Саманта Сильвер: Lipstick On A Pig

Chapter 5

As it turned out, the answer to that was “very badly”.

Fifty minutes after leaving Willow Bay, we pulled into the parking lot at Forrester, Forrester and Smith.

“Just follow my lead,” Sophie said as we walked through the glass doors at the front of the building and took the elevator to the third floor, where the company’s offices were.

The offices were exactly what you expect from an expensive, modern law firm. Everything was white, gray or black, with that super modern, minimalistic, square look. A couple of super colorful art pieces on the wall gave the room that splash of color that it really desperately needed. When we got off the elevator we were looking directly at the receptionist’s desk, manned by a gorgeous looking girl in her late twenties with perfectly straight, almost-black hair tied back into a high ponytail, almond shaped eyes and olive skin. On either side of her, was a clear glass door leading down two hallways toward what I assumed were all the lawyers’ offices. A few people rushed through the doors, one person came out and handed the receptionist something, and left without saying a word. On the other side of the room, the side where the elevators were, were some plush leather chairs, all of which were currently empty.

“Can I help you?” the receptionist asked in a not-unfriendly, but not overly cheerful way either.

“Hi, yes, I… uh, need to speak to a lawyer, and I don’t know who I should talk to,” Sophie said, throwing out a nervous smile.

“All right, what sort of situation is it relating to?” the girl asked.

“Well, see, my aunt just died, and I think the person who’s dealing with all the will stuff is doing it wrong, and I wanted to see if there was something I could do about it.”

I tried to avoid openly gaping at Sophie. Seriously? That was the story she was going for?

“And who is the executor of the will?”

“Uh, my mom,” Sophie replied. “This is my sister. We both want to make sure that my bitch of a mom doesn’t steal everything my aunt worked for her whole life.”

Ok, Sophie was definitely going all-in on this lie. I tried to keep my face impassive. For one thing, even though Sophie was only half Japanese, there was literally no way we could be confused as siblings. We looked absolutely nothing alike. I mean, for one thing, Sophie was half-Japanese!

The receptionist raised an eyebrow sceptically, and told us she could make us an appointment.

“Oh, is there no way to see anyone now?” Sophie asked, and I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. What did Sophie think, that lawyers just sat around waiting for people like us to show up? This was her plan?

“No, I’m afraid there isn’t,” the receptionist replied, her manner beginning to cool. I was starting to think this was really not going well when it suddenly got worse.

Austin Stark, Lisa’s boyfriend, suddenly came out of one of the offices, followed by a middle-aged man with brown Conan O’Brien style hair. The men shook hands, and Austin thanked him for his help. The lawyer turned and went back to his office, just as Austin turned and saw Sophie and I standing there.

“Oh, hey, Sophie! Angela!” he said brightly, coming toward us. “What are you two doing here?”

“Hi Austin, just making an appointment,” I replied nicely. I still wasn’t quite sure what to make of Austin. He seemed like he tried to be a nice guy, and he’d helped me out a couple times, but at the same time he sort of rubbed me the wrong way. Right now, the jury was out on him. Sophie, on the other hand, had absolutely hated him from the start. Not that there was any real reason for it, apart from the fact that he was dating her mother. Apparently, that was all the reason Sophie needed.

“Hi Austin,” Sophie said in a voice I knew was fake cheery. “How are you today?” I glared at her. Right now, the last thing we needed was for her to fight with her mom’s boyfriend.

“I’m good, thanks Sophie. I’m a little confused as to why you guys are here though. You don’t need a lawyer for anything, do you? If so, I can recommend you mine.”

“Oh no, we’re just making an appointment for a quick consultation,” I told him. “Then we’re heading back home. We’re in a bit of a rush actually.”

The rush was to get Sophie and Austin out of the same room.

“Sounds good. Hey, your mom wanted to know if you’re still working the petting zoo, she wants to bring by some food so you don’t have to cook all week. She landed herself a big new client, so she’s super happy right now. You might want to call her if you need anything, with the mood she’s in, she’ll probably give it to you,” he added with a wink. I knew he was trying to get onto our good sides, but oh boy was this a bad time and place.

I could feel the receptionist’s glare from here, even though I wasn’t looking at her.

“Oh really Austin ? My mom’s really happy right now? Thank you Austin for not totally ruining everything,” Sophie spat before turning on her heel and heading back to the elevators. Her dramatic exit was stifled somewhat by the twenty second wait for one to arrive, but she continued to glare at Austin as she headed back down.

“Sorry, I don’t think we need that appointment after all,” I said to the receptionist, who was pretty much openly glaring at me now. I motioned to Austin that I’d call him, and mouthed “sorry” as I saw his completely bewildered look, then I headed down the stairs to meet Sophie in the lobby.

“Are you really surprised that went badly? Like, honestly?” I asked Sophie when we finally got outside. “We weren’t going to get an appointment for today anyway.”

“I know, but did he really have to ruin it?” Sophie had never quite gotten over the fact that her mom was dating again. She had never approved of Austin, but to be fair to him, she had never actually given him a chance, either. She had just straight up decided she hated the guy.

“Yeah, that sucked,” I told her as we got back into the car. “But I think we can say pretty confidently that overall, our plan to try and get any information like this was flawed.”

“Admit it, you think it was stupid to even try.” Sophie was sulking now.

“I did. But to be fair to me, I told you that before we came here, and I still came.” Just then, my phone rang. I picked up and heard Chief Gary’s voice on the other end.

“Hey, Angela,” he told me. “We’re ready for you to take the animals back to Joe’s if you want. We’ll be here for another few hours at least, so feel free to stop by anytime before it gets dark.”

“Awesome, thanks Chief Gary!” I replied. “I’ve just spent the day in Portland with Sophie, we’re heading back now and can be there in a little over an hour.”

“Oh good, I’m glad to see you’re not going around trying to solve this murder too.”

“Definitely, wouldn’t even dream of it,” I lied. I hung up the phone, and on the drive home started thinking about how we could possibly get as much information about Jessica Oliver as we could from her workplace. Charlotte was tackling the friend, so Sophie and I had to figure out a way to make this work.

Chapter 6

Two hours later, Sophie and I were covered in mud, I could feel a migraine coming on, but all the animals had been delivered back to Joe’s farm. I managed to ask the animals a few more questions, and even got some halfway coherent replies back, but it seemed all of the animals had well and truly been asleep when the murder took place, except for that one rooster who insisted there was a man hanging around the tent that night before the body had been placed there.

I did learn, however, that Jessica Oliver had been killed elsewhere, and her body had simply been dumped in the petting zoo, confirming Charlotte’s suspicions. One of the goats told me he’d overheard the medical examiner telling one of the policemen that fact. My blood went cold. I strongly hoped it wasn’t an attempt to frame me for the crime after what had happened the day before; I’d had enough of being accused of murder after Chief Hawthorne had considered me a suspect in the murder of Caroline Gibson a couple of months earlier.