Bait the Devil by Winter Austin

Author:Winter Austin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Thriller
ISBN: 9781969218651
Publisher: Tule Publishing
Published: 2025-10-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Despite Larrabee’s warning and advisement, Vivian came to the office. She’d spent the prior day holed up working at her apartment, mulling over Cade Porter’s—or should she be calling him Caleb Podolsky?—reasons for breaking into her apartment and where Hal Jones might have run off to.

She’d also taken a deep dive into Caleb’s actual file that Dot and T.J. had left in her care. The man Caleb Podolsky was had been heavily influenced by the child Caleb’s life, but there were reports missing, like his actual foster care history. Vivian made a few calls to some people she knew in Las Vegas and was able to access Caleb’s full juvenile records. Except the Las Vegas courts would only allow the records to be sent to her office.

As for Hal, without knowing enough about the other lawyer, Vivian’s ideas petered out. She’d need an insider into Hal’s personal life in order to give Larrabee a better understanding on how to find the man. Vivian knew the perfect person to get her that information. Charley Ash. But for some reason, the man was nowhere to be found.

His paralegal informed Vivian he hadn’t seen or spoken to Charley since the day before. The same day he’d passed off the files on Cade Porter/Caleb Podolsky to Vivian. She pressed the paralegal about Charley’s routine and whether it was usual for him to be unaccounted for during an extended period of time when he wasn’t in the middle of a trial. The para told her it was, in fact, customary, because he and Hal Jones loved to play hooky now and again to visit a local golf course.

Except this time, Hal Jones was purposely hiding. Charley had no reason to be out. Far as Vivian was aware, no one outside of herself, Dot, and T.J. knew about Charley’s involvement with the Cade Porter and Hal Jones situation.

Vivian tried to focus on a few of her upcoming cases and wait to see if the man showed up. She struggled to remain on task. Cade Porter’s unexpected visit to her apartment and his menacing presence had left her more rattled than she cared to admit. Another reason to not be in her apartment. If the man could sneak in despite all her security measures, she was doomed if someone with more ill intent were to try.

At half past ten, Loren dropped by her office unannounced.

“Vivian, this was left for you, and Meredith gave it to me,” he said as he entered her office with a thick file in hand. “Are you doing okay?”

She took the file, glanced at it, saw the words Las Vegas, and then returned her attention to Loren. “I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

“Well, you didn’t come in yesterday. Got me a bit worried, what with all this hoopla going on with Hal and whatnot.”

“Loren, I’m fully capable of handling things if they get hairy. You don’t need to worry about me. I was just taking a day for myself, which I haven’t done in I can’t remember when.

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