Page 26 of Take the Bait

“Holy crap,” Dani breathed. “Why haven’t I heard about that? Treason cases are rare and a big deal in this country. They make national headlines.”

“He was working as a government contractor in Washington, D.C. Apparently, exposing him to the public would have meant that some of the intelligence he collected and sold to the highest bidder might go public, too. The new guy’s contact at the Pentagon said some of the dad’s intel would have been embarrassing to certain high-profile government officials. Hence, his trial and conviction were handled in a sealed military court and kept completely out of the public record.”

“What happened to the father? Is he alive?” she asked. After all, execution was a possible sentence for treason.

“I don’t know. The new P.I. doesn’t have the right military contacts to find out the sentence he got or if he’s still in jail. We’re still working on that.”

“Where’s Alex’s mother? Does Alex have any other family? And living relatives? “

“Unknown to all of the above. The new P.I. is fluent in Russian and has offered to poke around online in Russian records and newspapers for me to see what he can find on the Koronov family in Russia.”

Dani winced. “That sounds like a lot of billable research hours to WMP.”

“It’s your case. You do whatever you have to so you can give your client the best possible defense. WMP’s pockets are plenty deep enough to pay for my time and the new P.I.’s time.”

Dani sighed. Zoey was right, but she came from a humble background. She wasn’t accustomed to spending thousands of dollars on anything, particularly on research that might yield nothing of value.

“I’m sorry this dumb little drunk driving case is turning into such a pain in the butt for you, Zoey.”

“In the first place, it’s my job. In the second place, I like you. And I can’t say that about many attorneys at WMP. In the third place, did I mention the new P.I. is ridiculously hot?”

Dani laughed. “I believe you did. More than once.”

Zoey gushed, “I’m dying to get him in the sack, and this is just the excuse I need to make my move on him.”

“I’m happy to advance the cause of your promiscuous sex life in any way I can.”

“Speaking of which, how’s the bedding of the hot assistant district attorney going?”

“You mean Cam?” Dani blurted, startled. Her cheeks heated up at the thought that someone might’ve seen her and Cam go into the ladies room at that stupid cocktail party and was gossiping around the firm about it, now.

“Yes, I mean Cam,” Zoey replied teasingly.

“There’s no bedding going on between him and me, and there’s never going to be. It would be unprofessional, not to mention he has an ego that would fill Madison Square Garden all by itself.”

Zoey laughed brightly. “Sounds like every lawyer I’ve ever met.”

“Hey now! I’m not like that!”

“You’re young and new at the profession. Give it time.”

“Aww, Zoey. You know I’m not the ego-driven type.”

“I’m just saying. You may not like Cameron Townsend now. But he could still grow on you.”

“No way!” Dani exclaimed.

“Passion takes many forms, and anger is one of them,” Zoey said sagely.

Dani made a face at the tree standing silently beside her. At least the tree wasn’t making snarky comments about her being attracted to Cam Townsend. Maybe an oak tree was a better bet for a best friend than Zoey.

“Gee. And to think I was feeling bad about asking you to do one more piece of research besides Alex,” Dani groused.

“Oh, yeah? What else do you want from me, lover girl?” Zoey teased.

She half snorted, half laughed. “You’re incorrigible.”

“Incorrigible is my middle name, babe. Lay it on me. What else do you need researched? Anything for you.”

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