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“Good morning. Everything okay?” Carly arrived like fresh air and sunshine, bringing with her a dozen doughnuts from Shipley’s across the street.
“Tell me you’ve got something with chocolate in there.” He pointed to the heavenly-smelling box. “And I’ll fill you in on the latest.”
Carly flipped open the lid to display his choices, which were limited to a half-dozen glazed and a half-dozen chocolate frosted. “Ah. Perfect.”
The back door opened and closed. Imogene called to them, “Good morning, all.” She then poked her head in through the doorway where Tanner and Carly were staring into the box. “I’ll get us come coffee made to go with those doughnuts.”
“Okay. What’s up?” Carly eyed Tanner as encouragement to spill the info.
“The reply from Judge Keller’s office says we’ve got to defend the charges on our court date. Period.”
“Any word from Carson yet?”
“Not since Monday night’s drama when he stomped up the hill.”
“Maybe you should send a copy of the letters you intend to send to the bar association and to the Rotary Club, just to make certain he realizes what’s at stake if he continues on this path. Because we all know the law is on your side.”
“Yes. I’ll show him that going through with his bluff will have real consequences and cause problems for his firm. And the last thing Carson wants is somebody digging into his business dealings.” Tanner began scratching out notes on his legal pad while he bit into a chocolaty, warm doughnut.
“Okay, we’ve got a plan for Carson. What about Marie? Something about the woman at the courthouse made me think she had a gold mine of information pulled up on her screen that she was waiting to divulge, given the right permission.” Carly tapped her stylus against her iPad.
“Since we can’t get the information ourselves, maybe we should get law enforcement involved and have them request the information,” Tanner suggested.
“Yes, if Marie disappeared, then she’s a missing person. If they’ve got information about where she is, they would be compelled to share it, wouldn’t they? Maybe the local district attorney would help with this since Marie lived here for so many years.”
Tanner liked the idea of going this route because it was official and there was less opportunity for hiding evidence. The downside is they would be bringing other people into the situation and could lose control over the investigation and search. If something underhanded was afoot, who knew what they might be getting themselves into? “We’ll need to discuss this with Lisa. Bringing law enforcement into this changes everything.”
Carly said what he was thinking: “It might be our only way of getting to the truth, unfortunately.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Tanner hadn’t gottenthis far in his career without making a few friends in city hall. He and Alan Litrell, the newly elected district attorney, were downright friendly, as luck would have it. Litrell had grown up in Cypress Bayou and played football with Tanner in high school. He was an amazing athlete and had gone on to be a solid quarterback at NSU before heading to law school at Southern in Baton Rouge.
Carson didn’t have the younger generation of politicians quite so tidily wrapped up in his grip like the older ones. In fact, on several occasions Tanner had heard Carson cursing Litrell’s disinterest in becoming a political lackey of his.
Tanner called the DA’s office and asked to speak with him. After being put on hold and some shuffling around of phone lines, they were connected. “Hey, Tanner, how’s it goin’, man?”
“It’s going all right, all told. Listen, I don’t want to take up your time, but I’ve got a unique situation brewing here and I’d hoped we could sit down and discuss it.”
“Sure. How do you feel about a lunch meeting? I can’t seem to get anything done without interruptions unless I’m eating.” Tanner understood what he meant. Sometimes, when he was at Carson’s practice and juggling a full load of clients, he’d had to leave the office to get anything accomplished. Not so much now since he couldn’t bill anyone.
“I get it. Lunch sounds great. Let me know when and where and I’ll meet you.”
“Great. I’ll have my assistant contact you once she checks my calendar. Good to hear from you, Tanner.”
Fortunately, Alan had an opening for lunch today. His assistant called right back to confirm their meeting for noon at Laborde’s Meat Pie Kitchen. Tanner’s mouth watered thinking about it.
“I’m meeting with the DA for lunch to discuss our next move to open a missing person’s case for Marie,” Tanner called out to Carly who was working in her own office. They’d begun a habit of projecting somewhat loudly down the hall if the other person wasn’t obviously on the phone or nobody was in the office.
Tanner heard her footsteps coming down the hall after she’d pushed back her rolling chair, with its slight squeak, from her desk. He could identify every sound and movement in the office. Imogene was tapping away on her keyboard up front entering client information.
They’d had lots of phone calls in the past few days since the website had gone live. The schedule was booking up for new client meetings. Since the court appearance with Carson and Judge Keller was scheduled in a week, they’d pushed all the new potential clients until the following week.
Carly stood in front of his desk. “How do you plan to present this to the DA?”
“Have a seat.” She sat, folding her long legs into the chair across from him. Tanner worked hard to accustom himself to having a young, gorgeous associate in his line of vision during business hours. But sometimes, when she appeared in front of him, with that long, dark, wavy hair and sexy body, he couldn’t help but react…just a little.
“I’m thinking to ask a favor after filing the missing person’s report. Tell him that we’ve done some asking around and are getting nowhere. I’ve made a list of our efforts so far.”
