Chapter 85
LUCY
“Iknow who killed Eddie,” I said. “Or at least was involved in his murder.”
On my way back from April’s Coffee Shop, I’d called my parents and Remington Patton and told them we all had to meet at my parents' house. I told Remington this was non-negotiable. She arrived promptly.
“We’re listening,” Remington said. I hadn’t told my parents any of it, either. They looked on with wide eyes.
I stood and told them about my phone call from Poppi Grace, my visit to Hotel Pico, and my wild conversation with April at her eponymous coffee shop. I told them about Harry Shoe and that April Devers had been the woman whose husband had been killed in Santa Monica.
When I finished, I sat back down, feeling I’d given them a perfect explanation of everything that had happened. I didn’t leave anything out.
“Unbelievable,” my father said.
“Wow, Lucy. I’m amazed at all you’ve learned,” my mother said.
“This may sound good and all, but we don’t have any proof,” Remington said.
I should have expected that reaction from her.
“I’m serious. What proof do you have? Can anyone verify that April Devers was at Hotel Pico?
Can anyone verify that Eddie and April Devers were ever together?
Or that they even knew each other? It sounds like the police think this Harry guy’s death was an accident.
This sounds like a big nothingburger to me, Lucy. ”
I was so sick of Remington Patton.
“Do you really not see the dots connecting all these things? Why would April’s Coffee Shop call Hotel Pico?
What about Harry Shoe dying? What about Eddie being seen at Hotel Pico?
You think these are all coincidences? And more than that, it was April’s personality.
I could tell she was guilty of something. ”
“I can’t use that in court, Lucy. ‘Um, Your Honor, my client said she could just tell April Devers was guilty of something. Can you please convict her? Pretty please. Pretty pretty please.’ C’mon, Lucy, you’re better than this.”
I was incensed. Possibly as mad as I’d ever been.
“You’re fucking fired,” I said, using a word I rarely used. I’d always been a sweet, fairly innocent girl, despite the sticky situation I currently found myself in. But at that moment, that old version of me went out the window. I couldn’t stand Remington Patton.
“You can’t fire me,” she said. “Your father hired me.”
“I don’t want you as my lawyer. My father can keep paying you if he wants; that’s his prerogative. But I no longer require your legal services. I’ll either have someone from my firm do this or do it myself. Be better than having the Wicked Witch of the West on my side.”
“Lucy,” my mother said. She was not used to seeing me this fired up.
“I’m sorry, Mom, but she’s been rude since the beginning. And hey, I can live with that if she were also giving good legal advice. But she’s wrong about this. There’s absolutely something here, and if she won’t present it to the cops, then I will.”
“Lucy, you’ve been a lawyer for less than a year, and it’s really starting to show. You’re behaving like an amateur,” Remington said.
This pissed my father off, and he rose out of his seat.
“You’re fired, Remington,” he said, and the room suddenly went silent. My father had my back, as always. “No one talks to my daughter that way.”
“That would be a big mistake, Mr. Tanner. I’m the best attorney in Los Angeles, female or otherwise.”
“Maybe that’s true, but we’ve got another pretty darn good female attorney in this room, and she happens to be my daughter. So, sorry, you’re out.”
I’d had very few smiles bigger over my entire life.
“You’re going to regret this,” Remington said. “You’ll see.”
And then she stormed out of the house.
In unison, my parents and I hugged. It was a glorious moment.
“I hope you’re right about this, Lucy,” my father said.
That made two of us.