Page 58 of Escape Girl

Blech.

“When I asked him where he worked before the best firm, he squinted his eyes in a mean way,” she said thoughtfully. “Said he’d worked at another big-time firm, but it was full of old tight-asses.”

Unhelpful. All top-tier firms were chock-full of old tight-asses.

“College or law school?”

Another roll of those huge sapphire eyes. “He said, ‘Ivy League all the way.’ I think that was a lie though. He repeated my question back to me first, and his voice went to a slightly higher pitch when he answered.”

I glanced at her, impressed. “You’re good at this.”

Sloan gave me a huge, unabashed grin. “I know.”

She sighed and pushed herself off the wall. “Wish I could have gotten you more, but he kept inching closer to me. When he pressed his thigh against mine, I wanted out of there.”

“Gross. I’m so sorry. You did great. We got useful clues,” I fibbed while offering a reassuring smile.

She squeezed me in a half hug with one arm. “He gave me a creepy-crawly feeling, so I sure hope you nail him. Don’t ever want to run into Hilt the Douchebag again, that’s for sure.” She skipped down the street a few steps. “Text me later!”

I snapped my chin toward her. “Sloan, wait. Did you just call him Hilt? With aT? His name is James A. Hill.”

She shrugged and raised her eyebrows. “He introduced himself to me as ‘Hilt.’ Must be a nickname or something. Bye-ee! I gotta get back to work.”

I barely heard her farewell. That telltale shiver of adrenaline was at the base of my spine again, and I sprinted toward my hotel.

*

Three hours later,I let out a triumphant screech. “I got you. I got you!” I shouted in my empty room.

I snorted with laughter and shook my head ruefully. As someone who had so many issues with her name, this scenario should have occurred to me sooner. James A. Hill was a ghost in the legal community and on social media because he hadn’t even existed two years ago.

Name changes were part of the public record, but that didn’t mean they were easy to find. You needed to search through the clerk of court records of the county in which the name change took place. I tried a few of the online search systems for CookCounty and at least twenty of the Chicago suburbs, but my eyes started to cross before I had any luck.

But I wasn’t ready to give up. Maybe the key was actually Cole Taggert. I couldn’t find the right James A. Hill on social media, but I could find Cole Taggert. Unfortunately, all of his social media accounts were set to private. Only his friends could look at his pictures and posts.

In the end, it was incredibly simple. Rubbing my eyes, I typed “Cole Taggert and Hilt” into Google. The very first hit was from an article in an issue of the alumni magazine from University of Illinois. The article was boasting of its most influential alums, and Cole Taggert was the star of the piece. There were several photos of him: his SideDoor headshot, a picture of him standing in front of glass desk, arms crossed over his chest like an actor playing a mob boss. Finally, a candid from a college reunion celebration just a few years back. He stood laughing, his face ruddy and eyes bleary, next to a familiar tall, sandy-haired dude holding a beer. The photo was captioned: “Cole Taggert and Hiltan James, Esq, fellow Fighting Illini alum.”

Hiltan James.Ha.

James A. Hill was invisible on the internet, but Hiltan James was not.

Within minutes, I found his prior place of employment. According to a dated LinkedIn profile, he’d been at Scully Thomas for several years, which was another big firm here in the city, albeit not one well known for IP law. A simple Google search on Hiltan James revealed locked social media accounts, random mentions of his times in old 5k races, but no scandalous news articles.

So, why the name change? Why would you go by another name for no reason?

He’s been overly aggressive and entitled. Lazy. I think he was lying.

Hmmm. Biting my lip, I navigated to the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission website and searched for Hiltan James’s profile. Everything looked normal until I pulled up the Public Record of Discipline and Pending Proceedings.

My, my, my. Hiltan James, you got yourself in some deep shit, didn’t you?

I was about to dig deeper, but black dots suddenly appeared in front of my vision, and I realized that I hadn’t eaten all day. In fact, I hadn’t eaten anything yesterday either. I’d left my appetite in the dining room of Bobby’s townhouse.

Maybe I could use some help.

Hey, Max,

Taggert’s lawyer, James A. Hill, changed his name in the past two years from Hiltan James. It looks like he might be an old college buddy. I’m reading between the lines a bit, but he may have been fired from Scully Thomas because of some ethical violation. He was suspended for a significant amount of time, which is a penalty just shy of being disbarred. Can you research a little more on this? I’m wondering if he’s actually even an IP lawyer at all. What did he get suspended for? Please keep all searches legally aboveboard.

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