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We might own a bar, but Logan, Eric, and myself weren’t ones who drank a lot, certainly not Eric. By him giving us all a beer, he was trying to convey a friendly atmosphere. He wanted Zoey to feel comfortable around us. Logan took his glass and lifted it up; we all did the same.
“To new friends,” he said, and we touched glasses.
We took a sip, and then I put my drink down. I couldn’t take my eyes off of Zoey. She took a tentative sip and then another before putting the drink down. I got the impression she would have gladly downed the whole glass if she could, and I wondered if she might want something stronger. She had never been a drinker when we were in high school; she had always been a rule follower and never got into any trouble. I wondered how much of her had changed since we lost touch.
“What brings you to New York?” Eric asked.
There was a reason why Amber had brought Zoey to meet us. Zoey said they weren’t friends yet, and I didn’t think it was as Logan said to set me up with her. However, I would have been perfectly happy if she did. The only reason I could think that she would be there was because she had information about Lauren. Eric had to know that too. I was surprised he was trying to make small talk with her unless he was trying to put her at ease.
“I came to New York to work as an intern for Project Reform. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of it. We work with people who think they are wrongly convicted or people who just need legal advice and can’t afford it.”
“You’ve done some good work. I heard about Travis Grey getting released after fifteen years in prison.”
“That was before I started working there, but yes, that was our organization. I help with interviewing potential clients, answering calls, and anything else they might need me to do.”
“Any work that you do is beneficial. I’m sure they appreciate you being there and helping out,” Amber said.
“I like being helpful. I got a degree in philosophy. I’m going to become a lawyer, but I wanted to take some time and do paralegal work before I went back to law school. I wanted to figure out if I wanted to, and it seemed like a good way to decide.”
“Smart of you. I know a few lawyers who hated being a lawyer once they got in the field. Do you like the work?” Grace asked.
“Yes. It’s daunting, and there are so many people and so much work that needs to be done. I like staying busy, I like feeling useful, so I don’t mind it. I really like talking to people and hearing their stories. There was one that came in the other day, and it caught my interest.”
“That's why she’s here,” Amber volunteered.
“Great, why don’t you let her tell us why?” Logan said.
“I am,” Amber said.
“You’re trying to take over,” Logan replied.
“I am not,” Amber said.
“You were saying,” Eric said to Zoey before he glared at Logan.
“There was a man who came in to see me the other day. He had been accused of shoplifting, and he said he didn’t do it. He was worried because it was his third offense, and he knew if he got another conviction, they would send him away for a long time. He swore to me he didn’t do it. He wasn’t even at the store when it happened.
“I wanted to believe him; that’s kind of what our organization is all about. I told him I would look into it for him and to come back in a couple of days. We have some investigators that can see if someone has a case. We want to help as many people as we can, but we can’t just help someone who walks off the street if we can’t do anything for them.”
“What did you find?” Logan asked.
“There is surveillance footage of him not only at the store at the time but also of him stealing the food. He did it, there’s no doubt, and when he came in, I told him as such. I showed him the footage the district attorney had, and I suggested he talk to one of our lawyers about maybe seeing if he could work out a plea deal.”
“He would have been smart to take it,” Amber said.
“I thought so too. I explained everything to him, but he didn’t want to talk to a lawyer. I got the impression he didn’t trust them; he said something about how they were the ones who got him into trouble in the first place. Anyways, he said if I couldn’t help him with my case, maybe he could work out another deal. He said he had some information about a case that had made the news recently,” Zoey said.
“Lauren’s?” Eric asked softly.
I knew that was why Zoey was there, but still having her say it and the look on Eric’s face were hard to take in. When we came up on the two-year anniversary of Lauren’s death, Sean suggested that we make a public plea and see if anyone had any information on what happened to her. He was able to get some news outlets to cover it, and the story trended for a while on social media. It was a great public interest story as it had a local business, former military, and a murder. The city ate it up. It actually helped boost our business as people wanted to help out. We did get a few tips, but nothing that panned out, and I think Eric had given up thinking we would get anything.
“Yes. He said he wanted to get immunity, and he could tell me who killed Lauren.”
“Did he have any proof?” Amber asked.
“He said he would only give it to me if he got an agreement. I immediately went to my supervisor. She blew my story and the whole idea off. She told me she heard the same thing all the time. She told me to not get so easily persuaded by a person who is facing jail time. She told me they will say and do anything in order to get out of it, including lying to anyone who would listen.”
“But you didn’t let it go, did you?” Eric asked.
