Advice of Counsel (The Samuel Collins Series Book 1) (34 page)

My syndrome was back in full force, kicking my butt.  “You’re
welcome.  It was my pleasure.”

I felt very uncomfortable when Landra got back to the table. 
It was one thing having the hots for my neighbor when my girlfriend wasn’t
around, but it was totally different when she was sitting right there next to
me.  What was wrong with me?

I looked from Landra to Maddie.  They were both pretty, but in
a different way. Maddie had the all-American-girl look while Landra was more
exotic looking.  They were both smart.  They both had a sense of humor.  But
that was where the similarity ended.  Landra came with much less baggage than
Maddie.  She didn’t have kids and she wasn’t my neighbor.  Of course, I was no
longer Maddie’s boss, so that was one less thing going against her.  And she
was no longer my client.

“Hello . . . anybody home?” someone was saying.

I snapped out of my reverie and both women were looking at me. 
“Excuse me?” I said.

“Where were you?” Landra laughed.

“I wasn’t listening,” I said vaguely.

“No kidding.  Are you ready to go?”

“Let’s do it.”

Landra was the only one in any shape to drive so she drove us
all home in my Suburban, then we all piled back in the next morning to retrieve
everyone’s car.  I was probably the most hung-over out of the bunch, and I
wished I could turn right around and go back home like Landra did.  As it was,
I had to work.

The first thing I did when we got to the office was to call
Dick and finalize the settlement agreement.  He actually apologized for what
had happened at the Tower and he seemed genuinely upset by the whole thing.  I
was seeing a side to Dick that I didn’t know existed.  But then again, maybe he
was just worried that I was going to turn down the offer.

Niki called mid-morning hounding me about his party again.  I
knew what the deal was.  Hardly any of his friends lived in town and he was
going to be totally outnumbered by Stacy’s friends.

“It’s next week, right?” I said, knowing full well that it was
in three days.

“It’s Friday.  This Friday.”

“This Friday?  Oh . . . no can do,” I said.

“You’re so full of shit, Collins.  I talked to Landra about it
last week.”

“Don’t be talking to my girlfriend behind my back,” I said. 
“Hey, did you hear that the grand jury no-billed her case?”

“I hadn’t heard.  Congratulations, I guess.  Just don’t go
leaving her as a beneficiary in your will any time soon,” he said.  I knew he
was only half-joking, but I didn’t let it bother me.  In order to preserve my
friendship with the guy, I’d resigned myself to agree to disagree on the
matter.

“I’m going to come to your party and get drunk and throw up all
over Stacy,” I said.

Niki laughed.  “She’d kick your ass.”

“I know.  She scares me.”

“I’ll see you Friday,” he said, and he hung up laughing.

I sat at my desk for the next hour doing nothing.  Nothing but
thinking, anyway.  Making money overnight was a concept that was difficult to
grasp.  I’d never been hard up for money before, but I’d never been filthy rich
either.  It was hard to get into the mindset that I had a lot of money and I
could do whatever I wanted, be it work or play.  And therein lay the problem: 
I didn’t know what I wanted to do.

I liked practicing law.  And I liked my house and my car.  But
a part of me kept looking for
something
to change in my life, now that I
had the means.  I finally decided that I’d take a vacation.  I wouldn’t take
any new cases and I’d take off for a month or two.  That way, I didn’t have to
get rid of my house or my car, but I’d feel like I’d gotten something out of my
new-found wealth.

I went out to the reception area and sat on the sofa.  “What
are you going to do with your money?” I asked Maddie.

“Whale, I guess I’m just going to live off of it for a while. 
I can stay home with the boys, which is what I’ve always wanted to do.  That’s
the main thing. Other than that, I don’t expect that I’ll do a whole lot
different.  Maybe buy a new car.”

“You need a new car.”

She smiled.  “What about you?” she asked.  “What are you going
to do?”

“I think I’m going to take a vacation.  Other than that, I
don’t know.”

“It’s weird, isn’t it?”

“It is weird,” I said.

“I’ve been thinking about something that I want to run past
you,” Maddie said.  “And if you don’t want to do it, just say so.  It won’t
hurt my feelings or I won’t get mad or anything.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“Whale, I was wanting to take $1 million off the top of the
settlement amount and give it to Penny, and then we do the 60/40 split on the
$13 million.”

I was in love with this woman.  There was no doubt about it. 
My guts were doing this thing that was about to make me sick.  It was the
thought of her not being my secretary any more; the thought of her going out
with Calvin or Matt; the thought of never kissing her again; the thought that
it wasn’t a syndrome and it never had been.

“I think that’s a great idea,” I said.

“You do?”

“Absolutely.  But we have to tell her it’s conditioned upon her
not quitting on me.”

“I don’t think we can do that,” Maddie laughed.  “Besides, I
think she works because she wants to.”

“What about you?  Any chance you’d work part-time?”

“I don’t know.  Maybe.”

“Well that’s better than a flat-out no.”

I was at home later that evening and it was just me and the
Siamese, and for some reason, the bastard was all over me.  I couldn’t get away
from him.  He’d follow me to the bedroom, then back to the fortress.  Wherever
I went, there he was.  It was like he’d anticipate my every move and try to
beat me to it.

“What is your problem?” I finally asked him.

He gave me a hearty meow and wrapped himself around my legs.

“Are you hungry?” I asked.

I reached down and scooped him up and gave him a scratch behind
the ears.  His motor was rumbling away and he was moving his head around to
make sure every inch got scratched.  I dumped some food into his bowl and set
him back down on the ground beside it, but apparently he wasn’t interested in
eating.  Something else was bothering him, but I had no idea what.  Whatever it
was, he was beginning to annoy me.

I went back to my bathroom and when I came out, the bastard was
sitting on my tux.  I’d taken the damn thing out to see if it needed cleaning,
which up until then, it didn’t, but I could imagine how much cat hair would be
stuck to the thing after he’d lounged on it.  Not only that, but the bastard
had his paw in the pocket and I could hear him clawing the material, sharpening
his damn nails on my jacket!

“Get off of there, you bastard!” I shouted.

The Siamese scrambled off the bed in a blur of fur, dragging my
tux with him and he shot under the bed like a missile.  I picked up my jacket
and shook the hair off and examined the pocket he’d been fondling.  There was
no visible damage on the outside, but the thing would definitely need to go to
the cleaners.

I cursed the Siamese and threatened him with eviction as soon
as he got the balls to come out from under the bed.  He never came out, but
shortly afterwards, I heard him playing with something, rolling it around and
batting it back and forth.  My curiosity finally got the best of me and I got
on my hands and knees and poked my head under the bed.

“What do you have?” I asked.

The Siamese crouched down trying to be invisible.  I could see
what he was playing with but I couldn’t make out what it was, so I reached my
arm under the bed.  I could just reach it with my fingertips, so I flicked the
thing and it rolled out from under the foot of the bed.  It was a shiny little
thing, spinning like a top, but I still couldn’t make out what it was.

I got back to my feet and walked around to the other side of
the bed and picked the thing up and looked it over.  And as soon as I saw it, I
knew exactly what it was.  I stood there immobilized, just looking at the
thing.   The hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention and a chill ran
down my spine.  I closed my fingers around the thing and clenched it in my
fist, and sat down on the bed in shock, thinking.  The Siamese was at my side
again, purring, but I was too out-of-it to acknowledge him.

I opened my hand and looked at it again.  It was a little rhinestone
button shaped like a rose, nestled in an antique-looking setting.

The DA was right the whole time.  She’d shoved Drake out the
window; she’d beat herself up; and the last thing she had done was rip her own
dress.  It was the only way she would have ended up with the button.  I’d put
my coat around her shoulders and she’d slipped the button in my pocket. She’d
been using me the whole time and I’d fallen for it hook, line and sinker.  And
if she’d been using me, that meant she was probably using Mrs. Howard too.  And
the Johnses.  Damn Niki Lautrec!  He was always right.

The only question left was what I was going to do about it. 
Landra was protected by attorney-client privilege, so even if she confessed to
the whole thing, I couldn’t do anything.  But one thing was for sure – whatever
it took, I’d get even with Landra Krally, even if I had to lose my license to
practice law in the process.  For my pride’s sake; for Mrs. Howard’s sake; and
for the Johns’ sake.  I’d get even.  But I had no idea how.

*    *    *    *

I was so numb when Oliver came knocking at my door that I
couldn’t even pretend to be okay.  I felt like everything I’d known was a lie. 
She’d made me fall in love with her, and what was worse, I was certain that it
was all part of her plan.  God only knows how long it would have been before I
was her next victim.  Especially since I’d just come into a small fortune. 
Hell, it wouldn’t surprise me to see her find a way to prey on Maddie’s
millions too.  I was bitter and I was angry and I was feeling extremely
vindictive.

I opened the door and the first thing out of Oliver’s mouth
was, “You’re face looks like this.”

“I know.  I’m in a bad mood.  What’s up?” I had to consciously
make myself be nice to him.

“Mom wants to know if you want to eat dinner with us,” he said.

“I don’t think I’d be very good company tonight.”

Maddie and the baby were walking across my lawn and Oliver
turned around and shouted, “He’s not good company tonight.”

When Maddie reached my door, she was laughing.  “What’s the
matter?  You look . . . weird.”

“Nothing.  That I can talk about.”

Maddie turned to Oliver.  “Why don’t you and Max go play in the
grass over there,” she said, and the boys took off running.  When they’d gone,
she turned back to me.  “Tell me what happened,” she said.

“I can’t.  It’s nothing.”  I couldn’t even look at her.  There
was a big lump in my throat and I almost felt like I could cry, which was
something I’d done very rarely as an adult, and something I had no intention of
doing in front of Maddie.

She reached over and held my hand.  “It can’t be that bad.”

“Yeah, it can.”  I was watching her kids amuse themselves in my
yard and I wished that I still shared some of that innocence of youth.

“You know you can trust me, don’t you?”

My eyes had been opened so abruptly that I had wondered if I’d
ever be able to trust again, but she’d just answered the question for me.

“I trust you with my life,” I said.  I put my arm around her
and she leaned her head on my shoulder.

“Then tell me.  Maybe I can help.”

The truth was, I needed to tell someone.  I felt like I was
being eaten up inside – that the knowledge was chewing a hole in my guts – and
with each minute that I kept it to myself, the feeling got worse. I held my
head in my hands and rubbed my temples. I needed to tell someone.

“She did it,” I finally said.

“Who did what?” Maddie asked confused.

I looked at her for the first time.  My eyes were starting to
sting.  “Landra killed Drake Reeds,” I said.  “And probably her husband too.”

She stared at me in disbelief.  “What makes you say that?” she
finally said.

“I found the button off of her dress in my tux pocket.  She
ripped her own dress.”

“Now, you don’t know that, Samuel.  There could be a logical
explanation.  Maybe it came loose earlier and she put in there so she wouldn’t
lose it.”

I shook my head. “I buttoned her dress for her when I got to
her house that night. That button wasn’t loose.  It wasn’t going anywhere on
its own.  Besides, it was the only thing holding up the top of her dress; if it
had come off during the night, her top would have fallen down.”

“Are you sure it’s even the same button?”

“Positive.  I’ve never seen another one like it.”

“Oh, Samuel.”  She took my hand again and held it between both
of hers.  “If it’s true, what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.  But this conversation can’t leave these steps. 
You understand that?”

“I told you that you could trust me.  I give you my word, I
won’t tell a soul.”

The boys were racing to the steps.  “Want to chase me, Samuel?”
Oliver asked.

“Not right now, sport.  Let’s do it tomorrow.”

Maddie stood up.  “I’ve got spaghetti sauce on the stove that I
need to check.  Will you come eat with us?” she asked.

“Thanks, but I think I’m going to stick around here.  I don’t
have much appetite anyway.”

“Then come for the company.  I don’t want you being here by
yourself right now,” she said.  “Not in the state you’re in.”

“I’m fine.  Well, maybe not fine, but I’ll be okay.”

She kissed me on the cheek.  “We’ll figure something out.  I
promise.”

I went back inside and walked around my house in a stupor.  The
Siamese was following me again, but this time I didn’t care.  I sat down on the
couch and tried to think things through, but I wasn’t thinking clearly.  What I
needed to do was distance myself from the whole thing.  Forget that I ever
loved her; forget that she’d been my girlfriend.  I needed to get my shit
together and do something.  If I was going to bust her, I needed more evidence.

“Let’s go for a walk,” I finally told the Siamese, and we
walked across the street to Mrs. Howard’s.