Wearing the Spider (A Suspense Novel) (Legal Thriller) (Thriller)
Page 29
Evie nodded, crossed her legs and tapped her pen. “Just don’t do anything without checking with me first, okay? And I want to have ample time to review and discuss any complaint you plan to file.”
“Doctors make the worst patients, and lawyers make the worst clients.”
Evie nodded, grinning with a sense of relief. She had an aggressive advocate in addition to her technologist and his private investigator.
Michael continued, “I don’t think we have enough yet to file or even set up a meeting with your colleagues at the firm, but with the enforcement arm of the FBI and your pledge of cooperation, we could gather enough to clear you and craft a nice civil claim on your behalf. Evie, you deserve it, given what they’ve put you through. I don’t expect to go to trial, but we can shoot for a bit more than one and a half million.”
Evie sat back and felt a bit more in control, but knew there was a long road ahead.
30
When she was safely back inside her apartment, she looked at her answering machine before she even laid down her briefcase. It glowed with messages. She walked over and hit PLAY.
“Hey Eves … Missing you. Playing Indian Warriors with Bradley. You know … I could find a use for some of these Indian moves when I meet the other man in your life. Ari is out until eight or so. Call me if you need me. I can be in the city in forty-five minutes.” Beep. There were several more messages that played, but she didn’t hear them.
She dialed Ariel’s number. The tidbits of the day floated in the air like pollutants. There was now time to reflect on the realities she faced.
Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. She was shifting the receiver from her ear to hang up when she heard, “Hewo?” It was a tiny hello. A high-pitched, angelic voice.
“Hello, Bradley?” she said.
“Wes. Bwadley.”
“Bradley. Hello! Remember me? Is your uncle there?”
“Unca Joe.”
“Can I speak to Uncle Joe, honey?”
“Outside. Noise.”
“A noise? What kind of noise?”
“Noise.”
“Wait! Sweetheart, when Uncle Joe comes back … can you ask Uncle Joe to come to the phone?”
There was silence. Then the receiver dropped against what sounded like a table. There were many moments of electronic silence laced with white noise. After what seemed like five minutes, she heard the receiver move across the surface of its resting place.
“Hello?” said Joe.
“Joe! It’s Evie.”
“Eves? Are you okay?”
“Are you okay? Bradley said there was a noise outside.”
“Yeah, I know. He imagines things. The therapist says the divorce has created an insecurity in him. I had to go check.”
“I was worried about you.”
“Everything here is fine. How’s Eves?”
“Oh, Joe. I have to talk to you, but I don’t know w-h-e-r-e t-o s-t-a-r-t …”
Suddenly, the buildup of recent events assaulted her in an unmanageable slap of emotional overload. She unexpectedly felt herself start to choke up and she fought back tears.
“Evie! What the hell happened? Are you home?”
“Yes, I’m home.” She sniffed and regained control of her voice. “I’m fine. Really. I think things are just starting to get to me.”
“Listen. Make sure your door’s locked. Ari’s home in a few minutes. When she gets back, I’m coming over.”
“Joe. I’m sorry to worry you. I’m okay, really! Really I am, but can you? Can you come over?”
“Yes. As soon as Ari gets back. I’m just going to get Bradley to bed. And then I’ll be there. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Evie hung up. She felt a wave of sweet relief wash over her. She checked the front door again to make sure it was locked. Then she drew a hot bath and soaked. She almost fell asleep in the tub and lost track of time. The sound of the buzz of her intercom caused her to jump out of the tub and throw on her kimono. She told the doorman to let Joe in and scurried around looking for clothes to put on. The knock on the door prompted her to abandon the search. Joe would likely see her in worse states of disrepair before this situation resolved itself.
He smiled when she opened the door. After walking in and locking the door, he turned back to face her in a fluid movement, hugging her tightly against his body. When they parted, Evie regarded him. He looked ruggedly handsome with a two-day beard, his tanned skin and a denim shirt. Facial hair suddenly seemed very appealing. He wore beige linen drawstring pants and Topsiders. His wavy hair was slightly messy and his eyes sparkled; there was no mistaking that he was glad to see her.
“Hey, Eves. I was really concerned.”
“I knew I worried you. I’m sorry.”
“If anything happened to you …” He let a slow, tender kiss finish his thought.
She grabbed him again and for several minutes held tight to his neck.
“I’ve got some good news,” he whispered into her ear after a few seconds.
She stepped back slightly, but let her fingers stay intertwined in the hair on the back of his head. “I could use some.”
“I spoke to Sandra. She’s not pregnant.”
“Oh my God! That is good news! Is she okay?”
“Yes. She will be. Apparently, some drug she was taking caused her to miss her period … and I guess it somehow caused her to mis-read that initial pregnancy test.” He paused and moved toward her sofa. “I’m so sorry to have put you through that.”
“No, really. It’s okay,” she said as she followed him.
“Bad news today?”
“Schedule B7 now reads that I, personally, am guaranteeing that GC Quadra will be awarded, in the future, a government contract and that I will receive a commission for my trouble.”
“So it’s exactly what we suspected it was going to be. And it is a sole source,” he said as he sat down on the sofa. “Yes, but who knows if the government project is real?” she asked as she headed toward the kitchen to get some drinks. “I’ll be right back,” she said as she disappeared into the kitchen, returning in seconds with a couple of open beers. She handed one to Joe and sat down next to him.
“This should cheer you up,” he said. “I got a message from Greg.”
“Greg?”
“My PI.”
“Oooh. What? Did he find something?”
“Some interesting information,” said Joe, pulling Evie into his lap. Joe’s presence was so much more soothing than the soak in the tub had been.
“I should put something on,” she said suddenly, looking down at her kimono.
“I wouldn’t change a thing,” he said after a sip of his beer. He grinned and she blushed. “Greg’s been checking on Levenger,” he continued. “The first thing he said to me was ‘this guy’s dirty’.”
“How so?”
“Whatever else he’s into, he apparently likes to set up those ‘lazy-susan’ deals. Do you know what that is?”
“No.”
“Levenger arranges for a company to offer a sizable investment to another company that turns around and pays the money back as a bogus service fee for some non-existent service. One gets the backer bragging rights, the other gets phony revenue to report on its income statement.”
“And he gets a cut off the top?”
“Yeah.”
“So in a way, I guess Project Neon is the ultimate lazy-susan deal.”
“Were you able to track down that attorney you mentioned?”
“Yes, Michael Scott.” She gave Joe a brief synopsis of her meeting with Michael.
“I’ll call him and give him Greg’s contact information,” said Joe, rubbing Evie’s feet. “Apparently, Levenger’s also been fighting the effects of some bad investments. Wrote off a lot of personal losses last year. His financial records could be telling the story of a desperate man.”
“And if a man like Alan is desperate, look out,” said Evie. “Did your man find anything else?”
“Oh, that’s great! Michael can use that to prove it wasn’t me making and receiving all those Brazilian calls!”
“Not a bad fake, Greg said.”
“No one ever said Alan doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
“I collected a few more interesting emails and Internet searches from Levenger’s computer. He was trading tales with some geek about Back Orifice tools, which are Trojan horses that allow remote control of someone else’s computer.”
“Wow. That must be how he electronically impersonated me sending out Sangerson and all those Gerais Chevas emails.”
“Likely. So did Michael convince you to go to the FBI?”
“Yes, but I have to back up a little bit. An agent confronted me today while I was waiting for my friend, Huda, at a sushi restaurant. He told me that my firm was being investigated. He mentioned you, so they must have intercepted that telephone call, as you predicted.” Evie took a sip of her beer and leaned against Joe’s body for warmth and comfort. “Joe, why would they have a file on you? Would that be the security clearance procedure?”
“Well, I had another experience with the FBI. The file they have relates to that earlier incident.”
Evie repositioned her body so she could look into his face.
“Remember that scar you noticed on my stomach?” he continued.
“Yes.”
“I was shot at Kennedy Airport.”
“You were shot? With a gun? When?” she sat up and faced him.
“It’s a bit complicated. Let me start at the beginning. On one of my trips to Kenya, I discovered some poaching going on. Ivory. Dead elephants. I tried to stop it. There was some violence.”
“You caught them in the act?”
“Yeah. I disrupted one of their expeditions and chased them off, letting the elephants escape. A few of those guys decided to pay a visit to our camp.”
“Was anyone killed?”
“No, but while I was having a physical dispute with one of them by the campfire, the other was in my tent going through my things. I found my plane ticket on the ground. I guess you could say I had aggravated the situation pretty well, because when I left the country the next day, they must have arranged for an ambush at Kennedy.”
“Oh my God! What happened?”
“I got through customs and … one of the poachers … he apparently had a fence here. They were waiting for me when I came out of the airport. I guess they perceived me as a threat to their ivory smuggling operation. Turned out the FBI had been tracking these guys.”
“So this guy shot you and ran off? And an ambulance came?”
“Something like that. But, I uhh, I killed him.”
“You killed him?”
“Yes. I’m not especially proud of it. He shot me, but it wasn’t that bad. Missed all the crucial organs. I chased him. He dropped his gun. I guess I had better aim than he did. And I was pissed off. I shot him in the back with his own gun. He didn’t get up.”
“Oh my God! Were you … did they charge you with a crime?”
“No. It was written off as self-defense. They were pretty glad that I’d helped break up the crime ring. I know. Technically, I went a bit far for a claim of self-defense. I was chasing that son-of-a-bitch, and I should have taken a less fatal shot.”
“But he’d put a bullet in you! You had every right—there was no way for you to know if he had another weapon of some kind … he could have turned right around and finished the job. Retreat is still part of the commission of the crime, at least for some distance.”
“Hmmm.” He smiled. “You would’ve made a good defense attorney, had I needed one.”
“And … then, what happened?”
“There was a lot of talking. The feds interviewed me the first time in the hospital. Several times after that. The news cameras came around a bit. I testified. They got the rest of them. At least the ones in the States. I guess they’re still serving time.”
“Oh my God! What an incredible story.” Evie leaned back against the sofa. “Have you been back to Africa since?”
“No. That was the last trip. But, I’ve thought about going back. I’d just stay out of certain areas next time.” His eyes softened as if he was reliving a pleasant memory from one of his safaris.
“Did they get the bullet out?” she said, her hand on his stomach.
He nodded.
“Do you have any lingering effects?”
“No, not really. A bit of soreness when the weather changes.” He smiled. “So, an agent confronted you? I was hoping we would have some good luck, there. Sorry, Eves.”
“He caught me totally off guard. I really kind of brushed him off—I guess I only committed half a felony.” She smiled a half-smile of consternation. “I didn’t really tell lies to the FBI, just withheld some information. Michael says he can clean it up. But, the interesting thing was that Weber, this agent, tells me that a woman was murdered a block from my office that day, a woman who had a slip of paper in her pocket with my name on it.”
“So it was that woman who called to meet you, hmmm. So the FBI is interested and trying to quantify your involvement.”
“Yes. I’m hopeful they’ll forgive my stonewalling when they understand the whole story.”
“Evie, you’ve got confirmation now that she was murdered. You’ve got to raise your level of self-protection now. There are people involved in this thing—people who apparently will kill.”
“It’s such a shame,” said Evie. “She risked a lot and ultimately paid with her life.”
“Well Eves, I’m sorry she became a murder victim, but I’m actually glad they prevented the meeting. She could’ve made you more of a target if she had succeeded. There’s definitely a foul smell to this deal, but it sounds like the tide has turned. With the feds involved, there will be all kinds of ways to gather additional evidence.”
“Yes, but I’m afraid that much of that evidence will have my name on it. My name’s all over the correspondence and files for Gerais Chevas. There’s nothing to prove it wasn’t me billing time and writing emails.”
“Do you have the translation of that Brazilian news article?”
Evie stood and retrieved the newspaper clipping, its translation and the envelope it was mailed in from the growing file in her briefcase. Joe studied the news article and examined the envelope, focusing on the markings. “It’s international style with a New York postmark.” He studied the copy of the translation for a moment. “So, as much as the Adelios don’t want this deal, apparently this guy Oneda does.”
“Do you think he could be behind the murder of Ms. Adelio?”
“You can never tell what the drive for power will do to a man.”
“I don’t know what Ms. Adelio was trying to tell me other than her family was opposed to the deal. Someone apparently needed to keep her from revealing what she knew.”
“I’m staying here tonight. I’ll sleep on the sofa,” he said suddenly, placing the collection of paper on the coffee table.
“Can we just sit here for awhile? Will you hold me?”
“Of course, Eves. I’ll hold you as long as you want.”
She kissed him, and leaned back against his chest. He encircled her with his arms.
“I noticed that your clothes looked pretty clean despite having spent the evening with a two year old,” she said. “Do you want me to wash them? They’ll be dry by morning.”
“No need. I dodged all the airborne food.”
She laughed for the first time all day.
~~
Evie got up first and cooked egg-white vegetable omelets, which she was placing on the table when Joe came in, dressed in his clothes from the night before.
“You’re even hairier this morning,” she said smiling.
“I’ll shave at the hotel. I actually have a meeting today, so I have to look like an
executive.”
“You do? Do you need a place to have your meeting? I think I still have conference room privileges, I could arrange a room at the firm.”
“Thanks, Eves, but my secretary set it up for one of the hotel’s meeting rooms. Only five or so attending, I think. Two Frenchmen, two Americans and an Israeli. Should be very interesting.”
“Hmmm. Sounds like you might need a beard for that one.”
He smiled and looked down at the breakfast buffet. “Wow, five star service here.”
“Would you like coffee, tea?” He nodded toward the coffee. She continued, “I think I forgot juice though, and I don’t have any fresh oranges or grapefruit to squeeze.”
“I guess I set a high standard for breakfast when you stayed with me.” He laughed.
“I’m just trying to impress you with my domestic skills.”
“It’s working.”
He walked up behind her and put his arms around her waist. She turned to him, gave him a kiss and turned back to grab the coffee pot.
“Eat your breakfast,” she said as she poured coffee into two cups on the table. She offered him a napkin, and they both sat down, at perpendicular sides of the table, knees touching. The morning sun was bright and illuminated the tiny kitchen. They were lost in each other’s eyes as they took a few sips of hot coffee.
“So Eves, what are your plans today?” He deposited a large bite of omelet into his mouth and washed it down with a swallow of coffee.
“I’m going to spend some time at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. They have a great law library and I thought I’d try to do some research. These are areas of the law I know very little about.”
“You know this wasn’t thrown together on the fly. You’ve had Levenger plotting against you much longer than you think.”
She stopped eating and took a deep breath, her eyes glazed and pensive. “I guess I’ve been wearing the spider for some time now without even knowing it, haven’t I?”
“You know, Eves, we don’t even know if this twenty-five million is the totality of it. There could be even more money being passed around that’s not accounted for and other side deals that won’t be reflected in any written agreement.”