Incidental Contact (Those Devilish De Marco Men) by Eden Connor

something with her election theory. Something had shifted this man off his high horse. Had to be the threat of negative publicity.
    Still, it rankled to know he was expected to keep his damn mouth shut, but Lila and Cynda felt free to speak and Dan remained quiet.
    Lila took her hand off Eric’s fist. “I certainly want the chance to tell Cammie’s grandchildren her murderer was punished to the fullest extent of the law. It’s a disgrace the police haven’t offered us much time to track these records down, but I’m delighted to hear your office will rectify that oversight.” She shoved her chair back. Colton jumped up to help her to her feet. Her baby bump rose over the table. Eric noticed the Hammond guy staring. He almost wished the lawyer would try and touch her tummy, for the fun of seeing her fillet his hand.
    “Call my investigator with anything you find. Here’s his card. I’ll notify him to be expecting your call. Thank you all for coming.” The lawyer extended the card to Dan, who slid it into his shirt pocket.
    Filing out the door, Eric could tell from the expression on his oldest brother’s face, there weren't any records on those migrants. All they’d done was buy Carpenter more jail time to count toward his prison sentence.
    Illegal immigrants? Eric felt the acid slosh inside his stomach. The garage paid their employees a decent wage. Too late, he wondered if there’d been any law against working undocumented migrants in 1984. The lawyer followed them out of the conference room, but when Eric looked, he’d already disappeared.
    He had to stab the elevator button three times to make the soft orange light come on. Cynda took charge, plucking the card from Dan’s pocket and sliding it into her purse. “We’ll take the farm apart if we have to. Starting with the attic at the farmhouse. Can all y’all come Saturday? I’ll be tied up with Grams’ cataract surgery till then. No, make it Sunday. They say she’ll be fine in three days.” Glaring at the elevator indicator, she grumbled. “C’mon, c’mon. Grams’ appointment’s in less than two hours. Now that I have her talked into this, I want to get her butt there before she changes her mind.”
    In the back of his brain, Eric knew it was only a matter of time until he’d do something stupid. He pictured Amy’s face. Haven’t you already? He had no trouble imagining Lila’s cool tone when she found out Amy had moved in.
    He was helping Amy, not hurting her. Their deal benefitted them both. He’d make sure of that. So why not tell them, while we’re all together?
    He kept his trap shut because Amy belonged to the world Lila refused to let go of. Despite her lack of perfume and make-up, the short brunette reeked of middle-class respectability, while he smelled of grease. He didn’t need any sharp words from Lila to drive that point home.
    Mr. Hammond’s condescending tone had done that well enough.

Chapter Eight
    A my filed out of the classroom beside one of the few guys in the class. “How’d your mock interview with Dr. Reston go?”
    “I hope that bitch suffers in Hell,” he muttered, glancing back to be sure their professor wasn’t in earshot. “She threatened to run my resume through her shredder. I have to redo that. Marked fifteen points off my interview score because I didn’t get a haircut, and three more because she thought my damn tie was ‘too bright’. Another five because my pants were wrinkled.” He gave Amy a plaintive look. “Of course they were wrinkled. I had to sit down to fucking drive here for the interview.”
    Clutching her books, Amy felt her heart drop. Her mock interview was scheduled for next Wednesday.
    “Seriously, she’ll pick anything apart. I felt about three years old when I walked out of her office,” the guy stated.
    “That sucks,” Amy sympathized. She and her classmate parted outside on the walkway. “Fine,” she grumbled at the sky, hiking across campus to her car. “I’ll go buy