Page 25 of Take the Bait

“What the hell?” Zoey squawked. “That’s crazy!”

“So it’s not just me? I thought it seemed totally bizarre.”

“Totally,” Zoey affirmed. “Thanks for telling me. I’ll hand off the other case I’m working on right now to a P.I. who’s started just freelancing for WMP so I can concentrate on your boy. I’ll do a deep dive into everything I can get my hands on having to do with this kid.”

“I don’t mean to cause problems for you?—”

“You’re not.”

“What about the Ore-groan case?” Dani asked anxiously. “Are you still working on that, too?”

“I’m pleased—and relieved—to report that the Ore-groaner is finally wrapped up.”

Dani grinned. A long-time WMP client had gotten into some sort of dispute with the State of Oregon but insisted that WMP defend him. Whitney, Marcos, & Pinter was a New York-based firm, though, and it had been a huge pain in the ass to interface with a Portland law firm to send the relevant Oregon case law to WMP’s team in New York.

A dozen paralegals and research lawyers have been forced to comb through Oregon’s legal code like first-time law students. They’d nicknamed it the Ore-groan case.

“Has anything in particular about Alex’s life or past jumped out at you so far?” Dani asked.

“Well, I did find out one interesting thing about his family,” Zoey commented. “About his father, specifically. But I’m not sure it would explain his batshit crazy demand that you screw up his case.”

“What have you got? Throw me a crumb, Zo. I’m desperate, here.”

“Turns out the father was a spy back in the day.”

Dani frowned. She knew Alex had been born in Russia, so it was a reasonable assumption his parents were Russian citizens. Had his father been a Russian who spied on the U.S. or some other western power? Or had his father worked for the West to spy on Mother Russia?

“Which side of the Iron Curtain did his father work for? Us or them? And spying against whom?”

Zoey replied, “I don’t know. But I did find out his dad was a member of the Communist Party for a couple of decades. Apparently, only folks who are rabidly loyal to the government are traditionally allowed to become party members.”

Dani frowned. “How did a rabidly loyal Communist and his family end up in the United States, then?”

“Apparently, the dad came to the United States as a defector. Brought his son—that’s Alex—with him. The father either left his wife behind in Russia, or she chose to stay back there and abandon her husband and son.”

“Really?” she blurted. Was that what had screwed up Alex in the head? His mother chose her country over her family? “See if you can find out more about why the mom didn’t come out with her husband and Alex.”

“Already on it. The new freelancer speaks Russian and has promised to help me look for documents from Russia about Alex’s childhood.”

“Thanks.”

Zoey laughed. “No, no. Thank you. The new P.I. is smoking hot. He would give your sexy ADA a run for his money in the fuckability department.”

She rolled her eyes at the large oak tree before her. “Have you found anything that might explain Alex’s determination to screw up his own trial?”

“Not yet. Oh, and the dad got political asylum here after claiming the Russian government had put him on a list of dissidents to be murdered.”

“More like a traitor than a dissident, I’d think,” Dani commented.

“Yeah, fair.”

Dani stared thoughtfully at the tree. “What happened to Dad? Is he still alive? Still here in America? What kind of work does he do these days?”

Zoey cleared her throat. “So, new, hot P.I. is ex-military. He might’ve, umm, pulled a few strings to get that information. So don’t ask me how I know what I’m about to tell you, okay?”

“Okay.” Dani held her breath, eager to hear what Zoey’s colleague had found.

Zoey lowered her voice practically to a whisper. “Alex’s dad was caught spying against the United States about the time Alex started college and was convicted of treason.”

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