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RIDGE
Part of me felt as though I should go downstairs, but as soon as Sera fell asleep, there was no way I’d risk waking her. It felt too good holding her in my arms.
Everything that happened the night of the accident was tragic, but as she’d said, no one person was at fault. Her dad had driven drunk, and again as she’d said, it began there. There were several points along the way when something could have prevented the accident and the horrific outcome. But nothing had.
Now, we all needed to heal. My dad, Leah, Luisa, Sera, and me. One place came to mind—El Lugar de Curación—Tryst’s ranch in Mexico. While the timing might not be right, eventually, I wanted Sera and me to return there and experience it under different circumstances than when her sister was missing.
The following week,several things happened. First, Sera arranged for the two of us to meet the woman who’d held the position of ADA before her. Now, she was a senior investigator with the Internal Affairs Division of the Fourth Judicial District Attorney’s Office. She’d pursued the position with a specific target in mind—William Cooley—and had spent the last few months compiling evidence against him.
Adding Sera’s experiences of being blackmailed, having her apartment bugged, as well as the proof she’d compiled of the illegalities surrounding the Los Caballeros investigation, made the internal affairs case much stronger.
Sera and I were equally stunned when we heard from her two days later that an indictment would be handed down within the coming week. Coincidentally, there were thirty-three counts against Cooley, the same number his father had been charged with.
At first, Sera had requested a leave of absence from the DA’s office, but after learning about the impending indictment, she’d turned in her resignation instead.
“I can’t devote the kind of time and energy a position like interim DA requires. Luisa comes first,” she’d said.
“I might know of another position opening up. One with more flexibility.” I winked.
“What?”
“Ridge Winery’s legal counsel is getting ready to retire and close up shop. I know my father wants to hire a new attorney since he asked me if you’d be interested in the job.”
“I’m a prosecutor.”
“I’ll let him know—”
“Wait. I’d be willing to discuss it at least.”
The following day, Sera, my parents, Dalton, and I met, and when the meeting ended, she was on retainer.
A full weekhad passed since Sera, her sister, and her mom came to stay at Butler Ranch. Press spent the better part of every day visiting Luisa, and I spent every minute I could with Sera.
On our hour drive from San Luis Obispo to Butler Ranch after our second and last meeting with the internal affairs investigator, I convinced her to stop at my place on See Canyon Road. I’d used the excuse of wanting to check on the progress being made on the house, but what I really wanted was time alone with her. I knew she was on to me when she suggested we stop by Soto’s on our way and have a picnic like we’d had before.
“I can’t believe it’s over,” she said as we sat out on the deck, finishing our wine. “Luisa is safe, my mom knows your dad didn’t steal my father’s wine formulas, and Cooley is headed to prison, where he belongs.” Her expression changed. “It isn’t over with the human traffickers, though. Have you received any kind of update about what happened after we left England?”
“According to Doc Butler, their firm is leading the ongoing investigation. It may be months or longer before we know the final outcome. One thing we learned from what happened with Luisa is the ring is far bigger than initially thought.”
“What about Jorge? I guess that wasn’t his name.”
“While Manual Varilla attempted to negotiate protection in exchange for telling us Luisa was on that ship, his role as an informant is far from over.”
“I don’t know how to begin thanking you for all you’ve done for my family,” she said, staring out at the ocean.
“It wasn’t only me.”
Sera smiled. “Some of it was. Especially getting me a new job. I make more on retainer for Ridge than I made working at the DA’s office. So far, it doesn’t seem like there will be much for me to do.”
“I have one idea.”
She studied me. “Go ahead.”
“I’d like to experiment with your father’s formulas. First, though, you’d need to file patents for them on behalf of your family as well as negotiate a fee for their use.”
She cocked her head. “You know as well as I do they were failures.”
“I’m not so sure, which is why I want to try a couple out and see what I can do with them.”
