Page 75 of Sunset Beach
“I heard you did a ride-along with Zee yesterday,” Ben said. “How was it?”
“Interesting,” Drue said. “Once I got past him addressing me as ‘little girl’ and referring to himself as ‘Uncle Zee.’”
The waitress brought a bowl of chips and guacamole and their drinks, a craft beer for Ben and an iced tea for Drue.
“Yeah, Zee’s pretty old-school. But I bet it was cool as hell anyway.” He gulped his beer and scooped into the guac. “Where did you go?”
“You know that 7-Eleven slip-and-fall you guys told me was bogus? Well, somehow, the prospective client called back, and Jonah ended up referring the case to Brice, who kicked it over to Zee, who found a witness! It was this old lady who lives over in a pretty sketchy part of town. Long story short, Zee says he thinks Dad can get a fat settlement from the insurance company.”
“What was it like, riding shotgun with Jimmy Zee?”
“It was actually kind of amazing. I was scared, but once I got talking tothe witness, I just started asking questions and things fell together.” She dug in her purse and held up the can of Mace. “Zee gave me this. Did you know he carries a gun in a holster under his shirt?”
“So? His work takes him to some pretty sketchy places. Our clients don’t exactly all live in waterfront mansions like your dad’s.”
“I get that, but it kind of unnerved me.”
Drue gingerly returned the Mace to an inside pocket of her purse.
“There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”
Ben pointed his finger like a gun. “Shoot.”
“Funny. Only not.”
She leaned across the table, her voice lowered. “There’s something that’s been bothering me. About the Jazmin Mayes thing.”
He rolled his eyes. “Not that again.”
“No. Listen. There’s something there, I know there is. And I’m going to get to the bottom of it.”
“Oh shit, Drue. Do you realize how crazy all this sounds? I get that you feel sorry for the girl who was murdered, and her family. I get that you want some kind of justice, but you can’t just go around sticking your nose in an active police investigation. You’re not a cop. You’re not even an investigator. You’re like me. We’re cube rats. We answer the phone and try to get people to hire us to sue somebody. That’s it! We don’t go poking around the scene of a friggin’ murder!”
Drue’s shoulders sagged as she felt her mood deflate. “What if I could prove she wasn’t working?”
“Okay, don’t shoot the messenger, but didn’t the hotel video show Jazmin leaving a room like at one-thirty in the morning? And then entering the laundry room—where her body was found? Maybe she didn’t routinely work that shift. But that night, she did. She was working, Drue! There’s just no way to get around it.”
His freckled face showed a mixture of anger and indignation, and his chest rose and fell beneath the faded fabric of his Eagles “Hell Freezes Over” concert tour tee.
“No,” she said flatly. “Somebody’s lying.” She leaned across the table, bothhands clenched around her glass. “That’s what I really wanted to talk to you about. I’m starting to think that Yvonne Howington was right. Maybe there was a cover-up. Maybe somebody at the law firm is in cahoots with Gulf Vista and its insurance carrier.”
Ben removed his glasses, wiped them on the hem of his shirt and replaced them. “Jesus! Are you seriously accusing Brice Campbell, your own father, of taking a payoff?”
“Maybe…?” Her voice trailed off. “I don’t know what to think. That’s why I wanted to talk this out with you. You’ve worked for the firm for how long?”
“Two and a half years. But Brice is your father, for God’s sake. How can you believe he’s capable of something like that?”
“I don’t know what he is or isn’t capable of,” she said calmly. “In the past, certainly, he’s had the morals of an alley cat. He cheated on my mother, he cheated on Joan. It’s not that hard to believe he is also ethically challenged. And remember, he hasn’t been in my life, not like a real father, since I was fifteen years old. So I don’t exactly have him up on your typical father-daughter pedestal.”
“Wow.” Ben pushed his chair away from the table. “Talk about unresolved issues.”
“Yeah. But come on, I’m guessing you know him better than me. Do you think it’s even remotely possible that Brice, or somebody else, like maybe even Zee, could have taken a payoff here?”
“No,” he said flatly. “Why would they do that? That’s some crazy conspiracy theory shit. Your dad and Zee don’t need to take payoffs. They’re making huge bank as it is. Brice is probably going to ask for a six-figure settlement for this new slip-and-fall case. That’s one case out of how many active cases the firm has right now? Three dozen, four dozen? The firm is doing great. He doesn’t need to cheat to win.”
“Somebody is covering up something at that hotel,” Drue said. “Jazmin Mayes was beaten and strangled and her body was dumped in a pile of dirty sheets. I can’t get that image out of my mind. I saw the laundry room where she was killed, Ben. I’ve been to the grandmother’s house and I’ve met Jazmin’sdaughter. What happened to Jazmin isn’t right. And if I can do something to figure out who’s responsible for her death, I will.”
The waitress paused at their table. “Everything okay here? Anybody need another drink? Or dessert? We’ve got tres leches cake today.”
