The Hero Next Time: A Novel of the Terribly Acronymed Detective Club (Book 4)

Chapter Fifty-Two: Lauren, Sunday

Lauren could not have been any more surprised to see Gary Somers poking his head into the curtained room. He was the most enigmatic and reclusive of the three partners who owned Justiciar Security and Investigative Services, and considered himself retired from doing any investigative or administrative work. He rarely came out for any social functions the firm held. He hadn't shown up for the Jack and Jill party Rachel had held for Meghan and Tom a couple of years ago, the one that had ended with Lauren in Al's lap and Joe and Rachel missing for a couple of days. He had contributed generously to purchase food and drink for the party, though, so he wasn't necessarily a bad boss, just not one for social interaction. That was why she was so surprised to see him tonight.

"Gary, hello!" she said. "What are you doing here?"

"Rachel called Sanderson, and he called me, and I knew I had to come see you." He was probably in his Sixties, so certainly eligible for retirement, but his mind was still very sharp, and he often made a good sounding board for investigative strategy. He left the actual work to the other two partners, though, and took less of the profit as recompense. He was still a well-built man, a former Vancouver policeman who was a sort of celebrity on the Downtown Eastside in his day, and his grey hair was buzzcut in a military style, but he always dressed formally, as if he were always about to go out on the town. Even in a hospital he was in a dark blue suit with a canary yellow tie. Very swank. Lauren felt self-conscious lying there in her hospital gown, her neck in a brace, one arm in a sling and her leg in a cast.

"I feel like I interrupted your dinner at a five star restaurant," she said.

"Nonsense," he said, chuckling. "My partner is in the hospital. I had to make sure she was all right."

"Well, I hope Rachel told you I won't be able to go out in the field for a while."

"We'll adjust the rota, don't you worry about anything other than getting better."

"Sanderson's going to need help with the administrative side," she said. "He's the greenest of us."

"I will do my part, don't worry. I'd like to ask, though, would Rachel be too overburdened with her forensic accounting to do some basic time entry and payroll?"

Lauren thought about what Rachel had on her desk at the moment (she was her direct supervisor) and said, "I don't think it will be a problem for her to take that on. What about the accounting service we use?"

"I'm afraid we may have to cut back on the amount we use them. Cutting some corners."

Lauren blinked in surprise. "What? Why?"

Somers sighed and said, "You know Ralph Rose's widow sued the firm for wrongful death."

"Yes, and it's bullshit." Someone had put the idea in Liz Rose's head that it was the firm's fault that Ralph had taken his own life, with his own gun, behind Lauren's desk while he'd had Lauren, Rachel and Al held at the point of that gun. Lauren wouldn't have been surprised if that someone had been Carrie MacDougall; the woman had had it out for Lauren and the firm ever since she'd helped bust her rapist husband and caused her to lose most of her divorce payout in lawsuits brought forward by his victims. She'd already tried to get back at Lauren by blackmailing Ralph into drugging Lauren and Al and posing them for a damaging picture that was supposed to end their marriages. When that plan had failed, and Ralph had felt the law catching up to him, he'd taken the easy way out and made Liz a widow. It wouldn't have been a stretch for Carrie to have given Liz a call and suggested she make the firm pay for her pain and suffering; it would have just been one more way for her to get her revenge.

"Well, the insurance company just settled that bullshit case because it would have cost more to litigate it, so now we'll be on the hook for higher premiums. They delayed for as long as they could, but they finally decided to pay out."