Page 29 of Vermilion Desire

“Mr. Berkshire has requested a meeting with Miss. Scarletta in his home as he is not physically able to leave his home.”

I step in as Scarletta rubs her hand over my arm to calm me down. “She isn’t going by herself.”

“Of course,” the lawyer readily agrees. “Mr. Berkshire will be expecting you gentlemen as well.”

Scarletta sits down and gestures the other man to do as well. I take a seat between them to make sure this physical wall of my body scares the living hell out of any ideas in his head.

Cal isn’t any better. He sits on the other side of the lawyer, sandwiching him between two seasoned detectives with the eyes of hawks.

“Can I open it?” Scarletta points at the innocent envelop.

The lawyer nods. She wastes no time in tearing the seal and pulls out a thick stack of paper. Her amber eyes scan the first page that catches my attention too. It’s a non-disclosure agreement.

Immediately, my heart is rising in tempo. Having this is already a bad start on our part, and I do not trust anything that starts with a non-disclosure agreement, especially from a damn rich family who has a son on trial for a murder charge.

“Wait a damn minute.” Cal holds up his hand, fishing out his phone and turning the camera function on to start recording. “I’m not taking any chances.”

It’s a good idea. We’ll have proof to counter any bullshit the Berkshire family wants to pull. Not even lawyers can deny video proof.

“As long as the documents are not presented in the video.”

That sounds like the right way to do this. I nod at Cal as he continues to record everyone, but his eyes are flickering between the camera and Scarletta. We don’t want any technicalities happening to the video for the defense to use it against us.

Scarletta signs the document’s front page and shows it to the lawyer before she clearly makes Cal scan the page slowly with the camera.

She flips the page and begins to read. From the template and the wording, it’s a medical history chart. The name on it says it’s Berkshire Senior’s, and there are a lot of different medications printed following the order of the dates he took them.

She’s quiet for a moment, merely concentrating on one page that makes her linger longer than the others. When Scarletta uses the silence to read everything in the stack of paper, she returns to that page with a curious hum in her soft voice.

Back and forth on two pages, she furrows her eyebrows as if her mind had connected two things together.

“Uncle Cal, can you stop the recording?” she asks, and Cal has no reason to doubt her when she puts the documents back into the envelope.

Using the adhesive provided by the lawyer, she reseals the document, and Cal got everything on recording just in case the other says she didn’t seal the damn thing and throw some legality into the Braxton Berkshire case.

Everything revolves around that case, and no one can be too careful.

When Cal lowers the camera and puts it down on the kitchen table, the lawyer retrieves the document and locks his briefcase.

“Berkshire Senior…” she murmurs, tilting her head to let a part of her red hair recreate a cascading effect. “His left side can’t move.”

“Yes, however, his condition has been worsening over these past few years. As of now, he is wheelchair-bound.”

“The family history you have given me is not complete; there are many people missing to get the whole picture, but I can hazard an educated guess that whatever Berkshire Senior has is hereditary,” Scarletta brazenly concludes.

“That I cannot answer as I do not have the answer to it, but you are correct. The family medical information has not been completed; there are many missing papers that could not be salvaged in the fire that happened many years ago.”

I remember reading it in an old newspaper from before I was born when my parents collected newspapers for fun, and the fire had shocked many people because it’s the damn Berkshire’s multimillion-dollar home that many envied and wanted to have.

“What do you want me to do with this information?” she questions.

The lawyer does not lie. “Mr. Berkshire wishes for you to study his family’s medical history and find the cause for his illness.”

“That’s selfish,” Cal adds with a disappointed scowl. “He only wants to save himself and not his son? Well, not that I care if his damn son dies.”

“I am simply following his wishes, Detective,” the lawyer points out. “Mr. Berkshire and his son are not as close as everyone believes that they are, but it is not my place to judge.”

“Isn’t this conflict of interest since you’re one of the lawyers under the Berkshire?” Scarletta asks.

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