Deadly Touch - Heather Graham Page 0,96
bar. I wasn’t paying that much attention.” He was quiet a minute. “I do wonder if it might have been the poor girl who was murdered. Later that night, he mentioned he might have landed a new client. Jordan handles civil cases, you know, so I didn’t think too much about it. I was going to ask him, but he wandered away again, and I started watching the girl onstage. Solo act that night. Boy, did she have pipes. And she could play a guitar something fierce! I wonder if Jordan ever put anything into the record about a new client? I can look, but honestly, I believe he’ll be able to answer these questions himself before long.”
“Do you mind checking the record?” Axel asked. “It could be important. Jordan was attacked by someone, we’re convinced. Anything that moves this along more quickly will be great.”
Tate nodded to Axel but flashed a smile to Raina. “Anything for you kids,” he said. “I’ll check the records.” He spoke into the intercom. “Karel, will you get me all of Jordan’s most recent files, memos, notes. Anything, please.”
“Of course, Mr. Fielding, I’ll bring his files, but they should all be in the computer, too. They’re password-protected, but—”
“I know his pass code, thanks. I’ll just bring his files up,” Tate told her.
He ended his conversation with another press of the button, frowning as he keyed in what he needed on his computer.
“Come on around,” he told Axel and Raina. “Maybe you’ll see something I don’t.”
They walked behind his desk. Raina read the file as Tate used the touch screen. Jordan kept excellent notes. He was dealing with a case, defending a man with a dog. Two young men had jumped the fence into the defendant’s yard, and the dog had bitten one of them. The young man was suing, and Jordan was defending the dog owner. Countersuing. Why was the man in his yard?
“Strong case here. I met the dog when the man was in the office. Mutt was just defending his home. Jordan will make mincemeat of this,” he said.
He scrolled on.
“Stop!” Axel said.
A notation had caught his eye. Jordan had begun conversations with JL.
Jennifer Lowry? The date seemed right.
“Workplace harassment?” Raina murmured aloud.
She looked at Axel. “At Dr. Wong’s office?” she asked. “They all claimed to love her!”
Axel didn’t answer.
“Hey, get around, get around!” Tate said worriedly, standing.
Axel comprehended why instantly—the elder Fielding was coming. He grasped Raina’s hand and walked around quickly.
The three of them were standing—Tate behind the desk, properly, and Axel and Raina in front, where they should be—when Jefferson Fielding walked in.
“Well, hello, Miss Raina, and Special Agent Tiger, is it? You are finding out what happened to Jordan Rivera, right?”
“We are, sir,” Axel said. “And Tate has kindly spoken to us. We were hoping he might have an idea of anyone who threatened Jordan in any way.”
The older Fielding looked at his son and smiled grimly. “Well, they are good friends, yes. But of course you know neither Tate, nor anyone in this firm, can give you information on cases. Attorney-client privilege. As much as we’d like to help you, there might be situations in which we are morally obligated to keep silent.”
“Of course, sir,” Axel said. “We would never want anything that wasn’t completely within the law. As a matter of fact, we were just leaving. We do believe Jordan will be out of the coma soon, and when he is, well, he’ll give us whatever we need.”
He turned to Tate. “Thank you for seeing us and we do understand you couldn’t give away any of his client information. Mr. Fielding, good to see you.”
“Thanks, Tate!” Raina said. “Mr. Fielding,” she added, starting past him.
“Amazing,” Jefferson Fielding said.
“What’s that?” Raina asked politely.
“A dog trainer out asking questions with the FBI. Is that legal?”
“Raina is consulting with us on this because of the animals involved,” Axel politely improvised, taking her arm. “Good day, gentlemen, and thank you again.”
The door was open. They left it that way.
As they started out into the hall, they heard Jefferson say to Tate, “What, she’s sleeping with him now? She’s something to look at, but pure bitch, son. You’re well out of anything with her!”
“Dad, we dated for two minutes years ago,” Tate replied wearily.
Axel saw that Raina’s cheeks were burning. Of course the elder Fielding had meant for her to hear his words.
“I’m tempted to go back and deck him,” Axel said.
“No. He’s just an ass,” Raina said. “I broke it