As Weston listened with half an ear, he heard her acknowledge they had, indeed, done wills for Grant and Ginger. He nodded and said, “I’ll come around this afternoon, and I’d like to show you some photos of the offices. I wonder if you’d feel up to helping us determine if anything is missing.”
At that, Weston turned and asked, “Can she just come down here?”
The detective frowned. “Actually, would you mind running down here and taking a look? There are files everywhere.” When he hung up the phone, he glared at Weston.
Weston held up his hands. “I know. I know. This is your case, not mine.”
“Exactly,” he said, “but it’s a good idea to have her come and take a look. She should at least be able to say which ones were their current cases.”
“And, if the office did handle Ginger and Grant’s estate, in theory, this is now a connection to that case as well.”
“He was a lawyer, and not too many were in this part of town,” the detective said. “There could be a lot of different reasons for that connection.”
“Possibly,” Weston said cheerfully, “but it’s better to have too much information than not enough.”
“So says you,” the detective said. “It’s a fine line. Sometimes too much information clouds everything.”
Weston had to agree.
Just then came a knock on the door, and it was pushed open, as a middle-aged woman stepped inside. “I’m Roseanne,” she said. “The legal assistant.” She stopped, took one look and gasped. “Oh my,” she said, “all these files.” She bent down to straighten them up and then stopped and looked at the detective. “May I?”
He shook his head. “Not yet. We’ll have the forensic techs come back and take another look at this.”
She frowned, noting some of the names and the open drawers.
Weston stepped forward and asked, “Did you utilize the files in this cabinet much?”
“No,” she said. “Actually, we’ve been going digital, and we rarely used the paper files. Besides, that cabinet is old past clients.”
“How old?”
“Well, last year anyway,” she said. “Once we’ve crossed over a year, we digitized any completed cases and got rid of the paper copies.”
“So, these are all files from the last year that you haven’t had a chance to digitize yet?”
“Yes,” she said, “that’s it exactly.”
Chapter 15
Daniela found it hard to settle after Weston left. Her mind was a little more than upset with everything going on, but this was more about what was upset inside herself. She was absolutely delighted to get confirmation that Sari was Weston’s. That was good news. She wished to God that Angel wasn’t the mother, but no amount of wishing would change that. And it wouldn’t give Daniela her daughter either.
She was a mother in all but blood, but, for her, that was enough because she knew getting pregnant wasn’t an option either. That was also why she was terrified of losing Sari.
Daniela decided she needed to spend some time out and about, instead of sitting at home, moping. She finished up a bit of work she had to do and then dressed Sari and took her to a popular play center. There they spent an hour and a half, toddling around with a couple other mothers. It was an enjoyable break from the norm of her crazy world and allowed her to step back from the heavy emotions. When she got a text from Weston, asking where she was, she called him instead.
“Hey,” she said, “I’m at a play center with Sari. She’s with two other little girls right now.”
“Oh, great idea,” he said. “Does she get along with other kids?”
He clearly asked the question out of a natural curiosity, so she didn’t take offense. He hadn’t been around little kids enough to know.
“She gets along famously with them.” Looking at the other mothers, who were currently laughing and joking, she asked, “What are you up to?”
“Well, the lawyer’s office was broken into,” he said, “so we’re here with the legal assistant, going over some of the cases, looking for something that may have triggered this kind of destruction.”
“Good Lord,” she said. “Is that the world you live in?”
“Very often, yes,” he said. “I was just wondering if you wanted to go out for lunch.”
“That would be lovely. I gather you haven’t eaten?”
“No,” he said. “I figured I might be too late, since it’s past noon, but I thought I’d check.”
“It’s not too late,” she said. “I’d love to. Where do you want to meet?” He mentioned a popular restaurant close by. “Perfect. Is fifteen minutes okay?”
“That works for me,” he said cheerfully. After they hung up, she picked up Sari and said goodbye to the other moms.
Outside, Sari started talking. “Doggy, doggy.”
“Yes,” Daniela said. “We’ll go see doggy.” Then she frowned because, of course, Shambhala wouldn’t be allowed in the restaurant. She wondered if Weston had even considered that. It was one thing to be a single guy and all of a sudden have a dog, but to have a dog, a daughter and the daughter’s mother around would require some major adjustments, and she wondered if he was prepared.
But it was his problem, and one thing she did understand was that he was good at solving problems.
As they headed toward the restaurant, she pulled up to the side of his rental truck to see Shambhala barking at them through the window. She held up Sari, who put her face and her palms against the glass, chattering away at Shambhala, who was wagging her tail frantically on the other side.
At that moment Weston stepped into sight. “I hope she’ll be okay for an hour, but you’re not making it easy on us.”
Daniela rolled her eyes at him. “I couldn’t get Sari past her. You know that.”
“Good point,” he said. He reached out his hands, and Sari surprised them both by reaching her arms
