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I took a small bite of my lasagna, chewed, and swallowed. Then a large gulp of my iced tea. “So Derek Wolfe wasn’t a nice guy. That’s kind of common knowledge, Blaine.”
“He’s a tiger in the boardroom, yes,” Blaine said. “I’m talking about personally.”
“Oh?”
This still wasn’t news to me. Did he really think I was that ignorant?”
“Yes. Let me tell you again. I don’t for a minute believe Lacey had anything to do with Wolfe’s murder. That’s why I want to give you this information.”
“Okay. Please do, then.” I took another bite of food.
“About six years ago, I took a case for Derek Wolfe. It was under the table, and he paid me in cash. At his request, I destroyed all the records pertaining to the case.”
I gulped. “What kind of case?”
“It had the potential to be a criminal case. A big criminal case. But we kept it out of the cops’ hands. It cost Wolfe plenty, let me tell you.”
“Quit beating around the bush, Blaine.”
“There’s one problem,” he said.
“What’s that?”
“Attorney-client privilege.”
“That died with Derek, didn’t it?”
“No, not generally. There’s still the issue of ethical confidentiality. But Derek’s not the problem. There was another client in the case, and he’s still very much alive.”
I sighed. “Look, Blaine. If you’ve destroyed the file, all we have is you.”
“Not true. There’s the victim.”
“And you’re willing to tell me who that is?”
“I’m not willing to tell you who she is. But Lacey knows the name. That’s all I can say.”
“Are you saying Lacey worked on the case?”
“I’m not saying anything of the sort. Lacey’s a trusts-and-estates attorney.”
“Then how on earth—” I stopped talking when the waiter came by to refill Blaine’s wine.
Then I lowered my voice. “How on earth would she know the victim?”
“Apparently the signature page of our confidential settlement agreement was inadvertently left in the copy room by a secretary who was subsequently and immediately fired. Lacey was a young attorney and was working late. She found it on the floor of the copy room and brought it to me the next day. Luckily, only the victim’s name was on the page. Nothing about why we were entering into a settlement with her.”
“Was Derek Wolfe’s name on the page?”
“Yes.”
“And the other client’s?”
He nodded.
“But nothing about the situation.”
“No. Like I said, it was the signature page.”
“I see. What did you tell Lacey?”
“I thanked her for her discretion and asked that she not mention it to anyone. She was a young associate at the time, so of course she agreed.”
“What are the chances she’d remember a name she saw on the signature page of a document years ago?”
“Since it’s Lacey, I’d say the chances are good.”
“Even so, how would that do us any good? What if it’s a common name, like Lisa Smith or something. How would that help?”
“I see your point. You always were a smart one, Charlie.”
“Spare me your backhanded compliments. Please just answer the question, Blaine.”
He smiled. “You’re still as feisty as ever. I can have a hotel room booked in five minutes, babe. You’re driving me insane.”
“You’re drunk.”
“On two glasses of wine?”
“No. I’m betting you had a drink before our lunch.”
He smiled again. “Like I said, you’re a smart girl.”
Woman, but whatever. It wasn’t worth arguing over. “We’ve been through this a million times. We want different things.”
“I’m not talking about a relationship. I’m talking about some afternoon delight. We never had a problem in that department.”
No, we hadn’t—other than his distaste for cunnilingus—but now that I’d been with Roy Wolfe? Blaine Foster was a piss-poor substitute.
“Can we get back to the subject, please?”
“You’ll change your mind eventually.”
“I won’t today. Please, Blaine? This is important. Lacey’s wellbeing depends on it.”
He softened then. He truly had been fond of Lacey. “I can’t give you the name, but I can tell you this. It wasn’t a common name like Lisa Smith. Bob Mayes always said Lacey had a memory like he’d never seen. Photographic. Ask her. She’ll remember.”28Roy“I don’t give a rat’s ass who does the service,” Rock said.
“Then you’re overruled, Roy,” Reid said. “Father Jim it is.”
I lost that battle. So what? I’d suppressed the stuff for so long. Did it really matter?
“What about Riley?” I asked.
“Riley’s not here.”
“That’s not what I mean. Now that we know what our father did to her, shouldn’t we step up our efforts to find her?”
“We can’t step it up more than we already have,” Reid said. “We’ve always had the best PIs on it. She doesn’t want to be found.”
My stomach hurt. Not nauseating hurt, though nausea overwhelmed me also.
No. This was a bloody hurt, a sharpness. A feeling of impending doom.
“Are we done here?” I asked.
“Have you told us everything, Rock?” Reid asked.
“Everything about why I was sent to Buffington, yeah.”
“Is there anything else?”
“Only what I went through at that hellhole. It fucked me up. But it made me stronger.”
