Page 100 of The Rules Of Attraction
Seeing that made me go back to Devon’s website. I was simply checking to see the investments they’d recommended in the last few months.
Doing that only heightened my suspicions, and further checks revealed that at least eighty percent of the investments they’d gotten people to invest in had gone down the drain. All the companies had gone bust.
All of them.
What were the chances of so many investments going wrong?
It just screamed that something wasn’t right and now that I’d seen this for myself I worst didn’t want the case. I couldn’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t follow my instincts.
I couldn’t ignore them now.
On that thought I went straight to my parent’s house to see my father.
When I walked into the living room he was sitting in the armchair reading a newspaper. Classical music played in the background, part of my mom’s collection, which meant he was missing her and maybe in a mood about it.
He lifted his head when he saw me and frowned.
“Do I even want to ask why you’re here?” Were his first words.
Yup, he was definitely in a bad mood. Normally he would at least welcome me with a smile.
It was late and I didn’t want to spend more time than necessary on this. I had Summer on my mind too and I was anxious to get home to see if she was okay.
“Dad, did you know that more than three quarters of the investments Devon’s company sold in the last few months all had problems. The companies all went bust after a while leaving any shares held in them worthless.” Straight to the point.
This was one of those times when I wished my father would hear me out and not think I was trying to defy him.
“Alex, what relevance is that to your case?” He rested the paper in his lap and brought his hands together.
“It’s part of my vetting process. Checks I do before I take on a case.”
Dad pulled in a haggard breath. “Did you do the standard security based checks on him?”
“Yes.” I knew where he was going with this before he continued.
“And was everything okay?”
“They were fine, but that’s not the point. Dad, I work in finance law, you don’t just do a standard check on a client. Plus with so much money laundering going on these days you have to be careful. You absolutely know this, but you’re clouded by your friendship for the man.”
The look he gave me now was on of sheer frustration. “I can’t believe you Alex, you’re going to mess this up aren’t you?”
“I’m not messing anything up. Dad, something isn’t right. Something doesn’t feel right and doesn’t look right. This is the part where I’d get a PI involved and do further investigation.” Or I’d ask Marc. Damn it, he couldn’t go away for so long next time. If he was here I would have run it all past him and gotten his take on it. “Or, I simply wouldn’t do the case.”
“Alex, can you give me concrete evidence of your suspicions? Or, even tell me what your suspicions are. Give me a label.”
Fuck, this was absolute shit. He wasn’t budging, and this conversation was pointless. I didn’t have a label, I had suspicion.
“You want me to find proof of something I suspect?”
“No, I don’t. what I want is for you to stick to the case. Damn it, son, it’s a simple task. Stick to the case and stop looking for something wrong. We represent people who are guilty all the time and advise them within the remit of the law. You can’t play defense and prosecuting attorney all at once. You have to pick.”
“It’s not about me trying to do both. I feel like he’s hiding something.”
If your client was hiding information it didn’t matter if you were prosecuting or defending. The worry over not being upfront would bite if found out later.
“Alex. You’re allowing your personal feelings to get in the way of the case. You don’t like Devon, I get it, but he’s a client who needs our help. He’s provided all the information we need. I looked the case over myself and I couldn’t see a need for anything else. If he’s hiding something then it’s his business and doesn’t affect our work.Yourwork.”
“Dad –”
