“Don’t worry about it, baby.” Rudy looked like he was about to knock out the lawyer’s teeth. “Just because this goob won’t take it doesn’t mean we won’t find a lawyer who will.”
I got up, and Rudy touched my back as we moved to the door.
“Just one thing, Rudy.”
Rudy turned around and glared at Bill.
“What?”
“You need to watch yourself. One wrong move, and you’ll be back in jail so fast your head will spin. I don’t know what your motives are in helping Kara, but I’m warning you to be careful.”
I looked up at Rudy. “Back in jail? Rudy—”
Rudy’s eyes flashed. “Hey, I’m not doing anything illegal. I visit my parole officer once a week, just like I’m supposed to. Nobody can fault me for wanting to help a friend.”
“Let’s just say I don’t trust your motives,” Bill said.
I was sure that Rudy was about to break the man’s face. “How dare you?”
Bill Daniels didn’t seem intimidated at all, and I figured it was because he had a security guard somewhere real close by. “Kara, has he told you he was in prison for killing a woman?”
Rudy cursed and lunged at Bill, but the lawyer held him back.
I felt the blood draining from my face, and the room started to spin.
“You don’t want to violate your parole, Rudy.”
Bill ground the words out through his teeth. “Step back before I have you dragged out of here.”
Rudy finally stepped back, but I could see that he was seething as he turned back to me. I gaped at him, trying to see in his face if what the man said was true.
It was.
He grabbed my arm less gently then and marched me to the door and up the hall. The receptionist yelled, “Have a nice day!” as we made our way back to the elevator.
Rudy was muttering under his breath. “That sorry excuse for a human . . .”
“Why did you lie to me?” My throat was so tight I almost couldn’t get the words out.
“Because I didn’t want you thinking I was some kind of thug.”
“Well, is that what you are? He said you killed somebody!”
“It was manslaughter, okay? I didn’t put a gun to anybody’s head. It was an accident, and I went to jail for it.”
I stared at him. I don’t know why it upset me so to know that he was some kind of convict.
Some of my closest friends were in jail. Crawley was still in for his liquor store holdup, along with some of the other kids I used to hang around with.
The elevator came, and we stepped on. “How long have you been out of prison?”
He sighed. “A month.”
I opened my mouth like I was going to scream, but it took me a minute to make a sound.
“Why didn’t you tell me that? There I was, thinking you were some real decent guy who’d blown into town like Prince Charming, when all the time you’d just got out of jail!”
“I didn’t lie to you, Kara. It never came up.”
“You did lie. You said you’d been working in Las Vegas, but that your grandmother left you that house, so you came here.”
“The part about my grandmother was true.”
I guess I was supposed to just forget about the part that wasn’t. The elevator doors opened, and I stormed off, trying to remember which way to go.
My head was starting to hurt, and I was furious at myself for buying into Rudy’s charm. I should have stuck with Deke and Eloise. At least I knew they were jerks. No surprises there.
He followed me to the car, the muscle in his jaw popping in and out, like he was the one who’d been lied to. We got to his car, and I plopped into my seat and slammed the door. I was so ready to go home.
He got behind the wheel and started the car, then drew in a deep breath and looked over at me. “Look, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. I didn’t know that jerk was going to tell everything like that. Like he was protecting you from me or something. Like I’m going to get anything out of this.”
“How long were you in, Rudy?”
“Ten years.”
“Ten years.” I bit the words out, amazed.
“Were you paroled, or did you serve all your time?”
“Paroled.”
I leaned against the window. How could I have fallen for some guy with a prison record? It was one thing to have the information up front . . . I still probably would have gone out with him, but I would have done it with my eyes open. There was nothing in the world I hated more than being lied to. “So how did you accidentally kill somebody?”
“It was a drunk-driving accident.”
Things were coming into focus. “Don’t tell me; let me guess. You were the drunk.”
“Yeah, only it wasn’t entirely my fault. She ran out in front of me when I had the green light. I had been drinking, but I wouldn’t have run her over if she hadn’t been so reckless.”
I leaned my head back on the seat and wondered what Lizzie would say about all this. I didn’t want her to know, because I’d played Rudy up so big. “So I’m going out with a killer.”
“Hey, don’t call me that! I don’t deserve that.”
He started the car and pulled out of the dark garage.
The sunlight made me squint my eyes, and I just stared out the window.
“He’s wrong, you know,” he said. “You do have a case. He just had a chip on his shoulder and didn’t want to do anything to help me. He didn’t used to be like that. He was a decent guy back then when he was a public defender. But now he’s sitting high in that big fancy office and thinks he’s a big shot. I wouldn’t be surprised if he knows Amanda. Maybe he’s trying to protect her by talking you out of this.”
I looked over at him. What he’d said made some sense. HolCorp was right there in Jackson, after all. Maybe this Bill Daniels did have some kind of connection to Amanda. Maybe he was holding out for a piece of her pie and figured it was a better bet.
That thought made me feel a little better.
“I’m not giving up,” he said. “Why don’t you let me take you out to lunch? And I’ll call around and find another lawyer who’ll see us.”
I didn’t answer right away. There were too many things whirling around in my head.
“What do you say, baby?” Rudy reached up and took a strand of my hair, twirled it around a finger. “Come on. You’re not going to dump me over my past, are you? I thought a girl like you could overlook stuff like that. It’s who I am now that’s important.”
He had a point. The truth was, I’d been arrested once, too, when Amanda had bailed us out. Who was I to judge?
Besides, a guy like Rudy was good to have around simply because he was shrewd and couldn’t be snowed. I might need a guy like him when I got my money and didn’t quite know what to do with it.
Like, for instance, where did you put that much money? Did you keep it in one bank account or a bunch of different ones, or did you spread it out over a bunch of different banks? I’d heard about Swiss bank accounts, but I wasn’t sure why people used them. Maybe those were the only banks big enough to hold that kind of money.
And I didn’t know a thing about investments or taxes.
But I was sure that Rudy would know all those things.
“All right, Rudy.We have to eat, I guess.”
“That’s my girl.” He took my hand and kissed it.
I couldn’t help thinking that he was still the best-looking man who’d ever darkened the doors of the SOS. I could break up with him now, but I’d only wind up going back with him when I got lonely. Besides, he was the only one I’d ever dated who knew how to treat a lady.
By the time we got to Dennery’s Restaurant next to the interstate, I had stopped being quite so angry.
There was no use brooding when he was spending so much money on me.
THIRTY-THREE
While I ate my dessert, Rudy made a few phone calls from the pay phone. Finally, he came back to me.
&nb
sp; “Good riddance to Bill Daniels, I say,” he told me as he sat back down. “I’ve found another lawyer, a better one, and he’s real interested in taking your case.”
“Really? Where is he?”
“He’s right here in Jackson and he can see us today.He’s expecting us as soon as we can get over there.” He grinned and leaned across the table.
“He was almost giddy when I told him that Kara Holbrooke would like to talk to him about representing her in a lawsuit for the Holbrooke fortune.
He’s already seeing dollar signs.”
I pushed my plate away. “Well, I guess I’m finished then. Let’s go.”
I liked the new lawyer, Stan Mason, though his offices weren’t as well appointed as those at Bill Daniels’s firm. Still, it was better than Enos Wright’s place. The attorney sat down with me and went over the case, trying to get a play-byplay of what had happened up to this point.
Finally, he shook his head.
“Well, it’s a long shot, but we can give it a try.
The fact that she’s taken your sister in indicates that she might want to settle this for your sake.
There’s no telling what kind of settlement that will be. Maybe a few million dollars.”
Rudy shook his head. “No, uh-uh. She’s not going into this for a few million dollars.”
I thought Stan must not understand the situation. “Another lawyer I talked to told me that I could probably get fifty or sixty million.”
Mason frowned. “That’s not very realistic.”
I was getting very tired. Nothing about this day had turned out like I’d hoped.
“She was just a baby when her father died,”
Rudy said. “Three years old. She never got a penny of the ten million her grandparents got to raise her. She was raised in a trailer, for Pete’s sake!
She was never properly represented in court, and her whole inheritance was stolen from her. You’re telling me that that’s not grounds for a lawsuit?”
“I didn’t say we didn’t have a case, but I’m not sure that this is a case I want to take.”
I felt like screaming. Honestly, I did. I wanted to just jump out of my seat and let out a shriek that would shake the whole place.
Rudy could see how I was feeling, so he patted my knee. “Baby, why don’t you let me talk to him alone for a minute? Just go sit out in the waiting room and leave this to me.”
I didn’t have a clue what he intended to do and I didn’t much care. I’d just about had it with these losers telling me we’d lost before we’d even started.
I left the office and went back to the waiting room and thought about how much I could have made in tips today. If I hadn’t taken the day off, I could have had the five hundred dollars by the end of the week, and then Enos Wright could file the papers. I should have just been happy with him in the first place. He knew what he was doing. He had gotten us ten million before, hadn’t he? It wasn’t his fault Deke had gambled it away.
By the time Rudy came out of the office, I had about decided the day was a complete washout, one of those live-and-learn kinds of days that made you want to break something.
But Rudy surprised me again. “He’s going to take the case. Come on back in and sign the papers.”
I got up and searched his face. “Why did he change his mind? What did you say to him?”
“I just explained how much Amanda had been trying to get you to come live with her, too, and how much she seems to care about you. That she’d probably write you out a settlement check without even batting an eye. And I told him we’d give him 40 percent.”
I ignored the we. “You said 40 percent was too high to pay somebody. That’s why you thought Enos Wright was a crook.”
“I know, baby, but if you have to pay somebody that, it might as well be this guy.He’s a more reputable lawyer. Trust me.”
So I went back in and signed the paper to retain Stan Mason as my lawyer. Amazing how quickly everything changed.
I was giddy as we drove home. “I can’t believe you changed his mind, Rudy. And to think I was going to pay that Enos jerk five hundred dollars!”
Rudy raked his fingers through his hair. “Oh, you still have to pay a retainer fee. Didn’t I mention that?”
I frowned. “No.”
“Well, yeah. He wants a thousand dollars up front.”
“What? I don’t have a thousand dollars!”
“Baby, that’s just a drop in the bucket. You’ll get millions out of this deal. He’s the kind of lawyer who can get that for you.Now if we put our heads together and think, I’m sure we can come up with some way of getting that money.”
I thought about that for a minute. I hadn’t really come out any better than if I’d gone with Enos Wright. Enos was cheaper and he seemed to have more faith in my case. Still . . . this guy had admitted that he needed to do some research into Amanda Holbrooke’s net worth before he could recommend an amount to sue her for. And Deke and Eloise weren’t involved in this. That was a big plus. He seemed to know what he was doing.
“The thousand dollars is just in case you lose the lawsuit. He wants to make sure he comes out of it with something. People always skip town and forget they ever knew the attorney. When there’s not a win, he has a hard time collecting. That’s the only reason he takes it up front. Believe me, it’s worth it.”
I was really confused. “You said that wasn’t right, that Enos Wright was an ambulance chaser, that he was only trying to milk me out of the money that I have.”
“Look, this attorney is miles above Enos Wright. Did he have an office in a strip mall? Was he answering his own phones? No, he’s in an important law firm that wins cases.”
“Well, how will I come up with the money? I thought I could have five hundred dollars by the end of the week, but now you’re talking about another five hundred bucks.”
He considered that for a moment. “Didn’t you say something about a necklace that Amanda gave you when she came to get you and Lizzie?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, she gave me a stupid pearl necklace.”
“Well, what’s it worth, do you know?”
“I haven’t got a clue.”
“Maybe you could hock it. Just temporarily.
You could buy it back later. But that could raise the money, if it was valuable enough.”
I didn’t think for a minute that the necklace was worth that much. But it was just sitting in a Ziploc bag in the Secret Tree, not doing anybody any good.
That necklace was like a sampling of my inheritance. That was exactly what Amanda had said. And now it could really be that, by giving me a head start on getting the rest of what was mine.
“All right,” I said. “I’ll get the necklace and I’ll see about hocking it this afternoon.”
“Good girl.” He patted my leg, then he started singing “Money” by Pink Floyd, and I began to get in that rich mood again. I could almost see my ship coming in as we reached the turnoff for Barton.
THIRTY-FOUR
That afternoon before I went to work, I went to the Secret Tree and pulled out the plastic bag with Amanda’s cell phone and the necklace box. I opened it and ran my fingers over the pearls. I had never put the necklace on, and I couldn’t help wondering what it would look like on me. Oddly enough, as much as I hated Amanda Holbrooke, I didn’t want to give it up.
But I had made up my mind. Rudy was right. The lawyer I’d visited that day was miles above Enos Wright, and it was worth extra money to get him to file my suit. Besides, cutting Deke and Eloise out of the picture sounded better all the time.
I closed the box, put the cell phone and my other childhood treasures back in the bag, and tucked it into the tree. Then I cut through the woods to the pawnshop near the strip mall.
The barred windows were filled with displays of guns and televisions and an old guitar in the hands of a chipped mannequin.
I stood out on that sidewalk, feeling like I’d been cut down the middle and left with half a b
rain, half a lung, half a heart. I had rarely been to this part of town without Lizzie. I missed her something awful and would have given anything to have her here with me. Was she wearing the necklace Amanda gave her? Had she found the right dress for that reception Amanda was throwing her? Had she realized yet that Amanda had ulterior motives? I hoped to heaven that she wasn’t in any danger.
As mad as I was at her for leaving, I knew that the minute I got my money, I was going to try to lure her back. I would share it with her, no question. I couldn’t picture a future without Lizzie, and I figured by then she would have seen Amanda for who she really was.
I went into the pawnshop and saw that Jason Pinkerton was talking to some guy at the gun side of the store. Jason was a huge guy who was always getting into fights at the local bars. He weighed about 350 pounds and had long, frizzy hair and a beard that needed trimming. He had tattoos all over his arms. It must have been his hobby or something. Tattoos with girls’ names, tattoos of eagles and snakes and the American flag, tattoos with spiders and symbols of every kind you could imagine. You could hardly see his skin showing through on his arms.
He lived with the woman who owned the tattoo parlor in Pocahontas, so I guess she gave him a deal. He must have figured he’d get all the tattoos he could while he could get them for free.
I set the box down on the counter and looked around. He had several television sets lined up on a shelf, a DVD player, and a couple of computers. I wondered who they’d belonged to, or if someone had stolen them. After all, this was one of those places where crooks sometimes came to get rid of stolen stuff. Jason didn’t ask questions. He just made the deals.
When the guy was gone, Jason came shuffling over to me. “You Lizzie or Kara?”
I got that all the time. “Kara. Lizzie moved.”
“Oh, yeah, I heard that. Went to live with that rich woman, didn’t she? How come you didn’t go?”
“Because I don’t need her.” I lifted my chin like I was somebody. “I’m Paul Holbrooke’s granddaughter, you know, and I’ve got a claim to that fortune. I’ve even got an attorney who’s working on it right now. That’s why I need to sell this.” I opened the box and showed him the necklace. “It’s real; you don’t have to worry about that.”