by Jenna Brandt
Molly glanced at her cell phone as she entered Sunset Grill. She was meeting Sarah for lunch, but knew she was running late. As she approached the table, she quickly apologized, “I’m so sorry I’m late, Sarah. I was up late finishing up a story I needed to turn in, and the time completely got away from me.”
“That’s ok, Molly. Don’t worry about it,” Sarah said with a friendly smile. “It gave me time to catch up on social media. I ordered you a glass of iced tea,” she said, gesturing to the glass on the table.
Molly removed her purse, and placed them on the back of the chair as she took her seat.
“I’m glad you suggested the grill. I was craving a piece of pie,” Molly stated. “I swear I’m going to miss them when I return to Miami.”
“Are you?” Sarah asked, with a tilt of her head. “I mean, returning to Miami, not missing the pie. That’s a given.”
“Of course I am,” Molly stated automatically. “My life’s there.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” Sarah coaxed. “You could move back to Crystal Cove. I know a lot of people will be happy about it, especially a certain public defender.”
“Even though Spencer and I are getting close again, it doesn’t mean I’m going to uproot my whole life just to be with him. Contrary to popular belief, love isn’t everything.” As soon as the word slipped out of her mouth, Molly wished she could take it back. “Scratch the ‘L’ word. We’re going to pretend I never said it.”
“Why? It’s not true?” Sarah probed.
“It was a slip of the tongue; nothing more,” Molly stated emphatically, though she wondered if she was trying to convince herself or Sarah more.
“You don’t have to be afraid, you know. Spencer’s a good guy, and you can trust him.”
“Everyone keeps saying that, but it’s hard when you’ve been burnt once already. Don’t get me wrong, the more I get to know him again, the more I realize it’s true. I just don’t know if I will ever be able to completely let my walls down with him.”
“You’re right; you can’t. There is something else you can do though.”
“What’s that?” Molly asked.
“You need to pray to God, and ask Him to help you let down your walls,” Sarah explained. “God can do anything, and He wants to help you. All you have to do is ask.”
“I haven’t really told anyone this, but ever since I went to church the other day, I’ve been praying and reading the Bible again. I haven’t done that since I left Crystal Cove ten years ago.”
“That’s so good,” Sarah said with a big grin. “Next time you pray, ask God. I promise, you won’t regret it.”
Molly knew Sarah was right. She had been trying to do it all on her own, but she wasn’t designed to navigate life that way. No person is an island; she needed to let other people, and most importantly, she needed to let God, be a real part of her life.
“Thanks, Sarah. I really needed to hear that. I have to go to the restroom,” Molly said standing up. “I’ll be right back.”
She headed towards the back of the diner, and entered the restroom. Both stalls were in use, so she moved over to the sink to check her makeup. She placed her purse on the counter, and then leaned in towards the mirror.
Molly turned her head from side-to-side, inspecting her face. “I definitely need to powder my nose,” she mumbled to herself, opening her purse to look for her compact.
A silver USB drive caught her attention. She pulled it out, and looked at it skeptically. “Where did you come from?” she asked herself in a perplexed tone. “You’re not mine, so who put you in my purse.”
She glanced back in her purse and noticed a folded piece of paper that was also unfamiliar. Molly unfolded it and read the contents.
Spencer Wilmington is not what he seems. The information on this drive links him to underhanded dealings with the district attorney. He shouldn’t get away with what he’s been doing. It’s your job to make him pay for his unethical behavior.
The note didn’t have a signature and had been typed. What was going on?
Molly shoved both items into her purse, and instead of using the restroom, she exited the area and made a beeline to Sarah. She slipped into her seat, her arms folded across her chest in a protective manner.
“What’s wrong?” Sarah asked with trepidation. “You look like you’re going to pass out.”
She debated whether or not to confide in Sarah. On the one hand, she trusted her opinion, but on the other hand, Sarah was good friends with Spencer. What if she told him before Molly could figure out what was on the drive? If he found out before she got to the bottom of it, he would have the heads up to try to erase his tracks.
Stop it, she told herself. You know Spencer. He’s a good person and you’re jumping to the wrong conclusion.
Molly opened her purse, pulled out the note, and handed it over to Sarah.
As soon as she was finished reading the contents, she looked up at Molly with rounded eyes. “Have you looked at the information on the drive?”
She shook her head. “No, it wasn’t in my purse this morning. Someone put it in since I’ve been here. Did you see anyone behind me acting odd?”
“I wish I could say, ‘yes,’ but I was so focused on our conversation, I didn’t pay attention to anyone else.” Sarah’s brows came together in a furrow. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to take this drive back to my parents’ house and look at the information on my laptop. Then I’m going to take it to my tech guy to see if he can get to the bottom of it.”
“I have to tell you; I don’t think any of this is true. Something fishy is going on.”
“I think you’re right, but if I don’t do something about this, there’s a good chance whoever gave it to me will just find someone else to give it to. The next person might not look into it before publishing the content.”
“All right, I support whatever you think is best. I can tell you really care about Spencer, so I’ll let you be the one to tell him about it.”
“Considering the turn of events, I think I need to look into this immediately.”
Sarah nodded. “Please text me, and let me know what happens.”
“Will do,” Molly promised before standing up and exiting the diner.
Once she returned to her parents’ house, she went into her room and popped the drive into the plug on her laptop.
A folder icon blinked, beckoning Molly to click it. When she did, a massive list of files appeared. They were listed by date and had either Wilmington’s or Jacks’ names on it.
She clicked the first one and an email from Spencer Wilmington to Jeremy Jacks, the district attorney, appeared. There was detailed information about a client; the type of information that if used by the district attorney, would convict the client with little effort.
Molly clicked the next one down. This one was reversed and was from the district attorney to Spencer. It had a defense strategy with an arrow next to one item. It showed that the police broke the chain of procedure when securing evidence, which meant Spencer could get the case thrown out because of it.
After working down the list of twenty emails, Molly’s heart seized with dread. The evidence on the drive was overwhelming; Spencer Wilmington was corrupt.
As Spencer finished his closing argument, he watched the jury members’ faces to gage their reactions. They seemed to respond positively to his evidence and emotional plea on Daryl Burke’s behalf.
Even though he was unable to track down Trixie at the hotel, Spencer was able to put together a strong case to defend his client. He just hoped the jury believed Daryl’s story and the hotel clerk’s testimony that he saw Daryl the night of the robbery.
Court was dismissed until the jury reached a verdict. With this type of case, the most it would take would be a couple of days, but it could be as quick as a few hours. Either way, he still had two other cases to wrap up along with a new case. He needed to get back to his office to make some calls.
&nbs
p; As Spencer made his way down the aisle of the courtroom, he noticed Molly sitting in the back row of seats. She stood up as he approached.
“Here to see me slay a legal dragon?” Spencer joked with a grin. Her somber expression quickly caused him to turn serious. “What’s the matter?”
“I need to speak with you,” she glanced around at the lingering court personnel, “alone.”
“Okay, but you’re starting to worry me,” he stated as they made their way out of the courtroom and out to his car. “Is everything all right?”
“Not really,” she said with a shake of her head. “It has to do with the allegations against you.”
“Did your tech guy find something out?”
“He’s still working on it, but I’m going to have to take something to him right away.”
“What’s that?” Spencer asked with concern.
“Here, read for yourself,” she said, handing him the note.
As soon as he was done reading the contents, he handed it back to her. “Did you take a look at the drive?”
She nodded. “It had a lot of evidence that makes you look guilty.”
“Well, you know it’s not true, right?” Spencer asked, hoping Molly still believed in him.
“Part of me does, but you need to see the evidence for yourself.” She swiveled her messenger bag around and pulled out her laptop. Molly switched it on, loaded the drive, and turned the screen so Spencer could see it.
He spent the next ten minutes reading through the first several emails. As he progressed down the list, he became more flabbergasted at the content and how it made him look.
“I never sent any of these emails, nor got any from the district attorney. I don’t know how, but these are forged.”
“Like I said, I’m going to take these to my tech guy, so we will know soon enough if that’s true.”
“I have a contact in the police department. It would save us from flying over to Miami,” Spencer offered.
Molly shook her head. “No way. We don’t want to involve cops. There’s a chance they could arrest and detain you based on the information.”
“Okay, we can do it your way. All I ask is that you don’t say anything to anyone about this until we get it all sorted out. I want to look into the matter myself.”
“I won’t—for now, as long as you let me help investigate. I do have to tell you Sarah knows since she was there when I got the information from the anonymous source.”
“That’s all right. I trust Sarah. I know she won’t tell anyone.”
“You ready to head to Miami?” Molly inquired.
“Just as soon as this verdict comes back. Hopefully it will be soon, and we can head up there later tonight.”
Spencer reached out and took Molly’s hand. “In the meantime, you want to grab a cup of coffee while we wait?”
She nodded. “Only if you throw in a sandwich. I’m starving since I didn’t end up eating with Sarah at lunchtime.”
“You got yourself a deal,” Spencer said, leaning over and kissing Molly. “Thank you for believing in me.”
“Like you said, we’re in this together,” Molly vowed. “We’re going to figure what’s going on and get you exonerated.”
Spencer liked Molly’s optimism, but part of him worried what would happen if they couldn’t. Could he live under that shadow that someday the false allegations could come out? Or worse, what would happen if whoever made up the information, decided to give it to someone else besides Molly; someone who wouldn’t hesitate to publish it.
Silently, he sent up a prayer, and asked God to intervene and help him. Even though he was in the darkest part of the storm, he felt God’s presence calming the turbulence around him.
Chapter 12
As they boarded Spencer’s private plane, Molly wondered what they were going to find out from her tech guy. Would he be able to prove it was all fake? For Spencer’s sake, she hoped that was the case.
“Were you able to find out anything around the office?” Molly probed, hoping Spencer was able to figure out a couple of suspects.
He shook his head as he took a seat in the plush leather chair. “No, there really isn’t anyone that I can think of that would do this. I’ve never had a problem with anyone.”
“Could it be a client?”
“I guess that’s possible. There’s been a few that were unhappy and ended up doing more time in jail than they would have liked. It’s possible after they got out, they wanted to get revenge. I just don’t think any of them have the technical know-how to do it.”
“They could have hired someone,” Molly pointed out. “There’s all sorts of hackers on the dark web. I did an exposé on the subject, and it’s scary the type of trouble a well-versed hacker can cause with just the click of a few buttons.”
“I guess that’s possible. Hopefully your tech guy can help us figure out if that’s the case.”
“I’m surprised you were able to take time off to go with me. You didn’t have to, by the way. I could have done this on my own.”
“I took a personal day. I have a bunch saved up and never use them. I didn’t have any court hearings, so it was a safe day to do it.” He glanced over at her and smiled. “Besides, we agreed to do this together, remember?”
Molly nodded. “I know. I just don’t want to cause you more problems by taking you away from your job.”
“You’re not, so don’t worry about that. I’ve got it handled. We have a junior defender, Bob Perkins, who can cover anything while I’m gone.” Spencer slapped the table in front of him as he added, “You might know him. We all went to high school together. He was on the football team with me.”
Molly racked her brains, but couldn’t recall him from her youth. She shook her head. “Sorry, he doesn’t sound familiar. You have got to remember, the only football player I was familiar with was you. I didn’t exactly hang out with the same people as you.”
“I forget that sometimes, but it makes sense you wouldn’t know who he is. We weren’t even that close. He was the second-string quarterback and always a little envious of me.”
“Well, he had good reason to be. You’re handsome, talented, and apparently smarter than you let on when you had me tutoring you back in high school.”
Spencer chuckled. “I was lazy in school. Everything came easy for me, so when work got hard, I didn’t want to put in the effort. Since I was the star quarterback, no one wanted to press me—that is until you came along. You helped me overcome that by pushing me to do my own work. I hated it at the time, but looking back, it was exactly what I needed.”
“It seems the change in attitude stuck with you too, since you managed to get your law degree,” Molly noted.
They plane took off as they settled into their seats. “You want to watch a movie?”
“Sure, but it’s got to be something funny. I need a good laugh.”
Spencer picked up the remote, clicked a couple of buttons and the latest romantic comedy popped onto the TV screen above them. The time passed quickly, and they arrived at the Miami airport to find a town car waiting for them.
The driver helped them into the back, explaining there were drinks and snacks inside.
“Wow, I haven’t traveled like this in my life, working for a small news outlet doesn’t really lend itself to five-star treatment. I could get used to dating a billionaire,” Molly teased as she settled into the soft leather seat of the limo.
“If it makes you happy, I can take you anywhere in the world, sparing no expense. Of course, we need to settle this whole corruption allegation first.”
She nodded. “I’m going to hold you to it. I’ve always wanted to see London.”
“It’s a date then,” Spencer promised. “You’ll love it there.”
A half hour later, they arrived at a shabby, small house with peeling paint, a brown lawn, and a rusted chain-link fence.
“This is where your tech guy lives?” Spencer asked skeptically. “It looks like a location for
a horror movie.”
Molly shrugged. “Hank doesn’t care much about anything that isn’t computer or internet related. It’s why he’s so good at what he does. He’s hyper-focused on it.”
They walked up the sidewalk that was covered in dirt, with weeds growing in the cracks. As they climbed the steps of the rickety porch, Molly worried Spencer was going to turn around and bolt right back to his car.
She glanced out of the corner of her eye, and was relieved to see he was standing firmly beside her. Before he could change his mind, Molly pushed the button to ring the doorbell. Nothing happened. It must have broken since the last time she was there, so Molly knocked on the door instead. When there was no response, she knocked a little harder.
Getting frustrated, and a little embarrassed about Hank’s behavior, she pulled out her phone from her purse and texted him that they were there. A few moments later, the door swung open to reveal a shaggy, dark-haired man with glasses. He was wearing a dirty white t-shirt and sweatpants.
“Sorry I didn’t hear you knock. I had my headphones on while I was working.” He stepped back and gestured for them to enter. “Come on in.”
As they entered the house, the inside was no better than what was on the outside. There was a stack of paper plates, pizza boxes, and plastic cups all over the place. There was a thick layer of dust that coated almost everything, besides the large U-shaped desk that was in the main living room. It had four computer screens on it, each of them with different information changing and flashing across them.
Hank pulled up a couple of rolling office chairs, next to the one already there. He pushed off the books and magazines that were on them. “Go ahead and take a seat.”
Both Spencer and Molly did as he suggested. He took the seat directly in front of the screens. He turned to Molly and asked, “You got the USB drive?”
She nodded, and handed it to him. He inserted it into his computer tower, clicked away on a few buttons, and started reading the screen, which had converted from what Molly had seen originally to a black and green screen full of what appeared to her as random numbers and letters.