Chapter 131

Skye and Jill scattered like cockroaches when the light comes on as soon as my face appeared in the doorway.

Liz looked up from her desk while I stood sheepishly in front of her.

“If you want Brea gone, she’s gone,” I said.

“No,” Liz said almost at once. “I was being silly.”

“It’s not worth arguing with you over,” I told her. “If she’s going to be a problem then you’re right. We should let her go. But I still think we do it in a way that it doesn’t come back on her at the hospital.”

“She should stay,” Liz told me, her eyes downward on the desktop. “I ... did what you said. I talked to Skye and Jill first. They looked at me like I was insane. So I called the moms. I thought ... I thought Annabelle would definitely be on my side in this. She told me that I was acting like a spoiled little girl and I should stop.”

I snorted. I could see my mother saying something like that to me (with a different gender attached) but I couldn’t see her telling Liz that.

Liz let out a short breath.

“We finally got Ciera out of our lives this morning,” she said. “So I thought it would be a good time to rid myself of the other female that actively seeks your attention and your approval.”

I shook my head.

“Brea?” I asked. “She...”

“Yeah,” Liz said, offering a sheepish look. “Jill said that if you weren’t her patient, Brea might drown you in the pool if she got the chance. I just ... I guess I just saw that she jumped to attention anytime you uttered a peep or even flinched.”

“That’s her job,” I noted.

“Yeah,” Liz said again. “That’s what my mom said. It’s ... things have been crazy out here. This week, without her around, I actually got to spend time with you every day. I liked it.”

“I liked it, too,” I said, reaching across the desk for her hand. “But we spent time together because I had things to offer with what you were working on. If Brea had been here, we’d still have seen each other a lot this week. The situation demanded that we work together on this.”

“I put two and two together and came up with 29,” Liz said. “Everybody else says Brea is a big help to you. And they also told me that having her around lets our days flow more freely. This week, it wasn’t a big deal for me to lend a hand when you needed one.”

She closed her eyes and shook her head.

“Sorry, poor choice of words,” she said.

“But accurate,” I said, squeezing her hand and smiling at her.

“We were usually wrapping something up or getting ready to start something so we were already in proximity,” Liz said. “I didn’t have to put a call on hold to help you into your brace or to make sure you got your shoes tied.”

“It’ll be easier once I have some time out of this thing,” I said, gesturing to the new sling on my arm. “I’ll plan my free times around when I need to do things like that. I can ... I can tie my shoes now but not with my arm strapped. I’ve been...”

It was my turn to sigh.

“I’ve been babying myself this week,” I admitted.

Liz tilted her head.

“I really want to make sure they let me out of this fucking thing for a couple of hours very soon,” I explained. “So I’ve been making sure that I don’t ... overdo ... things. I’ve been putting it back in some sort of sling as soon as I get out of the shower. I’ve been wearing the complicated contraption more than I planned to. I could have made things easier on everybody ... particularly you.”

“No,” Liz said firmly. “We need to do things this way to make sure that everything goes well next week. I haven’t minded.”

She stopped and frowned.

“But I can see where it could be complicated if I’m tied up on something different next week,” she finished. “And I’m probably going to be. I’ve pushed some stuff back that I really need to attend to.”

“I know you have,” I said. “But somebody will be here for the next two weeks. They’ll help me out when you’re busy next week. The week after, they’ll be there while I learn what I can and can’t do right now. After that, we’ll be in good shape, I think.”

“We’re still in good shape,” Liz answered. “I’m sorry that I’ve been so rough on you the last couple of days. It’s dawned on me that I’m really in the dark about the things you do. On the surface, it seems pretty simple. When it gets right down to it, it’s as difficult as anything else I need done. There are concepts that I don’t understand ... and I don’t really have time to learn them.”

“That’s why you have us,” I pointed out. “Your contribution is to point us where you want to go. It’s our job to get you there ... and to tell you of the pitfalls in moving a particular direction. It’s no different than the lawyers you pay. You don’t understand some aspects of the legal system so you hire people that do. You didn’t go to law school in your spare time.”

“But I want to know what you do,” Liz said.

“I don’t have any idea what you do,” I said.

“Yes, you do,” Liz countered.

“I mean I don’t know how to do it,” I said. “I can’t sing or write music.”

I glanced down at my bound arm.

“I’m not going to be learning the guitar or the drums anytime soon,” I continued. “And as far as running a business empire ... not a prayer. I’m lucky if I know my bank balance.”

Liz smiled and nodded slightly.

“Let’s talk about something else,” she said. “Was that your professor you were talking to?”

“Yes,” I answered.

“And?” Liz pressed.

“He’s in,” I said.

“Just like that?” Liz wondered.

“It appears that you’re right,” I said. “He likes me. He said he was contacted by a couple of the corporations but passed on helping them in case we called. He’s got somebody to help us out in locating the source of the leaked documents.”

I paused and considered how to phrase the next part. Liz saved me the trouble.

“How much should I send him?” she asked. “It’s almost four and I want to get some funds transferred offshore and into holding companies.”

“Uh, it doesn’t work that way,” I said. “He’s pretty sure he’ll have the info by early next week. We’ll get a price tag then. If he can’t locate it ... it’ll be a couple of grand for his time. Once he gets a name, he’ll assess the value of the information and the amount of work it took his ... operative ... to acquire it.”

“Ballpark?” Liz asked.

“Twenty-five,” I said.

“For a name?” Liz asked.

“It’s a little more complicated than that,” I said.

Once again I was back to where I didn’t want to be. I wanted to keep Liz as shielded as possible – and that included from accessory charges.

“Let’s do it this way,” I said. “I mean, I think it’s best to keep you outside the loop on this. Can you transfer the funds somewhere ... and give me control of them?”

“You do realize that leaves you squarely in the loop,” Liz noted.

“I’m already in the loop,” I said. “The transaction between me and the professor will be entirely legal ... I think. It’s the other side of the transaction that...”

“Isn’t,” Liz finished.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’ll tell you if you really need to know but it’s probably best if you can honestly claim ignorance if this blows up.”

“How likely is that?” Liz asked.

I considered the question.

“Slim,” I determined, “but real. That’s the other part of the agreement. If, in the unlikely event, that the ... operative ... is caught, you must provide money for a legal defense and ... a fee for silence.”

“Are we talking about ... somebody getting the information beaten out of them?” Liz asked, her eyes wide.

I held up a hand.

“No,” I said. “No acts of violence and no physical interaction of any kind.”

“A computer breach,” Liz declared.

“Liz!” I said in exasperation.

“It’s no different than when I called him for help,” she said.

“It’s way different,” I said. “You were asking for routine background checks. He could find the names in the hospital directory. I can say with almost complete assurance that no state, federal or local laws were violated.”

Liz rubbed her eyes.

“And they will be this time,” she said.

“Oh, yes,” I said with a nod.

Liz sighed.

“I can call it off,” I said. “I thought you understood what you were asking.”

Liz glanced toward the ceiling.

“I did,” she admitted. “And I’m OK with it. So, we’re talking the prospect of ... what... $75,000?”

“Less, I would think,” I said.

“Not if the hacker gets caught,” Liz said. “Twenty-five for the information; twenty-five for a lawyer; twenty-five in hush money.”

“Well, maybe, but I don’t see it that way,” I said. “He’ll only charge us if he gets a name. A lawyer, yeah, I can see that running a pretty big sum. But the payoff will be five grand or so.”

Liz was nodding to herself.

“And this name is worth $50,000?” she asked.

I considered the question. To me, it wasn’t because that was a huge sum of money to me. It was about an hour’s interest for Liz. That said, if I still had $50,000 in my bank account, I’d be willing to pay it for the information.

“Yes,” I said finally.

“OK,” she said. “Can you just pay it and we’ll work out reimbursement?”

I bit my lip. I couldn’t pay it but I didn’t want to let Liz know why I couldn’t pay it. Her ring had put a huge dent in my bank account – and it was still hidden in one of my suit pockets.

“I think a shell corporation would be better,” I said. “Uh, one other thing.”

I cringed at the thought of relaying the next part of the deal.

“What?” Liz asked tiredly.

“Uh, we agreed upon a scapegoat if things go sideways,” I said.

“It better not be you,” Liz said firmly.

“No,” I said. “Alyssa Grace.”

I had expected a host of reactions: anger, a declaration to get back on the phone, possibly the throwing of objects.

I did not expect laughter.

“Oh, shit,” Liz said. “That would be funny.”

“I figured that she’s pushing to be the lead dog,” I said. “Well, the one out front is the one that gets hit by the car.”

“So, you’re saying that in the unlikely event this ... operative ... is discovered, he’ll tell the cops that Alyssa Grace was the one that hired him?” Liz asked for clarification.

“Pretty much,” I said.

“Alright,” Liz said. “I’ll have the funds wired out of the country before the close of business today. I’ll let you know where they are and then I’ll step away. Just ... keep me informed about the progress.”

“I will,” I said. “Uh, one other thing I need to talk to you about.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re involved in something else illegal,” she said.

“No,” I said. “This is about the San Diego office.”

“What about it?” Liz asked, her interest clearly piqued. I doubted she would enjoy what I had to tell her.

“With what’s been happening this week, we’ve run into a problem with overtime,” I told her.

“Overtime,” Liz repeated.

“Adele and Liam have been going at things almost 14 hours a day for the past week,” I said. “Susan said they’ll likely hit 75 hours by the time they leave tonight. And pretty much everybody else will have at least 10 to 12 hours of overtime.”

“We need to watch that and keep it from happening as much as we can,” Liz said.

“I know,” I said. “But I had to have people there, Liz. That’s the biggest problem with a West Coast office. The news cycle here starts at 5 a.m. out there. The news cycle there ends at 2 a.m. here.