I thought about going to the DA with that hunch of mine, but I knew he would have me escorted out of his office on the grounds that I was just wasting his time. He truly believed that there was more going on at Ortega’s than met the eye, and while that might be true, it didn’t mean it was necessarily criminal.
I wonder what must be going through Moves’ head right about now, because if he has any suspicions about me, I can only imagine that he’d want to get close to find out more.
Ever since I let it slip that I was a lawyer, he’d been very hard to read, withdrawn, and shut off from everyone around him. It was going to make things a lot more difficult if I ran into him again before this was over, but I had to keep trying, because the future of my job depended on it.
I hated that I couldn’t go at this the same way that Mona could, because no one had any suspicions about her, and she could get as close as she needed to in order to find out the right information, but she might not necessarily know what to look out for. I could’ve coached her all I wanted, but it wasn’t going to change the fact that there might be very important things that she was going to miss on account of actually being wrapped up in her very own distraction.
I was just going to have to find another way to get close to Moves and charm him enough that I could find out whether or not Ortega’s was actually clean. I wanted to believe that, because it would help me justify the feelings that were growing every day for Moves, and there was a part of me that wanted nothing more than to just explore them.
* * *
I stayedhome from the office that day to go over the evidence from the arrests that were made one more time, trying to decide whether or not there was something I might have missed now that I had a bit more knowledge of the Outlaw Souls and their involvement with all of this. I was thumbing through countless papers, rereading each of the suspects’ statements, but they all denied any involvement whatsoever. I knew that could very well be because they didn’t want to own up to what they did, but I was starting to feel differently about it all.
I looked down at the picture of the biker from the first arrest, and I noticed he was wearing a very similar jacket to Moves’. I knew he was a part of the Outlaw Souls, and that being the case, I could only imagine they were trying to do everything in their power to keep him out of jail.
I fell asleep again right there on the couch, my head filled with more images of Moves, but this time it was in the form of him taking Chalupa’s place. I hadn’t paid much attention to the man’s name before, because at the time it didn’t matter, but I was starting to see the same look in that man’s eyes that I saw in Moves’ every so often. They both looked scared, absolutely terrified that something bad was going to happen, and that didn’t scream guilty to me. I’ve been working the courtroom long enough to be able to pick up on these things, and if it were actually the case that we’d arrested an innocent man, I believed I was capable of doing everything in my power to make sure that he walked.
I’d have to find solid evidence pointing me to the truth before I could ever make a decision like that. I knew that no matter what, the DA was not going to like that one bit. He wanted to crack down on these bikers because he’d been hearing about them for such a long time. On the other hand, I had a duty to uphold justice. Putting innocent people in jail simply because their faces didn’t fit was not my reason for becoming a lawyer.
The DA felt it was his duty to keep La Playa and the surrounding areas safe, and he was using me to do it. I was so surprised that he’d even bothered to give me the case when there were so many other people in the office who would’ve been able to be impartial to the very end, and he was well aware of how attached I could get to such cases.
Maybe that’s why he put me on it. Maybe he truly believed that I would stop at nothing to find the truth, and he needed someone like that to head this case. I can see now why Richard was so upset that the DA didn’t choose him.
I made my way over to the kitchen to pour myself another cup of coffee, trying to soothe my nerves and calm the uneasiness in my stomach.
The list of questions I had continued to grow, getting longer every day, but I wasn’t finding any answers that were going to suffice. I’d been to Ortega’s twice. On both occasions, I didn’t see a thing that would make me believe that there was criminal activity occurring there, but it was quite possible that either I wasn’t looking hard enough, or they were all just good at hiding it from me.
I wondered how many people Moves had told about my job, where I worked, and what to look out for. It made me apprehensive about seeing him again, because I thought that he would be able to see right through me and pick up on my intentions or the feelings that had been front and center ever since our last encounter. I thought back to how he’d helped me at Lily and Bailey’s party, and how kind he was when he walked me home. Those were the characteristics of a good man, one that would never stand for something like this, but maybe I was still a bit too naïve when it came to what the Outlaw Souls were really involved in.
I sat back down on the couch with the hot coffee in my hands, hearing the lock turn on the front door, and in strolled Mona, looking as happy as ever. She had a few shopping bags with her. I could tell from her expression that she had already received word from Hawk that they would be seeing each other again, but there was also something pleading in her expression that I couldn’t quite understand.
“Someone did a little shopping,” I said.
“Oh these few things? I just picked them up on the way home from work, you know because I have a hot date with a really sexy biker guy,” she said, giggling.
“Hawk got back to you on that, huh?” I asked, and she nodded.
“I’m really excited, but there’s a part of me that’s kind of nervous about what I’m getting myself into. I know that you’ve already warned me about what I could be dealing with, and that’s why I have a very strange request for you,” she started.
“Oh, no.”
“Would you come with me? I know that might sound strange, seeing as how I acted the other night at the bar. I like to think that I’m strong enough to handle this on my own, but the truth is I can’t. I need my best friend there, especially because I’m not sure how I feel just yet about everything you’ve told me. It might be a good chance for us both to start snooping, but I’d just feel better, and a lot more safe if you were there with me,” she asked, and I could see just how much she needed me there with her, so I reluctantly nodded.
“All right, I’ll come,” I said, and she smiled.
“Really? I’ve been rehearsing those lines all day because I didn’t think that you would agree,” she said, and I laughed.
“I’ll hang around to make sure you’re okay. I would never let you go anywhere alone if you weren’t fully comfortable. I’ll be hiding behind a menu or a laughably conspicuous sunhat,” I teased, and she beamed, proceeding to show me all of the outfit choices she’d picked out.
She was genuinely excited, and she was being safe. That was all I ever could’ve asked for. I knew that there was a part of me that wanted nothing more than to run into Moves, and to get to know him the way we were supposed to before my job got in the way of that. I wanted to spend a bit more time with him, to get him to see that I wasn’t all bad. I still had yet to figure out whether they were all innocent in this, because if I ever were to find out that they were truly engaging in criminal activity, I could only imagine that Hawk would’ve helped.
I looked over at Mona, watching as she tried on those wonderful ensembles, hoping that whatever happened, it wouldn’t lead her to getting hurt. The last thing I would want would be for her to be heartbroken because of this. She deserved the world, and I was going to look out for her no matter what happened.
Any time I let my mind wander, I couldn’t help but think of the dreams I had of Moves. I couldn’t stop focusing on the thought of what his touch must be like, what it must feel like to kiss him, and I was starting to realize that maybe I hadn’t been living my life to the fullest like I’d always thought I had.
I was the one that had told Mona that sex was overrated, and there I was dreaming about it like I actually thought it was going to happen. The truth was, I had no idea where Moves and I were going to end up, but if there was one thing I knew for sure, it was that I had to stay focused on bringing the real criminals to justice, no matter who they were. I tried not to think about what that would be like if it were the people I’d started to care about, but I promised myself I would make that decision when the time eventually came.
I feel like I’m nowhere close to finding out what the truth is, but what kind of lawyer would I be if I ignored my gut?
