“The grounds are truly beautiful,” Pepper agreed, and turned her head to enjoy her own splendid vista outside her bedroom window.
She reconsidered Nina’s request to come interview her in person. This was a woman after her own heart. She was moved by the power of place.
“So would you like to see what it looks like across the road from the distillery?”
“Across the road? Oh—you mean you live on that gorgeous farm?”
Pepper could hear the silent, internalized squeeee! from Nina through the phone line.
“Yes, I do. So would you like to see GarnetBrooke?”
* * *
He wasn’t sure why he bothered going back to the office, but he did. He was in such a stupor that he knew he wouldn’t get a damn thing done. He’d teased Pepper about being in the same physical and mental state after their last lusty time at Hannah’s house, and now it was his turn to experience it.
He was fucked up.
And she had done it to him.
Not that it was a bad thing since he was in love with Pepper. But he was so goofy-in-love that when she’d driven him back to the office and dropped him off late that afternoon, he was on the verge of dashing south into downtown, bursting into Veach’s Fine Jewelry, and buying the biggest engagement ring he could find in little old Bourbon Springs. Yet he calmed his crazy romantic notion, knowing that he did want to propose, but when the time came to ask her, it would be a special, deliberate, and planned occasion.
But feeling so wonderfully sex-groggy wasn’t so great when one was faced with having to return to a law office and review a contract that was nothing more than a headache on paper.
He hadn’t been back more than half an hour when Bruce called him into his office. Jon knew from experience that being called into Bruce’s office late in the day usually presaged nothing good. It was the time when bad news was announced, like he’d lost some case or client or—
Someone was leaving the firm.
Sure enough, when Jon stepped inside Bruce’s office, Drake was sitting in one of the chairs in front of the desk, his chin resting on his hand. He didn’t look up when Jon came in.
“Drake just told me that he’s leaving us,” Bruce said without preface, then fell into his chair. He adjusted his tie and grunted as he sat. “I don’t think that there’s anything either of us can say to change his mind, but I wanted to call you in to let you know.” Bruce wouldn’t look at him either, and Jon felt like he was being fired rather than watching a colleague depart.
“Why are you leaving?” Jon asked, although he knew the real reason.
“Working in a firm just doesn’t suit me. No hard feelings.”
Jon wouldn’t accept that answer.
“Are you leaving because I didn’t tell you how I felt about Pepper Montrose?”
Both Bruce and Drake looked very uncomfortable, and Jon knew from their reactions that they’d discussed this very point before his arrival in the room.
“Yes,” Drake finally said.
Jon turned to Bruce. “Then why should he leave if I’m the one who did wrong?”
“What are you saying?” Bruce asked.
“I’m asking you both whether you’d be more comfortable practicing together without me,” Jon said pointedly, barely believing he was even suggesting his own departure from the firm. But if he was the problem, he wanted out.
“No, no, no,” Bruce insisted immediately, although Jon could see that Drake had warmed to the idea by sitting up a little straighter in his chair. “Drake’s shared with me that, like he said, he’s not meant for firm life. Some attorneys just do better as solo practitioners. He’s wise enough to know himself, and I certainly respect that, and appreciate that he gave us a chance to practice with him.”
Jon watched as Drake’s face reddened. Bruce had just dismissed him in favor of Jon, like being picked at the playground for some team sport.
And in that moment Jon lost an enormous amount of respect for Bruce. He’d just rejected the more forthcoming lawyer for the one whose misrepresentation had them in a mess.
“Yes, thanks. Well, I’ll leave you two to talk,” Drake said.
As he left, Drake gave him a little nod and Jon knew he’d regained a small measure of his former colleague’s esteem.
“Sit,” Bruce ordered after Drake’s departure, pointing to the chairs in front of his desk.
“I’m not a vassal.” Jon crossed his arms over his chest and kept standing.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I get tired of you talking to me like I’m still your associate, that’s what.”
“You don’t have a lot of leeway with me right now, Jon. I could easily still take you up on your offer to leave and pull Drake back in here and try to get him to stay.”
“You’re a real asshole, you know that?” He could feel himself sneering at the man he’d considered a mentor and friend, but who was dissolving into something manipulative and Machiavellian in front of his eyes.
“Then why the hell do you want to practice law with me?” Bruce bellowed, rising from his seat. “You’re the reason that we lost the best client we had, other than the distillery! You had to go off and develop some crush on Pepper or offend her or whatever it was you did—”
“Fine.” Jon dropped casually into a chair. “So let’s break up, go our merry ways.”
Bruce grabbed the arms of his desk chair and slowly lowered his girth into the seat. “Are you serious?”
“Yes, I am. And I don’t have a crush on Pepper. I’m in love with her.”
“Wait—what? You’re in love with her? I thought you—”
“Just dating? No, we’re in love. And, to be clear, I’m head-over-heels-thinking-about-proposing in love with her. Not that she knows about the proposing part, okay?”
Bruce exhaled a long breath. “I just knew that you had an interest in her, and had been out or something like that.”
Jon saw that he wasn’t looking at his friend or law partner. He was looking at a virtual stranger. Jon leaned his head back against the chair and looked at the ceiling.
“Bruce, when was the last time we went somewhere and had dinner together, just you and me? Had a meal and had a drink—or two or three?”
“Too damn long,” Bruce acknowledged. “Get your coat. We’re going to The Rickhouse. On me.”
Half an hour later the two men were ensconced at the bar at The Rickhouse, which was conveniently located less than one block south and across the street from their offices. Jon called Pepper and begged off dinner, saying he’d be out to the farm later but that something important had come up with Bruce and that the two of them needed to talk.
“That was some wedding!” Bruce cried after Jon recounted the ceremony he’d witnessed earlier that day. Bruce finished the remainder of his Garnet on the rocks and called to the bartender for another one.
“It was great.” Jon laughed and took a sip of Garnet neat.
“That where you got your notion of proposing to the lovely Ms. Montrose?”
Jon smiled. “It did point my thoughts in that direction.”
“Really, Jon, I had no idea that you two were that serious.”
“We weren’t when I fibbed to Drake. But things have changed. And please don’t mention the proposal thing to anyone. I don’t have a plan on that, except to do it someday, probably after her dad’s case is over.”
“When will that be?”
“Who the hell knows? I think the hearing is this spring.”
“Of the top five worst things to ever happen to Bourbon Springs, Kentucky, Walt Montrose has the dishonor of taking at least three of those spots, considering the amount of damage he did to people and cases around here,” Bruce said as the bartender delivered his drink.
“Has the attorney for the bar contacted you?”
“Who’s that?”
“Nina Cain. She’s Walker Cain’s sister.”
Bruce rolled his eyes and brought his drink to his li
ps. “Could this get any more complicated?”
“Considering the players involved, I’d have to say yes. But has Nina contacted you?”
Bruce took a long sip of his bourbon and replaced his glass on the bar.
“No, and I hope she doesn’t. I don’t know a damn thing about what Walt’s been up to in the past twenty years and hope to stay ignorant.”
“Nina asked me to contact her again if I find out any information.”
Bruce revealed he’d heard what had happened at the cemetery. “That man’s full of it. I can’t believe she forgave him.”
“Not the same as trusting him,” Jon pointed out.
“But it’s the first step, isn’t it?” Bruce shook his head. “I always got along with Walt well enough, but I couldn’t trust the man. Had to get everything in writing with him. Everything. Could not rely on his word. Terrible way to practice law. In fact, the worst way. I was horrified to learn he’d stolen all that money, but I couldn’t honestly say I was surprised.”
Jon sipped his bourbon. “I have the feeling that he’s going to get his license back.”
“Why?”
“Because Nina Cain needs witnesses, that’s why. She’s calling around, trying to find out information, getting nowhere.”
“Why does she need witnesses? I can’t for the life of me understand how a cretin like Walt even has a chance to be a lawyer again.”
Jon shrugged. “Law allows it. And according to Nina, she’s got nothing on him but the old stuff—what he did twenty years ago. There’s no one around to say what an asshole he is right now. He moved away from all that.”
“A shrewd move, it turns out.” Bruce took a long sip of his drink. He put the glass on the bar and held it, staring down into its ambered depths. “You really think Walt has a chance to get relicensed?”
“Yes,” Jon said. “I could hear it in Nina Cain’s voice. She wasn’t hopeful. She was doing what she could, but there was defeat in her tone.”
“You say she asked you to tell her if you found anything new on old Walt?”
“She did.”
“You know, I represented Lucy Davenport after she and Fuzzy got wise to Walt,” Bruce revealed. “I couldn’t do anything for her except help her file that reimbursement claim with the bar, but at least she got that money back.”
“Really? Does Nina know that?”
Bruce sighed, moved in his seat, and pressed his lips together. “No, I suppose not. I had a call from some private investigator—not an attorney—several months ago about Walt but didn’t call back. I thought he hadn’t a snowball’s chance and didn’t bother, and no one followed up with me. Guess I fell through the cracks.”
Jon studied Bruce, who seemed to be mentally wrestling with something that would not leave him alone. Bruce took another long sip of his drink while Jon ordered another Garnet, this time on the rocks.
“Maybe there’s nothing there, but I’d kick myself if we didn’t do this,” Bruce said, holding his drink with both hands and looking into his lap. “Let’s pull Lucy’s old file from storage. I also represented another of Walt’s victims, so we’ll get that file too.”
“And do what with them?” Jon revealed that Harriet had told him that Lucy didn’t want to be involved with the investigation.
Bruce picked up his drink and gestured for Jon to follow him into the restaurant so they could eat at a table instead of the bar. They slid into a long, wide booth and took the proffered menus from the short blond waitress, who eagerly told them of the specials and promised to return for their orders.
“I want you to look in the files,” Bruce said, picking up the thread of the discussion.
“For what? Those files are twenty years old. Nothing new there.”
“It’s all we’ve got,” Bruce said. “You mind doing it? You could spot something I might not after all these years. And you were the one to speak with Nina, and seem to know a little bit about this area of law.”
Jon agreed to do it, but told Bruce he had no idea what he was looking for.
“Neither do I,” Bruce admitted. “But I don’t think we’d ever forgive ourselves if we didn’t look, and Walt gets his license back and then gets in trouble again. At least we’ll be able to say we did what we could to stop that train wreck.”
“I’ll pull those files first thing tomorrow.”
Jon knew Pepper wouldn’t approve of Bruce’s plan. But he also knew he had a duty to his profession to at least examine those files and that his personal feelings couldn’t be allowed to interfere with his professional judgment.
He’d made that mistake already once in his relationship with Pepper, and he vowed not to make it again.
21
Pepper could tell over the phone Nina was eager to see GarnetBrooke, but she hadn’t expected Nina to want to come down to Craig County the very next day. Rightly anticipating that she’d be tired the day following her clean sheets snap inspection at Jon’s house, Pepper put Nina’s visit off until later in the week, much to the disappointment of Nina.
And even though they were both bone-tired, Jon did come to the farm later that evening after his meeting and dinner with Bruce. He returned to his house before coming to GarnetBrooke, and brought toiletries and clothes for the next day.
“Let me show you to your quarters, sir,” she said when she saw his overnight bag, and took him by the hand and led him up the stairs to her bedroom.
The lights were dim and the sheets on the king-sized bed were turned down.
“The only regret I have about you being here tonight,” Pepper whispered as he began to slide his hands under her T-shirt to unclasp her bra, “is that you don’t get to see the wonderful view.”
They were standing in front of the large bank of windows that lined the back of her bedroom, and which in the daylight overlooked an ocean of acreage. Pepper turned her head to her left and looked into the darkness, which was punctuated by a few lights on the large horse barns.
“I already have a wonderful view,” he said, his eyes on her face. “I’ll never need another one.”
Within the next minute they were completely nude and in bed together. They made love only once that evening, a slow, sleepy, and sensual coupling, which left them both satisfied and ready to fall into that lovely abyss of sleep that consumes after such physical and emotional intensity.
After showering separately the next morning lest they get behind schedule, they dressed and headed out to The Windmill for breakfast together since there was nothing decent to eat in the house. Pepper thought that going out to breakfast was fun, but eating in and whipping up a nice hot breakfast in her kitchen and watching the sun rise out her east-facing windows would have been a much more enjoyable treat. She resolved to go to the store after parting at The Windmill and stock up her kitchen so she’d be ready in the future (maybe the next morning?) for just such a breakfast.
She also needed to get apples, carrots, and pears; more horses were expected this week at the farm and she couldn’t wait to see the new arrivals. One sad thing on the horizon was that tomorrow the marker was going to be installed at BB’s grave. Pepper hadn’t decorated the spot yet, as she had been awaiting the marker’s installation, and she was simply sad at the prospect of decorating it at all. It was still difficult for her to come to grips with the loss of her favorite old friend at GarnetBrooke.
* * *
The first and only thing on Jon’s mind that morning after he’d parted from Pepper at The Windmill was to get into work and get those old files Bruce had mentioned. Since they were in storage, retrieving them entailed a trip to the firm’s storage facility on the eastern end of town beyond the high school and the hospital. Jon decided to do the task himself, rather than send a runner or secretary to do it. There was something personal and important about this job that made him trust no one else to get it done, and he didn’t want to invite questions from the staff about why the old files were needed.
As he passed the hospital and the attached
care facility where Pepper’s mother had been before her death, Jon wondered whether Pepper’s investigation into her mother’s fall and death had yielded any appreciable results. She hadn’t mentioned anything about that endeavor, other than it was underway and she expected a preliminary report from her Lexington attorneys soon.
Jon feared that whatever answer she received, it would be a painful time. If the report recommended litigation and Pepper accepted that advice, that would prolong a frustrating and sad situation—and could take years to resolve and ultimately even be unsuccessful. If the report found no problems, Jon knew Pepper would somehow put the blame on herself for her mother’s situation. She’d made the comment more than once that she wished she’d brought her mother to GarnetBrooke and hired round-the-clock help. Jon had tried to reassure Pepper that she’d made the right decision at the time based on the information she had, and that just because something bad had happened didn’t mean that it had been the wrong decision. He’d told clients the same thing countless times when something bad had happened to them, and he’d heard the same lecture from Bruce after some disappointment in a case where a strategic decision hadn’t worked out to his satisfaction.
Once at the storage place, Jon found the files after about ten minutes of searching and was back in his office picking through them in less than half an hour after he’d left. He reviewed the smaller file first, the one that didn’t involve Lucy Davenport, but the story was painfully similar.
A client had a small settlement from a car accident and Walt had stolen it. The story wasn’t as dramatic as Lucy’s case—an exploding couple of cars on Main Street tended to live in the collective consciousness of Bourbon Springs residents for a good number of years—but it was sad nonetheless. What made it particularly egregious was the client had recently been widowed and had desperately needed the funds.
Instead, Jon found a long chronology of Walt’s lies to the woman (she’d kept a log of the calls and letters), claiming various reasons for not having the money. She gave up asking Walt for the money once Lucy’s case went public. And although the client, with Bruce’s help, had been able to get restitution from the bar fund, it took over three years to get the money through that process.
Bourbon Springs Box Set: Volume II, Books 4-6 (Bourbon Springs Box Sets Book 2) Page 81