Page 18 of Memory of Murder (Colby Agency: The Next Generation #3)

Crystal Lake

Latham & Hirsh Law Firm

Anne was on edge this morning. She had been since she awakened at five o’clock. Walking the floors of her room for an hour hadn’t helped. Then finally around six or so she’d gone outside and stared at the water in hopes the serenity of its stillness would help her find her center.

Hadn’t happened.

By seven she’d gone back inside and made a cup of coffee. She couldn’t stop thinking about the house where Mary and Neil had lived or the details Beatrice Farrell had shared with her. Specifically, the idea that Neil might not be the father of the child Mary had been carrying.

Her father, Anne amended. She was trying—she really was—to get right with consistently acknowledging the people who had brought her into this world.

Not so easy after all these years of resentment and of pretending they didn’t exist or were irrelevant.

Growing up, she had learned to turn off those feelings. It was the only way to protect herself.

She pushed aside the thought. That little girl no longer needed protecting.

She was a grown woman, and she owed it to herself—and maybe to her parents—to do this.

The journal had mentioned some sort of situation Mary had worried about and that it had been straightened out.

Anne had no idea what the problem—or situation—was until yesterday.

Obviously it was the concern about paternity.

When Jack knocked on the door to her room this morning and let her know it was time to go, she’d been startled.

She had been far too deep in the swarm of new discoveries to notice the passage of time.

After the murder, her mother had basically gone through the horrors of her situation alone.

Her own parents were long dead. Her friends had abandoned her. She really was completely alone.

For the first time in her entire life, Anne felt sympathy for the woman who had given birth to her.

Perhaps those feelings were misguided. After all, being here and talking to the people who had known Mary and Neil made all of it so real.

Quite honestly the whole story—what little she had known about it—had seemed like a work of fiction to Anne.

Not part of her actual life. Nothing she had actually experienced.

As a child she’d experienced only resentment and disappointment related to her biological parents.

But this had changed everything far faster than she could have imagined possible.

Had Victoria, the head of the Colby Agency, known this would happen?

Was that why she insisted Anne participate in the investigation?

Anne would hold off until this was done before thanking her…or not.

Too many confusing emotions roiled inside her just now to visualize how this would all settle down.

Since today was forecast to be another scorcher, she had selected her lightest-weight blouse and the blue dress pants. It was important to represent herself well at this meeting, given that she was also representing her parents, so to speak.

It really was the oddest, somewhat unsettling urge.

“You ready?”

Jack’s voice dragged her attention back to the present for the second time this morning.

They were here—at the office where Neil had worked part-time during his final year of law school and the final months and weeks of his life.

Anne blinked. She hadn’t realized they had arrived or that the car had stopped.

She gave herself a mental shake. Keeping her focus on the now was far too important to be allowing herself to get caught up in the what-ifs and oh-my-gods of thirty years ago.

Jack looked from her to the office building in front of them.

He had taken the last parking slot on the same side of the street.

Mr. Hirsh would see them at 10:15. He was the only remaining partner who had been with the firm for more than thirty years—making him the only one who had known Neil Reed.

Without hesitation, he had agreed to the meeting.

No questions. But that had been late yesterday.

Maybe sleeping on the idea will have changed his mind.

He might share nothing at all or have questions of his own. Anne wouldn’t be surprised either way.

“Anne?”

She jerked to attention once more. “Yes. Sorry. I’m ready.” Anne reached for the door.

Jack did the same. They met on the sidewalk at the front of the car.

He’d finally learned not to bother rushing to her side of the vehicle to open the door.

It was so not necessary, and she felt foolish waiting for him to do so.

Still, the notion that he would if she opted to go that route was refreshing in an old-fashioned sort of way.

There was something to be said for chivalry.

She was pretty much convinced that he was a very nice man.

Despite her determination there was no stopping him from opening the door to the law firm for her. She thanked him with a smile and walked in. At the reception desk, she deferred to Jack. He had made the call for the meeting.

“Good morning,” Sandra, according to the nameplate, announced.

“Good morning. Jack Brenner and Anne Griffin to see Mr. Hirsh.”

After checking the calendar, Sandra nodded. “He’s ready for you now.” She stood. “This way, please.”

They followed her along a carpeted corridor. Paintings of the partners, retired or deceased ones first, lined the walls. At the end of the corridor was a table topped with a large, lush flower arrangement. Reminded Anne a little of a funeral home.

Sandra rapped on the door to the left, then opened it. “Mr. Hirsh, your ten fifteen is here.” She swept her right hand in a gesture for Anne and Jack to enter the office.

The gray-haired gentleman behind the gleaming, wide wooden desk stood. “Thank you, Sandra.”

She left the room, closing the door behind her.

“Mr. Brenner, I presume,” Hirsh said to Jack before turning to Anne. “Ms. Griffin. Take a seat, and let’s dive in. I worked you in between appointments, so my time is limited.”

“Thank you for that,” Jack said as he waited for Anne to settle. Then he claimed the chair next to her.

Always the gentleman, she mused.

“As I told your assistant, I’m from the Colby Agency—a private investigations firm in Chicago,” Jack explained, cutting straight to the chase. “We have questions about Neil Reed.”

Mr. Hirsh clasped his hands on his desk.

“Well, that goes back a bit. Neil interned here for a few months as I’m sure you’re aware.

We had high hopes for him. He was a brilliant student of the law.

The goal was when he graduated and passed the bar to work with Oscar Nelson.

Oscar was nearing retirement age, and we wanted to get someone good on board to absorb as much of his wisdom as possible before that happened.

We felt Neil was a promising young man with a natural gift for the work we do here. ”

“When was the decision made that he would join your firm?” Jack inquired. “We’ve found some indication that he had other plans.”

“BioTech.” Hirsh nodded. “I believe that was his first choice, but there was a glitch, as I recall, and he opted to take the offer we made.”

“Glitch?” Anne echoed, speaking for the first time.

The attorney’s attention shifted to her. “I can’t say for certain, of course, since those details were never made public or shared with anyone at this firm. The rumor was that Mike Smith, the BioTech CEO, withdrew the offer and hired someone else.”

They knew part of this already. Jack’s research department at the Colby Agency determined that Langston had taken the position instead of her father.

But no one appeared to know how that change came about.

And as Hirsh said, any fallout was kept under wraps.

The whole ordeal took place so quietly and so far behind the scenes it was as if it never happened…

except it had, and Anne’s instincts warned it had served as an impetus for the storm that descended on Mary Morton’s and Neil Reed’s lives.

Frankly, to Anne’s way of thinking, anything kept so secretive couldn’t have been good for all parties involved.

“We’ve learned that Neil and his fiancée,” Anne said, “were concerned about BioTech being new without the potential security and benefits of a more established firm like yours. Perhaps that was the only glitch.”

“I’d like to think,” Hirsh said, “that our package was the better offer, and that was the reason we were able to lock him in well in advance of his being able to join us as an attorney. But there was talk to the contrary.”

Anne was surprised he opted to share what was clearly hearsay.

“Did you or any of the partners,” Jack probed, “at the time have any concerns or hesitations before making the offer? He was months from graduating, and then there was the bar exam after that. How could you be certain he’d pull it all off?”

“One only needed to review his transcript to know that—barring a grave illness or death—there was no question Neil Reed would do those things and do them particularly well. The fact is if you expect to get the best coming out of law school, you have to make the preliminary offers early. We learned that lesson the hard way. It’s a situation that continues to be a concern with maintaining a larger firm, which is why we’ve downsized somewhat in recent years. ”

“In the days before his murder,” Anne ventured, “were you aware of any issues going on in his private life? Did he seem worried or upset here at the office?”

“We’ve read the statement you made to the investigating detective,” Jack pointed out. “What we’re in search of is anything that, looking back, may have been more important than you realized at the time.”

A very good point, in Anne’s opinion, since Hirsh’s statement told them basically nothing other than Neil was brilliant, dependable and charming.