She was a little bit askew. A little bit angry. And a little bit sexy. All in all, cross-eyed Lainie Commins had the right stuff to get Matthew Hope to take her case: a copyright infringement suit against toy company tycoons Etta and Brett Toland, who Lainie claims have stolen her idea for a cuddly cross-eyed teddy bear named Gladly. But before Matthew Hope can sue, he gets another case. This one is homicide. And Lainie Commins has been charged.

In a world of fabulous wealth and sun-seared squalor, from the yachting types to the tooting types to the dangerous sexual games that Lainie played, Matthew Hope is trying to see one thing straight: is his client a beauty with a blemish — or a killer whose gun-sight is twenty-twenty.

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Chapter 1

In the state of Florida, it doesn’t matter if it’s day or night as concerns the burglary statutes. You can go in at any hour, it doesn’t affect the punishment. What matters is if you’re armed or if you assault someone, that’s Burglary One, and they can put you away for as long as the rest of your natural life. If the structure you enter happens to be a dwelling or if somebody’s on the premises when you go in, why that’s a Burg Two, and they can lock you up for fifteen years.

Warren was going in during the daytime–if she ever got the hell out of there–and he wasn’t armed, though he did own a license to carry. The condo was a dwelling, so if he got caught in there he was looking at a max of fifteen because in the state of Florida, if you stealthily entered any structure or conveyance without consent of the owner or occupant, that was considered prima facie evidence of entering with intent to commit an offense.

But he had to get in there, anyway.

If only she would hurry up and go about her business.

He turned on the car radio.

I had filed my complaint in Calusa’s federal court for the Middle District of Florida, asking for an order to show cause. Judge Anthony Santos had signed a temporary restraining order and had set a hearing for the twelfth day of September. A U.S. marshal had then served papers on Brett and Etta Toland, the owners of Toyland, Toyland, ordering their appearance at the hearing. It was now nine o’clock on the morning of the twelfth, a blistering hot Tuesday in Calusa, Florida.

The first thing Santos said to me was, “How are you feeling, Matthew?”

I wished people would stop asking me how I was feeling.

Or what it had felt like.

It had felt like all the lights suddenly coming on after a power failure. One moment there was utter darkness below, while above a raging electrical storm flashed intermittent white tendrils of lightning and boomed ugly blue thunder. I was standing in a deep black pit slowly filling with oily black water that rose inexorably to my waist, and then my chest, and then my throat. I was chained to the walls of this fathomless black pit while above lightning crackled and thunder roared and the fetid black water inched up toward my mouth and then my nostrils. And all at once there was a crashing bolt of lightning and a shattering thunderclap so close they seemed to be inside the pit itself, shaking its wet stone walls, filling my eyes and my head with bursting sound and blinding incandescence and . . .

With a mighty leap, I sprang out of the pit.

That’s what it had felt like for me.

Maybe if you came out of a coma five months ago, it was different for you.

“I’m fine, Your Honor,” I said.

“Are both sides ready?” Santos asked.

“Matthew Hope, representing the plaintiff, Elaine Commins.”

“Sidney Brackett, representing the defendant, Toyland, Toyland.”

Brackett was Calusa’s best man for legal matters pertaining to copyright or trademark, famous for having successfully defended the landmark Opal Oranges infringement suit. I was Calusa’s best man for all seasons, famous for having got shot twice–once in the shoulder and once in the chest–last April. I’m fine now. Really. I’m fine, goddamn it!

“I’ve reviewed the complaint, the affidavits, and the legal briefs from both sides,” Santos said, “so I think we can do without any lengthy opening statements. I hope you’ve explained to your respective clients. . .”

“Yes, Your Honor. . .”

“Yes, Your. . .”

“…that the purpose of this hearing is to determine whether Toyland, Toyland–hereinafter referred to as Toyland–should be enjoined on a preliminary basis from further production, distribution or sale of a teddy bear they call Gladys the Cross-Eyed Bear, for which Ms. Commins is claiming copyright, trademark, and trade dress infringement. It is your burden, Ms. Commins, to prove ownership of a valid copyright and trademark for the bear you call Gladly, and–as to Count I–to further prove unlawful copying of protected components. As for Counts II and III, it is your burden to prove infringement of the trademark and trade dress. Does everyone understand this?”

“Yes, Your Honor, this was all explained to my client.”

“My clients as well, Your Honor.”