Robert Crais - Sunset Express

Ray turned back to Luke and punched him once in the forehead, lightly.

Worley said, 'Ow!'

Ray said, 'You ever buy any more dope, we'll hear about it. You ever sell dope again, we'll be back. What happened here won't matter a damn. You understand, Mr Harvard Law?'

Worley's head snapped up and down like it was on a spring. 'Hey, I'm retired. You tell Mr DiVega. I swear.'

Ray and Joe and I climbed out of the Porsche, left Lucas Worley sitting in his carport, and walked out to the street and back to our cars. Ray said, 'Is this guy DiVega for real?'

'Nope. I made it up.'

Ray nodded. 'I was trying to scare the little dip. Maybe wake him up.'

'I know.'

'That little sonofabitch will be dealing again inside the month.'

'You can bet on it.'

Ray thought about it. 'If this fool goes back to dealing he's gonna meet a real Mr DiVega sooner or later.'

'They always do.' We stopped at my car and shook hands. 'Thanks, Ray. I appreciate the help.'

Ray was staring back toward Worley's condominium, looking more than a little sad. 'Think of the waste. Goddamned Harvard.'

'Yep.'

Ray Depente took a deep breath, let it out, and then walked on to his car. I guess he just couldn't understand how someone could turn his back on so much opportunity. I guess he'd be thinking about it most of the night.

Pike and I watched him leave, and then we drove back to my house.

We drove directly to my home, me in my car, Joe following in his Jeep, anxious to see if we had anything that Anna Sherman could use. It was eight-twenty when we arrived, and Lucy and Ben were snuggled together on my couch, watching what looked to be a Discovery Channel program about African plains game. The cat was watching the TV, too, but from the edge of the loft. He still didn't like Lucy and Ben much, but at least he wasn't growling.

Ben said, 'They're home! Hi, Joe.'

Joe said, 'Hey, bud. You want to show me how to boot up this Macintosh?'

'Sure.' Ben jumped up and the two of them went to the Mac. The cat stopped watching the television and started watching Joe. He began kneading his paws, but he still did not come down.

Lucy held up her hand, and I took it. She said, 'I'm still not going to ask where you've been or what you've been doing.'

I kissed her nose. 'Damnedest thing. Joe and I found a computer disk on the street. We suspect that it contains contracts and business agreements between Jonathan Green and Theodore Martin.' I held it up and showed her.

Lucy closed her eyes and slumped back miserably on the couch. 'God. For sure I don't want to know.'

'Of course, we won't know where it leads until we review what's here, and it would probably help to have an attorney decipher the stuff.'

Lucy buried her face in her hands. 'I'll be disbarred. I'll go to jail.'

Joe said, 'We're ready.'

I went over to the Mac. 'Yeah, you're right, Luce. Better stay over there out of the way.'

Lucy jumped up and hurried around the couch to join us. 'Oh, hell. It won't hurt to peek over your shoulder.'

We fed the disk into the computer and opened the files. The list of available documents pertaining to Teddy Martin's representation was lengthy. Lucy leaned past me and tapped her nail on the screen. She had put on her reading glasses. 'Most of this probably has to do with billing. You want the retainer agreement.'

I looked at Lucy. 'I thought you wanted no part in this.'

She took a half-step back and showed her palms. 'You're right. Forget I said anything.'

I turned back to the screen.

Lucy said, 'But you still want the retainer agreement.'

Ben went back to the couch. We found the retainer agreement files and opened them. There were three documents, the original agreement plus two amendments. The original agreement called for a flat fee of five hundred thousand dollars for Green to represent Teddy from the date of the agreement through final appeal, plus all expenses and costs related to the defense. The five hundred thousand was to be deposited into an escrow account of Jonathan Green's choosing and dispensed in equal parts between signing, pretrial hearing start date, pretrial finish date, main trial start date, and main trial finish date, with the ongoing balance payable on demand should the case be dismissed for any reason. I looked at Lucy and she shrugged. 'Looks pretty ordinary.'

Pike's face was dark. 'Five hundred grand. Ordinary.'

I said, 'Yeah. But these guys work for it.'

Lucy knuckled me in the ribs, and then we opened the amendments. Lucy made a soft, whistling sound, and said, 'I guess the price of justice went up.'

The first amendment transferred the functional ownership of the entirety of Theodore Martin's business holdings, known corporately as Teddy Jay Enterprises, Inc., as well as Theodore Martin's personal property, into twenty-six different escrow accounts under the control of the Law Offices of Jonathan Green. The list of property and assets went on for pages and included fourteen specific restaurants, the real property associated with same, Teddy's Benedict Canyon mansion, plus homes, apartment buildings, and commercial property in Palm Springs, Honolulu, Denver, and Dallas. Approximate values had been given to each holding, and the total valuation was listed as one hundred twenty million dollars. I said, 'Is this legal?'

Lucy scrolled through the document, lips parted, the screen reflected in her glasses. 'Free enterprise, Studly. It looks like the parties renegotiated Green's fee for services, and who cares if it's akin to hyenas feeding on the bones of the dead?'

I looked back at the screen and shook my head. There were retirement accounts and bonds and stock portfolios. 'Jesus Christ, Green's getting everything.'

She continued scrolling. 'Appears so.' Then her breath caught and the scrolling stopped. 'This is odd.'

'What?'

She touched the final paragraph of the amendment. 'These things are in escrow, but they're payable to Green only in the event that the charges against Teddy are dropped, or that he is acquitted.' She shook her head. 'This just isn't done. No attorney would predicate payment on the outcome of a case.'

Pike said, 'This one did.'

I nodded. 'Sex and money. A hundred twenty million is an awful lot of motivation.'

Pike leaned back, and the left corner of his mouth twitched. 'Enough to use James Lester to plant phony evidence, and enough to convince Louise Earle to change her story so that the press and the public doubt Angela Rossi's honesty.'

I frowned. 'I can see it with Lester, but you're not going to buy Mrs Earle. They had to threaten her in some way, and I'm wondering if maybe they've increased the threat.'

Lucy stepped away from the Mac and took off her glasses. 'I agree that you could argue motivation now, but there is nothing illegal about this agreement. It's simply unusual. It could also be argued that Jonathan is willing to take the chance on an outcome-based payment because the funds are so large. The very thing that makes it unusual also makes it reasonable.'

'You don't think Anna Sherman would be interested?'

Lucy spread her hands. 'I'm sure that she would be interested, but what could she do? The California Bar certainly has no grounds for an investigation, and, unless there were some corroborating grounds for an investigation, neither does she.' She gestured at the Mac. 'Besides, she couldn't show this to anyone. It was illegally obtained.'

I said, 'Hey, we found it.'

Lucy put on her glasses again and leaned past me to the keyboard. 'Let's see the final amendment.'

The final amendment was less than a page. It simply deleted four personal accounts and a vacation home in Brazil from the second amendment and contained an order releasing the accounts and home from escrow, returning them to Teddy Martin's control. Lucy said, 'Mm.'