James Grippando - Blood Money

“Rivera?” Jack said, uneasy. “I’m not so keen on that guy.”

“He has an excellent reputation.”

“Do you agree with him? Celeste and I were victims of the same attacker?”

“Yes. Our forensic experts were already leaning that way based on the comparison of your photos to her bruises. Last night’s call removes all doubt. He attacked Celeste thinking she was Sydney. Now he’s after you to get to Sydney.”

“What’s the plan when he calls me again?”

“I wish you would listen to me and let us tap your phone.”

“I’m not going down that road. Mr. Shake-Hands-with-My-Throat has already hacked into my old phone.”

“What do you mean your ‘old’ phone?”

“I’m picking up a new one in an hour. I’ll text you the new number.”

“And exactly what is your plan to stop this guy from hacking into your new phone?”

“I’m meeting with a spyware expert to sort that out.”

“You’re going to pay a private spyware expert instead of trusting me?”

“It’s not a matter of trusting you. Just on general principle, a criminal defense lawyer doesn’t need the FBI checking out his address book and examining his call history, let alone tapping his phone conversations.”

“Well, you’ve already had one trip to the emergency room. Maybe you should reconsider.”

“I might if you were the only one involved. But I’m not going to share my line with any old agent in the FBI. And I’m definitely not sharing it with Detective Rivera.”

“I told you, Rivera’s a good guy.”

“Call it defense lawyer’s intuition. He’s got an ax to grind. He doesn’t even return my phone calls.”

Andie dug her cell from her purse. “I’ll take care of that right now,” she said, dialing.

“Don’t,” said Jack, but it was too late. Andie already had the detective on the line. Jack heard one side of the conversation as she gave Rivera the FBI lecture on the importance of communication with victims. A minute later, she put the phone on speaker and laid it on the bleacher seat between them. “Rivera has an update,” she told Jack. “Go ahead, Detective.”

“I had a very interesting heart-to-heart with Celeste’s friend this morning,” said Rivera, his voice a bit tinny on the speaker.

“You mean Celeste’s roommate?” asked Andie.

“Yeah. The girl who went to the detention center with her on the night of Sydney Bennett’s release. Her story has completely unraveled.”

“How so?”

“She told Faith Corso on the air that she and Celeste had just come from a Sydney Bennett look-alike contest at Club Vertigo on South Beach. We called the club manager. It turns out that the contest was canceled. Never happened.”

Jack and Andie exchanged glances. Andie followed up with the detective: “Why would she lie about that?”

“She was covering for her friend,” said Rivera.

“Covering up what?” asked Andie.

“It took me a while to get it out of her, but she finally admitted it this morning. Despite all the accusations that BNN reporters were making things up, it turns out that somebody did, in fact, hire Celeste Laramore to go to the women’s detention center that night.”

“Hire her-why?” asked Andie.

“Celeste’s friend doesn’t know why,” said Rivera, “but it’s at least plausible that it’s just like BNN reported it. Celeste got paid a thousand bucks to show up and make people think she was Sydney Bennett. She was a diversion to stir things up and draw the crowd’s attention so that Sydney could slip away.”

“That’s just not true,” said Jack.

Andie gestured, telling Jack to stay out of it. Then she put another question to Rivera: “Did Celeste’s friend tell you who put up the money?”

“She doesn’t know, and we’re still trying to find out. Mr. Swyteck, you got any ideas?”

“I told you it’s not true,” said Jack.

“Don’t get defensive,” said Rivera. “I didn’t accuse you. I asked if you had any idea who might have done it.”

Again, Jack’s first thought was the man who had met Sydney at Opa-locka Executive Airport. But he still didn’t trust Rivera. “No, I don’t have any leads,” said Jack.

“Well, if any names come to mind, you be sure to let us know.”

“Will do,” Jack said.

Rivera had to take another call, so Andie thanked him and hung up. Jack was thinking about his case against BNN, but even his best poker face couldn’t stop Andie from reading his mind.

“You already told the Laramores that you would take their case, didn’t you?” Her question sounded more like a statement.

“Yes, I did.”

“You seriously plan to sue BNN?”

“Yup.”

Andie tucked her phone into her purse, then gave him a troubled look. “You like the publicity, don’t you?”

“What do you mean?”

She glanced toward the playing field, as if measuring her words, then looked right at Jack. “When we got engaged, you weren’t such a publicity hound. Tell me what’s going on?”

“Andie, this isn’t about the publicity.”

“Don’t kid yourself. If it weren’t about the publicity, you would have done the legwork, just like Rivera did. You would have talked to Celeste Laramore’s friend and realized that this is not a good case.”

“Hannah did call her. She wouldn’t talk to us.”

“Didn’t that tell you something?”

“Yeah, it tells me I need to file a lawsuit so I can get a subpoena issued and take her deposition. That truth is, it doesn’t matter if Celeste was hired to be a Sydney Bennett look-alike. The fact that she voluntarily put herself into an angry crowd might be an issue if we sue the correctional facility for providing inadequate security, but it doesn’t excuse what BNN did to her after she got hurt.”

“Exactly what did BNN do?”

“I can’t get into details. The judge issued a gag order before we could even file the complaint-which should only prove to you that I’m not doing this case for the publicity.”

“Fine. It’s not about publicity. The real issue-like always -is the clients you choose to represent.”

“Are you comparing Celeste Laramore to accused criminals now?”

“No. But Celeste obviously has something to hide. Don’t you think you should know her secrets before you haul off and file a lawsuit against one of the biggest media companies in the world?”

“You’re not hearing me, Andie. For purposes of our claim against BNN, it wouldn’t matter if Celeste Laramore had gone to that parking lot to set the building on fire and steal a getaway car. Once she got hurt, BNN had no right to interfere with her getting the medical treatment she needed.”

“Well, you’re the lawyer. But this can’t help your case.”

“There’s no such thing as a perfect client. Unless you’re a probate lawyer.”

“I just don’t want you to end up looking foolish.”

“If I tried to unravel every surprise before filing a lawsuit, I’d never file a lawsuit.”

“I’m not talking about every surprise. Damn it, Jack. Do you think it’s fun for me to turn on the television and watch the commentators make fun of you? I’ve never told you this, but every time Faith Corso blasts you, I get e-mails from other agents. The last one came from the head of our public-corruption unit and said something like ‘Looks like “MISTER Andie Henning” stepped in it again.’”

“Cop humor,” said Jack. “Lovely.”

“Fine. Dismiss it. But I don’t see why you can’t at least check this out before you file.”

Jack was already committed to the case, but there was no need to be a cowboy, even when trying to help a twenty-year-old college student in a coma. This was going to be a very public fight, and a little more sensitivity to the impact on the people in his life wasn’t too much for Andie to ask. “All right. It can’t hurt to make one more run at Celeste’s roommate before the complaint is filed,” he said as he dialed Hannah’s number.