Least Wanted (Sam McRae Mystery 2)

“Sam McRae,” he said.

Jones’s cat eyes registered surprise. “You’ve met?”

“It’s been a while,” I said. But not nearly long enough. “I’m here to talk about Bradley Higgins.”

“I thought Walt Shapiro was his attorney.”

“I’m assisting Walt.”

“How nice for you. Did you make an appointment?”

“No, I was in the neighborhood—” Again, it was the truth.

“Sure you were. You have nerve, you know, coming in here and questioning a company employee without going through me.”

“I wasn’t aware I needed your permission.”

“Maybe you should reread the Code of Ethics. You can get in trouble for contacting clients who have legal counsel. Surely you know that.”

Bullshit. And who are you to be preaching about ethics?

“Now, Len, you know that rule applies only to cases in litigation,” I said, with syrupy politeness. “And, with all due respect, I had no idea Ms. Jones was authorized to speak for the company. That’s part of the rule, too, you know.”

Hirschbeck’s eyes narrowed.

“You didn’t know?” I gaped in mock surprise. “Maybe you should reread the Code of Ethics.”

“What the hell do you want?”

“I was just asking Ms. Jones about the security system in your offices. I’m wondering if you have security cameras set up. If so, they might reveal the person who placed the money in Brad’s file cabinet.”

“If we did, you can be sure we would have thought to check them by now.”

“So, yes or no. Do you have them?”

“No, we do not. No hidden cameras. No secret microphones.” He rolled his eyes.

“Then why did you decide to search his cubicle?”

“Our employees don’t have a complete expectation of privacy in their work areas. We can search them whenever we want, for whatever reason. You should know that.” Hirschbeck snarled. “This is a private business. When it comes to employee matters, we have a lot of latitude—including searching offices, desks, and what-have-you. And firing people.”

“Brad claims he actually raised concerns with his former boss about the phony vendor account. Do you have anything to prove otherwise?”

Jones started to open her mouth, but Hirschbeck cut in, like a trial lawyer registering an objection before the witness could answer. “We’ll have an independent auditor conduct a full investigation of this matter, but our decision to search Mr. Higgins’s cubicle was based on reasonable conclusions drawn from the evidence we had at the time.”

“What about his boss, Darrell Cooper? Why did you fire him?”

“Who says we did?”

“Well, he left rather quickly. Did you fire him?

“I’m not going to comment on that.”

“Did he leave on his own?”

“No comment. That has nothing to do with your client’s situation.”

“How do you know that? In fact, if Cooper was responsible for overseeing these accounts, why aren’t you investigating him, too?”