CHAPTER SIX
Three weeks later Addy looked up from her work when her door flew open, and Brian ran into her office all of a flutter. “Brian, are you okay?” She had never seen him act like this in the four years she’d known him. It started to cause alarm with her.
“Oh, I’m fine.” Brian actually giggled and waved his hand in front of his face. “Please, tell me you’re not seeing anyone.”
“What? Of course I’m not. I’m trying to get a divorce. Why would I see anyone?”
“Thank god.” He actually put his hands on his knees and bent down and began taking deep breaths. “Give me a second.” He wheezed out. A minute later he stood, grinned and was his normal self.
“What the hell just happened? I’ve never seen you like this before.”
“There’s a man out front asking for you. When Beth and I asked the nature of his visit, he’d only say it was personal. But girl, he’s hot, that is with a capital H-O-T.” He grinned and waved his hand before his chest. “I wanted to see if you were dating anyone. Because, girlfriend, I might give you come competition with this guy.”
“But you’re gay.”
“So, I can turn him if he’s not. Or at least give him the experience of his lifetime. Besides, once he’s had me, he may never go back to the dark side, and I’ll just have to keep him.” He grinned and Addy laughed.
“So, who is this guy?”
“No clue, he wouldn’t give me his name or even a card. But it’s not Lincoln. I know him. This guy is wearing a thousand-dollar suit, well-groomed and H-O-T. Smoking hot, like do me now hot.” He looked from beneath his lashes and sighed heavily. “Did I mention he was hot?”
Addy continued to laugh, with tongue in cheek, she asked, “A time or two. So, how long has it been?”
“Six months.” He sighed and then grinned.
“Why don’t you go introduce yourself and bring him back here?”
“You’ll let me do that?”
“Sure, and if need be, you can sit in on whatever he wants. Remember, I don’t want to be alone behind closed doors with a client. I don’t need Lincoln or his lawyer to accuse me of having loose morals, and doing something wrong with a client.”
Brian grinned and ran around her desk and hugged her. “Thank you. Oh, and did I tell you he smells divine?”
“You smelled him?” she asked, shocked.
“No, but his cologne, oh it’s hard to explain.” He waved his hand, took several deep breaths, fixed his shirt front and threw her a grin before he opened the door.
Addy shook her head and chuckled. She picked up her pen and tried to get back to work, but there was a knock on her door and she called for them to enter. She looked up and saw Brian escort a man in, and had to withhold her grin when that man was checking Brian out.
“Franklin,” Addy said, and rose to her feet and met him halfway across the room. “What are you doing here? I didn’t miss an appointment, did I?”
“No, no. Sorry to barge in on you, but something’s come up and I wanted to see you as soon as possible.”
“You’ve met my partner, Brian?”
“I did. Partner?” Franklin frowned at the two of them, but his eyes were on Brian.
“Business partner.”
“Oh, good.” Franklin grinned and actually winked at Brian, and Addy thought her assistant was going to have a heart attack. “If you’ll excuse us, I’d like to speak to my client in private,” Franklin said to Brian.
“Client?”
“Brian, this is Franklin, my lawyer.”
“Oh. Sorry. I’ll be at my desk if you need me.” He looked at Franklin for several seconds before leaving. Once the door was closed behind him, he sighed, and sat down where Addy indicated.
“Before I tell you why I’m here, I have a couple questions for you.”
“Shoot.”
“One, and I’ve never talked about this to anyone who didn’t need to know, I have to ask, is Brian gay and is he seeing anyone?”
“Excuse me?”
“He’s hot, just wondered if he was like me and available.”
“You’re gay?” Addy asked in shock. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that. But yes, Brian’s gay and single. But I don’t feel comfortable talking about him behind his back.”
“Sorry. Had to know. Now, I’m here on a weird mission. Is there anyone that you trust completely? I have a feeling you’re going to want to talk it over with a friend before you give your answer.” He shrugged at her. “I thought if I discussed the matter with your trusted person with you, they might ask questions you forget to ask.”
Addy stared at him like he’d lost his mind. “Tell me.”
“Not until you have a friend here. Someone you trust with information about your divorce.”
“Oh, that would be Brian. I told him about it, and he’s been a good friend since I hired him four years ago, but since the divorce, he’s allowed me to vent. He pretty much knows almost everything that’s been going on. He was there with me during the miscarriage, too.”
“Could you call him in here?”
Addy shrugged and picked up her phone. “Brian, could you come in my office please, and tell Beth to hold both our calls.” She hung up and watched her lawyer actually run his hand over his hair and fiddle with his tie. She bit the inside of her lip to prevent her grin. “Come in,” she called at the knock on her door.
“Brian, this is Franklin Sweeney, my lawyer. He has something to discuss with me about the divorce that he said I’d need a friend to talk it over with before I make a decision. Franklin, this is Brian Sherman, my right-hand man, and friend.” She watched as they shook hands and Brian sat down beside the lawyer. But he jumped up and indicated that they should sit in the seating area and he sat next to Addy on the loveseat while Franklin sat across from them. Addy noticed that he didn’t have a briefcase or papers with him.
“What’s wrong?” Addy couldn’t take the silence any longer.
Franklin studied her, and shocked her when he jumped to his feet and began to pace. Thank goodness she’d moved into a studio apartment and cleared out all her personal belongings, giving him the room to pace.
“I don’t know really how to begin.”
“From the beginning?” Brian asked smartly.
“Wait, is anything wrong with Lincoln? Is that why you wanted a friend here? Is he hurt? Dead? Dying?”
“No, no nothing like that. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Franklin sighed and gripped the back of the chair he’d sat in and looked at Addy steadily. “His lawyer called me a week ago. Something came up from your first counseling session with Lincoln and they got the results back. But we need your help.”
“What, he didn’t believe me that I had a miscarriage and accessed my medical records?” Addy saw red. She jumped to her feet and started yelling at her lawyer. “I can sue him for that! He can’t access them.”
“No, he didn’t do anything like that.” Franklin ran his hand through his perfect hair and ended up messing it up.
“Sit down.” Brian said firmly. “Both of you.” When they stared at him, he stared back, and once they were settled back down, he asked, “Is this the appointment when Addy told Lincoln of the miscarriage? When she sat there and didn’t say anything the entire time, then blew a gasket at the end?”
“Yes,” Franklin said. He sighed deeply. “After you left, Lincoln told the counselor that he never received your calls from the hospital. He even gave his phone to him to have him look.”
“But I did,” Addy said as she jumped to her feet and retrieved her cell phone. She accessed it and showed her lawyer. He looked and nodded.
“I believe you. But Dr. Anderson told Lincoln to look into the possibility of maybe his phone being hacked. Lincoln went to Jackson, his lawyer with that theory. Last week, the report came back that Lincoln’s phone was indeed hacked. However, only your phone numbers were compromised.”
“What do you mean?” Brian asked, and gripped Addy’s hand when she grabbed his.
“It means that whenever any of Addy’s numbers, which were preprogramed into Lincoln’s phone, appeared on the screen, they were rerouted to another phone. Only those numbers. Your home phone, your cell number and the office number.” He finally opened his briefcase and pulled out some papers. “Do you recognize these numbers?”
Addy took the paper and sighed. “Yes, they’re mine. But I don’t understand. The phone wasn’t answered, no voicemail option and when it was, a woman answered.”
“Exactly. See your husband has a stalker. We didn’t know about it until the issue with your missed calls came up. This person is a potentially dangerous one. And we need your help to catch her.”
“Excuse me?” Addy looked at Brian and he hugged her.
“Let’s hear him out. Details please.”
“There’s this woman that the police have been investigating for over a year. They could never catch her in the act.”
“Can you tell us what for?”
“Prostitution, stalking, soliciting.” He saw the shock on their faces and sighed. “The lady, no that’s too nice a term for her. The woman has a male partner. They set up in different places all over town. They hit hotels, country clubs, and very public places. They dress for the clientele, meaning that they’re classy. They especially hit the hotels when there’s a conference or convention in town. They’ve been known to work the bar and they pick up men and women. I don’t think I have to go into details about what they do when they get them up to a room. But the man picks up women, and vice versa. They’ve been known to take pictures and try to blackmail their marks days and even weeks later. Your divorce brought them to the top of the list for the police.”
“How?”
“Both you and Lincoln hired private eyes,” Franklin began.
“I know.” Addy giggled and explained to Brian at his shocked look. “Sam and Larry.”
“They’re private dicks?” he asked in shock, then looked at Franklin and blushed. “Sorry.”
“No need. But, yes, I heard about how you met them. Sam is working for you. Larry is working for Lincoln. Both of them are friends outside their jobs and they have several friends on the police force. During the case of their work for your divorce, they started seeing a pattern. Well, being the guys they are, they investigated. God, I’m not explaining this right.”
“I think I understand,” Brian said. He stood and began pacing. “Once, when Addy and I were meeting clients at the Hastings Hotel, the posh one. I saw Sam and Larry talking with two other men. I thought it was a working lunch. But they kept looking at a man and woman at the bar. Oh, they didn’t sit together, but I got the impression they were together.”
“How do you know this?” Franklin asked with a scowl.
“Details, honey. It’s not only my job, but my life. The answers are in the details. I was meeting with the Harrises for their wedding when you were in the hospital. I overheard a woman answer a phone and she said that the person couldn’t come to the phone right then. She then went to the man, and said, and I quote, ‘When will that fucking bitch realize I’m the woman in his life now. When I’m Abe’s wife, we can have it all. You can have his business and I get hers.’”
“Will you testify to that in court?” Franklin demanded. “Shit, who’s Abe?”
“No clue. That’s why I didn’t say anything.” Brian sighed.
“Lincoln,” Addy said in shock.
“Excuse me?”
“Abe is Lincoln. That’s what his brothers in the club call him.”
“Okay, now I’m totally confused,” Franklin said as he turned his confusion to Brian, who held up his hands and agreed with a shrug. They both turned to Addy for an explanation.
“Lincoln is a member of a motorcycle club. Every patch holder has a nickname. His best friend and business partner’s real name is Eric. But everyone calls him Greaser. Due to the fact that he works, owns, and operates a garage. Because of his name and height, Lincoln became Abe. As in Abe Lincoln. If I remember correctly, someone said it as a joke when he first started hanging around the club years ago, but it stuck. In our circle of friends, I am the only one that calls him Lincoln, or Link. Everyone at the clubhouse calls him Abe.”
“Really?” Brian stared at her.
“Really.” She looked at the two and didn’t want to, but had to ask. “Do you have a name or description of the woman doing this to him?”
“I’m sorry, but to keep you safe, I’m not at liberty to divulge that information.”
“Yet you want my help. How exactly am I supposed to help? What if I offer my help and in the process, because I don’t know who is after my husband, I get hurt in the cross-fire? Where is the justice in that?”
“The police can’t get her on anything without your help. Oh, they could, but without proof it won’t hold up in court. Both private eyes and two police officers got together with Lincoln’s lawyer and myself last week. We think we have a plan, and if it works they’ll be arrested and they’ll be able to make the charges stick. They even went to the DA with this plan. He said if we could get you to cooperate, then he’d throw the book at them. But.” He stressed the word. “The DA recommended that you be kept out of the loop as much as possible.”
“So, how am I supposed to help if I’m not supposed to be involved?”
“The DA wants to set up a sting at the Hastings Hotel. However, Sam pointed out that the two of you meet with several clients there. Both male and female. You’re in one of the ballrooms or the dining hall, actually all over the place.” He held up his hand. “I understand, I’m not judging, it’s your business. But we’ve come up with a plan. With your permission, I’d like a copy of your schedule. And your cell phone.”
“Why?” Addy looked between the two men. “My cell phone is my life, my business.”
“We’ll do it,” Brian said at the same time. He jumped to his feet and left the room, only to return in seconds. “We don’t have a meeting each day for the next three days at the Hastings. Then we have back-to-back meetings for the next four days.” He looked at Addy. “Christmas parties.”
“But it’s only September,” Franklin said.
“Yes, and if someone wants to get a ‘Party by Addy’, they have to book months in advance. I can get you a copy of our schedule for the Hastings which will include our clients. Only when you decide what day you’re going to do it, you can get Addy’s phone.”
“Why would you want my phone?”
“Can I answer that?” Brian looked at Franklin and grinned.
“Sure.”
“I’m assuming they’ll have like a working lunch with all parties involved. That’s what I’d do. They could be in the restaurant when this woman is there. They could have your phone and call Lincoln with it. However, if they’re right, Link won’t answer. She will. Then they’d have her dead to rights on hacking, stalking, probably harassment, and everything else. Am I right?”
“You are. Never thought of having a working lunch though. We’re still working out the details on how to set up the sting.”
“Be out in the open. If you want, we can get together later and work out details.”
“I’d enjoy that,” Franklin said.
“But how am I going to work without my phone?”
“Oh, that’s easy.” Brian waved it away. “With the schedule we can work it so that on the day of the take down you can be in the office all day. It’s nothing to program your phone to have all your calls come here. The only thing I see that might mess it up would be if Link finally decides to call you. We wouldn’t want that. I’m probably talking out my ass, but if he does call you, that could muck up the entire operation.”
“He won’t and he’ll stay away,” Franklin said, and looked at Addy sadly. “He said he would do anything to prove his innocence to you and to get you back. And no, he’s still not willing to sign.”
“What if I don’t agree to do this until he does? If this is to help him, what do I get out of it?”
“Oh, girlfriend’s playing hardball.” Brian laughed and looked at Franklin and swallowed hard at the look he gave him.
“Unfortunately, you won’t be helping only Lincoln. You’ll be helping at least twelve other victims. So, I don’t know how you want to proceed. I gave you what we have so far, and the ball is in our court now. You can help, or you can hang them out to dry and hope these people don’t up their game and someone gets seriously hurt physically.”
Addy rubbed her face and sighed. “Fine, work it out with Brian and whoever. Let me know when you need my phone.” She stood. “I’m sorry for being so rude, but I’ve got some calls to make. You two exchange numbers or whatever. Brian’s in charge of the scheduling, he’s the best man to help you.” Addy saw them out and settled behind her desk. Knowing that no matter what happened, she’d never get a break in the divorce. It seemed that if it wasn’t one thing, it was another.