34. Cassandra Walker
It was nearly two pm, and I’d managed to get the reverend’s files more or less organized.
Turns out, there were fewer distractions at home. Working from my kitchen table, I had most of the preliminary paperwork done for his file by noon. My plan was to spend some time in the afternoon watching some of his YouTube videos to get a better feel for what he was all about.
I already had some serious reservations about him after reviewing his background. Most people had a digital footprint that was more or less public domain from the time they made their first social media accounts.
But not Reverend Elias Sterling. He’d made his YouTube account roughly five years prior, and he opened his megachurch nearly a decade ago. But before that… nothing. It was like he didn’t exist. It was highly suspect.
It meant he was hiding something from us, which was usually bad news for the case. If he wasn’t completely open with us about his past, things could come up in court that we weren’t prepared for, which could seriously jeopardize his case.
It was every defense attorney’s worst nightmare.
Representing a client who lied to their counsel was a recipe for failure, though it wasn’t uncommon.
I would just need to make sure to pry the truth out of him if I wanted to keep my perfect track record…
and I had ways of doing that if I had to.
Though I usually turned to Vox as a last resort.
He didn’t exactly use legal tactics to dig up information for me, and that always came with a certain level of risk.
But there was something about this guy that was giving me the serious ick. If I couldn’t get him to tell me what he’d been doing before opening his church, I would need to engage our resident black-hat hacker.
I was about to start digging into the man’s YouTube channel when my phone buzzed.
Nolan:
I’m in the lobby of your building. Buzz me up.
Indignation rolled through me.
The audacity.
How dare he come to my fucking residence!
Take a fucking hint, asshole.
I was about to block his ass when another text came in.
Nolan:
It’s about the case, Cassandra. The reverend came in today, which you would have known about if you hadn’t had me muted on Teams.
Before I could think better of it, I was responding. My blood was boiling, and the ferocity of my rage shocked me. I realized suddenly that I hadn’t felt this angry in almost two days… which was crazy for me.
What changed?
Theo.
Theo is what changed.
I’d more or less spent the last two days with her… and suddenly rage felt like a stranger to me.
Wild.
Well, Theo wasn’t here right now. Now, Nolan was, and I was suddenly remembering why I was pissed off all the time. Working with absolute idiots will do that to you.
Cass:
You met with him without me? Fucking typical. I should have known you’d try to undermine me on this case.
Nolan:
I didn’t have a choice! I tried to tell you about it when you came in, but you basically ran away from me. For fuck’s sake, Cass. Can you please let me up? I need to talk to you.
That’s why he’d been trying to chase me down?
I frowned, clicking open his muted Teams chat on my laptop. Irritation swirled in my gut when I saw that he was telling me the truth.
He’d tried to warn me multiple times.
This was on me.
I’d been so swept up in Theo and so pissed at Nolan for calling her that slur that I’d let my personal feelings affect my professional relationships.
That wasn’t like me at all.
Fuck.
I hated it when I was in the wrong.
But it happened.
Even I wasn’t perfect.
Shocking. I know.
Cass:
Fine. You have five minutes. My fiancée will be home soon, and I don’t want you around when she gets here.
Nolan:
Your fiancée? You know what… fine. I’ll talk to you when I see you. I’m coming up now.
I sighed and turned, watching the light to my private elevator turn gold, indicating Nolan was on his way.