Pool Of Lies Part 2

Rae's eyes, now green, now khaki, stopped him with a sideways jab.

"I know. Your alarm didn't go off," he finished lamely.

"I've been up all night with Andy. He colicked."

That said it all. He remembered Andy was her Paso Fino stud, Sol Andaluz. "He's still alive?" Danny blurted. "How long do horses live?"

"Not long enough."

"You need to grab Speer South," he interjected as they almost missed their exit. He'd forgotten how Rae despised downtown Denver traffic. He wondered if she'd become more familiar with the one-way, diagonally laid out streets.

"So fill me in," she said as she headed the SUV down Speer. It was stop-and-go traffic. Danny thought he might even have time to finish the essentials before they got to Gil's.

"Okay, here's the encapsulated version. Dee was Deidre Bayfield Cantrell Porter La.s.siter."

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?"

"I was her third husband. Bayfield wasn't her father's name. It was her grandfather's. He required his heirs to a.s.sume his surname or forfeit their inheritances."

"No ego problem there, for sure."

"Whatever. He's where the money came from. Jerome Bayfield died last year and Dee came into a bunch, as did her sister Morgan and both Dee's kids. Morgan is childless."

"Cut to the chase," said Rae as Speer merged into First.

Off to the north side was the beautiful old neighborhood of stately homes where Danny grew up. He made a half-hearted attempt to stifle a wallow in the past.

"No, no!" he shouted as Rae missed the merge and appeared to be heading off course. Her disharmony with downtown Denver's street layout didn't slow Rae's driving. Danny wondered how her SUV remained so pristine. Not a scratch.

Screech. Rae was on First, going southeast. Danny's grip on the door handle relaxed, as he continued to fill her in.

"Dee inherited a bunch of real estate from her mom. She and Morgan were the only sibs. The house where you picked me up? Dee grew up there and we lived in it until I split. It was trashed when they found her. The other properties are worse."

"Crack houses, you said."

"Yeah. I told you on the phone. Not a pretty picture. Auntie Morgan got the kids lawyered up and wants to fire sell everything."

"But you don't?"

"I think we'd all benefit from restoring the properties."

Rae nodded. "How'd you get to be P/R?" she asked.

"That's the weird part. n.o.body else seemed to want the job. Turn here. Left."

"It's a one-way street."

"You remembered! No, it's the next turn. That's Steele."

Rae managed to squeeze out a Beemer and make the turn. "You taking your statutory one-half?" she asked, referring to that part of Colorado law that conferred rights on spouses of intestate decedents.

He knew very well what she was talking about. "h.e.l.l, yes. Her kids became millionaires when Dee died--their great-grandpa's trusts. They don't care about Dee's estate."

"Even with a fire sale, you'd get something," said Rae as she pulled into the parking lot of the ten-story building that housed Rosencraft, Stern and Eisley.

"I'm not sure I would. That's where you come in. It looks like Dee hasn't filed her taxes in a while."

"She was as bad as you," Rae growled she pulled into one of the vacant spots for clients of RS & E. "Didn't you counsel her based on your past experience?"

"I didn't know she wasn't filing. She said she wanted to keep her stuff separate and not file jointly with me. I told her early on about my history of procrastination."

"And have you kept current?"

"How could you think I'd go to somebody else?"

"I should be so lucky."

They got out of the car and headed for the entrance. The building was off-white cement and gray gla.s.s. "High rent district," commented Rae as they climbed a flight of steps flanked by circular planters filled with blooming marigolds and petunias to get to the first floor lobby.

"I guess they can afford it. Gil bills out at four hundred an hour."

"Pretty standard for Denver." Rae pushed into the lobby, and Danny followed closely, so as not to get smacked by the door. He would have held it for her, but she beat him to it.

"Then he bills his paralegal at one-fifty for the same hours he's billing himself at four hundred, to discuss the case."

"How do you know this?" Rae asked as they approached the elevators. Danny reached the up arrow first and pressed it.

"It's on his bills."

"How do you know what's on his bills? I thought this guy was working for the relatives. Who's representing you?" She paused as an elevator opened before them. "You said you had a Denver attorney who was meeting us here."

"No, I said he was already here. Gil Doucette is the attorney for the estate. I'm the P/R for the estate. I thought that meant he was my attorney, but apparently not."

When the elevator doors began to close, Danny pried them open and punched the nine b.u.t.ton as they got in. After a short, silent ride, they debarked on the ninth floor and entered posh offices with dark blue carpet and oak paneling. Heidi, the receptionist, eyed them suspiciously, despite the fact that Danny had been a regular in the office for at least six weeks.

"I'll tell Gil you're here." Heidi disappeared into the inner sanctum.

As they stood waiting for Gil, Danny was relieved to see that Rae's face was calm now. If she felt out of place in her boots and jeans, her expression didn't show it. He looked down the hall for Gil, wondering if he was going to punish their tardiness by making them wait.

"Oops," said Rae softly. As Danny looked back in her direction, he saw that a small hunk of horse s.h.i.t had left her boot for the plush of the carpet.

Shortly afterward, Heidi transferred Rae and Danny to a conference room, where they sat and admired the rows of legal tomes in their floor-to-ceiling oak shelves. They declined to talk about the matter at hand in this setting as if in unspoken agreement. Danny wondered if Rae had begun to absorb his paranoia.

Finally his lawyer appeared. Gil Doucette was short, round and shiny on the top of his head, where he had started balding at an early age. Danny knew this because he and Gil went back a ways. Not as friends. Gil had dated his sister Wendy. She dumped him. Unfortunately, that memory hadn't surfaced until after Danny had retained Gil.

Gil's pear-shaped paralegal, Hannah Davidson, followed him into the room, and Danny introduced them to Rae.

Danny watched a p.i.s.sed expression play across Rae's face as both Gil and Hannah barely acknowledged her before taking their seats. He was sure that Gil had instructed Hannah to check out the CPA he was bringing on board. Hannah, paragon of efficiency that she was, would have briefed him on Rachel Esposito's credentials, which were impeccable. Danny would have bet his life on that. Did the cold shoulder mean his timing was right on?

"Well," said Gil, "I think what I have to say to you might best be said in private." He gave Danny one of his superior glances.

"You knew Rae was coming to this meeting." Rae's presence was giving Danny some needed confidence. "And I want her copied in on everything from now on."

"Everything?" Hannah was taking notes like mad and n.o.body had really said anything yet.

"Everything. Starting with Dee's tax returns. Has the IRS gotten back to you?" Danny asked.

"No records of any returns for the past three years."

"Oh, great," muttered Rae. "Now you've alerted them that they may have a non-filer. Let the liens begin."

Gil and Hannah exchanged annoyed glances.

"Fine," said Gil. "Let Ms. Esposito tackle the returns and good luck." He didn't bother to hide his sarcasm. "The heirs are not happy with you, Danny."

"That's why we're here, isn't it?"

"You have not liquidated a single property."

"They're not ready for sale. They were all trashed."

"They're still trashed. When are you going to do something about that? The other heirs feel that you're dragging your feet."

"What am I supposed to do for money?"

Gil nearly came out of his chair. "Come on, Danny. "We know--"

"Just a minute, here...Gil." Rae interrupted. "Why are you speaking for the other heirs? Danny's stepchildren--who represents them? Do you have any written demands Danny should be looking at?"

Gil's complexion was fast approaching purple, while Hannah's thin lips drew to a fine line.

"I don't think this is an accounting matter, Ms. Esposito. Not your concern."

"Oh, yes it is," Danny interjected.

Gil glared at him and then at Rae, before replying, "Stan hasn't put anything in writing. Our discussions have been...informal. But the heirs want you out. You haven't kept your promise."

A sound escaped Rae's lips. Like she'd choked on a rat. "And who is Stan?" she asked when she'd swallowed.

"Stan Eisley," Danny offered. "He's been Dee's family's attorney since before she was born."

"Eisley, as in Rosencraft, Stern and Eisley?" Rae's eyes grew large and olive green, bulging ominously. "And you're billing for your consultations with Stan, no doubt?"

Gil looked beyond p.i.s.sed as he turned to ever-helpful Hannah. "Perhaps Ms. Esposito would care for a soft drink in the employees' lounge."

Before Hannah could act on this, Rae was at him again. "Anybody at this table ever hear the term >conflict of interest'?"

"Ms. Esposito," Gil spit her name out as if he was getting rid of a bad taste. "I happen to know you are not licensed to practice law. Is that what you're attempting to do here? Give Mr. La.s.siter legal advice?"

"Not in the least. I'm just expressing some words of good, old-fashioned common sense."

Gil rose from his seat. As if on strings, Hannah followed. "Danny, I can't work with this woman. If you don't want to use Sam Garvin for the tax work, I can recommend someone else. But she goes or I do."

Rae looked at Danny, not angrily, but like she was expecting more of him than he might have. Get some b.a.l.l.s, Danny. She didn't have to say it.

As he stood up, they were there when he needed them along with the rush that goes along with seeing a plan come together. "See you around, Gil. And I'd like to have your resignation in writing, if you don't mind."

In the doorway, Rae turned back. "Copies of everything in the estate files. Within ten days. Or your replacement will be all over you."

When they hit the street, Rae asked, "Why didn't you call Sandy Robinson in the first place?"

"I owe him money." Danny avoided her glance. "I was too embarra.s.sed."

"You owe me money, too. That didn't stop you."

"But, you're easy."

"Don't count on it," snapped Rae. She nearly pushed him off the curb Rae let Danny talk her into lunch at Rafferty's, a light, airy spot on Sixteenth Street. They sat on bar stools at a round gla.s.s table by a floor-to-ceiling window that looked out on the mall.

Danny fiddled with the straw in his herbal iced tea as Rae nursed iced coffee, eyed the hanging plants, and appraised the ambience.

What was he thinking when he hired Gil? Rae's stomach was still knotted from her exchange with the estate's attorney. Former attorney, she corrected herself. She took a deep breath, sipped coffee and asked, "Didn't you know at the time you hired him that Gil's firm represented your wife's family?"

"Sure I knew, but so what? They weren't after my hide then." He grabbed a menu and began to study it--another avoidance technique Rae had come to know over the years.

Rae tapped her own menu with an index finger as she sought a tactful way to bring Danny back to the table, so to speak, without hauling him by the scruff of the neck. "When did it start? The hostility c.r.a.p," she asked, keeping her tone in check. Put the d.a.m.n menu down and talk to me, you little s.h.i.t. But Danny wasn't little and he wasn't a s.h.i.t--not really. Her mood was just out of whack due to no sleep because of her colicky horse. Get it together, Rae.

"Things went downhill after Dee's funeral," Danny mumbled without looking her in the eye.

"And?" It was like trying to load a green colt into a trailer, getting him to take that first step when his feet are planted and his neck stiff as a two-by-four.

Before Rae could prod Danny again their waiter approached. "Hey, Danny, long time. Where you been?"

Rae watched Danny paint on a grin and answer brightly, if non-responsively, that he was glad to be back in Denver.

As she eyed the menu for the first time, Rae felt her blood pressure rise a notch. Was Danny prepared for the price of ambience?

"I'll give you folks a couple of minutes more," said the waiter as he tactfully retreated.

"The food's great, Rae," said Danny, coming out of his funk.

"It'd better be. Question is, can you afford it?"

"Not really. But Dee's estate can. Admin costs get paid off the top. Even before Uncle."

"You're sure a quick study," said Rae, lightening her tone.

"Gil gave me the crash course, along with his first billing. There wasn't any cash to be found. No bank accounts. No brokerage accounts. As illiquid as it gets."