I wasn’t dropping the ball.
After dessert I made a pot of coffee then sat down at my laptop to do some sleuthing. Whoever the shady LLC was that had bought the building had done a good job of covering their tracks. There were LLCs owning LLCs owning corporations, and each one was under a registered agent.
I finally tracked down what appeared to be the original owner of the chain of LLCs—another LLC registered in Albany.
Then I dug up the information on the now-dissolved law firm that had originally filed the paperwork for the business. Bleary-eyed, I read through the firm information. It was owned by none other than Marius, the lawyer from Richmond Electric.
“Minnie’s tits,” I said, sitting back on my fuzzy pink chair.
“I heard that, Lexi,” my mother yelled from the kitchen, where she was clanging pans around.
“Sorry, Mom,” I called.
I checked the time. It was seven thirty a.m. Richmond Electric started early.
“This is Lexi Collins,” I said to the receptionist when she answered. “I need to—”
“I’m forwarding your call to the legal department, Ms. Collins,” the receptionist said abruptly.
Hold music blared through the receiver, then Marius was on the phone.
“Hi, Marius, it’s Lexi. Look, I know—”
“Ms. Collins,” he said, cutting me off, “we need to speak with you and your lawyer in person. We cannot have this conversation over the phone.”
“But I need to talk to Grays—”
“If you need a recommendation of law firms, please refer to the New York State Bar Association website. Good day.”
Dumbfounded, I went out into the kitchen to help my mom with breakfast.
She tsked and combed my hair with her fingers.
“Did you sleep at all last night?”
“I think Grayson bought McKenna’s apartment building,” I said to her.
“Why?” She grabbed her spatula and flipped pancakes.
“I don’t know. He hates me, doesn’t he?”
66
GRAYSON
“What did she say when she called?” I asked Marius, trying to keep my cool.
“She wanted to talk to you.”
“Why didn’t you put the call through?” I tried not to sound angry.
“Because the last time it went so well.”
I resisted the urge to pick up my mug and throw it through the glass wall.
“Look,” Marius said, sitting down in front of me. “This is a delicate operation, these settlements. Everything needs to be aboveboard, or a judge could reopen the case. Lexi needs to have a lawyer; she can’t just call up and hash out a payment over the phone. And you can’t come anywhere near this meeting.”
I nodded miserably.
