. Thanks."

It seems like a strangely muted, unenthusiastic response, but my guess is he is just in "I'll believe it when I see it" mode.

"You okay?" I ask.

"I'm fine, Andy. Thanks."

"The parole hearing itself will be in three months, but it's basically a formality. We'll have time to prepare."

"Okay ... I understand."

I'm not sensing any excitement here. "Any questions?" I ask.

"No. Thanks again."

"She has no idea what she's talking about."

"Mrs. Dembeck?" Laurie asks. "How would you know that? All she said so far is 'Hello' and 'I'll be right back.'"

"She's had Ricky in her class for less than two months. How can she know anything about him?"

Ricky is the child that Laurie and I adopted six months ago, and Mrs. Dembeck is his third-grade teacher at School Number Twenty. We're sitting in her classroom, squashed into two of the kids' desks. These desks were a lot bigger when I went to school here.

The session has already started in an ominous fashion. As we were coming in, we saw our friends Sally and Brian Rubenstein, who had just finished their meeting about their son, Will.

Will, Ricky's best friend, is a great athlete, excellent student, and all-around terrific kid. Brian and Sally were all smiles with Mrs. Dembeck; no doubt their perfect child got a perfect report, and she's saving the bad stuff for Ricky.

I hate perfect kids.

"Just give her a chance, Andy."

"These teachers don't know how to handle kids; they never have and they never will. When I was in third grade, the teacher would put me out in the hall for talking."

She thinks for a moment. "That's a good idea ... maybe I'll try it when we get home."

"If she says anything bad about Ricky, she will live to regret it."

"Hold that thought," Laurie whispers, as the door opens and Mrs. Dembeck walks into the room, an evil smile on her face.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," she says, as she sits at her desk. It's right in front of us, and even though she's maybe five foot four, with us hunched in these little desks, she towers over us. Her goal is obviously to gain the psychological advantage.

"So let's talk about Ricky," she says, looking through some papers in a folder in front of her. "I'm sure you know this, but he is a very special, very wonderful child."

I nod and smile. It is a pleasure to hear a trained, dedicated professional like this talk about her work.

She goes on to talk about how friendly Ricky is, how popular he is among his classmates, and how he clearly is a leader among his peers. This is a woman who knows what she is talking about.

"Let's talk about individual subjects," she then says. "He's particularly proficient in mathematics."

Laurie smiles. "I know; sometimes the calculations he makes in his head amaze me."

Mrs. Dembeck returns the smile. "I overheard him the other day lecturing his friends about point spreads."

Uh-oh. I'm about to be busted. "Kids," I say.

"You mean point spreads like in betting on sports?" Laurie asks her.

"Yes. He's quite knowledgeable on the subject."

"Kids," I repeat. "The things they pick up from their...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: ST MARTINS PR
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2016
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1250055342
• ISBN 13: 9781250055347
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 336
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar