The Bad Judgment Series: The Complete Series

by Leigh James

  “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.

  * * *

  Even 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.”

  * * *

  “What’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 on
ce, 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.”

  “I’m not,” Lester interrupted, and I wanted to punch him to shut him up. “I was doing what I thought was best for the company…. ”

  “Spare me the moral high-ground,” Walker said, his voice dangerous. “I think you’ve been disingenuous enough for one lifetime.”

  Lester sighed, removing his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose. “I thought you were losing your edge,” he said. “I wanted to salvage the relationship that we had. I didn’t want to lose everything that we’d worked so hard to build.”

  “You wanted the most money. You wanted the most control. You wanted the most power,” Walker said, and he sounded very, very tired all of a sudden. “You’ve never had those things and you never will. Not even now. There’s a reason for that.”

  “What’s that?” Lester asked. He’d put his glasses back on and he was glaring at Walker. “You think you’re so much better than me?”

  “No,” Walker said, and all the fight seemed to have gone out of him. “I know I’m not. But that’s the difference between you and me. Everything I’ve ever had, I knew I had to earn it. I never thought I deserved anything. You, on the other hand, are an entitled little shit. Harvard, fancy wives, fancy cars — you thought every one of those things was your right. And that, if you put them all together, it made you better. It gave you that patina of superiority.”

  “Unlike you,” Lester practically spit, “who’s so good looking you’ve never had a bad day in your life? You think I feel sorry for you? Every woman you’ve ever met — including your lawyer, who threw her career away with her panties for you — has never said no to you.”

  Walker glared at him.

  “Do you know what that’s like, for a guy like me? To see you like that?” Lester asked. “You have every success and you’re so good-looking that pop stars and models and lawyers want to date you?”

  “No one ever said life was fair,” Walker offered, but he was looking down now, picking at his cocktail napkin. I wondered if he was embarrassed.

  “No shit,” Lester said, his face shining. “That’s why I do what I do. Life isn’t going to give me what I want. I have to take it.”

  “You didn’t have to take it from me,” Walker said. “I was already giving you everything.”

  “Sometimes, everything is not enough,” Lester said. “You know what I mean?”

  Walker looked up at him, and then over at me. “Yes, Lester. I know exactly what you mean.”

  Chapter 20

  In the end, I couldn’t convince Walker that we should just have Lester arrested after we were through with him.

  “It wouldn’t be fair,” Walker said. “We brought him here under one set of pretenses. I’ve asked him to do a job for us and I believe that he’ll do it. It’s not fair to change the terms after the fact, just because you think he’s an asshole.”

  “He is an asshole,” I said, flopping down on the bed. We’d locked Lester and April into their respective bedrooms; I couldn’t bear the idea of letting them get up and roam the apartment during the night. I wouldn’t have slept a wink.

  “He is,” Walker admitted, throwing off his T-shirt into a ball on the floor. I admired his abs as he stalked around the room, lost in his thoughts about Lester Max. He paused by the windows, looking out into the darkness.

  “But what he can do for us is for the greater good,” he said, finally. “If he gets us the documentation we need to get David and Norris convicted, and at least implicate John Tobin and his role in all of this, it’ll be worth it to let him go.”

  “Do you really believe that?” I asked. “Do you really think he should just go free — on your dime, no less — after what he’s done?”

  “I think in this instance, sacrificing his punishment is the right move. It’s outweighed by what we would be able to achieve. I don’t want to see him go free,” Walker said, climbing onto the bed next to me. “But I think out of the people we have to deal with, he’s the lesser of the evils. I think he’s morally bankrupt, but I don’t think he’d kill anybody.”

  “Walker,” I said, a bit incredulously, “he just admitted tonight that he was the one who tried to blow you up on your boat.”

  “I know,” Walker said, waving his hand as if to dismiss it. “But he didn’t do it. I’m not saying he wouldn’t kill somebody — obviously, he tried to kill me. I guess what I’m saying is, he’d try to find another way first. Buy them off. Extort them. Something along those lines.” He ran his finger up and down my arm. “David Proctor and Norris Phaland went there right away. They wanted to protect themselves and they were merciless. They didn’t want to leave any stone unturned. They were going to kill you and act like nothing had ever happened, like it was all your fault, you were the guilty one. And they just would have kept going.” Walker looked past me, back out the window to the dark ocean.

  “They wanted to kill you at the first sign of trouble, Nicole. You were completely expendable to them. The fact that they picked you because they thought that you were vulnerable — that means they’re sociopaths, at least in my book. Stepping on and manipulating those weaker than them, those with less power, so that they could rule their little empire. They make me sick,” he said, turning back to me. He tucked a tuft of my bleached hair behind my ears.

  “And I will do anything I can to make them pay. Including pay off a very slimy, very unethical, very unpleasant Lester Max. Does that make sense to you?” he asked.

  I nodded at him and threw my arms around his neck. “I would throw my panties and my legal career away for you anytime, babe,” I said, and grinned at him. “Lester was totally right, at least about that. Where you lead, I follow.”

  He kissed me lightly on the lips and then laughed. “I’m actually following your lead, little does he know,” Walker said, and grinned back at me. “It was your idea to bring him here, remember? You and your fancy, designer drugs.”

  I laughed. “Wait until you hear what I have planned for them next,” I said, rubbing my hands together conspiratorially.

  “Them?” Walker asked.

  “Lester and April,” I said, a bit defensively. “It’ll be the perfect alibi.”

  Walker frowned at me. “I thought you were starting to like her,” he said.

  I shrugged at him. “Keep your friends close and your enemies clo
ser,” I said, my voice upbeat. “And plus, you can’t please everybody,” I said, continuing down my litany of favorite phrases.

  The older I got, the wiser the sayings seemed.

  Walker bent over and kissed me, his lips firm and soft all at the same time, crushing mine. I moaned and pulled him closer.

  “I like your evil genius side,” Walker said. “Maybe you can set up a law firm in the Bahamas, off the grid. You really were born to do this.”

  “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” I said, and pulled him to me.

  * * *

  I called Alexa early the next morning, too early. But I had to know. “How’s Tammy?” I asked, breathlessly, as soon as Alexa answered the phone.

  “She’s scared,” Alexa said, in an accusing tone. “She’s been through hell.”

  “Can I talk to her?” I asked, my voice coming out all squeaky and wrong.

  “I guess so,” Alexa sniffed. “But do you want to tell me what the hell I’m doing first?”

  “The flash drives you bought,” I said, and even though I had just woken up and my head was still foggy, I felt adrenaline start to course through my body. This was going to be dangerous, if not downright stupid. At least no one would suspect Alexa. No one would think that she’d do something so dangerous for someone else — and especially not me. “I need you to bring them to work today. Look for anything on the server that’s coded with the name Advent. Copy the files to the flash drive and hide that sucker in your bra, or something.” She snorted and I continued. “Once you’ve done that, you need to get to David’s assistant, Linda’s, desk and pull up the docs that are just in her hard drive. I know I saw something on there before. It was in the trash, but there’s got to be more, somewhere.”

  “How the hell am I supposed to get on Linda’s computer?” Alexa asked. Her tone was vicious. “Especially when she’s right outside of David Proctor’s office?”

  “You’re used to getting what you want,” I said, trying to keep my voice casual. “You’ll figure something out.” I knew what I was asking for was almost impossible — Linda rarely left her desk and David was always in his office, on the phone and stuffing food into his mouth. I also knew that I was asking Alexa to put herself in an insane amount of danger.