Page 18 of Where Secrets Lie

“I’m here.” Ignoring Jess, Hez entered the room and whistled at the transformation. “I could work here.” He crossed the Persian rug and kissed Savannah before he dropped into the chair beside Jess.

His presence repaired the damage Jess had caused to Savannah’s confidence. “You two are vital to the plans I have for TGU. The three of us—the Council of Three—have a lot of work to do to turn this rudderless ship around.” She reached into her briefcase and withdrew a notepad. “Jess, you go first. How will you clean up the mess the financials are in?”

Jess looked a little bewildered, but she reached into her bag and pulled out a laptop. “As you know, there were a lot of off-the-books income streams and debts. A lot of shady corners have to be brought into the light of day, and I’m working as fast as I can to accomplish that. I hope to have us in order within the next quarter.” A smile played around the corners of her lips, and her voice held a quiver of glee.

It didn’t take any real insight for Savannah to guess the source of that joy in her sister’s face. Jess would take delight in hacking off a large chunk of Dad’s trust fund. The very thing he was most eager to protect was about to hit the chopping block, and Jess would be only too happy to take the blame.

“That’s great news. I want a weekly report on your progress.” Savannah noted the shock on Jess’s face at the order. She’d get over it. “Hez, how about the Justice Chamber?”

Hez smiled and leaned back in his chair. “The Justice Chamber has its first client.”

“Already?” Savannah eyed the spark of mischief in his eyes.

“TGU will be our first client.” When Jess started to object,he held up his hand and continued in his commanding courtroom voice. “I know it’s a bit unorthodox, but justice starts at home. My students will jump at the chance to clean up their school. It will set them up for fighting corruption and injustice wherever they find it, no matter the cost. My first target will be the smuggling I believe is still going on. We’re going to track down who’s behind it and put a stop to it.”

Jess shut her laptop with a snap. “That’s a ridiculous plan, Hez. We have enough work to do to recover our reputation without you focusing more attention on Beckett’s actions. Find an innocent person to help. The media attention on that would soon have the public forgetting all about what Beckett did.”

“Hez is right,” Savannah said. “The evidence he’s found is compelling, and besides, nothing new can be built on a rotten foundation. We have to root out all of the corruption.” She nodded at Hez. “You had another point?”

He nodded. “I’ve also uncovered a sleazy online diploma mill Abernathy used to generate quick cash. That’s going to stop right now.”

Jess gaped at him before giving a grudging nod of approval. “I heard about that. You’re right—it’s very sleazy and gives us a poor reputation. I tried to get Abernathy to stop it, but he was always about the bottom line.”

Wait, were they actually on the same page? Savannah hid a smile and consulted her notes again. “The final item is security. Jess, Hez has reason to believe Beckett will be out looking for revenge when the Deke Willard trial is over. We need to beef up security. Oscar Pickwick isn’t going to stop anyone from barging in here with a gun.” The old guard was more interested in hisPokémon Gogame than in evaluating risks tothe university. “I want you to find money in the budget to hire some real guards.”

Jess went pale and gave a slow nod. “We’ll have no choice if Beckett is out.” She glanced at her watch. “I have a Zoom meeting in fifteen minutes. That report will be on your desk every Monday morning.”

Hez said nothing until Jess pulled the door shut behind her. “You handled that like a boss, my love.”

Savannah couldn’t hide her smile. “I think Jess was too stunned to object.” It had been one battle, and the war was far from over.

***

Hez didn’t like the look on his neurologist’s face. She wasn’t smiling as she pulled up his CT results, and small lines of concern creased the corners of her mouth and the space between her brows. She turned her monitor sideways so they could both see it. It showed a CT scan of Hez’s head. She pointed to a spot just inside the left wall of his skull. “See that?”

Hez looked closely and saw a small, pale crescent. “Yes, what is it?”

“It’s a subdural hematoma, bleeding on the brain. It’s typically caused by a head injury like the one you suffered.”

Hez stared at the image. “Could that be affecting my memory?”

The doctor shrugged one shoulder. “Probably not. Most researchers think memory is controlled by the temporal lobes, and that’s on your left parietal lobe. But no one knows for sure. Brains are weird.”

That wasn’t the most reassuring thing he’d heard a doctor say. “So, uh, can it be treated?”

“Sure. The most common treatment for a small hematoma like that is to drill a hole in your head and drain the blood.”

He forced a smile. “I always said I didn’t need another hole in the head, but maybe I do.”

She gave a polite chuckle. He guessed she’d heard that joke before. “Maybe, maybe not. When I got this image, the first thing I did was check the scan you got right after your injury two months ago.” She pulled up a slightly different image and pointed at the same spot. “This shows a hematoma in the same spot that’s pretty close to the same size. The angle is slightly different, which makes it less visible.” She cleared her throat. “We, um, missed it at the time.”

Hez squinted at the screen. The crescent was there, but it was very, very faint. “Yeah, I can see why.”

The doctor relaxed, and her lips curved into the first genuine smile of the meeting. “To be honest, I was a little nervous saying that to a lawyer. Thanks for being understanding.”

“Of course. Mistakes happen, even to lawyers.”

Her smile broadened. “The delayed diagnosis may actually turn out to be a good thing. If I’d noticed the hematoma two months ago, surgery would have been the clear choice. But that’s not true today. I’ve consulted with a radiologist, and we’re fairly certain the hematoma hasn’t grown. Since you also don’t have any classic symptoms of intracranial pressure, I’m inclined to take a ‘watchful waiting’ approach for now. I want you to come in next week for a follow-up scan. After that, you should have scans every few weeks until we’re sure the hematoma is stable and the underlying injury is fully healed. In themeantime, avoid strenuous physical activity and anything that might result in a blow to the head.”

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