Irrefutable Evidence (5 page)

CHAPTER TEN

Laura blinked down at the papers in her hand as if doing so might change the words. No dice. The document still read
“
Notice of Deposition of Corporate Designee Pursuant to Rule 30(b)(6).
”
She skimmed the text, but her mind was racing and her heart was pounding and the words weren
’
t making sense.

“
You okay, Yim? You look like you
’
ve seen a ghost.
”

She glanced up, startled. Jim was staring at her with something approximating genuine concern. It must have been the combination of his unexpected kindness and her rattled mental state, but before she could stop herself, she was thrusting the deposition notice at him.

“
Look at this. Some lawyer just emailed this to me. No explanatory email, nothing. Just a two line message:
‘
please handle.
’
Am I
…
am I being sued?
”
she managed to force the question out despite the fact that she could barely breathe.

Jim scanned the document for a moment. He handed it back to her and shook his head.

“
Nah, this is no big deal. The company
’
s been sued, not you. Was the lawyer
’
s name Chadwick?
”

She exhaled.
“
As a matter of fact it was.
”

Jim nodded.
“
Yeah, Chadwick defends us on coverage claims. He
’
s a pro.
”

“
Okay, thanks. I was pretty confused. I
’
ve never gotten one of these before.
”

“
Really? He must
’
ve assumed it wasn
’
t your first time at the rodeo. When you meet with him, he
’
ll explain it to you.
”

“
Oh, good.
”

“
Well don
’
t get too happy. You still have to sit through a deposition. And that
’
s no day in the park, let me tell you. It sucks hard.
”

“
Oh?
”

“
Yeah. Freaking lawyers and their freaking questions.
‘
On what documents did you base your decision, Mr. Moraine?
’ ‘
To whom did you speak about this claim, Mr. Moraine?
’’ ‘
Did you take any contemporaneous notes during that conversation, Mr. Moraine?
’”
He made his voice high-pitched and whiny as he imitated whatever attorney had busted his chops.

She curled her lip. The process sounded painful.

“
Maybe I can get out of it?
”

“
Oh, good one, Yim. Who you think
’
s gonna get you out of it? Your pal Markham, the high and mighty department supervisor? Think again. He
’
s the one who gave them your name in the first place.
”

“
He gave them my name?
”

“
Yeah, the way this works is the insured hires a lawyer. The lawyer probably called and tried to convince you to review the claim, right?
”

“
Right.
”
The McCandless lady had hounded her about the denial for days. Then she fell silent. Laura had thought she
’
d given up and gone away, but apparently she
’
d just been busy drafting this notice thingy.

“
Yeah, well, after you told him to go pound rocks, he filed
—”

“
She. The lawyer
’
s a she.
”

“
Even better. I
’
m sure she
’
s a real sweetheart.
She
filed a complaint and then, real quick, served discovery. The lawyers would have fought it the first time around, but the insured usually move to compel, crying that we acted in bad faith. If that
’
s what happened, Markham
’
s probably pissed at you anyway,
‘
cause he has to respond to all that crap. One of the questions the lawyer would have asked is what
’
s the name of the person who knows the most about this case? Markham gave you up, doll. So you
’
re gonna have to suck it up and be deposed. What kind of claim?
”

“
Fire.
”

He shook his head like he was disappointed in her.
“
Told you. Don
’
t deny fire claims, Yim. That
’
s a sucker move. Hope you
’
ve got a good suspicious origins report from the fire inspector to hang your hat on.
”

“
Not exactly,
”
she muttered under her breath. It wasn
’
t so much the presence of any physical evidence that had led her to deny the claim as a general feeling that something was wrong. The unexplained fire just happened to break out in space leased by a woefully undercapitalized small business whose rent had just been jacked up by thirty percent. It felt
…
desperate. But she didn
’
t want to try to defend that in a deposition.

“
What
’
s that?
”

“
I said,
‘
thanks for your help.
’
I need to get back to work.
”

She turned to walk away, but Jim caught her elbow.
“
I
’
m serious about the fire claims, Yim. Not to be corny about it, but you
’
re playing with fire to deny them. Think about it, huh?
”

She shook his arm off and gave him a frosty smile.

“
Thanks for the advice, Jim.
”

She headed back to her cubicle and tried to ignore the worry that had lodged itself in her stomach like a brick.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Will and Naya stared at her with twin blank expressions.

“
You see it, right?
”
Sasha pressed them, stifling a yawn.

Naya narrowed her eyes.
“
Are you wearing the same dress you had on yesterday?
”

She waved away the question. She was, as a matter of fact, but that was hardly relevant. Just as soon as her law partner and legal assistant confirmed that they saw the pattern, she planned to go home and take a shower and change. Maybe even grab a nap.

“
Did you spend the night here?
”
Will asked.

She huffed.
“
Yes. Okay? I was here all night, and, no, I haven
’
t changed my clothes. And I could probably stand to brush my teeth. Can we focus, please? Look at the chart.
”
She pointed toward the graphical representation of the claims approvals, which she
’
d enlarged to display on the conference room
’
s Smartboard.

Will and Naya exchanged a look but turned their attention to the chart. She watched their expressions. Naya
’
s face tightened and she started to shake her head in a vigorous
no
gesture. Will wrinkled his forehead in confusion. Neither of them spoke for several moments.

Then Will pinched the bridge of his nose just above his glasses as if he were trying to stave off a headache.
“
Well.
”

She waited.

He sighed heavily and continued,
“
Well, either you screwed up your data entry or it
’
s beyond peradventure.
”

“
I didn
’
t screw up,
”
Sasha assured him.

“
So, let me guess, you
’
re gonna tell me we have a duty to pursue this, right?
”
Naya asked in a weary tone.

“
I don
’
t know.
”
Sasha rubbed her dry eyes with the backs of her fingers.
“
The existence of the conspiracy to commit insurance fraud by granting claims doesn
’
t effect the Maravaches
’
coverage case about their denial
—
at least not in any way that I can see. Do you two agree with that?
”

They both nodded slowly. She forged ahead.

“
So, exposing the fraud wouldn
’
t
hurt
their claims. It may not help, but it shouldn
’
t inure to their detriment. And covering up the fraud makes me complicit. Do I have to take this to the Department of Justice?
”
Will was the white-collar criminal defense attorney, so she directed the question to him.

“
I
’
m not so sure about that,
”
he said.

“
Really?
”
she brightened. The dread that had been fluttering around in her stomach like a manic butterfly ever since she
’
d dusted off her copy of the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct vanished.

Will spoke in that methodical way he had.
“
If I were representing you, I
’
d say you
suspect
there may be criminal conduct occurring at the insurance company. You don
’
t
know.
Knowledge is a pretty high bar. You don
’
t have to save the world, you know. Just represent your client.
”

It made sense. And Will wasn
’
t the sort to try to convince himself something was right just because he thought it was expedient. If he thought she was safe to let it go, she was.
“
Okay. Great. In that case, I
’
m going home to freshen up.
”

“
If, however,
”
he continued,
“
the corporate designee says something at the deposition that confirms your suspicion, then you probably ought to alert the authorities.
”

Naya gave her a look that said
‘
I knew it was too good to be true.
’

Sasha just shrugged.
“
As my nana used to say, we
’
ll jump off that bridge when we come to it.
”
She scooped up her phone and purse and headed for the exit.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“
Are
you sure?
”
Connelly repeated.

Sasha turned off the hairdryer and regarded her husband. She understood: he
wanted
Will to be right. But he was afraid Will was wrong. And more than that, he was afraid she was going to get mixed up in something that didn
’
t involve them.

“
Yes.
”

A long silence passed. She watched him in the bathroom mirror. Just when she was about to return to drying her hair, he spoke again.

“
I think we should call Justice.
”

Justice, as in Main Justice
—
the headquarters of the United States Department of Justice, a teaming hive of federal agencies whose diverse worker bees were toiling away under different umbrellas, task forces, and mandates, all competing for glory, advancement, and, most of all, budget dollars.

She rested the hair dryer on the counter and turned to face him.

“
No.
”

“
No?
”

“
No. No offense, G-man, but the last several times
—
strike that,
every
time
—
I
’
ve turned to your pals in DC for help, it
’
s turned out poorly.
”

He nodded grudgingly.
“
Understatement of the year right there.
”

“
Right. I know you and Hank have all sorts of shady, secret connections. And if it turns out we need them, then we
’
ll reach out to them. But for now, I trust Will
’
s judgment. And if it turns out I do need to do something, I want to handle it locally.
”

“
Pittsburgh Police?
”

“
No. The current head of the Pittsburgh Organized Crime Task Force is Charlotte Cashion.
”

“
You know this person?
”

She did, in fact. She and Charlotte had served as editors on law review a lifetime ago. Sasha would never call Charlotte a friend
—
as it turned out, a society debutante/Daughter of the American Revolution and a working-class kid/daughter of a Russian stay-at-home mom and an Irish Giant Eagle warehouse driver didn
’
t have much in common. But they both loved the law
—
more than that, they both
respected
the law. She was confident she could trust Charlotte.

“
We went to law school together.
”

“
You
’
re just going to walk in and lay out an arson-for-profit ring for her and tell her you assume there
’
s an organized crime connection?
”

“
No, I
’
m not going to do anything except take the deposition. But if I do have to do something, I don
’
t want to involve DC.
”

He twisted his mouth into a disapproving knot.
“
Who
are you deposing again
?
”

“
Laura Yim, the adjuster who denied the Maravaches
’
claim.
”

“
You think she has a logical explanation for the data?
”

She shrugged.
“
I hope she does. I
’
ll know after I depose her.
”
She smiled up at him.

His tense face relaxed and he smiled back. Then he leaned over and planted a soft kiss just above her ear.

“
Handle this however you think is best. But
—”

“
I know. No danger. No intrigue.
”

“
Exactly. This potential crime ring is somebody
’
s problem, but it
’
s not ours. Got it?
”

She tilted her face up for another kiss.
“
Oh, trust me, I
’
ve got it. We have a tropical beach waiting for us. Nothing
’
s getting in the way of that.
”

He smiled down at her then glanced meaningfully toward their adjacent bedroom.
“
When are Will and Naya expecting you back at the office?
”

“
I
’m a firm partner, Connelly. I’
ll get back when I get back.
”

“
Oh really?
”

She shrugged out of her terrycloth bathrobe.
“
Really.
”