Lynnette was still fuming about it when the women met up at their agreed upon regrouping destination of the crumbling parking lot behind the old, abandoned theater. She hopped out of her truck, slammed the door harder than necessary, and let the tailgate fall just hard enough to shake the whole truck bed. Which she really shouldn’t do, and she knew it.
Jenna shuffled up looking more like a dejected puppy. Tears dotted her lashes, assuring she’d cried at least part of the short drive over, and she didn’t say a word before hoisting herself up to sit beside Lynnette on the tailgate. “Drew Parker is a dickwad.”
Lynnette scoffed. “He’s way worse than that, but that’s a start.” She raised a leg to rest the heel of her boot on the tailgate and propped her elbow on her knee. “We need to find some other way to get that girl’s information out there. Whatever the hell is wrong with them, this is not okay.”
Jenna slumped to the side. “I have no idea how,” she admitted. “We can’t prove all these disappearances are connected, so we can’t get the FBI involved.” She looked toward Lynnette. “Does the hospital have some kind reporting influence?”
Lynnette frowned. “In a manner of speaking,” she said carefully, “but we’re in a different jurisdiction. I work in Klamath County, remember? My connections there can’t do more than give advice.”
“What about that lawyer you mentioned? Was that just a bluff?”
Lynnette sucked in a breath.Lilia!She’d let herself get so upset, she’d already forgotten her flash of brilliance. “Hell no, that wasn’t a bluff. You’re okay with me calling her?”
“I don’t see what other choice we have,” Jenna replied. Worry creased her brow. “Jon is sure she’s been taken, the same as those other women we’ve heard about lately. Her mother’s even accepted that this isn’t like any of the times she’s ever gotten upset and ghosted them before, which she hasn’t done in years. Steph’s been nothing but responsible and reliable since I’ve known her.” Her voice grew strained. “And our law enforcement won’t evenlistento the report, much less write it down.”
“Hey, I hear you,” Lynnette said, laying a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “I don’t know what Lilia can do about a report, butshe’s got to have better resources than we do.” She gave Jenna’s shoulder a squeeze. “I’ll call her right now.”
As Lynnette hopped to her feet, too wound up to sit still, Jenna asked, “How much … do you think she’ll charge? I don’t think Martha has much, and I … well, I wasn’t exactly flushbeforemy business got shot up and shut down.”
Lynnette offered the best sympathetic look she could. “I wasn’t kidding when I said Lilia loves me, and that she’s thirsty. I’ll talk her down as best I can and we’ll make sure we all agree before moving forward, okay?”
Emotions clashed in Jenna’s eyes for a second, but Jenna bobbed her head. She was an open-hearted person, but not so much that her brain turned all the way off on the important stuff. Lynnette was well aware that her friend had been through her share of shit and been forced to learn how to draw the hard lines. Acknowledging that there even might be a financial limit to their help was a line Jenna would struggle to forgive herself for, Lynnette was sure.
She only hoped Lilia came through.
Lilia answered on the third ring, and was audibly surprised to hear Lynnette was calling with the hopes of hiring her. “Tell me everything,” she said.
Lynnette paced back toward Jenna and the truck and put her phone on speaker. She didn’t know ‘everything,’ so to accomplish that request, Jenna had to pitch in. “Lilia, this is Jenna, she’s going to help me explain because she’s deeper in this bullcrap than I am. Jen’s one of my best friends, if you could keep those lawyer claws to a minimum.”
Lilia chuckled. “I only scratch my clients when they give me a hard time. And right now, we’re only chatting.”
Jenna leaned forward as if it would help her be heard and carefully walked Lilia—and indirectly Lynnette—through the details. Because it was necessary and not so disputably relevant,she started with the botched burglary and the arrival of two Marine Corps veterans at her bakery on Monday. The deputies who badgered her after taking too long to show up, instead of cuffing and stuffing the crooks the Marines had caught. And the shoot-out that had followed, leaving the thieves dead, her store in shambles, and one Marine in the hospital.
Lynnette volunteered confirmation of that and boldly declared she was pretty sure she could get him to provide a statement, too, if it was needed. It was mild consolation that only Jenna could see the flush burning her face as she said the words.
Thankfully, Jenna carried the story forward and explained how that tied in with the missing girl—her nineteen-year-old employee, Steph, who hadn’t been seen since Monday night. And how the Leeland County Sheriff’s Office had refused, multiple times to multiple sources, to take a report. Which wound them around to their recent trip to the department itself, and Deputy Parker’s threat of arrest.
When Jenna was done, Lynnette said, “I managed not to throat punch the asshole, but if he so much as reaches for a pair of handcuffs in my presence I will personally assure he never has children. And we all know that’d be doing the world a favor.”
Jenna had her lips pinched tight, laughter dancing in her eyes.
On the line, Lilia blew out an aggravated breath. “Professionally, I never heard that. As your friend, more power to you. From that story the entire building could use a damn cleansing. And I’m atheist.”
Lynnette tipped her head. “I feel like that says it all.”
Jenna opened her mouth. “So, um … we would love help, if it’s even something you can offer, but … could we talk quotes or prices or something first? I don’t personally know Martha’s budget, but I’ve enough from Steph to have a sense of the family’s finances and I’m worried we’ve already used more of your time than they can afford.”
“No, we cannot talk quotes or prices,” Lilia replied without missing a beat. “I’ve been telling Lynnette for years that if she needs a good Civil Rights lawyer, to come to me.”
“Yeah,” Lynnette said, “that’s not the same thing. I called. And I was definitely going to try to schmooze a deal out of you. Why won’t you let me?”
Lilia scoffed. “You want better than pro bono?”
Lynnette blinked.
Jenna gasped and ripped her gaze up to Lynnette. The disbelief was probably only marginally more obvious than her own.
Lynnette cleared her throat and swiftly took the call off speaker so she could spin away to resume pacing. It was a nervous tick of hers. “Okay, no, that would obviously be amazing and I don’t want to screw over the family or the girl who needs the help, but are youserious? Can you do that? Don’t you have bosses?”
