6. Obstruction of JusticeSomething #2
Reality rushed back at his introduction, and she grew confused. “So … you’re not a public attorney?”
“No, I’ve been retained as your attorney.”
“By whom?” she asked, amazed. Valerie had zero money and no friends. Well, at least in KC.
“Lucca Caruso.”
Her mouth dropped open. You couldn’t live in Kansas City and not know who the hell Lucca Caruso was. The Caruso family owned the Horseshoe’s biggest competition, right across the street, and recently, Lucca Caruso had become the CEO of the Casino Hotel.
“Lucca Caruso?” she repeated the name to make sure she had heard it correctly.
Mr. Bryant gave her an amused smile. “Yes, Mr. Caruso asked me to represent you.”
“I’m not usually in the position to look a gift horse in the mouth, but are sure you’ve been shown into the right room?”
“Are you Valerie Monroe?” he asked, opening a plain file in front of him.
Stuttering, it took her a moment to get the word out. “Y-yes …”
“Then I’m in the right room.”
Past confusion, she wiped her sweaty palms on the thighs of her pants.“I didn’t hack into the Horseshoe’s computer system, if Mr. Caruso is afraid I’m going to attack his computers.”
Was this room wired for sound? She lowered her voice to a whisper, her lips barely moving in case one of the officers was trying to lip read their meeting. “I wouldn’t, even though I could,” she added in a rush. “I would never, ever be stupid enough to try to hack into the Carusos’ computers.”
Kent’s blue eyes dropped to her lips. “Why are you talking so weird?”
“In case they’re reading my lips.” Valerie used her chin to point to the camera on the wall.
Her lawyer looked at her as if she had stepped off a UFO. “Why would they want to read your lips?”
She wiggled her eyebrows at him, hoping he would get her meaning.
He didn’t. He only looked more confused.
Valerie looked at him pityingly. Did he not know who the Carusos were? And the poor hot thing worked for ’em, too. It would be a real shame if they ever tried to whack him.
“The Carusos are dangerous.” Making her voice barely audible, she told him while wiggling her eyebrows again, “Everyone in KC knows they have ties to the mob.” Seeing him take the news differently than she’d expected, she suddenly narrowed her eyes on him. “Are you laughing at me?”
Mr. Bryant bent his head, seemingly to read the papers in front of him. “No.”
“You sound like you are,” she hissed. “Listen up. It’s nice meeting you, but I’m going to decline your offer to represent me. I’ll hire my own lawyer.”
Raising his head back up for her to view, there was nothing on his expression that showed any amusement. “Do you have enough to pay a lawyer? There’s going to be a hearing Monday morning to arraign you. The DA is going to ask for a two-million-dollar bail.”
Her jaw dropped yet again. She wanted to cry at the fact she would be stuck here all weekend, but it seemed to pale in comparison to the fact of two million dollars !
“What the frick! I can’t afford that!”
Mr. Bryant nodded. “I’m aware of the that fact.”
“How?” Suspiciously, she stared at him.
“I researched you before I took your case.”
Now, this was her kind of man.
“Your house was two hundred thousand when it was last listed, but you’re behind on two mortgage payments, and your credit cards are in even worse shape.
Currently, you have no source of employment.
You’re a flight risk with no known family in the area, or anywhere I could find.
The Horseshoe is pressing charges, saying they lost over one point four million dollars before they could get their computers online.
The DA wants to make an example out of you to keep others from attempting the same crime.
He’s going to go for the maximum sentence he can get. ”
With her throat slowly closing as each word passed his lips, she felt as if she couldn’t breathe.“I’m going to rot in prison …”
“Val—” He suddenly cleared his throat. “Ms. Monroe, are you all right?”
“Do I look all right?” Wildly, she looked around the room, feeling as if the walls were closing in around her. “I need to get out. I can’t stay in here any longer! I need my Twizzlers!”
“Breathe!” Mr. Bryant started out of his chair then sat back down. “Dammit, put your head between your knees.”
Turning sideways in the chair, she did so. It was a better option than passing out.
“Now take deep breaths,” he instructed her firmly.
She did as she was told. The spinning sensation in her head eased, and she was able to catch her breath.
“Better?”
“Yes,” she mumbled, her head still down. “Is a public defender going to be able to get me out of here?”
“No.”
At the truth in his voice, her head started spinning again. “C-can you?”
“Yes.”
Finally able to raise her head back up from her knees, she wanted to look him in the eyes to make sure he was honest with her next question. “Are the Carusos going to off me if you get me out?”
“No.”
It was another simple answer from him and, while she believed him, her blood still ran cold. Owing Lucca Caruso a favor could never be good.
Yet, she had no choice.
“Then I guess you can be my attorney.”
“Thank you. You made the right choice.”
“I have no choice,” Valerie corrected him. Straightening, she held on to the table for support as she began to lose it. “I need my Twizzlers. And my computer. I’ll go nuts without them. I used to vape, but the Twizzlers kept me sane. Will they let me vape in my cell?”
She turned in her seat, looking toward the door. There had to be a way to bust out of this jail. She designed games; she should be able to figure out a way out of here. All the officers she had met so far were definitely not gamers, and she was Valkyrie …
“No, they won’t let you vape in your cell, but—”
Dragging her gaze from the steel door, she focused back on him, at his calm voice, to see him reach into his briefcase.
“I do have this. It was going to be my lunch. Do you like N—”
“Nutty Buddy!” Valerie practically snatched it from his hand.
Ripping open the package, she could tell at first bite it wasn’t the generic shit she had been eating recently, either.
If she weren’t too busy shoving it down her throat, she’d lean over and give him a big ole chocolatey, peanut buttery kiss.
“Listen, the police aren’t going to let you near any computers, especially your own.” He got back to business while she finished her snack. “And they’ve executed a search warrant. Are they going to find anything incriminating?”
She started fanning herself. “The only thing they’ll find are the games I’m developing and the games I play.” Nervously, she looked away while she continued chewing the last bite.
“That’s all?” Kent Bryant searched her expression. The dude was giving her vibes he didn’t believe her. He was slipping on his attractiveness scale. Why did he doubt her?
Her chest puffed out in indignation. “I worked for the Horseshoe before they fired me. They’ll find some work-related correspondence,” she admitted. “I warned them a kindergartener could get past their firewalls, and I was terminated for my trouble.”
“That’s all?”
His relentless stare had her sucking her chest back in.
“When I got fired, I might have sent the dude who fired me a tiny bug in an email …”
Kent exasperatedly rubbed at his temples. “What kind of bug?”
“Nothing bad, per se … Just … every time my boss, Edmond, sent an email to other employees, the emails would also be sent to the CEO. I wanted him to find out that Edmond is undermining his authority. I tried to tell him that before I was terminated, but he didn’t want to listen any more than when I had warned him about the firewalls.
I sent another email the next day fixing the bug. ”
Her attorney stared at her stone-faced. He was much less attractive when he wasn’t smiling.“You just made my job much harder.”
To be fair, she had probably dropped in his estimation at her confession.
“It was just a harmless prank,” she tried her best to excuse herself.
“The judge won’t see it that way.”
“The judge didn’t have to work for the Horseshoe.” She continued rather frankly, “They’re dicks.”
“Is there anything else you need to tell me?” he asked, clearly urging her to think hard.
“No …”God, she needed her Twizzlers. “You got anything else to eat in the briefcase? Or a vape I can take a hit of?”
He shook his head before one of his eyebrows slowly rose. “You don’t seem sure.”
Damn.
Her shoulders slumped forward. She wasn’t going to see any of those sweet red vines in her near future.“I think I need a break.”
“Valerie—” he tried coaxing her again more forcibly, “is there anything else you need to tell me?”
She wanted to cry. The fantasy of him ever carrying her groceries in for her finally bit the dust.
“Not in the computer, per se … But does taking their scrap computer parts count?”