“You’re also suggesting that Eric didn’t tell Theo about the investigation.”
“Let me ask you a question. When is the earliest Theo knew about the problems with HeadFirst?”
I thought about it. “Well, last week was when he knew something was really wrong with the company. Because he was turned down for a mortgage. On Sunday, he learned that there was a commercial loan that was defaulted on, which had Eric’s and Theo’s individual names on it. It was obtained when the company started and they had nothing. So Theo and Eric were looking into what was going on at the company. Theo didn’t mention anything about a federal investigation, though. I got the feeling he didn’t know until he was arrested.”
My father was silent, but I could read the question he was now asking me. So what does that say about Eric and his involvement?
I ran through what I’d learned about criminal investigations from working with Maggie and her grandfather. “The authorities have to get evidence, or at least indication that evidence exists, before they arrest anyone, or even before they execute a search warrant.”
“Right,” my dad said. “And have you seen anything to indicate a search warrant was ordered?”
“Not yet, but we haven’t really seen anything. Maggie says they have thirty days to get the case indicted, and we’ll get some information then, but they’ve already requested and been granted extensions. Likely, it’ll be three months.”
My father pulled his plate back toward him, cut off another bite of omelet. He was giving me time, it seemed, to draw some conclusion.
But I didn’t need long. “No one has mentioned anything about a search warrant,” I said. “Not Eric, not Theo. And not the Feds. Because there wasn’t one. And the HeadFirst office isn’t the kind of place anyone could just stroll in. Yesterday in court, Theo told me where an extra key card was, and he had to give me all these instructions and two sets of codes in case I needed to get into his office.”
“So if they didn’t get a search warrant,” my father said, dabbing his mouth with a white paper napkin, “then how did they get the evidence they needed to arrest Theo?”
The answer came quick and clean. “Eric.” I smacked the tips of my fingers on the table, wishing I could slam both hands, feeling angry on behalf of Theo. “Eric was working with the Feds. And that’s why he wasn’t arrested.”
“We don’t know that for sure, but…” My father raised his fork and pointed it at me. Then he gave me a succinct nod, as if to say, Bingo.
25
As usual, Eric Deringer was the first to arrive at the offices of HeadFirst. He had always cherished the mornings, being able to knock things off his list, before Theo arrived with his loud, joking ways that always got the rest of the staff in a happy mood. Yet there had been no happy moods around the office lately, not from Theo’s side. The staff was more subdued than usual, although they had no idea the cause.
But they would today. Because today Eric had to tell them that Theo had been arrested. He had to tell them that HeadFirst had major issues. And worst of all, he had to tell them that some of them could be let go.
Yet with the place desolate and empty, he couldn’t get anything done at his personal office, so he took a pile of personnel folders, along with a laptop, into the glass-walled conference room. Maybe he could focus in there. He put the folders in rows, dividing them along the lines of which employees had been with the company the longest, then rearranging them in the order of who the company could do without. He tried making spreadsheets to keep track of his analysis, but he kept changing the results, kept reshuffling and rearranging the folders, because he couldn’t imagine HeadFirst without any of these people.
He heard the quiet ding that meant a key card had been slid through the slot next to the front door, then heard the door open.
He stood and steeled himself. The first employee had arrived.
Theo’s arrest had not made the news, thank God. He had no idea the reason for that, except that the U.S. Attorneys likely wanted to keep it quiet for now. And that made him nervous. Did it signify that they planned on other arrests?
Feelings of futility and ignorance swarmed him. Those feelings were becoming second nature by now, but it didn’t make them any less uncomfortable.
Eric walked toward the door of the conference room, ready to greet whatever employee was there, ready to simply tell them straight out what was happening. He couldn’t stand the secrecy anymore. The fact was there were still too many secrets out there, many of which he didn’t know or understand, and that left him feeling jarred and slanted, and he didn’t like it, couldn’t take it.
He pulled open the conference door. He expected a programmer named David, who usually arrived first, but instead of David’s methodical, heavy steps, he heard click, click, click, fast and sharp on the hardwood floors.
The sound came quicker, sounded angrier.
“Izzy?” he said, his voice shocked, when he saw who was there. “How did you get in?”
When Eric and Theo first built the office, consultants had told them, Put in high security, spend more than you think you have to, because you’ll always need it. Eric thought it extreme at first, then had grown grateful for the advice as they became more successful.
Izzy held up a key card and a piece of paper with what he recognized as security code numbers. “We need to talk.”
Ten minutes later and it felt like an hour had gone by. Eric had always thought Izzy was pretty—that red-orange hair, the body. Although Theo used to be the kind of guy who talked about his sexual exploits (he certainly had enough of them), he’d gone mostly silent when he started dating Izzy McNeil.
She’s different was what Theo said to him often. She’s the real deal.
Real what? Eric remembered asking him once. They were at a Cubs game, one of the first of the season. Although they could afford box seats, they preferred the bleachers, where they could squeeze in next to a pack of hot girls and soon find themselves in a party in left field. But that day, Theo wasn’t interested in women. He just wanted to talk about this redheaded lawyer he’d met. He’d said how smart she was. Said it so many times, Eric had started to wonder if it was something Theo was saying to reassure himself, because it seemed apparent that Theo was trying to move from the vacuous-gorgeous types to the accomplished-gorgeous types.
Eric had met Izzy briefly here or there, and Theo was right—she seemed intelligent and authentic. Another time, when he’d been unable to fight his curiosity, he’d asked Theo how she was in bed. Theo just closed his eyes and smiled and said something like, Unbelievable. I can’t even describe…
And so Eric had always been impressed and a little fascinated with Izzy, but he’d always been on the outside, looking in. Yet now, suddenly she was very much in his office and in his face, and she was showing no sign of backing off.
“You and Theo have known each other how long now?” she asked, demanding.
He had sat down at the conference table when she first entered, and invited her to do the same, but she remained on her feet, her black coat still on. She had her arms crossed and her face was a little red.
“We met the day the semester started,” he said. “Freshmen weren’t supposed to be in this mathematics class I was in, but somehow Theo had gotten permission. I knew it must mean the dude was smart. I was right. We started working together on some things that day, just for the hell of it.”
“And now, here you are, owning a company together.”
“Yeah. Here we are.”
“And you’re supposed to be best friends.”
“I thought we were.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Her voice was loud.
“Izzy, I told you I have a lawyer.”
“And I told you I’m just here to ask some questions about you and Theo, and the loyalty I thought you had for him.”
Eric felt a sear of pain somewhere in his chest, and then…oh, Jesus, he felt like he might cry.
He looked down,
squeezed his eyes shut. Stop it, stop it, stop it, he told himself.
But when he looked up, Izzy’s face was full of sympathy. “Oh, honey,” she said.
And that did it. He couldn’t help it. A few tears slid down his cheeks.
Izzy unbuttoned her coat and threw it on a chair. She came around the table and sat on a black leather chair next to him, scooting it next to him. She put her arm around his shoulders. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s just stop for a second.”
He hung his head.
“C’mere,” she said. She pulled his shoulder so that his chair swung to face her. And then she hugged him.
A sob escaped him, and he cried a little. Felt like he used to when he was a kid and his mom was comforting like this. Before his mom remarried and moved to Tucson. She had a new life, and she didn’t need him or his brother anymore. Didn’t even need his money since she’d married a wealthy doctor who’d created some kind of coronary stent that had made him way wealthier than Eric.
He cried a little more into Izzy’s shoulder, felt the softness of her long, curly hair and at that moment, instead of resenting Theo, he envied him.
“Sorry,” he said finally. He sat back and wiped his eyes with his hands. “Sorry,” he said again, pointing at Izzy’s purple shirt. There was a wet splotch on it the size of a quarter.
Izzy glanced down, didn’t even react to it. “You okay?”
“I don’t think so.”
She waited.
“I don’t know,” he said.
She put her hands in her lap and clasped them, then sat up straight, composing herself. “Look, Eric. I don’t know what in the hell is going on here. I’m just trying to help Theo, and I thought that’s what you would be doing, too.”
“I am. I have been. I’ve been trying to help both of us, but it’s not my fault we’re in this situation.”
“So it’s Theo’s fault? Explain that to me. Please.”
“My lawyers…” He heard the warnings they’d given him.
She held up a hand. “Don’t tell me anything you said to your lawyers or vice versa. I don’t want you to blow your attorney-client privilege. But tell me this—were you working with the Feds? Without telling Theo?”
He waited a long time, he enjoyed the way life was different now than it would be in a few seconds. Finally, he said, “I had no choice.”
“Why?” Her voice was anguished. “Eric, you’re the person he trusts most in this world. Loves most.”
“Except for you.”
She shook her head. “We’re not talking about me and Theo. We’re talking about the two of you. You’re best friends and partners. What happened to change that? Why would you go around him on this?”
He thought about what to say. The lawyers, to whom he’d paid a thirty-five-thousand-dollar retainer—that’ll get us going, they’d said—would want him to call them now, to tell Izzy to leave his office. And he was about to. But he felt he owed her something. Owed Theo. “I talked to them.... I helped them, I guess, because I thought Theo had caused our problems.”
“Do you still think that?”
“Likely.”
“Whoa. Back the truck up.” She sounded exasperated. “Maybe you caused the problems, Eric.”
The lawyers in his head were talking now, talking louder and louder and they were telling him the same thing he had been telling himself a minute ago when he was crying—stop it, stop it, stop it.
He took a deep breath, stepped back into the adult he was now—the businessman, the person who had to deal with this situation no matter what.
He stood. “Thanks for coming, Izzy. But now you have to go.”
26
Maggie appeared in my office doorway, arms crossed over her chest, a stern expression on her face.
“What’s that look?” I asked.
She stepped inside, her frown deepened. Unfortunately, I’d seen her wear that frown—or something like it—for a while. What was going on with her?
“I just got a call from the Cortaderos,” she said.
“Is something happening with the coke-on-the- boat case?” That was Q’s nickname for the Cortadero case. I felt a pinch of excitement, of something different than the confusion and sadness and fear I’d been feeling for Theo. And I guess for me. After talking with Eric that morning, I’d gone to work, constantly checking my phone and my email, waiting for word from Anna that she had posted bail.
“You know that the Cortaderos are the cartel family involved in most of our big drug cases?” Maggie said.
“Right.”
She didn’t say anything then, just started gnawing at the corner of her bottom lip. I knew that habit of hers. She was worried. And although she’d seemed worried (and distracted and a little off) for a while, she was really worried now. Her light pink lip gloss soon disappeared from her mouth.
“So what did they say?” I asked.
“They said they’re pulling all of our work.”
“What?”
“Yeah. Except for your boat case. It’s too close to the arrest on that one. They think if they get another attorney now, it will signal weakness and cause the prosecutors to go after them harder.”
“But other than the drug-boat case?”
“They want us off everything.”
“Why?”
Maggie looked around. She didn’t say anything.
“C’mon, Mags,” I said. “This is getting old. Tell me what the hell is going on with you.”
“Me? This is because of Theo.”
I blinked. “What does Theo have to do with a cartel family?”
“I thought you could tell me. They specifically said his name and said if we’re Theo’s attorney, we’re not going to be theirs.”
My turn to be silent.
“You have no clue what Theo has to do with the Cortaderos?” Maggie said.
“No clue.” Theo and a cartel family? What could be the connection there? Had he been selling drugs? Is that what Eric had meant when he talked about Theo “causing” their problems? Was that why the Feds were involved? But there were no charges that could lend themselves to any allegations about drugs.
“Well, as soon as he’s out of the MCC, you better talk to your boyfriend because as long as we’re representing him, the Cortaderos said we won’t be representing them.” She started chewing at the corner of her upper lip then. I’d never seen that one.
“Why do I feel like there is more?” I asked.
“Well, I was just talking to Marty about it.” Maggie always called her grandfather by name while at work. “If the Cortaderos pull all their work, then…”
“Then what?”
Her expression grew stern, eyebrows drawn closer together. She said nothing. She was killing me with this stuff.
Still, I played out her comments in my head. She’d called him Marty; that meant they were talking business. If they were talking business, then what topics might arise? I had it. “Do the Cortaderos have enough cases right now that they’re paying for a lot of the firm expenses?” I asked.
Maggie nodded, solemn.
“If most of their work disappears would you still be able to pay an associate? Like me?”
Maggie shrugged in a grand fashion.
“What about a manager like Q?”
She shook her head definitively then.
I didn’t know what to say. In addition to Theo and his problems, I could lose my job again? And Q, who was so happy now that he was working here…? I felt my mouth hanging open a little.
I thought about Theo and the Cortaderos and once more I was baffled. The topic of drugs had never even come up between Theo and me. I didn’t do them. And as far as I knew, he didn’t, either. I tried to imagine him selling drugs. The image was grainy and in the distance.
“They didn’t give you any reason?” I asked Maggie.
“No. Just that they can’t work with a lawyer who is representing Theo. When I asked for specifics, their local attorney in Mexico reminded me
about attorney-client privilege and all but threatened me not to repeat this.”
“Whoa.”
“Yeah.” Maggie uncrossed her arms and swung them back and forth a little as if stretching them out in preparation for a fight. “I don’t like anyone threatening me.” She stopped the swinging. “But they’re the kind of people you take very, very seriously when they do.”
Maggie was wearing a black wrap dress and a large gold, cuff bracelet that I knew she’d gotten from Bernard.
I pointed at her bracelet, wanting desperately for a moment to get a break in my mind from Theo and the case. And now the Cortaderos. “Enjoying the new jewelry?” I asked.
She nodded. Then there was no more movement. Nothing, just Mags and me. I felt like it was a crossroads, like Maggie and I were at a time when our lives were very close together. So why did it also feel like we were staring down two different divergent paths?
Maggie slipped into a chair opposite my desk. Another smile. “I love having Bernard in my house,” she said, her voice low as if divulging a large secret. “He’s so great.”
I nodded vigorously in a show of support.
“And there’s the stuff I didn’t expect,” she said, her mouth suddenly running. “He does so much for me. So many little things.” She listed off a number of household chores. “I guess I’ve never had anyone before who helped me with that stuff.”
“I’m glad. You deserve it.”
“So do you, Iz, with Theo. I just hope…” she said, her voice dropping lower, almost to a whisper. “Iz, this is getting weird.”
I felt a thin layer of fear enter my body, as if through the cells of my skin, and as soon as I could speak I did. “I know.”
“Anything new?” She meant on Theo’s case.
“Lots. I talked to Theo’s partner this morning.” I told her about my surprise meeting with Eric. “He said it was Theo’s fault—actually, he said it was likely Theo’s fault—that they were in this mess.”
Maggie went into her patented lawyer mode—face tucked in around itself, as if the gathering of skin and muscle could help her figure this all out. “Did he elaborate?”
Question of Trust Page 10
