The Bad Judgment Series: The Complete Series (42 page)

“In addition to that, I want you to get three of our prototypes to track their computers. One for David, one for Norris, and one for John.” He turned to me. “Remember what I told you my first patent was? It’s technology that allows you to track the physical location of the computer, as well as what the computer is doing.”

He turned back to Lester and April. “April, you’re going to be in charge of doing the tracking. I want this done off-site, preferably at your house. Lester’s house could be bugged.”

“What we need you two to do, so that people don’t get suspicious, is to pretend that you’re having an affair,” I said. April huffed and rolled her eyes at me and I frowned at her, feeling guilty.

“I’m sorry, I know this is gross,” I said. Lester shot me a dirty look that I ignored. “But we need you guys to stay together. Lester’s going to collect the information, and you’re going to synthesize it and send it to us. You just tell people that Lester finally broke you down with all of his charm on this trip. And that you decided to let him move in with you.”

“Thanks a lot, Nicole,” April said, and I could almost hear our new friendship hiss as it fizzled out.

“Listen,” I said, “I really am sorry. But you two need to watch each other’s backs. This is going to be dangerous, and you’re right in the middle of it.”

April’s sour look didn’t go away, but Lester Max didn’t seem too upset. He leaned back on the couch and sidled over next to April a little bit. He smiled at her and her sour look turned to a withering one. He scooted away a little.

“You two owe me,” she said.

“We know,” Walker and I said in unison. April laughed and Lester didn’t, giving us a filthy look instead.

“We have to get this done quickly,” I said. “We don’t have a lot of time. So set up the meetings for tomorrow, if you can. In the meantime, get organized at April’s house. When you start with the records, make sure you have an electronic file and also a hard copy.

“Make sure you’re not followed — and if you are, make sure you’re holding hands,” I said. Make a show of it, so they don’t think anything else is going on. Okay?”

They both nodded at me.

“Play your cards right, you get to walk away. With a large part of my money,” Walker said. “Screw up, and you’re dead. We’re all dead.”

“
I
t’s time
. We need to somehow get word to Adrian and your dad that we’re all right, and that they need to be very careful,” Walker said, pacing the room. April and Lester had left about an hour ago. It was the strangest thing, watching them go down the stairs. Our prisoners, released so quickly. Could we trust them? Were they going to deliver what we needed?

Only time would tell. And we didn’t have much time.

“We can’t ask any of the people who’re already involved to do it,” I said. “It’s too risky. They could be watching my dad, and Adrian.”

“Is there anyone else we can contact? To at least get them a message?” Walker asked. He ran his hands over his head and again, I missed his hair. I wanted to run my hands through it. I felt like I only got to do that once, right before he buzzed it. Once was not enough.

You can do it again,
I thought,
if you two can get yourselves out of this mess.

“There may be someone I can call,” I said, getting up and pacing, too. “She’s a friend, but she’s not connected to the firm anymore. We don’t talk that much.”

“Do you trust her?” Walker asked.

“Yes,” I said, picturing Mimi out for her daily run. “She’s one of those rare people that you can actually count on.”

“Then let’s try it,” Walker said. “She’ll have to be very cryptic when she talks to them. I don’t want to make things worse, but I feel like we’re running out of time.”

I went to him and threw my arms around his neck, putting my head on his broad, strong chest. “I’m so glad our company is gone,” I said.

“You mean our prisoners?” Walker asked, stroking my back.

“Yes, our prisoners,” I said, breathing a sigh of relief to be held by him. “I was used to having you all to myself. I missed you.”

“You have me,” Walker said, “all to yourself. Always.” He pulled me close to him and I could feel him stirring against me.

“You still need some personal space?” he asked, lowly. I assumed he was referring to my period, because there was not an ounce of me that didn’t crave his touch.

“Only a little,” I said. It was pretty much over, as were my cramps, moodiness and bloating. Thank goodness.

“Plus, we could always have sex in the shower,” I said, eagerly.

He beamed down at me. “That’s my girl,” he said, kissing me hotly. My back arched as I pushed myself against him and kissed him, wildly; desire ignited through my body, making me hot and needy and wet. He rubbed my breasts through my shirt, and then he grabbed my ass, greedily cupping it, pulling me against his hard bulge again and again. He was making me wet and my insides hurt, I wanted him so much.

“I’ve missed being inside you,” he said, pausing in between his deep, probing kisses. Then he hoisted me up on his erection and carried me to the bathroom. I clung to him, relishing the feeling of him holding me and being between my legs. He put me down and I turned the water on, making it very hot, and the room filled with steam as he ripped off my clothes. He kissed me, hard, pinning me to the door with his lips as he undid my shorts roughly, taking them off and leaving them in a ball on the floor. His need was powerful; usually he was very gentle with me, playful, and I was always the one trying to rush things, to get him inside me as soon as I could. But today he was the greedy one, the one who couldn't wait. He took his shirt off and his enormous chest rose up and down with his rapid breathing. I ran my fingers down it, then bent down and licked, nipped and sucked on his nipples. He put his knee between my legs and spread them; the bathroom was filling with steam and our bodies were becoming slippery.

He put the swollen, lush tip of himself inside of me, unexpectedly, and I leaned my head back and moaned in pleasure.

He pulled out and grabbed a condom from one of the vanity drawers and expertly rolled it on. “You’re already wet, and I can’t wait anymore,” he said, coming back to me and putting himself between my legs. I could feel him start to thrust into me. The suddenness and the feeling of fullness surprised me; it took me a moment to catch my breath. When I did, I put my hands on his finely-muscled ass and drew him in as far as I could; he filled me with heat and pleasure and thickness. He started to grunt and thrust into me again, pulling out and slamming back in, slowly, filling me with his width, hitting that place inside me that I didn’t know existed until the first time I’d been with him. I grabbed his ass harder and his body answered mine, filling me, rhythmically pumping into me. His thrusts lifted me up off the floor; I put one foot on the tub for leverage and held onto the door knob to hold myself up as he slowly, deliciously and thoroughly filled me.

He held me up by the ass and continued his luxurious thrusts, he was taking his time now, slowing down even more, and he could tell that if he didn’t he would climax. He licked his fingers and reached down, finding my clitoris; he started to rub and swirl in circles. I collapsed onto him, moaning that I couldn’t take it anymore, and then he just gave up, gave in, and slid his cock all the way into me, to the hilt, making us both moan in ecstasy. He thrust in even deeper and then he threw his head back and his whole body shuddered, collapsing, filling me. He pinched my clitoris hard and spasmed into me and I shattered then, calling his name, shaking and crumbling as my whole body shuddered around his, our orgasms colliding, as he continued to thrust, not stopping until my spasms subsided.

I felt limp like a rag doll and he gently cradled me and brought my feet back to the floor, putting my head on his shoulder, stroking my back. He calmed me even as his body continued to shudder. I felt the wetness and the emptiness he left when he pulled out, and I shivered and moaned into his chest.

“Stay,” I said. “Stay with me.”

“Always,” he said, and lifted me gently into the shower.

L
ater on
, after we’d made love again in the shower and then practically collapsed, we were on the couch, watching the stormy weather outside, the roiling sea.

“What do you think about what Lester told us?” I asked. “About what everybody did? Do you believe him?”

“I believe him,” Walker said. “I wish I didn’t, but I do.”

“So he was with Tobin from the beginning,” I said. “Lester conspired with him to get the technology out of your control. He even arranged to have you killed, when you wouldn’t cooperate.”

“That’s right,” Walker said. “And when that didn’t work, he colluded with Tobin to bring those charges against me. I was going to get locked up, probably for life, and he was going to run the Board just the way he wanted. Blue Securities would basically have become a subsidiary of the U.S. Government, and Lester would have made all the money he wanted, and really not have to do any hard work for the rest of his life.”

“You’re really willing to just let him go?” I asked, wrinkling my nose at him. “‘Cause when we put it all out there, I really see what a horrible guy he is. He could get convicted of any one of the things we just talked about and he would go to jail for a long time. Don’t you think he should?”

Walker shrugged. “I gave him my word. Plus, I still don’t think Lester is bad, through and through. He’s an asshole, and a misogynist….” he grinned at me here, knowing that his use of the word correctly meant a lot to me and would to his sister, too…. “But I don’t think he’s inherently dangerous. You know what I mean? Let Lester Max loose in the world, the world is a shadier, greedier, more discriminatory place. But I don’t think he’ll kill anybody. He might just get divorced a couple more times.”

“Maybe April can keep him in line,” I said.

“She sure was mad at you,” Walker said, and laughed.

“She can get in line right behind Alexa,” I said, shaking my head, remembering how furious she’d been with me earlier this morning. “I’m not sure which one of them has it worse. April has to pretend she’s shacking up with Lester, but Alexa has to try to get on Linda’s computer and steal a bunch of files. I’m not sure how she’s going to do it.”

“She comes from a family of politicians,” Walker said. “She’ll figure something out.”

He paused for a beat and patted my thigh. “How are
you
doing?” he asked. “Lester told us all sorts of awful stuff and you haven’t said much. Are you surprised?”

“You mean, about my firm?” I asked him. “Yes. I am. I’m actually shocked, if you can believe it. But I never would have expected that David and Norris would play so dirty. I’m ashamed, too — you know, that they picked me for your case (a) because I was mousy and you wouldn’t have bothered trying to sleep with me and (b) because I come from nothing, they knew how much debt I’m in and thought that it would buy them some loyalty from me. As opposed to Alexa, Mandy or Andrew, who come from families with some money and have something to fall back on.

“I swear to God, Norris Phaland thought I had loose morals because my father is a janitor,” I said, rolling my eyes but feeling suddenly, powerfully angry. “Can you believe some people?”

“No,” Walker said. “I can’t. But someone like Norris — he only has what he has because of who he is. What family he was born into, what family he married into.”

“So you know about that? That he married Mr. Buchanan’s daughter? And that’s why he’s with the firm?” I asked. I didn't remember mentioning it.

“Everybody knows that,” Walker said. “I think it’s part of why he’s such an ass. He has a chip on his shoulder because he probably knows, or thinks, that people don’t respect him. I wouldn’t think that was true, except that he doesn’t have a great reputation as a lawyer.”

“People just mostly avoid him,” I said, “even at the firm. It was like he was tolerated, a necessary….” I let my voice trail off.

“Evil?” Walker asked. “There’s probably some truth to that.”

“I never really saw him interacting with clients, or going to court,” I said, “but the partners were mostly all like that. Secretive. Wanting to keep their business to themselves, except for the work they assigned to us. No one ever wanted their billables taken away. Everybody had to show that they were billing enough to earn their keep.”

“Well, maybe Norris didn’t do that, so he felt even more threatened when this thing blew up,” Walker said. “Maybe he was worried that if the firm got implicated, he was going to lose everything. And because he was getting away with not pulling his own weight for so long, he knew that he didn’t have anywhere else he could go.”

“Can you imagine killing for something like that?” I asked, and shivered. “So you could keep up your gilded cage that you hadn’t really earned in the first place?”

“Well, what about David Proctor?” Walker scoffed. “He’s been practicing law for thirty years. He’s a great attorney. He’s worked hard to get where he is today. And he risked all of that — everything that he’s worked for — just to cover up that first mistake in judgment. A costly mistake, to be sure, but still.”

“If the Board of Bar Overseers found out that they were co-mingling client funds with their own money, he might have gotten disbarred,” I said, still not understanding David’s motives. “The firm would have had to pay a huge fine, and it would have been a scandal. His reputation would take a hit, but the firm would still have clients. Even if David got disbarred, he still must have so much money that it doesn’t matter.

“Don’t count on it,” Walker said. “Look at Lester Max. He’s been making more money than ninety-nine percent of Americans for most of his adult life. You know why he wanted more money?” Walker asked. I shook my head,
no
. “Because he’s in debt up to his eyeballs,” Walker said. “He has three mortgages on three homes, a car payment, alimony, child support, credit card bills. His expenses rose to meet his income, fast. He got used to the lifestyle without being prudent. He wanted it all, and he wanted it all
now
. Maybe David was like that, too. Maybe he’s been living above his means for a while.”

“Or maybe he just couldn’t face being caught,” I said. “It’s one thing to co-mingle funds. It’s another thing to find out the charges against your client are fabricated, and then to play along.” I looked out at the stormy weather, struggling to come to terms with what David had done.
He’d sold his client out for the promise of money. Probably, for the promise of lots of money.

“I can’t believe he’d be that greedy,” I said. “So greedy that it trumped doing the right thing. He was going to let you be sent away to jail, to do time for crimes you didn’t commit, just so he could save his reputation and make extra money. When he already makes more money than he can count.”

“Greed does crazy things to people,” Walker said. “I’ve seen it over and over again. But what people don’t understand is, you can’t take it with you. You can have all the money in the world, but when you’re number’s up, it’s up — just like everybody else.”

I sighed and watched the churning water; it looked like the wind was picking up. It was still hurricane season here in Florida. I hoped that this would just evolve into a bad storm and then go away, without turning into something deadly and dangerous.

“He must have thought that because the government was involved, it was airtight. The government wanted your company and they’d brought a false, but a falsely airtight case against you. He’d done something wrong to begin with, then he was tricked into being implicated, but once he was, he decided to do anything to protect his decision. Including sell me out,” I said, and I felt my face getting hot. “I can’t believe that everyone thinks I did those things. That I killed those people.”

“The people who know you won’t believe it, Nicole. No one who knows you could ever think you’d be capable of something horrible like that.”

“I still can’t believe they’d do it,” I said, thinking specifically of David. “Maybe Norris arranged it.” That was what I wanted to believe: that creepy, sociopathic Norris Phaland was the one pulling the strings, that he’d gone ahead and arranged for these people to die and used my credit card information to make me look guilty all on his own, without David Proctor’s knowledge or approval.

But then I remember the last time I saw David. All the money he offered me. Everything he said about how the firm was protecting Walker’s assets, and that everything was above-board. What he said about taking care of my family.