The Forgotten Child, Lorhainne Eckhart [bearly read books txt] 📗

I get rid of Emily or you were pulling all your business. So what was I supposed to do? You’ve always given that guy free rein.”

Brad could feel the ache in his jaw as he bit down hard. It couldn’t be Cliff; he trusted him. Cliff had been with him for ten years, he was like family.

“Well guess what? That was my reaction too.” Jake pointed at Brad’s face. “So I phoned the ranch to talk to you, because I thought for sure someone got their wires crossed. And guess what? Your wife, Crystal, answered and she was madder than a bee stuck in some old lady’s bonnet. She said you were expecting me to call and confirm; and how dare I question Cliff, since he’s been handling things for you for years. Plain and simple, she said you demanded that she be fired. She even went so far as to say she’d tried to talk you out of it, but after all, “you know his temper.” That once you get an idea into your head, you’d have a better chance of negotiating and reasoning with a wild animal. She said you’d caught Emily stealing money from the wallet you’d left lying in your room. She also said that you’d searched her room and discovered some of Crystal’s jewelry, and the only reason you didn’t press charges against her was because of her kid. And this is your wife’s quote, not mine. ‘You refuse to do business with someone who employs a thief; a thief who stole from you.’”

Jake paused before continuing. “You know what convinced me?”

Brad leaned against the door and all that out-of-control anger changed to wariness.

“She said it would be better not to anger you any further. That just hearing Emily’s name would send you over the edge. You have to admit, Brad, I’ve known you a lot years and I like you, but sometimes you’re a hothead. And when you cut someone out of your life—you can be cruel.”

To have someone hold up a mirror in front of you, reflecting all your faults and all the stupid-ass things you’ve ever done, was worse than having an icy pail of water being dumped on his head.

“I’m sorry, Jake. I didn’t treat you very well when I came in here. I thought you'd screwed Emily over, and I won’t stand for someone I care about being treated that way.”

Jake crossed his arms feeling partially relieved and somewhat indignant. “Brad, you’ve got a temper, and, when you’re pushed, not many of us, with any brains in their head, want to be anywhere around you.”

“Jake, I don’t go looking for fights. But if one comes to my door, I’ll take it on and sure as shit, I’ll come out the winner.”

Jake didn’t move. “This isn’t my fight Brad, so why’s it on my doorstep?”

That was a good question.

“Crystal lied, Jake. Emily’s no thief; give her back her job, today.”

“I can’t! I already hired Jackie. How fair is it to let her go, because of your—” He stopped his round face tinting a deep shade of pink. “Shit, Brad, what the hell’s going on? You can’t fuck around with people’s lives like this. That was your man and your woman, which is your business. Take care of it and keep it out of mine.” Jake dropped his eyes and rummaged the papers on his desk.

“Look, you’re right, to a point, but you still should have talked to me.”

He watched the man as he took on an air of indignation, snapping back at Brad in self-defense. “Well, how the hell was I to know? She’s your wife.”

Brad winced and brushed his hand in the air. “Jake, let’s be clear on something; that’s a mere technicality, soon to be rectified. And just so there are no more misunderstandings, from now on, unless you hear it directly from me—it didn’t happen.”

Brad yanked open the door and stalked out, paying no mind to the burning eyes following him. He pressed his cell phone to his ear as he stepped out of the store and hurried to his truck. “Something’s happened—have time to see me, Keith?”

“Sure, if you come right now; my next appointment is in an hour.”

Brad was there in ten minutes. Keith’s secretary was gone for the day, so he walked right in.

Keith never looked up. “Twice in one day, what’s up?”

He noticed that Keith needed a haircut. His dark, thick curls had grown past his ears and touched the rim of his glasses.

He filled Keith in on what had happened, along with Cliff’s surprising role.

“This could be the leak; I’ll call Byrd and get him to unearth everything he can on Cliff. We’ll know soon enough. I’m sure that I sound like a broken record, but I’m going to remind you, again, to control your explosive temper. And when you speak to Cliff, because I know you will, do it with some tact and use restraint. If you can manage to win him over to our side, maybe we can find out what Crystal is up to. We have a trail of where she’s been for the last few years. I have to ask you, Brad: How much do you personally want to know of who she’s been with?”

“You need a haircut and don’t hold anything back.”

Keith shrugged his shoulder and tossed his pen down, chuckling under his breath. “Well, okay then. She’s had boyfriends, or lovers, whichever way you want to look at it; we’ve got names, statements. We’ll use it all against her.”

“My condolences to all those guys,” Brad offered.

Keith shook his head. “Glad to see it doesn’t bother you. What I’m concerned about now is this recent incident with Emily. I’m pretty sure this isn’t an isolated incident. There’s more, and we need all we can get to show that she’s unfit. And let’s face it, a judge rarely considers an affair, when you're estranged, unless we can show that the boyfriends would have been a danger to Trevor. Then it just shows poor judgment on her part and judges tend to be lenient with parents. We’re not perfect.”

Keith allowed Brad to mull that over for a minute. Then the lawyer reached for his phone and dialed.

“What are you doing?” Brad asked.

“Following a hunch—humor me.” Keith winked and pressed his back into the chair, his loud voice boomed. “Hey, Fred, how’s the wife? How about that golf game Saturday? Yeah, yeah, I know. Rematch?”

Brad waited and listened to a one-sided conversation, not just once, but three times. Three different, local businesses; apparently the rumor mill around town had been fueled by some casual comments made by Crystal. She just happened to mention to the florist that Emily had been fired, by Jake, after he caught her stealing money from the till. At the hardware store Crystal said that Emily had tried to seduce Brad when Crystal had been downstairs looking after Trevor. She’d thrown herself at Brad, and then vindictively searched through Crystal’s jewelry and helped herself to Crystal’s grandmother’s emerald ring and the diamond studded earrings Brad gave Crystal for their anniversary. Apparently, Brad threw her out for her immoral behavior but was too embarrassed to press charges. At the post office, the grapevine of the community, Crystal reported that Emily was scouting for a man to support her, to move into his place, and she’d take him for everything he had. She’d tried with Brad, but Crystal and Brad had reconciled. Now Emily was a scorned woman, telling stories about Crystal and Brad. And Crystal caught Emily rummaging through Brad’s private papers, his business records and his bank statements when she was supposed to be watching Trevor, who she frequently left alone. She wasn’t trustworthy. She was a schemer.

Keith rested his cheek on his palm when he finally got off the phone.

“Well, Emily will have a good case for slander and defamation. But where do you start to repair the malicious damage someone’s done to your name? We’ll use it in our suit against Crystal, but, Brad, you need to know something. I’ve been at this a lot of years. I’ve seen a lot of really bad people, liars, storytellers and manipulators. This type of intentional damage to someone’s name—it never really goes completely away. I just wish, people would take a look at someone’s motives when they’re trashing a person’s good name. But people live for gossip and they fuel it. Live for the drama and be dammed what it does to the poor person.”

“Keith, whatever it takes, bury Crystal. Emily doesn’t deserve this. And I don’t want her to know.”