The Bad Judgment Series: The Complete Series (40 page)

If we got that far.

“Sit up, Lester,” I said without sympathy. He glared at me while he rubbed his neck. “Now, tell me how I’m responsible for the rest of this mess.”

“
A
ctually
, before we get to the worst part….” I started.

“The worst part wasn’t Walker trying to kill me?” Lester asked, rubbing his throat.

“It all depends on your perspective, I guess,” I said, and gave him a long look.

“What I want to know are two things. First: what is Advent? The name keeps popping up.”

“Advent is the name of the LLC we started — we meaning me and David Proctor — after we realized you were digging deeper into the Miami corporation,” he said. “The firm was going all in once they realized that we had them on the accounting stuff, and that we were prepared to say they’d been colluding against their client from the beginning. They committed to us. We were using Advent as a cover, so we could eventually move all the files and payments over to it. We were going to use its name for everything — billables, accounts payable, etcetera — so that it just looked like a regular client file.” He paused for a beat. “What was the second thing?”

“Who was having us followed?” I asked. “There were at least two people following us, all the time. One of them, a woman, sped off right after that delivery guy left our house. Next thing we knew, he was dead. Who was she?”

“Walker,” Lester called suddenly, “are you gonna choke me again if I tell Nicole the truth?”

“Not if you actually tell the truth,” Walker called back, calmly. “But don’t disrespect her. Otherwise, I’m gonna make you pass out next time.”

Lester frowned but nodded, as if this was as he expected. “They were government — I should say, they were independent contractors hired by the government. Actually they were hired by John Tobin, just to make sure that Walker didn’t make a run for it.

“At first, they were working
just
for Mr. Tobin. But then someone from your firm put them on the payroll, and had them reporting to him as well. Tracking your moves. They were looking for something very specific, and they offered to pay them handsomely for it.”

“What did they want?” I asked, barely breathing.

“Your credit card information,” Lester said.

“Why,” I said, not even bothering to raise my voice to form a question. I could hear my heart thudding, and sudden stillness from the kitchen — Walker and April didn’t seem to be moving, waiting for an answer.

“So they could buy all sorts of things with it,” Lester said, smoothly. “Once the firm had decided that they were going to partner with me, they went all in. I was somewhat surprised by the lengths they went to. They wanted their firm protected, themselves protected, and most of all, their money protected. So they came up with a Plan B. Nicole, you were the Plan B.”

I just blinked at him.

“The deeper you were getting with Walker, the more it looked like you were going to go rogue, leave the firm and represent him yourself— they wanted to have a backup plan. Because they couldn’t have you digging too deep into the files. You would have seen what was really happening. So they bought things that made it look like you were planning on running. Flashlights, sleeping bags, disposable cellphones, guns, a tent, survival gear. A guide to living in the desert — all sorts of crazy prepper shit. They were preparing to frame you. That was the first step. When you gave your notice, they took it one step further. They had this stuff in place, so that it would support their other theory: that you were creating a horrible distraction with that bomb, so that you and your lover could run. But instead, you were the one going to get killed.”

I felt like he had slapped me.

I sat there for a moment, reeling. My analytical mind saw all sorts of holes in his story; I went over them, again and again, feeling their width, their breadth. “What about the fact that David asked me back and I said yes,” I said, “when he offered to pay all my debts? Why would he still want to kill me?”

“Because you couldn’t be trusted, no matter what you said. You’d found out too much and had too many suspicions. So they wanted you out there, near the car. And then they blamed you for the whole thing.”

“That’s ridiculous,” I said, after a minute. “That bomb was in the car that was meant for
me
. People would know that. And know that I’m innocent.”

“No one knows you’re innocent, Nicole,” Lester said, leaning forward. “The public thinks you and Walker were planning on running, and that you’d been preparing for a while. They made it look like you two were planning on running forever, and they released that information via a ‘leak’ — in the guise of Norris Phaland. They let the public think you set off that bomb so you two could create confusion and escape.”

Lester’s shiny face took on a look of excitement as he explained it to me. “Who knew you were getting in that car, Nicole? No one. No one except for David Proctor and you — and you were supposed to be dead after it went off. That’s about as small as a circle can get. A circle of one.”

“But what about Walker?” I asked. “He knew.”

“Walker was supposed to be colluding with you. He was the intended beneficiary of your actions,” Lester said. “So if he said after the fact that you couldn’t have done it, that you weren’t planning on running, it would have just looked like he was protecting himself. David and Norris made sure that you were both painted into a corner. With shackles on. Oh yeah, except Walker was supposed to end up in jail, his credibility totally shattered. And you were supposed to end up in a coffin. In a corner. With shackles on.”

We stopped talking and just looked at each other for a minute. I searched Lester’s face. He looked as though he were telling me the ugly truth, and was just waiting for it to sink in. For me to catch up to its ugliness.

“Was the government involved with the bomb and the cover-up?” I asked, shakily. “Did they supply fake information?”

Lester shook his head,
no.
“David Proctor claimed that the government had intelligence that you’d bought a bomb and that you were responsible. But he came up with that all by himself. He figured that we were all in too deep to call each other out at that point. John Tobin stepped in and confirmed the intel, even though it wasn’t true. It was, however, in the government’s best interests,” he said, “so John was pretty happy to oblige.

“And just so you know, John Tobin also sent Laura, the Miami secretary, on a permanent vacation. He had somebody send her, anyway. I just didn’t want you to think it was me.”

He blinked at me innocently and I just shook my head at him in disgust.

“So four people are dead, in all, and everyone thinks Walker and I are guilty — of fraud, of murder, of conspiracy,” I said, my head starting to throb with a painful headache. I rubbed my temples.

“Pretty much,” Lester said. “And David, Norris, John Tobin and I were living the good life. We didn’t have to worry about a trial, we didn’t have to worry about you coming back, because everyone was out looking for you, believing you were armed and dangerous. The police, the FBI…. We were all just waiting for that phone call, to say that they’d found you, and that you were both dead.”

“But here you are,” I said, and all of a sudden, I didn’t feel so bad anymore. I now had the full story, courtesy of Lester Max, and I was going to pay some people back for what they’d done.

My headache lifted and I felt almost exultant.

“Here I am,” Lester said, and shook his head. “Karma is a bitch.”

“She sure is,” I said, and found myself smiling.

E
ven though it
had been a long day, I decided I couldn't put off calling Alexa. She wasn’t going to be happy to hear from me...but really, what else was new?

She answered her cellphone on the first ring. “What?” she said.

“Alexa, it’s me,” I said.

“I know,” she huffed. “Who else calls me with a blocked number?”

“Oh, I don’t know…maybe one of your married boyfriends?” I offered.

I heard her sigh, like it was coming out from between clenched teeth. “Those dudes just text me,” she said. “So anyway — what's the deal?”

“The deal is, we’ve got a safe house set up for you. In Southie. Now, before you sigh ….” she was already sighing, but I went on anyway — “it’s in a nice building. A doorman. Security. It's brand new.”

I paused for a beat. “Our contact is bringing Tammy there tonight. You can’t tell anyone, do you understand? I haven’t even spoken to her yet. I’m thinking she got fired…she probably signed some sort of separation agreement that says she can’t discuss the details surrounding her leaving the firm. They probably bought her off with a decent retirement, if she swore not to speak about the firm, ever.”

“Tammy’s not very loyal, I guess,” Alexa said.

“She’s actually loyal to a fault,” I said, worrying. “I don’t think David Proctor had a grasp on how much she knew. If he had, she wouldn’t still be alive. So she probably made the deal knowing that. And she’s just been waiting since then.”

“For you and Walker to show up in body bags?” Alexa asked.

“Or come back alive,” I said. “Although I don’t think too many people are expecting that, at this point.” An image of my poor father came to me and I squinted my eyes shut.

“Our contact has gotten a network set up. I had him get some equipment,” I said.

Alexa huffed some more. “I went out and bought a whole bunch of stuff already — like you told me to.”

“Good. You’ll need all of it. We’re gonna have you running several setups, just to keep it scrambled. I need you to get over there tonight. The address is 14 Cross Street. It’s Unit Ten. Make sure you meet the security guard and play nice — very nice, please. We need them to want to protect you, just in case anyone comes looking.”

“How long do you expect me to do this?” Alexa asked.

“I don't know. Pack a suitcase,” I said, and she hiss-sighed again. “Listen, I know exactly what we’re looking for now. So once you get set up tonight, we’re going to start assembling things. I’m going to ask you to make hard copies, too. We’ll either arrange to have it sent to us or we’ll organize a pick up.

“And, Alexa,” I said, “listen to me carefully. The people that you’re working for are the people that you can’t trust. They’re dangerous. More dangerous than I ever thought. And they’re going to do anything they can to cover up what they’ve done.” The blood in my veins went icy at the thought of what they’d done — what they were capable of. “So you have to be your plotting, scheming, calculating best self. You have to lie, every second of every day here on out. You also have to watch your back. Do you have a gun?” I asked.

“No,” she said. “But I always have my mace. And I’m pretty good with it. My dad also made me take a self-defense class in college.”

“Good,” I said, “but I’m going to arrange for our contact to get both you and Tammy guns. If I can shoot one, you two can learn.”

“Duh,” Alexa said. “But is it really necessary? I mean, isn’t this new place secret and secure? Are you really worried about them finding us there, or shooting me at work?”

I let the pause between us stretch out, giving Alexa time to remember what had happened to Mandy not that long ago.

“Wait — that was
them
?
They
killed Mandy?” she screeched, and I had to hold the phone away from my ear.

“It was. I just found out today,” I said, and my voice broke, thinking of my poor friend and the greedy, self-involved bastards that had ended her life.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, Nicole,” Alexa said. “You think I’m going back in there tomorrow? And play super-spy for you?”

“That’s exactly what I expect you to do,” I said, “because even though you’re sort of a bitch, you know right from wrong. I know you do.”

She paused, not saying anything for once. “We’ll see,” she said, stiffly. “But I’m gonna need something other than luxury goods. A
Louis Vuitton
steamer trunk isn’t even gonna cut it. Walker’s gonna have to fund my dad’s next campaign.”

“I’m sure we’ll think of something,” I said. “In the meantime, just think about someone other than yourself for once. Think about Mandy.”

“
W
hat’s the plan
?” April asked. We’d just finished dinner — April, myself, Walker and Lester Max. It had been an odd feeling with us all around the table, like it was the most awkward family dinner ever.

“This is delicious,” Lester had said at one point. “Can you pass the wine?”

Obviously, the man was shameless. Walker passed him the wine, an exasperated look on his face, but he stayed silent. He was used to him. Even the newest revelation of his character, this new low, didn’t appear to shock Walker.

I guess he’d seen it all.

“The plan,” I said, feeling shaky and wired because I’d only slept two hours the night before, “is to send you two back to Boston tomorrow.”

Lester Max looked at me and for once, his look acknowledged that I’d outmaneuvered him.

“Huh?” he said.

“You no longer work for Blue Securities,” Walker said, filling his wine glass and leaning back into his chair. I suddenly realized that we hadn’t been alone in twenty-four hours and that I missed him, terribly. “You work for Mr. and Mrs. White now. And you’re not going to tell a soul.”

“Who would I tell?” Lester said and cackled. “Norris Phaland? So he can shoot me?”

“The Board is in charge of the company, now,” Walker said, rubbing the scruffy beard that was growing in on his face. “You have to do whatever they ask, while simultaneously doing what I need you to do.”

“Which is what, exactly?” Lester asked.

“We need concrete evidence that ties John Tobin and the Proctor firm to what’s happened. I have two objectives: to clear Nicole’s name and to make sure that David and Norris do jail time. They killed those people. They deserve justice.”

“What about me?” Lester asked.

I shifted uncomfortably while Walker gave him a long look. “You deserve the same,” he said, quietly, “but I’m not going to be the one who gives it to you. Unless you cross me, again. Then it won’t be justice — it’ll just be violence.” They looked at each other for a beat.

“If you do this for me, and if we pull it off — I will compensate you handsomely,” Walker said. “Even though it goes against every fiber of my being. You betrayed me. You plotted against me, and you tried to take everything I’ve worked for away — even though I’ve always taken care of you. That’s some sort of bottom feeder,” Walker said. “I can’t even wrap my head around how greedy and narcissistic you are.”