Evelyn

by C. L. Stone

  Deal

  (Ace)

  Ace held his cell phone to his ear. “Are you sure I can talk to him directly?” he asked Diego.

  “It isn’t illegal for you to,” Diego said. “But I called because of something else I thought you wanted to know.”

  “What’s that?”

  “He had opportunity, but pinned Eva for it by stashing it in her clothes and using her contacts. You know that. However, I haven’t been able to find out where he gets the pills from. The supply room shows prescription bottles that are ripped clean of labels. They could have come from anywhere.”

  “Did he buy them?”

  “I’m not sure, but I’m surprised there wasn’t a concern of where they actually came from. I think the assumption was they were his own, or hers, but I checked with her doctor...no dice. And he doesn’t have a prescription. This might be something you bring to a lawyer. Where’s the source? And if you find it and pin it to the boyfriend, you’re golden. We can prove he’s been lying.”

  “Thanks,” Ace said. “That’s exactly what I needed.”

  “Ciao, amigo.”

  “You know ciao is Italian, yeah?”

  “Bien sûr. Problem?”

  Ace smirked at his French for ‘of course’ and hung up on him.

  He stood outside of apartment number 27, in a block of other apartments in downtown Atlanta. It wasn’t far from where Eva used to work.

  The girl didn’t even have a car. She took public transportation, according to information he dug up about her. No wonder she ended up hitchhiking.

  He thumped his knuckles on the door.

  After a few moments, the door opened. A tall man with a wide chest appeared, wearing only boxers. He had fresh bite marks around his nipples and his dark hair was wild.

  The man raised an eyebrow, glazed over, clearly stoned. There was a black device strapped to his ankle, blinking green. “What?” he said.

  Dignified.

  “You’re Daniel Monroe?” Ace asked. He’d worn a newly purchased pair of dark gray slacks and sports coat. He hoped the polished look would give him that air of importance. Given he was working on the fly, he didn’t have time to source a lawyer for Eva. It took him long enough to find the right place, to dig up what he could about Daniel.

  “Look, man, I told people I’m done doing interviews...” He shifted to close the door.

  Ace wedged his foot in the way, stopping the momentum and getting a crunch through his shoe. He hid his pain through gritting teeth. “I’m here for information for a defense attorney. I just had a few questions to wrap up.” He didn’t have to say which defense attorney, did he? Did it matter if he was working with Eva and planned to turn over information to her attorney, when she finally had one?

  Daniel smirked and then rolled his eyes. “That’s all I’ve been doing. Answering questions.” He released the door and stepped back.

  Ace entered a living room mostly clean except for a couple of pizza boxes on the counter. The furniture was white, the accent pieces like the coffee table and side tables were a beachy-like blue. Some of the décor was sea glass art or photos, mostly of Eva on her vacations. So she liked beach décor?

  There were a few clothes strewn about, glittery...

  Down a hallway to the left was the sound of two women talking to each other.

  One day and he was here sleeping with other women? Ace scratched absently just under his nose, wanting to avoid breathing in too much of the heavy scent of alcohol and weed smoke in the room. “Having a few friends over?”

  Daniel shrugged his thick shoulders and kept that idiotic smile on his face. “Gotta keep my spirits up. I was looking at prison time.” He motioned to his ankle bracelet, the location sensor beeping green still. “I think this is getting off me today, isn’t it?”

  Ace dropped his hands, stuffing them into his pockets. “How so?”

  Daniel shrugged. “Pressure from the press, and my statements. Eva’s clients trusted her and they’re pretty pissed she’s the reason their kids are at the middle of it. If I don’t name names about their kids, I get to point the finger at Eva and walk away.”

  Ace pressed his lips together. “You spoke with their attorneys?”

  Daniel ground his jaw from side to side, looking closer at Ace. “Did you say my lawyer sent you? Who are you?”

  It was worse than Ace had considered when he drove down here last night. He’d been by her old workplace, and asked a lot of questions. Everyone was pointing the finger at Eva.

  Now he realized why. They were probably told to do so by the wealthy parents who wanted to get attention away from their families. Eva gave them someone to blame. “I’m with his investigation team,” Ace said, “but I was put on the task to find out where the pills actually came from.”

  “Why do you need to know?”

  “It’ll come up during the trial. Better if we know ahead of time.” He pointed a finger at Daniel, although it was tempting to just punch him for being so cocky, and so willing to sell out Eva to save his own skin. Clearly, he didn’t miss her. Maybe it had been a casual affair. Understandable. Eva didn’t seem to be close to many people. Apparently, she had been distant enough she didn’t know this guy was a complete waste of space. “If that person comes forward and says you bought it and not her, then you’re back to looking at prison.”

  Daniel bent over, shifting over a couch pillow and someone’s discarded pants to allow room so he could sit down. He sighed. “I didn’t buy them,” he said.

  “Where did you get them?”

  “My aunt. She lives in a facility not far from here. Alzheimer’s.”

  “You didn’t sell Alzheimer’s medicine. And there were more than just one person’s pill bottles in those clothes. You had removed the labels, but they can’t be from just one source.”

  “No. Some were from her. She took codeine for her hip. The place where she’s living, she has neighbors.” Daniel shrugged, blinking rapidly. “Most of them are forgetful like her. I used to visit her a couple of times a week, but she never remembers who I am.”

  “And you swipe her pills,” Ace said, unable to mask too much of his disgust. “You’d steal pills from your own aunt? From old people?”

  Daniel winced. “They get more. Who is going to blame a bunch of Alzheimer patients for misplacing pills? If you ask me, they should blame the nurse who lets them keep them in the house. They should be locked up in a case and distributed.”

  Ace didn’t buy this. “They don’t just leave pills for patients like that. They could take nothing, or they take twenty a day because they forget. So your story doesn’t add up. So how did you get them?”

  He smirked and shook his head. “Maybe my parents own the facility. Maybe they used to make me work there as a kid, but now when I stop by, I’m invisible, so if I help myself to some of the pills...Hell, I know I’m not the only one.”

  Was that even true? Could this guy tell the truth at all? What a slimy... “You think a prosecutor is going to ignore this if they find out?”

  “Can’t find out if my aunt or anyone there doesn’t remember my face from day to day and no one is missing any pills.” Daniel rose, his broad shoulders squaring off with Ace. “What does it matter? This is your job, isn’t it? Get me off the hook. Maybe Evelyn was getting them from other clients she was talking to. Who knows? If they can’t trace the source, there’s no evidence, right?”

  Ace fumed, wanting to remind him that any good lawyer doesn’t get people off the hook. A good one might be able to reduce a sentence, but not when he was confessing to stealing pills from old, sick people and open to pinning it on Eva.

  Which meant...his lawyer may be withholding evidence from the court. His lawyer might need to answer a few questions. Especially when they were placing blame on someone who wasn’t even there to defend herself. He hated lawyers who used any distraction tactic to muddle a case and look good.

  Ace spoke. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Hav
e Martin make the deal for me. I’ll sign whatever he wants.”

  Ace bit his tongue as Daniel walked back down the hallway. The girls giggled, he laughed. A door was closed.

  Ace pressed his palm to his mouth, and then wiped slowly across his lips. He looked the place over. The furniture was moderate, high-end rental quality. The style of the entire home was upper end. That boy in the bedroom now, screwing around with a couple of bimbos was absolute garbage.

  How did Eva not see him for who he was before?

  But then, he didn’t get the impression she was home often. The people she worked with claimed she was out nearly every weekend, doing a getaway or cruise or something. She always went alone.

  Enough time for Daniel to take advantage of her while she was gone. He didn’t seem to have a problem lying.

  But did Eva care as long as he wasn’t breaking the law?

  She didn’t seem too upset over losing Daniel, just losing her reputation and what he cost her.

  Maybe he was less boyfriend and more like a long-term fling.

  Still, it was when she pulled away from Ace, those moments...she seemed sad. He’d thought it was because she lost a boyfriend amid this, but maybe he was wrong. Maybe Eva didn’t like getting too close to anyone. This might have given her another reason not to trust people.

  Ace turned, ready to leave, when he felt a vibration in his pocket. He pulled out his phone, checking the screen.

  It was Loïc giving him an Atlanta address.

  Loïc: Meet me.

  Ace frowned. Soma must have told him. He wouldn’t dare have told Loïc what he was up to unless it was crucial, but he was usually courteous and gave Ace a heads up.

  Ace got into the Tesla, and plugged the address into the GPS. On the way, he sent a text to Soma.

  ACE: Loïc is in Atlanta. Did you tell him I was here?

  Soma immediately responded.

  SOMA: No. I can find out who.

  ACE: Do.

  Ace’s lips twitched and he put the phone into the cup holder. Soma never lied to him. He knew better.

  So it wasn’t Soma, but no one else knew he was in Atlanta. Well, Loïc could have tracked his own car, but there was no reason to follow Ace. Ace could have been trying to distract the vloggers for all he knew. It wasn’t like Loïc didn’t trust him to bring his car back in one piece.

  Maybe he was too focused on Eva, and he was getting paranoid. Maybe Loïc ended up recognizing Eva after all, finally matched her with the face on the news and put two and two together.

  But why come to Atlanta himself? Ace was already on this and could handle it.

  He pulled into the parking lot of a smart looking office building in the middle of downtown. He went into the right high rise, filing in with the stream of people.

  He talked with the attendant behind the security desk. “Where are you going?” she asked.

  He checked his phone, where Loïc had put in a suite number. “Fifteen-one-two.”

  She made an O shape with her lips and then nodded. “Not a reporter, are you? Here for a meeting?”

  “Apparently,” he said absently, eyebrow raised. He produced an ID at her request and waited for confirmation he could pass through. He lifted his head, checking the board behind her where there was a list of offices and their respective floors.

  Martin, Esq. was on the list.

  He frowned, but the security officer handed back his ID and urged him on to the elevators. He had been cleared, so they knew he was coming.

  On the fifteenth floor, he readied himself for meeting Daniel’s lawyer. This was far from a coincidence. This was Loïc’s way of letting him know he knew everything.

  And that he’d chosen to get involved.

  Did he know the real story? Did he know Eva’s innocence here or what the press was pushing?

  He met with the secretary at the front desk, and gave his name. She nodded, and immediately asked him to follow her down a hallway and into a meeting room.

  Sitting across from each other at a long table was a wiry man with graying hair and pockmarked cheeks. Loïc sat across from him. He hadn’t chosen to wear his rings and wrist cuffs, but he had left the disks in his ears. He wore a muted blue suit with a dark shirt, looking more professional.

  The older man looked at Ace as he walked in and an eyebrow raised. “Mr. Waris. I’m Greg Martin. Your friend and I were just talking about the situation with my client and Miss Lacroix.”

  Ace motioned to the chair next to Loïc. “Do you mind if I have a word with him before we continue?”

  “Of course,” Mr. Martin said, and he rose. “I’ll be right back. I’ve got to make a few calls.”

  Once Martin left the room, Loïc turned in the seat, his elbows on the armrest of the black, high-back office chair, his palms pressing together. “You know they’re listening. I’d be careful what you say in here.”

  Ace figured they’d be listening in their own office. “How did you find out I was here?” he asked.

  Loïc smiled and he winked at him through his glasses. “Not important, but I thought you would be smart enough to record such an important conversation with Daniel.”

  Ace raised an eyebrow. “His apartment is bugged?”

  “Not by me.” Loïc leaned forward and smirked. “But luckily enough, overheard by the very people listening to us now.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Ace said. “He tapped his own client without him knowing?”

  “Oh, Daniel knows. But he thinks it is there to capture Eva if she came back to talk to him. Hoping to catch some sound bites that say she’s innocent. We didn’t expect near a full confession. Must not be sober enough to realize what he said.”

  “What is he going to do with it? Hide the evidence if she came back to defend herself?”

  “Daniel couldn’t afford a lawyer like Mr. Martin, Esquire.” Loïc pressed his palms against the table, and rose from the chair. “This isn’t about winning or losing to him. It’s about notoriety. This is a very public case. Daniel’s too ignorant, too trusting.”

  “I almost feel sorry for him,” Ace said, with a heavy amount of sarcasm. “He was willing to hang Eva for this to save his own skin.”

  “He won’t be saving himself.” Loïc rose and touched the tie at his neck, loosening it a little. “Not anymore. The evidence will be delivered as it should to the prosecutor’s office. The only deal left to make is for Eva’s sake. If Daniel confesses and still keeps his word in not dragging in the kids buying from him, his charges are lowered to possession instead of trafficking. There’s a chance after he fulfills his sentence that his slate can get wiped clean. And on a possession charge, he’s looking at probation and drug rehabilitation classes instead of actual prison time.”

  Ace rolled his eyes and shook his head. “That’s nothing after everything he’s done. You should have let me handle this.”

  “Clearly you were on your way here to make the same deal.”

  Ace growled. “This is basically letting him walk for stealing from sick people to sell to kids. I can’t believe you’d be for this.”

  “Not my choice, not without dragging Eva back here. Give him a good offer and this ends today. Otherwise, he wants a very public trial. I only saved you time.” He re-buttoned the suit jacket he wore, smoothing it out. “But it sounds like you have more things to worry about. There’s a leak. We can’t have that, can we?”

  “Tell me how you learned about Eva and I’ll take care of it.”

  “I think you know. Only one other person who knew what transpired here besides you and Soma...”

  “...Eva?”

  Loïc smiled, baring teeth in a devious look. Those light eyes sparked with amusement. “You’re finally catching on. She needs to be careful with who she talks to. Not everyone listening will be as understanding as I am.” Loïc stepped closer, enough so he can whisper to Ace without being overheard by whoever was listening. “Do you think she’ll be grateful when she learns I’m the one who set her
deal into motion, freeing her without using her?”

  Ace growled low. “I never used her.”

  “Let’s tell her what happened and see if she thinks that way. You dangled the carrot of freedom over her head, but not until she did what you wanted. Sounds like you were using her to me.”

  Ace fumed, shaking his head, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “That was timing, not me dangling a carrot and you know it. I would have done all this anyway. I came out here, didn’t I? Clearly, her fulfilling her promise to help didn’t really matter at all.”

  “Maybe it did matter. Did you ask her?”

  Unsure, Ace paused, unhappy with the question. He hadn’t wanted to pressure Eva into doing anything she didn’t really want to do. It was hard enough convincing her she didn’t actually have to do anything. Just go out with him to dinner, and even then she could have said no. It was just a favor.

  Loïc’s eyes lit up. “I have to say, she is quite the distraction. Haven’t stopped thinking about her all morning.” Loïc winked at him and then walked toward the door. “You can finish up here, can’t you? I’ve got to get back before the event tonight. I’m taking my car, by the way. You’ll have to get another ride.”

  Ace grumbled, watching Loïc leave. When the door closed and he was alone, he turned, glaring out the high-rise window to the streets of Atlanta.

  No doubt Loïc would consider this move a victory.

  Ace sent a text to Soma.

  ACE: Find out who she’s talking to.

  No word back, which meant Soma knew exactly who he was talking about and would find out the truth.

  All Ace had to do was finish up here with the lawyer and make sure Daniel signed something. Ace could take a jet back to Charleston. Eva couldn’t go to the event tonight alone, and he wouldn’t let her out of his sight from now on. Not until she fully knew what she was doing, who she should trust, and what they were about.

  It was her face, he was betting. She was horrid at hiding her feelings, at keeping the truth from her lips. Maybe that’s what happened.

  Or maybe he drove the truth from her, to tell Loïc. She was worried about her situation here, and didn’t trust Ace enough to not tell anyone else.