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“After my father’s accident, our family was buried under a mountain of debt both for medical expenses and a court battle with the family of the four people he’d killed. We lost the only thing we had left, our house, and poor Luisa was bullied every single day by the kids she went to school with, for being the child of a murderer. I decided to become a lawyer out of necessity. I never dreamed it was what I would do when I grew up.”
“It isn’t the same, Sera. You said it yourself. You did it out of necessity, not because you wanted to avenge your father. You wanted to save the rest of your family.”
She nodded, but I could tell she wasn’t entirely convinced.
“You’re nothing like Cooley,” I said when I realized what was really bothering her.
“Aren’t I? Do you know what I’ve been doing at work over the last few days? Trying to find whatever evidence Cooley has on Los Caballeros. Once I did, my intention was to tell you what it was. More, to figure out a way to bury it, or negate it, or something. Regardless, it would have been illegal.”
“Have you found anything?”
“No, but the point is—”
“The point is you don’t know you would’ve acted illegally. My guess is when you were actually faced with it, you wouldn’t have been able to do it.”
“I’m not so sure.”
“I am. Would you like to know why?”
She nodded.
“Because even when we were searching for Luisa, you never lost sight of the law. Your belief in the law remained steadfast.”
She raised a brow. “What are you talking about?”
“What you said about Los Caballeros believing we were the good guys? I can’t speak for anyone else, but it resonated with me. To be perfectly honest, at times, I considered taking a break.”
Her eyes bored into mine, but she didn’t speak.
“It’s a slippery slope, isn’t it? But neither of us is like Cooley. Neither of us has broken laws because of a personal vendetta. Neither of us has tried to ruin the lives of the innocent. Cooley, on the other hand, sought to destroy Brix’s life and the lives of as many of us as he could. And what about you? He’s threatening you with disbarment if you don’t help him do it.”
Sera and I spent the next couple of hours debating how to go after Cooley and what evidence we had to start an investigation.
It was almost one in the morning when Sera looked up from her computer. “I have an idea. It would be up to the Internal Affairs Division of the Fourth Judicial District Attorney’s Office to look into the allegations.”
“Okay.”
“One of the women who left the DA’s office became an investigator with the Fourth. Given she already knows Cooley, I can approach her. Worst-case scenario is she doesn’t think we have enough to go on.”
“You don’t think she’d let Cooley know what we’re up to?”
Sera shook her head. “Not a chance. She was fired; she didn’t simply leave. I’d be willing to bet the DA expected her to do the same things he expected of me.” She yawned and stretched her arms over her head. “I need to call it a night.”
“I’ll take you home.”
“Home?”
“Or to Seahorse.”
She shook her head.
“No? So, uh…”
Sera pointed to the daybed. “I’d prefer to sleep right there.”
I pulled her into my arms. “There’s something else I’d really like to do.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Tomorrow is Saturday, right? So you don’t have to go to the office.”
“I’m not sure I would anyway, but why?”
“I’d like to take you out for breakfast.”
