Big Data: A Startup Thriller Novel

Chapter 36

Heath was a lawyer. When he talked to police, he was trained to deny everything. With a straight face. The trick was to withhold the whole truth. To skillfully hide the lies within shades of truth. When they asked if he had seen anything, he answered that he saw the light-brown gravelly dirt. Which was absolutely true. Just not the whole truth.

After a few more questions like that, the police decided that Heath wasn't worth their time and let him go. Ideally, he would have waited for Alex, but he needed to get back to his office as soon as possible. After all, Alex was an ex-cop. He was probably telling the police everything he knew five times over. And loving the feeling of superiority, like he was the only one cool enough under pressure to notice the details.

Back when Heath was in law school, one of his favorite professors, Mr. Fix, keeled over mid-lecture from a heart attack. The room was full of over a hundred freshman law students—all of them frozen in their seats. Then, two of the students ran up to the professor, felt for a pulse, and told the others they would take him to the hospital to get help. Five minutes after Mr. Fix was carried out the door, he walked back in, fit as a fiddle. It had all been a test to see how observant they were. It was an example of how poor eyewitness accounts can be, even from the best-educated people in the world.

Heath was the only student in the room who noticed that Mr. Fix had changed his tie from a red one to a blue one while he was out of the room. Heath had the uncanny ability to spot the fine details that others missed. It was part of what had made him the best in his class.

He dug through every client document that Bower, Bower, and Nathanson had with Ancien. Of course, he'd seen some of them when preparing Luna's defense, but even those he reread now with renewed interest. He had to comb through everything he could find about Ancien to prepare for the call he was about to make.

"Do you need anything else, Mr. Lemming?" asked a young blond assistant, who had been photocopying pages for him all day.

"No, thank you. You've been very kind."

She smiled for a few moments, as if hoping he might change his mind, then turned and closed the door behind her.

Heath picked up the heavy gray desk phone. Cell phone reception in San Francisco was the worst. Wasn't this supposed to be the tech capital of the world? How was it possible that no one had figured out how to make clear cell phone calls yet?

He was ready. At least, he hoped he was ready.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Bower, it's Heath Lemming."

"Do you realize how late it is over here? Make an appointment with Kathy and we can talk in the—"

"Mr. Bower, this is important. I was shot at today."

There was a brief pause on the line, and then Heath heard a muffled apology to whoever Neil Bower was with at the moment. Heath figured it was probably some poker buddies.

"You were shot at?"

"Yes."

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. You probably heard about it on the news—the incident at the Stanford campus. I'm sorry to bother you directly, but I have reason to believe that Ancien is behind the shooting. And I believe they have kidnapped Luna Valencia, as well."

There was another pause. Longer this time. Heath had to ask if Neil was still on the line.

"Yes, yes. I'm here. Have you seen Luna yourself?"

"No, not yet."

"Look, Heath, you've just made some serious allegations against one of our largest clients. Do you have any hard evidence to back this up?"

"No, but I've been doing some research into Ancien's files and—"

"Heath, let me stop you right there. You have no evidence. I don't want to hear any speculation. The Ancien account is the one that made our firm what it is today. I don't need you poking your nose where it doesn't belong."

"But if I'm right, this could be the key that wins us the Luna Valencia case. I could get our track record back."

"Fuck Luna Valencia. If you see that twat, I want you to turn her into the authorities as quickly as possible. Need I remind you that she brought this upon herself by skipping bail? We owe her nothing, and there is nothing I'd rather see than her ass in prison where it belongs. Luna Valencia is not paying our bills. Ancien is. Remember who our client is."

"And if I'm right that Ancien tried to kill me today?"

"I'll kill you myself if you lose us the Ancien account on nothing but a hunch. I thought sending you to the West Coast would help you get your priorities straight, but now I'm wondering why I kept you on at all. Look, you are to stop all investigations into Ancien and any alleged crimes they may or may not have committed. You are not the goddamned police. And if I hear that you saw Luna and didn't turn her in immediately, I will personally make sure you are disbarred. You won't be able to practice law on either coast for as long as I'm alive. I can assure you of that. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

This time, it was Heath who paused. He imagined Neil was, at that very moment, calculating the size of the bill Bower, Bower, and Nathanson would rack up defending Ancien on attempted murder charges—if Heath was right.

"Crystal."