Culpability

Chapter Thirteen

Rebecca looked out her office and saw Charles standing near Donna's empty desk. After a moment he turned around and came to stand in her doorway.

"Hey!" She greeted with a smile.

"Hey. Do you know where Donna is?"

"Oh yeah." She nodded. "She should be back in a moment. She was hoping to get something copied before you got here to take her to lunch."

"That's ok. I got here a few minutes early." He nodded. "I actually need to talk to you for a moment anyway—if you have the time."

"Of course. Come in." She motioned for him to sit down and became slightly worried when he closed the door behind him. "What's up?"

"The strangest thing happened."

He looked nervous, which was unlike him. Usually he was calm and collected. "Is something wrong?"

"I honestly don't know." He sighed. "Last Friday, I went to lunch with an old buddy of mine who has been working at the Department of Justice. We got talking about things and I found out something I think you need to know. Remember when I was asking around to see if any government agencies were watching you because of the guys who were hanging around outside?"

"Yes." She nodded. Thankfully Harvey was able to pay off the bookie so nothing really bad happened.

"He remembered me asking about that and brought up something you need to know."

"Ok." She shifted nervously in her chair. "What's going on? You're starting to worry me."

"Did you recently take on a new client?"

"Yes." She nodded. "Gold Star Financial."

"Well apparently they are under investigation through the DOJ." He explained.

"For what?" She groaned.

"That I don't know. I'm sorry but he wasn't able to tell me any significant details." He apologized. "I just got the impression that they are bad news and whatever is going on with them is serious. Now that you are their lawyer, the DOJ has you in their sights as well. They are looking into you."

"Me?" She laughed nervously. "But I haven't done anything wrong."

"I'm sure it is just because they are keeping tabs on all of Gold Star's associations and you have nothing to be worried about." He assured her.

"I should have followed my gut and not taken them on as a client." She sighed.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you about this, but I figured you deserved to have a heads up about it."

"I appreciate it." She gave him a small smile. "Really, I do. Thank you."

He turned around and saw Donna approaching her desk. "I better go catch Donna before she runs off again."

"Enjoy your lunch." She said, watching him leave. She gave a smile to Donna when the woman waved. Once they were out of her line of sight, she frowned. Having the DOJ looking into her wasn't what she signed up for when she took on Gold Star as a client. She let herself get carried away with the fact that they worked so closely with her father. But that should have sent her running for the hills.

Knowing Harvey was out of the office at a meeting, she got up and made her way down the hallway. She knocked on the open door. "Got a minute?"

"Of course." Louis waved her in.

She went in and sat down.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"I need your help." She explained. "I need you to go over Gold Star Financials' books and see if you can find any irregularities."

"Why?"

"Let's just say I have my reasons." She decided to keep those reason as vague as possible for Louis.

"Alright." He nodded his head slowly. "When do you need it done by?"

"A couple of days if it's not too inconvenient."

"Not at all." He chuckled. "I'll go through their books with a fine tooth comb."

"Thank you." She smiled.

The wheels in her mind had yet to stop turning since Charles told her the DOJ was looking into her. All the way back to her office she thought about what the next move should be. When she arrived at her office she looked over into Harvey's and saw that he was back.

She hurried into his office and closed the door behind her.

"Hey you!" He smiled, looking up from his computer. "What's wrong?"

"Who says anything is wrong?" She laughed nervously.

"Your face gives it away." He got up from the desk and walked over to her. "What's going on?"

"It's probably nothing." She shrugged. "I mean, I haven't done anything wrong and I think I have a way to get out of it. But I just feel stupid for even getting into this situation in the first place. I mean, I should have listened to my gut instead of getting sentimental. Maybe I can blame the pregnancy hormones…though I don't think it is nice to blame the baby for my decision…"

"Rebecca." He interrupted, putting his hands on her shoulders. "You're rambling and not making a lot of sense."

She let him guide her over to the couch and sat down with him.

"Why don't you start from the beginning?" He suggested.

"Ok." She nodded. "Charles came to see me before he took Donna to lunch. He has a friend in the DOJ who told him that they are investigating Gold Star Financial."

"For what?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "Charles wasn't able to find that out. Whatever is it is can't be something minor since the DOJ is involved. But he did find out that the DOJ is also looking into me since I am now Gold Star's lawyer."

"Shit." He closed his eyes for a moment.

"Yeah." She got up from the couch and went over to the window.

"Ok, so they may be looking into you. That's not going to be a problem though because you've done nothing wrong." He told her, getting up and standing next to her.

"Still…" She shook her head.

"You said you think you have a way out of it." He mentioned. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm having Louis look into their financials." She explained, looking over at him. She was afraid that he would be angry with her. After all, she shouldn't have taken them as a client in the first place. But she did and now look at what was happening.

But as she looked at his face, she didn't see anger. She saw a bunch of concern though. "When I drafted the contract I included a clause in there that either one of us could nullify the contract for any reason within the first 30 days. I still have time before that 30 days is up so I'm going to drop them as a client."

"You included that in the contract?" He chuckled.

"Yeah." She nodded.

"That's very clever."

"I only did it because I wasn't completely sold on taking them as a client in the first place. So I wanted to have a way to get out of it if I wanted to. And now I really want to."

"Do you need any help drafting the papers to nullify the contract?" He offered.

"No. Thanks though." She shook her head. "Besides, I have a couple of days. I have Louis looking into their financials and I want him to finish that before I tip my hand to let them know they need a new lawyer."

"Why do you have Louis working on that?"

"I want to see if I can find the reason the DOJ is investigating them." She explained. "I thought maybe there might be something in their financials that would give me a clue."

"And you went to Louis about it before you came to me?" He sighed.

"Yeah." She knew where he was going with that question. He thought that she was trusting Louis with this before him. "I did go to Louis first. But it was only because you weren't back from your meeting yet. And Louis doesn't know what is going on. He only knows I want him to go through it with a fine tooth comb. You're the first person I'm coming to with this."

She saw the look on his face change to a small smile and knew things were ok. "So I'm hoping that if I stop being their lawyer, the DOJ will stop looking into me."

"Even if they don't, they won't find anything on you." He assured her.

She took a deep breath. "Are you really that certain? After all, you know I've always had my doubts about the origins of the money my father left me. Not to mention, I know about Mike's secret. It's better for all of us if the DOJ stops looking into me as soon as possible."

"I doubt they would find out anything about Mike. We've covered our tracks well. And as for the money your father left you, even if it was obtained less than legally you didn't know about it. They can't prove a connection between you and that money. It's going to be fine." He told her, wrapping his arm around her waist.

"I hope you are right." She sighed, putting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes.