Page 16 of Linc
“I’m the same.I don’t mind a little cold but only when I go skiing.Grandpa and Grandma have a place a town or two over from Dillon called Twin Bridges.We’ve had to fly into Dillon a few times or I wouldn’t know that city.”
“Did you speak with Bill in HR?”Olivia breaks me out of my thoughts coming into my corner office with a stack of more papers.She looks just as tired as I am.We haven’t had to pull all-nighters since law school and it’s starting to weigh on my mental state.
I shake my head and sip on the hot coffee.The burn tunneling down my throat only soothes me, as I feel as though I’m on fire, after learning of this betrayal in my own company.
“I want everything we have so there won’t be any surprises to find out about later on.He obviously wanted us to be blindsided when this was submitted in court.”My conference table by the windows is filled with boxes of evidence and witness statements for our high-profile case with Dustin Barker.
Dustin Barker is being tried for the murder of his former girlfriend and her lover.There is the murder weapon with his fingerprints on it and also bloody clothes that match the victims’ blood type.It should be a no brainer for the prosecution, but the chain of evidence and command has been improperly followed along with some other evidence that looks to be planted, not to mention protocol wasn’t followed by a new officer on the force.We took on the case when his father, who is part owner in an oil company, came to us for our help.We knew it wouldn’t be a slam dunk but that makes the challenge sweeter.That and the hefty payment that hit our account.
I wasn’t the lead attorney on the case, but I’ve been involved the entire time.I’ve had several other cases I’m working on right now and set Kevin Jenkins as the lead.He was promoted two months ago as a Senior Associate and has moved up in the ranks quickly.Kevin has one of the best win records out of the associates and works harder than anyone else in the firm, except Olivia and me.He has a lot of potential which is why I can’t seem to wrap my head around what we’ve recently found out.
“It just doesn’t make any sense.Why would he ruin his career like this?It’s kind of a no brainer with the case,” Olivia voices to no one in general.
“I’m just glad Alex thought enough to double check the statements before court on Wednesday.This could do a lot of damage to the firm once it was submitted.”
“Yeah, we lucked out with that one.Maybe we should designate a person who looks over all the paperwork before submitting,” I say thinking out loud.
“It’s not a bad idea but we’d need more than one person with as many cases as we have going on,” Olivia adds.
“Let’s ask Bill in HR what his thoughts are and Sally over in financing if it’s something we can do as a trial basis,” I say and send off a quick email to them inquiring about our current needs.“Have you called Kevin in yet?”
“No, I wanted to make sure we had all our ducks in a row.”
We spend the next five hours poring over the documents, finding more and more falsified statements.Kevin really wanted to stick it to us, or me I should say.Almost every document that is falsified is signed and dated under my name, even though I have not done much with this case.If this had been found out by the court and or the prosecutors, I could be disbarred and lose my law license here in California.No way in hell am I going to lose something I’ve worked my ass off to get to where I am.Not to mention, the state could open up all my previous cases to make sure there wasn’t any foul play in the past as well.In other words, it would fuck my life up even more and it wouldn’t be pleasant for any of my former clients.
The more I find, the angrier I get.This piece of shit was trying to set me up to take a huge fall.I’ve had Dean, our researcher and investigator for the firm, come and start doing a more thorough background on Kevin Jenkins, to see what this dude’s problem is.Why is he willing to throw away years of hard work and school for this?
A knock on my door has me looking up from the papers in front of me.Dale, my security, stands there with a duffle bag.I’m still in the clothes I wore yesterday, when I went out with Everly to the movies.Christ, I haven’t even slept yet as the twenty-four-hour mark has approached.Olivia went home a few hours ago to get some rest before coming in early tomorrow morning for the confrontation with Kevin.
Checking out the window, it’s pitch black, and my eyes are getting blurry as the words are all mushing together.My head hurts from wanting to explode and strangle my soon-to-be former employee, and I think I need to call it a night.
“Dale,” I address him.“Let’s get out of here.Take me home, please.”
The moment I go to stand, I feel every bit my age as the stiffness from sitting too long kicks in and I walk as though I’m in my eighties.
In the car, I shoot off more emails to HR about Kevin and then check my texts.I haven’t heard anything from Everly today and hate that this shithead ruined my weekend with my girl.
Me: You still up, angel?
I check my watch seeing that it’s clearly after eleven.
Everly: Watching a movie.
Everly: Did everything go okay with your case?
My chest tightens with her asking about it.
Me: As good as could be expected.Have lunch with me tomorrow.
It takes a few moments, and I think she might’ve fallen asleep but the dots start to pulse.I know she’s off on Mondays and she’d told me earlier that she didn’t have any plans, so this is perfect.
Everly: You aren’t busy?Tomorrow is Monday.Like a normal workday for most people.
I actually laugh and it feels good after the past twenty-four hours I’ve had.
Me: I’ll always make time for you.
Everly: Okay, but I’m picking this time.Should we meet somewhere?
