Chapter 18

"Do we need to talk about what happened?" I asked as Cindy drove us home.

"Mom, he isn't the first man to take me into the laundry," she said.

"I hope he is the first relative," I suggested.

"He is, but he really isn't a relative in the sense you think of a father daughter kind of thing. There was no way he could pressure me or anything, so in that sense he was just an older man." She paused a long moment with her eyes still on the road, then continued. "He was the oldest and the one who cared the least about how I felt about it all," she informed me.

"Yeah," I said. I figured that explained it all. Grandpa Charlie was just Grandpa Charlie. He was kind of like that 'You knowed I was a snake when you too me in thing.'

When we got back to my place Cindy took another shower. I had kept plenty of her clothes. Even if she didn't have her own room, she had her own portion of my walk in closet.

"So you want to hang out and go to dinner later?" I asked.

"I can't I have a date," she informed me.

"Oh I see, do you need anything?" I asked. I was a little disappointed and it showed.

"Nope, dad is taking care of all our money needs and stuff." She noticed my disappointment again. "Don't let it bother you, he can afford it and you can't right now. We both understand that, it doesn't mean we love you any less. We both still want to spend time with you, but we are growing up."

"Yeah, I know you are growing up. Just don't leave me out completely. Tell Charlie that I said that as well," I demanded.

"Right, and he is going to stop dating so he can spend time with you. Men are so selfish, that isn't going to happen, That is unless you want to join a threesome," she said.

"When did you get such a potty mouth?" I asked.

"College does that, even if you are upper middle class and cute," she said grinning.

"Well I don't like it," I replied. After a moment I added, "but it isn't the end of the world."

"Neither was giving a powerful older man a little head," she informed me smiling.

"Neither was that," I admitted. We did hang out for a couple of more hours before her date came to pick her up. The kid was more or less her own age. For some reason they left her car in my parking lot. I expect it was because she was spending the night with him somewhere and didn't want her dad to know. Hell I didn't really want to know either. I was learning far more about Cindy than I wanted to know.

I forced Cindy from my mind, while I went to work on a records check of Royce Marshall's sister Loretta. It took me an hour to find out the most rudimentary things about her.

Loretta lived in the small house that seemed to have belonged to their parents, who had both recently passed away. That seemed most likely since they were both named on the deed. There was a small mortgage on the house. The deed of trust was for only a few thousand dollars. Most likely they had inherited some debt along with the house.

The best I could tell without slippers on the ground asking, Loretta was a single mom who may or may not have ever been married. Her one child was a registered first grader in the public school system. On her facebook profile she listed herself as a hairstylist. That could give her anything from a minimum wage, to a six figure income. Most likely somewhere in the lower end of that range.

I couldn't get her bank statement but I could get her dept load. Her debt ratio wasn't catastrophic, but she could use her brother Royce's income for sure. In order for me to qualify as a sponsor for Royce, I had to provide him with a steady job. I could not simply hire him on an as needed basis. I was going to have to find a way to manage him profitably like it or not. As a matter of fact I didn't like it, but that didn't make much difference.

I wrote the employment offer to the parole board in a letter form. My offer to Royce was based on his working forty hours a week at ten dollars an hour and a two week unpaid vacation. It was a take or leave it offer. I did not plan to negotiate with him in anyway.

I picked up my ringing smart phone. "Hello Jeff," I said into it.

"Cindy tells me you are going back into practice, good for you. She also tells me it is criminal, but not in competition to me and dad." he said.

"Jeff, I don't plan to compete with you guys. I doubt that I could anyway. My plan is to run a one lawyer office, but with a paralegal staff to handle the shit work."

"An ex-con for an investigator doesn't sound like a good start at staffing," he said.

"Thank you so much for the unsolicited advice," I suggested lightly.

"Come on Lucy don't be like that," he said.

"Jeff you make it hard to be any other way. I know you didn't call to chat about my future what can I do for you?" I asked. I really expected it to be about Cindy or Charlie.

"You do remember my assistant Sam," Jeff asked.

"You mean your legal secretary Sam the homosexual male?" I asked. I loved that Jeff had hired a homosexual without knowing it. After he had him on board he couldn't seem to get rid of him.

"Yeah well Sam's little boy crush on me has gotten to be a problem," he said.