Advice of Counsel (The Samuel Collins Series Book 1) by Debra Trueman Page A

by Reeds.  No charges are expected to be filed
against Krally, who was unavailable for comment.
    I sat back and
breathed a huge sigh of relief.  I figured if Landra could make it past the day
of the funeral without much publicity, the story would die down quickly.
    “Boo.”  She
said it in a normal tone of voice but it still made me jump.
    “Damn it,
Landra,” I said irritably.  “That’s two mornings in a row you’ve done that!”
    “I know,” she
said smiling.  She fished around in Mrs. Howard’s basket and came out with a
cherry bran muffin and took a bite.  “I can’t believe I’ve been cooped up with
you for two days now and I’m not sick of you yet.”  She came over and sat down
on my lap and fed me the other half of her muffin.  “Good morning, Sam.”
    “Good morning,
Landra,” I said with my mouth full.
    We spent most
of the day together, avoiding the topic of Drake Reeds.  As far as I was
concerned, we’d exhausted the subject the previous day and I wanted to
concentrate on more positive things.  So we laid low and just hung out together
and by the end of the weekend, Landra was in a much better frame of mind.  If
only every day could be so nice.

Chapter 5
    By the time Monday morning rolled around I hadn’t accomplished
anything I’d intended to do over the weekend.  Landra was a bad influence.  I
hadn’t even opened a file since Saturday night and then it was a useless
effort.  That translated into a lot of work I had to cram into Monday morning,
which was something I always hated doing.
    Maddie called as soon as I got to the office, wanting to know
what to tell Datacare about why she was quitting.  We had only talked for a few
minutes when she said she’d have to call me right back, so when the phone rang
again within minutes, I picked it up before Penny could get to it.
    “Hey asshole,” the caller said.
    My chest constricted and it took a second for me to respond. 
“Niki.”
    “Did you get my message?”
    “Yeah,” I said, dreading what was coming.  “What’d you come up
with?”
    “On the Datacare investigation, I had a guy go in with the
janitorial service and there’s definitely something going on there.  He found
surveillance equipment in a manager’s office.”
    My interest was piqued.  “What kind of surveillance equipment?”
    “Cheap stuff.  Nothing that a professional security company
would be using.  And  Datacare doesn’t engage in surveillance against its
employees.  The only security cameras they have at the place are at the
entrances to the building.”
    I knew how Niki operated and he always saved the best for last,
so I knew there was more coming.  “What’d you find, Lautrec?” I said
impatiently, and Niki laughed.
    “Your client’s office has a camera in it.”
    I’d been leaning back in my chair and I almost fell over
backwards when he said it.  “Did you find any tapes?”
    “No.  But I’ll tell you what I want to do.  By the way, did I
tell you I’m marrying a girl from San Antonio?”
    I’d met Niki when I was in school at Tulane.  He’d grown up in
New Orleans and his family still lived there.
    “You’re getting married?” I asked, in disbelief.  “Anyone I
know?”
    “Maybe.  Her name’s Stacy Trent.”
    “I do know Stacy. I picked her up just last week in a sleazy
strip club.  The girl was all over me.”
    “Fuck you,” he laughed.
    “When’s the wedding?”
    “In May.  But I’m going to be in San Antonio for a while
starting Wednesday.”
    I knew he was telling me this for a reason and I was holding my
breath waiting to find out why.
    “Why don’t we go check out Datacare for ourselves some night
this week?”
    There it was .  I didn’t like to hang out with Niki
because he lived on the edge.  He liked to do dangerous shit and although we
had never been caught doing anything illegal, we’d come damn close on more than
one occasion.  Breaking into and snooping around an office complex