CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
spent the afternoon at the office looking through the files that Jordie and Roger had compiled on the fly. We tried to trace Lydia's locations before she was kidnapped, and then tried to brainstorm a list of possible reasons why someone would want to kill her.
What the guys had discovered about Lydia gave us a number of leads. Her bank records showed that she was depositing large amounts of cash every month, and since her death, there had been numerous withdrawals, all for the same amount. We had no idea who else had access to her accounts, since we knew she wasn't married, nor did she have any children. I told Jordie to follow up on this with the bank.
"Where is Roger?" I asked.
"He said he had an errand to run and that he'd meet us back here later," Jordie said as he searched for Lydia's employment history and leafed through a large file that Alma had brought him.
"Find anything else?"
"It's weird," he said as he tapped the keyboard and then looked back at the screen. "She has a steady employment history up until two years ago, then it looks like she practically dropped off the map. No W2 on record, no taxes filed, nothing. It's like she didn't exist anymore."
"That's weird," I said. "She was obviously making money, lots of it. Where in the hell was it coming from?"
"Probably something we need to ask our client," Jordie said as he punched more keys and looked back at the screen and then down at the file. "This is weird, Brooke. Two days before she disappeared, she deposited a huge sum of cash, but she did it over a period of a few hours and at different branches of the same bank."
"What the hell?"
"I know, right?" he said. "She had to know that would show up in her banking records. It wasn't like they were separate banks or something."
"Unless, she wanted it to show up," I said. "Like she was trying to send a message or a signal. Do we have any records of any other accounts at other banks?"
"I hadn't checked," he said. "I assumed she did all her banking at the same place."
"Check it out," I said. "I need to get going or I'm going to be late for dinner with my parents."
"Can't you reschedule it?" Jordie asked.
"No, it's important," I replied. "I'll come back after I'm done, though. So, leave anything you find on my desk and I'll look at it."
"Who says I'll be gone?" He grinned.
"Good point," I laughed. "And, Jordie?"
"Yeah?"
"Find Roger, dammit," I said as I walked to my office, grabbed my purse and headed out to catch a cab.
#
minutes later, I got out of the car and walked up the front walk of my parent’s house. The lights were on and I could hear music and my parents’ laughter coming from inside. My mouth watered as I thought about a thick juicy hamburger with a side of my mother's zesty potato salad.
"Hey, what are you doing? Trying to invite the neighborhood for dinner?" I called as I opened the front door and walked back toward the kitchen where my parents were dancing across the linoleum to the rhythm of Santana.
"Nah, we were just waiting for the grill to heat up so we could put the burgers on," my father laughed. "I got the sudden urge to dance."
"Your father has been assigned to watch Dancing with the Stars," my mother explained as he twirled her around again. "It's not enough for him to watch it, he needs to live it!"
"You could have had a career, Pop," I said as I watched him spin my mother.
"There's no need to be a smartass," he shot back laughing. "I'm enjoying this!"
"I'm not even kidding, Pop," I said smiling. "You've got the moves of a regular Gene Kelly!"
"Come here, kiddo, let me spin you around the dance floor while your mother gets the salad ready," my father said, holding his arms out to me.
"I'll pass, Pop," I said as I perched on a stool and watched my parents work together to get dinner ready.
"Then come with me and help me with the burgers," he said as he grabbed the plate piled high with freshly made patties. "Your brother should be here any minute, and I don't want to take a chance that he'll get called in to the house without eating."
I followed my father out the back door onto the patio he and my brother had built the year before. My parents had the kind of backyard that made you forget that you were in LA and left you feeling like you'd escaped the city for some exotic spa. Teddy and my father had carved out a small space for a hand-built grill in the back of the yard, and we headed toward it.
"Brooke, we need to talk about something," my father said as he slid the burgers onto the grill and then closed the lid.
"What's up, Pop?" I said playfully punching him in the shoulder. His face was solemn and serious, though. "What is it?"
"Brookie, I know you took this Malone case because your firm needs visibility and money, but are you sure you know what you're doing?" he asked.
"Yes, why do you ask?"
"One of the city reporters passed information on to me about Dax Malone, and I'm not sure that you know exactly what you're dealing with here," he said quietly.
"Dad, he's been accused of a murder that he didn't commit," I said. "I'm not sure it gets any simpler than that."
"But, Brooke, if the source is correct, Malone is a major drug dealer," my father said with a worried look on his face. "There's talk that his lawyer was executed."
"We've been looking into that, Pop," I said, understanding his concern and wanting to reassure him that I'd be okay. "Jordie and I have found evidence that points to someone other than Dax."
"Don't be naive, kiddo," he said. "Just because he didn't do it himself doesn't mean he didn't have it done."
"Pop, look, everyone deserves a proper defense, and I believe Malone when he says he didn't do it," I said. I needed to calm my father's anxiety or he would drive my mother crazy worrying about me. I knew he was right in that it was risky representing Dax, but I also knew that if we didn't do it, the firm would be sunk. "We need this one, Pop. And, since I believe he's innocent, I think we can do a good job defending him."
"I don't like this," my father said as he lifted the lid on the grill and flipped the burgers. "I don't like it one little bit."
"Well, you can be my inside informant, how about that?" I said. "You can tell me what you're hearing about Dax, and I'll let you know if you're right."
"Brooke," my father turned and looked at me as he laid his hand on my head. "Please don't do anything foolish. We can help you out if the firm fails, but we can't do anything if you are killed trying to prove you can make this work."
"I'll be careful," I said as I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tightly. I knew he was going to keep this from my mother, and that the secret would cause him a great deal of anxiety. "I promise. I'll be really careful."
"Teddy's here!" my mother called out the back door. "Are those burgers almost ready?"
"Coming!" my father and I yelled back in unison, grinning.