Earthbound Angels Part 1: The Heartthrob Fallen Celestial Stories Collection (12 page)

"Well, Amber, I make it a rule not to ever take
on any clients that are not innocent."

"So you're saying that not one of your clients
has ever been guilty?"

"Yes, Amber, that's exactly what I am
saying."

"Are you saying that guilty people don't deserve
a good defense, Mr. Draco?"

"Certainly not. I believe that all suspects
deserve a good defense. It's just that I prefer to only represent
innocent clients because I must believe in them if I'm to offer my
very best defense."

"How did you know that Andrew Martin wasn't
guilty?"

"Now, Amber, I can't give away all of my
secrets. Just suffice it to say that I knew from the moment I shook
his hand."

Amber then turned to Andrew Martin and asked him
how he felt about being found not guilty.

"I can't describe how it feels to know that the
justice system worked and that my attorney was able to prove that I
didn't hurt Pam."

"What are your plans now that you're free?"

"I'm going to have a nice dinner and then I'm
going to see about getting on with my life."

"Will you be going to visit Pamela in the
hospital?"

Simon suddenly stepped in and took control of
the media once more.

"Mr. Martin has had a long day and is anxious to
get home now. Thank you."

With that, Simon used his body to shield Andrew
from the ravenous press members and got into a waiting car.

Turning down the volume with the remote, Graeme
smiled and shook his head. Yes, Simon had pulled another one out of
his hat, it seemed. But he was right. Andrew Martin had been the
scapegoat for this crime all along. Happily, now it was over and he
could try to get on with his life. Graeme was glad that he could
help Simon with what he needed even if was just through Erick.

Just then his phone rang.
Well, speak of the devil and all
that.

"Hello, Erick," Graeme said as he clicked the
phone on.

"Did you see our boy on television just now?"
Erick Angell asked.

"I was just watching it. Glad I could be of some
assistance on this. I would hate to see that guy get away with what
he did to Pamela Stevens. Now that the focus is off of Andrew
Martin, they can reel in the actual attacker."

"Very true," Erick agreed. "Simon wanted me to
thank you again for your help."

"Tell him he's welcome, and anytime," Graeme
said. "I'd love for us to get out and have fun again. Maybe a
dinner will not be bad sometime next week?"

"We'll arrange it then. Holli had been telling
me we guys should go out more often than we do."

"Your wife is a very wise woman, Erick. She's
very special," Graeme said.

"Oh, that she is," Erick agreed on the other end
of the line with a tone in his voice that said more than the words
ever could.

A noise was heard in the house and Graeme looked
in the direction of the front door before going back to the
conversation. "I hate to cut you short, Erick, but I've got an
appointment and I think he's just arrived. We'll speak later."

"Of course," Erick replied.

After disconnecting the phone call, Graeme
pushed the zoom button on his security camera at the gate entrance
to his home which also served as his office. Graeme specialized in
finding missing people but, since he had everything he needed here
at his house, he saw no reason to pay rent on an office. His home
wasn't that far out of Moon Bay and it wasn't that hard to find
once you had the directions to it. However, since he did have his
office in his home, he felt the need for a bit of extra security.
He had installed several top of the line security cameras
throughout his property as well as a very sophisticated alarm
system. In addition to that, he employed four guards as well as
kept four Dobermans to patrol the grounds.

His guards were ex-government employees and he
didn't care which branch they came from. They had clean backgrounds
and were highly effective at what they did. That's all Graeme
needed to know. His Dobermans were true teddy bears-until they were
given certain commands. They were perfect as well in sensing
enemies on their own. On top of all that, Graeme was very
self-sufficient when it came to taking care of himself.

Just now, he was observing the man at his gate
who looked a bit as if he were somewhere between intimidated and
annoyed. Graeme smiled slightly as he watched the man searching for
the right button to push on the intercom system. For fun, Graeme
allowed the alert on his end to sound a couple of times before
answering.

Sometimes, he amused himself with pettiness like
this-very human. But that's it. In the years since he had become an
Earthbound, he had learned how to be human, and these simple acts
of being human could sometimes be refreshing.

Finally, he pushed the button on his end.

"May I help you?" Graeme said.

"Um yes, I've got an appointment with Graeme St.
Paul. My name is Jefferson Graves."

Without saying another word, Graeme pushed the
button that opened the wrought iron gates that would allow Mr.
Graves to enter his property and drive up to his house. He used
this as a sort of test to see how "quick" someone was.

This man appeared to be quicker than most as he
didn't pause to try to ask more questions. He simply watched the
gates open and drove through them. Graeme waited for the man to
drive in sufficiently far enough before closing them again.

His cameras tracked the car as it traveled down
the mile long drive to Graeme's house as he watched. Jefferson
Graves was certainly confident enough as he maneuvered his car, a
black Lexus, down the road toward the house. Graeme was pretty sure
that this man probably had a driver most of the time but he had
given clear instructions that only Mr. Graves was to come to this
appointment. His instructions had been followed.

When Mr. Graves had finally arrived in front of
the house, he exited his car and stood taking in the vastness of
Graeme's home. This was something that typically surprised people
seeing the property for the first time. Everyone nearly always
expected to see some little building or something and they were
nearly always amazed to see what could only mean some serious
money. He waited until Mr. Graves had walked up the steps to the
large wrap around porch and hit the doorbell.

Getting up from his chair, he wandered down the
long wide hallway toward the door. When he opened the door, he
found Mr. Graves in the act of getting ready to ring the doorbell
again. He looked mildly surprised at being caught.

"Hello, Mr. Graves. I'm Graeme St. Paul. Won't
you come in?"

"Oh, hello, Mr. St. Paul! It's so nice to meet
you!"

The two men shook hands in a professional manner
and Graeme stepped back to allow his potentially new client to
enter his home.

Having come through the door, Jefferson Graves
stood in the large foyer and took in his surroundings.

Graeme took his jacket and hung it from the coat
rack by the door. He was just turning around to shake hands with
Graeme while trying to arrange his face in a semblance of
nonchalance.

Graeme had to hide a grin. Clearly, this man was
used to being surrounded by money, yet here he was seemingly
stunned at the opulence that belonged to a lowly private
investigator. He almost wished that Simon could be here to shake
hands with this man. In that way, he would know without a shadow of
a doubt whether Jefferson Graves was someone he wanted to work with
or not.

"Come on back to my office," Graeme said as he
led the way.

Jefferson Graves followed.

WHEN THEY REACHED the open double doors, Graeme
stood aside and allowed his guest to enter first. Again, it seemed
difficult for the other man to hide his amazement.

This was one of Graeme's favorite rooms in the
house and was the reason he chose it to be his office. Behind his
massive antique desk was a wall of floor to ceiling windows that
looked out over a very carefully cultivated and manicured garden.
The various flowers and greenery were lush and in full bloom even
during this time of the year. The wall at the far end of the room
contained a large stone fireplace.

Facing it was a loveseat, which was flanked by a
matching easy chair on either side. A coffee table sat in the
middle. The other walls were made up of floor to ceiling bookcases
that were filled with books. Sliding ladders were attached to all
of the bookcases so the top shelves could be reached with ease.

Graeme indicated the two leather high-backed
chairs that sat facing his desk and invited Jefferson Graves to
have a seat. Then he sat down himself.

"Now, Mr. Graves, what can I do for you?" Graeme
asked.

"This is rather complicated, but I'll try to
simplify it a bit in the interest of time. You may be familiar with
Graves Enterprises. My two brothers and I have running the company
along with our father, who died recently as a result of a terrible
accident. Fortunately, he had left a will so we all know what his
wishes were. There's quite a bit of money involved in his estate as
well as the business itself. Most of the money as well as an
interest in the business have been left to my brothers and me. The
remainder of the estate has been left to a younger sister that we
had no idea even existed. The problem is that since we never knew
of her, obviously we don't have a recent address for her. We did
try to do a little searching on our own but, so far, we haven't had
any success in locating her. That's when my brothers and I decided
we should involve a professional. And here I am."

"I see," Graeme said, nodding. "So you want to
hire me to find this sister of yours. If I'm going to find her,
I'll need a bit of information in order to get started on a basic
search and then go from there if needed. Whatever details you've
managed to unearth will be helpful in getting started. Here's a
list of my fees and what they cover."

Sliding a sheet of paper across the table, he
watched Graves merely glance at it and nod.

"Your fees aren't a problem, Mr. St. Paul. Our
only interest is in finding our long lost sister. If you agree to
help locate her, I'm prepared to write you a check today."

"Very well, Mr. Graves," Graeme said. "I'll get
started on this immediately and keep you updated as I find out
anything."

Fifteen minutes later, Graeme was seeing
Jefferson Graves to the door. He went back to his office, check in
hand, and watched his security cameras so that he would know when
to open the gates for Graves to depart. Once that was done, he sat
back and reflected on what little bit of information Graves had
been able to supply about his long lost, unknown sister.

Her name was Kiara Shannon and she was
approximately 26 years old. Graves hadn't known her exact
birthdate. He and his brothers had managed to unearth the fact that
she had been born in Moon Bay in one of the main hospitals there.
That was as good a place as any for him to start.

He turned to face his computer and used his
special search software to try to locate Kiara's birth certificate.
It took a few minutes to find what he was looking for, but
eventually, he had the one he needed. The fact that she had a
rather odd name helped as well as knowing what hospital she was
born in. He did have to run the entire year because Graves didn't
have a birth month for her, but he finally hit pay dirt.

The birth certificate for Kiara Shannon showed
her birth date as June 25th and her mother's name was Renee
Shannon. Renee had been 22 when Kiara was born. Father was
Unknown.

Well, that's not a huge surprise, being as her
father was a very well-known businessman in town, and a married one
at that. A little more research turned up that Renee Shannon was
deceased and had been since Kiara was little more than 18 years
old.

At least she wasn't dumped into the
system,
thought Graeme.
He had to assume that Kiara never knew the elder Mr. Graves or that
he was her father. After her mother's death, it seemed that Kiara
had simply gone off the grid. Graeme didn't doubt that he would be
able to find her, though.

After all, finding missing people was what he
did best. It was his special calling and he never failed to find
the missing person he's meant to locate. He was ready to find Ms.
Kiara Shannon no matter how much work it would take to do so.

THE NEXT MORNING, Graeme got up, made coffee and
planned out his day.

He had given his housekeeper Stella the week off
so that she and her husband could go on a proper vacation, which he
also paid for.

Graeme was generous if he wasn't anything else.
Besides, Stella and Jerry were the closest things he had to a
family her on Earth. He was glad that she seemed to be having a
good time, but he couldn't deny that he was going to be relieved to
see her return. It was hard to understand how she managed to keep
his house running so smoothly. That was a feat that he certainly
couldn't do.