Page 140 of A Dead End Wedding

"That's very interesting – not to mention completely unethical – considering my current suspicions. Why don't you come back and have some coffee? I have something very interesting to show you," I said.

As he followed me back to my office, he made a few throat-clearing noises. "Look, I'm sorry, but I need to know what's going on with you. First, there was that article about the drugs, and now they say you're running around with known drug dealers who get murdered. I can't trust Faith's case to you, if you're caught up in your own craziness, right?"

I stopped in the kitchen on the way and checked for coffee, but figured the sludge in the bottom of the pot wouldn't help, so I grabbed a couple of bottles of water from the fridge, and we went to sit down in my office.

"Who called you? Was it Sarah Greenberg?"

"No, it was some guy. I don't remember his name. He said that they have the home field advantage, because the judges in Claymore County love them and usually rule in their favor. So I'd be better off with them even if you weren't . . . didn't have drug issues." He mumbled the final few words, not looking at me.

I studied him for a long moment, trying to decide whether to share my suspicions at this early stage. "Oh, what the heck? The smarter thing might be to roll over, with the way they're going all full court press about this, but I have a tendency to get obstinate when people push me," I finally said. I stood up and pulled my whiteboard closer to us. "And since the people involved with this case arereallypushing me, I want to show you something."

I used my diagram and told him about my suspicions of some kind of BDC cover up. By the time I explained it all, Charlie was sitting straight up in his chair, eyes narrowed. He made the leap I didn't want to explain all by himself. "From the way things are going, it sounds like the defense lawyers might be in on it. But why are Greenberg and Smithies coming after my case so hard?"

I shrugged. "They have their stated reasons – that I'm too small to handle your case, so I'll risk putting bad precedent, or bad judge's decisions, on the board. But I have a lot of experience with cases like this, so I'm a little suspicious."

I leaned the whiteboard against the desk. "Plus, none of this explains S&G taking the wholly unethical step of soliciting another lawyer's client like that. Not to mention that they could actually be sanctioned – punished – by the bar association for that crack about the judges here giving them the 'home field advantage.' That's casting aspersions on the integrity of the judicial process, and it's a huge no-no."

Although it occurred to me I was getting my panties in a twist about a relatively minor ethics violation by the same firm I suspected of covering up a defective drug. Naïve, much?

He shook his head. "I don't like anything about this, but I especially don't like being pushed. If S&G is practically in that BDC firm's pocket, who says they'll fight for my Faith like you would? Faith was the most honest person in the world. If they did something like this, she would want the world to know. I'm sticking with you, December, and I'm not signing any secret settlement agreements."

"That's good to hear, Charlie, because I think we should fight this one out. I don't think they'd be so worried if there wasn't something big and bad to hide."

We sat there mulling that over for a few minutes, then he stood up. "I need to get going. Stay in touch, okay?"

I stood up and shook his hand. "I always do. I have a feeling BDC will want to set your deposition soon, so we're going to need to discuss that."

"Sure, just let me know," he said.

"Hold on, and I'll walk out with you. I just need to shut down a few lights." I walked through the place, shutting off lights on the way, and we left the office. He waited while I locked the door, then we both headed for our cars.

He quit walking and stared at my car as I opened the door. "Um, December, was your car pink the last time I saw you?"

I sighed. "No. It's a long story. Trust me, this is better than how it looked before."

He gave me a dubious look, but didn't ask. I waved to him as he got in his Ford Ranger and pulled out. Putting the pink mobile in gear, I started to follow Charlie, but then I saw a flickering light out of the corner of my eye, from the corner of the building. When I turned my head to look for it, it was gone.

"Great. Now I'm hallucinating lights. Those little green men can't be far behind," I mumbled, then pushed the lock button on my car in case aliens liked pink Hondas. As I drove off, I searched the darkness beside the building for any otherflickering lights, but didn't see any. A cold tingle had taken up residence down my spine, though, and I spent more time watching my rear-view mirrors than the road in front of me on the way home.

By the time I pulled up in my driveway, I had a serious case of the jitters. First, a yellow sporty-looking car, like an old Camaro or something, had seemed to trail me a bit too closely. Then the Camaro turned off and a dark blue sedan took its place. The sedan followed me all the way to my street, but turned off before I'd rounded the last curve.

My hands were shaking as I fumbled for my keys at the door. Too many coincidences. Way too many coincidences. Concussions, dead bodies, and threats. I finally jammed the key in the lock, and somebody touched the back of my arm.

I screamed, dropped my purse, whirled around, and punched my attacker in the face. He jumped back, clutched his jaw with one hand, and said, "What the hell wasthatfor, Vaughn?"

Oops. Well, the best offense is a good defense, right? Or something like that.

I poked him in the chest with my finger. "This is totally your fault. What kind of idiot sneaks up on a woman who discovered a dead body? Plus got a concussion? And a hot pink car? You scared me to death!"

He rubbed his jaw and grinned. "I scaredyouto death? You decked me! Pretty good right hook, too, Counselor. I may have to sue for assault."

I poked him again. "Get off of my sidewalk. Get out of my life."

He held up two paper bags, which I was finally noticing smelled deliciously like Chinese takeout. "Are you sure about that? I'd hate for all this food to go to waste."

My stomach growled, and Jake laughed. "There's one vote for dinner."

Leaning down, I picked up my keys and purse and unlocked the door. "Oh, all right. You can come in and eat, since you brought food," I said, trying to be gracious. It probably wasn't his fault that he was always around when my life blew up.

---