He pushed off the door and made his way over to Rennie, who was sitting down at one of the tables, with her feet up. Rennie was crazy to work in heels, but Graham expected nothing less from her.
Graham sat down next to Rennie. “Tell me everything you know,” he said as she handed him her phone. The print was tiny and hard to read with the dim lighting in the bar.
“Right before Thanksgiving we had a quarterly meeting, and one of the senior partners, Donna Pere, said she had a friend of a friend whose daughter was in an accident and is now paralyzed. She went on to say the family wants to sue the bartender for negligence. I asked why her friends let her drive in the first place, and Donna called it a ‘joyride turned wrong’ or something to that effect. No one really said much because people wanted to leave for Thanksgiving.
“At our staff meeting last week, I mention my new case and how I may need some help because it’s criminal but that my clients are family friends. The owner, he’s kind of on my ass about it being pro bono, which is stupid because everyone takes pro bono cases every now and again, and from what I can tell, Grady’s case is easy as long as he cooperates. But Donna, she tells me Lex—the owner—wants her to dig around a little because he’s not happy with the freebie.
“Fast-forward to yesterday. When I get back from Port A, Donna comes to my office and asks where I’ve been, which I don’t get because I’m a junior partner—I can come and go as I please. Anyway, she asks about the criminal case, and I finally tell her who it’s for, and it’s like this light bulb moment for her, and she tells me I have to drop the case because her client is suing you for serving alcohol to a minor. We argue back and forth for a minute until she gets this look on her face and tells me to drop the case or else, pretty much, and that she plans to use the information I told the team about Grady against you.”
“Can she?”
“I don’t think so, but I’m not a criminal lawyer, so I’m not exactly sure. I had Ester pull the client file, which is what you see on my phone.”
Graham glanced at Rennie’s phone in his hand. “Why didn’t you call me last night when she told you?”
“I know I should’ve, but yesterday was a good day for you and your family. I didn’t want to ruin it. I didn’t even go in to work today—sent an email that I was on vacation until after the first of the year and went shopping.”
“So now what?” Graham asked.
Rennie sighed and looked at her friend. He could feel the pity rolling off her in waves and hated it. “Now, we wait for someone to serve you papers. It could be the sheriff or a process server, and then we fight. I’ll ask Jefferson to take your case, but I’m not sure if he’s willing to go against Lex.”
“But you are?”
She nodded. “I am, but I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Graham was worried. He didn’t want to lose the bar—or worse, end up in jail or with a debt he couldn’t pay. He looked at the document on her phone again and noticed the date. It stood out, but for the life of him he couldn’t remember why. Graham fished his phone out of his pocket and scrolled through his calendar.
“Ren, I don’t know if this means anything, but the night of the accident—it’s the day after someone broke into the bar.”
“Did you report the break-in?”
He shook his head. “I figured it was Grady, and if I was right, my dad would’ve flipped. I had Bowie put in a new door and stuff but left it alone.”
Rennie’s hands covered her mouth, and her eyes darted around. Graham waited for her to tell him what she was thinking and wondered if they were on the same path. There had to be a connection. What if Grady was the one distributing the alcohol? If he was, how much more trouble would he be in?
“What are you thinking?” Graham asked Rennie.
“I think I’m going to place a call to my private detective, see what he can dig up on this girl.”
“I can’t afford that, Ren.”
“Don’t worry about it; we’ll figure something out. In the meantime, I’m heading up to the inn to start my vacation.”
Graham liked the idea that Rennie would be in town for a bit but quickly remembered she had plans after the holiday with her boyfriend, which meant he would be around as well. He pushed those thoughts aside because despite everything, he was going to put himself out there and find someone to spend time with. No more dwelling.