Page 17 of Linc
Me: Come to my office around noon.
I shoot off the address and feel the bubble back in my stomach when I’m around her.
Everly: See you then.
Yes you will, babe.
I’m back in the office before the sun is up, running on only a few hours of sleep.Every time I’d close my eyes, I kept replaying all the documents I’ve scoured over.What in the actual fuck is wrong with Kevin?
It’s after nine and Olivia and I just finished a consultation with an outside source to help us navigate through this when Ruby tells me that Kevin is here.Our consultant, who’s been an attorney for over forty years, advised us to not only fire him for the documents but turn him over to the law board to have his law license revoked.There was nothing criminally we could do, as he didn’t turn them over to the courts yet, but that still doesn’t mean we can’t threaten it.
“Send him in Ruby,” I reply back to her.We have Bill, from HR, here with us to make sure we follow the proper procedure.Dale is also lingering around, in case this shithead decides to go postal on us.
“You ready for this?”Olivia asks as the door opens and Kevin strolls in as if he doesn’t have a care in the world.
“Morning,” Kevin greets as he takes a seat next to Olivia, in my butter soft leather chair.He has no idea that we’re on to him and it makes this even better.I know I should be on high alert that we’ve got a fox in the hen house and that we only caught this just days before it was to be submitted.He’s making it hard not to punch him through my glass window and have him fall the fifteen floors down to the busy street.
Olivia raises an eyebrow, then gets up and takes her place in a chair on my side of the desk next to me, facing him.We usually sit this way when we interview new attorneys or when review time comes around annually, so the prick probably thinks he’s getting promoted again.
Fucker.
Clearing my throat to make sure my voice is steady and level, “It has come to the attention of our firm that an issue has come up on the Barker case from one of the associates,” I say.I want to see his reaction when all this unfolds.
“Issue?”He repeats.“What kind of issue?”
“Yes, and we think it’s in our best interest to remove you from the case effective immediately,” Olivia adds.She is on the same page as me and wants the shit-stain to squirm a little.He probably thinks this is some kind of sexual harassment thing with another employee or something.
“I’m not sure what issue you’re talking—” he starts to say but I stand and gather the copies of documents that he’s falsified.
Kevin instantly goes sheet white when he starts to scan over the documents.Gotcha fucker.But he quickly regroups.
“I’m not sure what all this is but I can assure you that it must be one of the other associates on the case.”His hands are slightly shaking against the documents he’s holding but he’s doing everything in his power to gain some kind of control over his body.
“Really?”I question.“Who do you think?”I act like I’m giving him a chance to pin this on someone else.The little weasel.“Someone is trying very hard to ruin my reputation and end my law career by doing this.”
“I’m not sure but I can say that it wasn’t me,” Kevin defends.“I’ve worked my butt off to get where I am in the firm.”
“That’s really interesting Kevin,” Olivia voices and then turns the open laptop around to face him.“This is the company computer that was issued to you four months ago, is it not?”Olivia points to the code on the laptop, then to the copy of HR’s records.
He sits there still as a statue, and I know he’s trying to think of a way to argue out of this.I would.
“We also had IT come in over the weekend to show us the footage of when the saved files of the false documents were created and saved.They all show you on this computer at the time.”I turn my monitor around with the security footage of those dates and times.
We have cameras on all four floors of our offices.There isn’t audio because of attorney/client privilege but we do have security cameras that record everyone’s movements.We had a case two years ago where a man came into our offices with a gun after we’d won a huge case in court.He didn’t even have anything to do with the case but was just a bystander who was upset that it didn’t go the way he thought it should.Needless to say, we’ve upped our security to a topnotch system that covers every inch of this place.
That is also one of the reasons Dale is by my side most of the time.He came after I was attacked in the parking lot of the courthouse.Olivia has her own too, but she prefers them to remain in the shadows and she doesn’t take the higher profile cases that don’t make the news like most of mine do.
“We plan to report this activity to the law board as well as our state department—” Olivia begins to say.
Something flashes in Kevin’s eyes like the calm before the storm.He knows he’s been made and is backed into a corner.Bill starts to speak and all of us know the end is near, but Kevin jumps up from his seat, making Olivia flinch, then leans back in her chair.
“You think you’re so untouchable,” he spews looking right back at me, becoming unhinged at the drop of a hat.I just sit there and let the man say whatever it is he wants.This isn’t the first person who wanted to tell me off, but this is the first person who works for me that’s tried to set me up.“Your day is coming, Lincoln; the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
What an odd thing to say?
He continues his rant for a good couple of minutes before he realizes that we’re not going to engage with him.In a last-ditch effort, Kevin sweeps his arms, clearing my desk of all its items, before Dale and another security member come from the doorway to escort him out.Dale has him by the elbow, almost to the door, when Kevin shrugs him off, giving him a shove.Kevin starts to deck Dale but of course Dale is quick on his feet and clocks him across the cheek, sending him sailing against the wall.
Dale and the other security officer both collect Kevin off the wall and escort him out of the room and down the hall.Kevin is manically laughing and yelling how he’s going to ruin my life and everything in it.The guy has officially lost his marbles.
