/> He grinned. “Yep.”
“This is what Stuart Malloy sent to Zeke? This is the footage I’m going to lose my job over?”
“You’re not going to lose your job. Not if I have anything to say about it. And here’s the kicker. There is no Stuart Malloy.”
“What do you mean there’s no Stuart Malloy? Of course there is. He owns We Gotcha.”
“Stuart Malloy is really Vince Palermo. He hired a temporary crew to install defunct cameras around all the city buildings.”
“You mean all this time those cameras haven’t been filming anything? How on earth did he think he’d get away with that?”
“This is Whispering Bay, remember? The safest city in America? The cameras weren’t installed at banks or ATM machines. His contract was with the city. Who breaks into a municipal building? Or the police station? Nobody. There’s been no one looking for break-ins or any other crimes because there’s no film and We Gotcha has no employees. He took a chance that he’d never really have to produce any footage, and when he did, he dummied this up. It’s about fifteen minutes of film, probably taken a couple of nights ago, just repeating itself over and over.”
“But none of this makes sense. Vince is rich. Why would he do this?”
“Vince isn’t rich. He squandered Nora’s money a long time ago. They’re living on credit cards and luck. That’s why he was so desperate to get ahold of the land Earl left the city.”
“But he couldn’t have done this all alone. I mean, how on earth did the city give him a contract—” She jumped from the couch and began to pace. “Oh my God. He was in cahoots with Doug Wentworth. I knew it!” She pumped a fist in the air. “I knew Wentworth was shady!” She whipped around. “Didn’t I tell you?”
He leaned back on the couch and smiled. “Yep. You did.”
“So…what does this mean?’
“It means that Vince is currently behind bars on all kinds of charges, from defrauding the city of Whispering Bay to perjury. He admitted that Wentworth never went to see Earl about his will. That was all made up for the undue influence angle.”
“So Doug did lie in his deposition!”
Ben nodded.
“Which means that…”
“My case against the city is no good.” He shrugged. “With this new evidence, I expect that Pilar will withdraw her acceptance of Nora’s offer. Nora, by the way, claims to have no knowledge of her husband’s activities.”
“And you believe her?”
“She probably suspected that Wentworth was lying, but she didn’t know anything about their little company. You should have seen the shock on her face when Vince got arrested. At first he tried to run, but we caught him.”
“We? You were there?”
“Zeke Grant is an okay guy. He let me tag along. I was supposed to stay out of the way, but I got a little excited.”
“I don’t understand. I get that Doug and Vince were in on the scam against the city, but why did Doug claim that he’d tried to influence Earl? Why confess to something he didn’t do?”
“Why else? Money. Vince promised Wentworth a nice little chunk of change if he won his suit. He even bribed one of the guards to wipe the records clean so there was no evidence of him visiting Wentworth in jail. Vince couldn’t tell us enough. He’s anxious to cut a deal before Wentworth starts talking. He’s going to be arraigned on the new charges first thing this morning.”
“Wow. I mean, wow.” Jenna began to pace again. “This is crazy.” She stopped and looked at him. “But how does this all affect you? I mean are you still representing Nora? Or is she dropping her suit?”
“Nora is no longer my client. I’m leaving Martinez and Martinez. One of the other partners is going to pick up her case.” He paused. “Even though she probably can’t prove undue influence anymore, there’s still the nurse’s deposition, so she still has a decent shot of getting some of that land. This suit isn’t going to go away.”
He was leaving the law firm? “What are you going to do? Spend more time with your company?”
“Gavin is now the CEO of Roar. I’m going to be a full-time dad. That is, if Rachel will have me.”
“Oh, Ben…that’s awesome.”
“You think so?”
“Of course she’ll have you! She’s crazy about you. But what about your mom? I thought she was going to adopt Rachel.”