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Kirby Queen—Brian Queen’s daughter. We hadn’t known each other that well in high school despite our fathers’ desire for us to be friends. She had been the captain of the volleyball team. She looked ready to go to the gym now, standing there in a pantsuit that looked more like a jumpsuit, looking bored.
She perked up slightly when she saw me standing before her, but only slightly. Whatever she remembered about me from high school, it wasn’t really about me but about Bobby. The one meaningful interaction we’d ever had was when she’d confessed that she had a crush on him.
“Look what fell off the vine!” she said. “What brings you to Sonoma County?”
“Hi, Kirby.”
“I heard you were getting married, or maybe heard is the wrong word. I read you walked into town in your wedding dress. If it had been your wedding day that would have been news, but when everyone found out there was no wedding, it hit the Twitter feed.”
I felt my skin getting hot. “That’s embarrassing.”
“Sure is.”
I opened the files on Kirby’s desk. A legal case from the 1800s stared back at Kirby, Philbert v. Philbert, a small family case in which the grown children weren’t informed of a property’s sale. In that case, it had been a horse farm. Since their trust was linked with the land, the grown children had contested the horse farm’s sale, contending that they were losing out on future earnings.
My law firm had used this case once while representing a greedy billionaire whose father had built shopping malls all over Los Angeles. He was planning on selling one for one hundred million and the son was trying to stop him. Now I was using the case for something else.
“What can I do you for?” she said. “Because I’m not reading any of this.”
“I’m filing an injunction to stop the sale of my father’s vineyard.”
“Your father is selling his vineyard?” She looked shocked. “My father didn’t mention it.”
“Yep, to Murray Grant Wines.”
“Whoa. No way! Those corporate scumbags?”
I nodded, happy that Kirby was stuck on that, my desire to go up against a major corporation, and not the illegitimacy of what I wanted to do.
“Their grandson, the one who is taking over Murray Grant Wines, he sucks. He’s a major asshole.”
“You’ve met him?”
“No, I read about him. On Twitter. Give me your filing.”
She grabbed the appropriate paperwork, smiling, happy to be in the know about this. That was fine as long as she was willing to do her job here and get the lawsuit going. The reason corporations often won lawsuits was that they out-lawyered the small guy. Maybe I didn’t have a leg to stand on, but I had the manpower to see this thing through. And I was going to use it.
Kirby shrugged, apologetically. “You’re not going to be able to see the judge until next week. And it’s probably going to be Judge Riley, once he comes back from his fishing trip. He’s gonna be in a bad mood too, irritated he’s at work again.”
I nodded, knowing I’d lose in front of pretty much any judge. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was getting him to hear my argument for why my father couldn’t sell the vineyard without approval, to create work for Jacob’s lawyer, to create trepidation for Jacob’s board about getting involved. Why would they want to get involved with a small vineyard that was making waves? They could find another small winery with a good reputation. The upside wasn’t worth it.
I looked at Kirby, hoping she’d help with the second part of the plan, knowing it was critical that she did.
She smiled, thrilled to be on the inside of this secret. “I, of course, won’t tell anyone in the meantime,” she said.
“Thank you.”
She nodded seriously. “Of course. I would never.”
Which proved that the second she was on her own again, she would.
I felt pretty pleased with myself as I walked out of the courthouse.
Then the phone rang.
It was someone else I’d gone to high school with. Ethan Tropper. Ethan Tropper, who had once convinced Finn it was a good idea for them to break into my father’s liquor cabinet, while Bobby stood guard in the hallway, replacing all the bourbon with Dr Pepper. Ethan Tropper: former juvenile delinquent, current deputy sheriff of Sebastopol.
“This is Deputy Sheriff Ethan Tropper. I’ve got someone here who wants you to come and get him,” he said.
