Page 30 of The Right to Remain

“Andie?” Jack asked.

“Mommy!” Righley squealed, loud enough for Andie to overhear.

“Tell Righley we can talk in a minute,” said Andie. “But first I need to talk to you.”

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

“Yes, but this is probably the last time I can call for at least two weeks, so it’s important.”

Righley was sufficiently distracted singing her own version of the title song from Taylor Swift’sLoveralbum, which had become an ode to her golden retriever:

“Max is my, my, my... doggy.”

Max gobbled up the pizza bone. Jack focused on the call. “Okay. What’s up?”

“How well do you know this new client of yours—Elliott Stafford?”

It felt like déjà vu, the same question he’d gotten from Patricia Dubrow and the state attorney. “Why do you ask?”

Andie paused, as if to take a step back. “I realize that just because you married an FBI agent doesn’t mean I have the right to investigate your clients. But this is the first time you represent someone who could be indicted for the murder of a retired FBI agent, so we’re in uncharted waters here.”

Jack turned away from Righley so that she couldn’t see his anger rising. “You’re investigating Elliott?”

“No. But since the alleged victim here is part of the FBI extended family, I took it upon myself to do a simple background check.”

“That’s not okay.”

“Oh, come on, Jack. I did this for us—for our family—and I’m not sharing it with anyone but you.”

“I don’t need that kind of help. I run a thorough background check on every client before an engagement. Elliott is clean.”

“No, he’s not, Jack.”

Jack froze. Righley came around to Jack’s side of the table. “I want to talk to Mommy.”

“I need another minute,” he told her. Righley went back to her seat, and Jack spoke into the phone. “What do you mean, ‘he’s not’?”

“Not everything shows up on a typical background check. Some things don’t even turn up on an FBI background check.”

“Such as?”

“When a criminal conviction is expunged in Florida, there’s only one agency that keeps a record of it: Florida Department of Law Enforcement. I checked with my contact there.”

“Are you telling me that Elliott has a criminal conviction that was expunged?”

“Yes. A juvenile conviction, but it was a class-one felony, which means it was probably violent. Murder, rape, armed robbery, assault—something on that order.”

“If it was that serious, how do you explain the fact that there’s absolutely nothing anywhere on the internet about a crime committed by Elliott Stafford. Even if the conviction was expunged, there would be some mention of it in a blog or social media somewhere.”

“I had the same reaction,” said Andie. “There’s a good explanation.”

“I’m listening.”

“He changed his name.”

“From what?”

“I don’t know. The expungement of his criminal conviction and the name change proceeding are companion cases. Both are sealed. There’s no secret button an FBI agent can push to unseal a court record. It takes a court order.”