New Blood by Shane Lusher

Author:Shane Lusher [Lusher, Shane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fortycation Publishing
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Seven

When I returned to Tad’s office to Google the telephone numbers of the people on the list I’d written down in Kelly’s kitchen the day before, Vic Daniels' search was finished.

I’d nearly forgotten that I’d plugged it into the application, but there it was, Done! and on the desktop with a smiley face.

There were twenty-five articles from various government and private watchdogs. I selected an article from a popular blog out of Chicago and scrolled through a list of disciplined attorneys in the State of Illinois. It was astounding to see the number of lawyers in Illinois who had been disbarred. I was wondering what the percentage was when I found his name.

Vic Daniels, Morton, Illinois: “disbarred for conversion of more than $100,000 of a client’s cash.”

Searching on “conversion,” I discovered that this was the legal term for stealing from a client. “To appropriate funds or assets from a client and make them his or her own.”

Theft. Why they couldn’t just say theft, I didn’t understand.

So, Vic had stolen a substantial amount of money from someone.

I went down the list of articles and found one entry from the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission from the State of Illinois, which had a summary protocol describing the proceedings against Vic Daniels.

In the summary, it was stated that Daniels had stolen $125,000 from his client, Marquette County Insurance. Wayne Trueblood was named as CEO of Marquette County Insurance, and the plaintiff. A Diane Trueblood was listed as a witness for the defense.

None of the testimony had been printed in the summary, and no matter what I tried, I couldn’t find any more detail beyond the resulting disciplinary action, which was permanent disbarment.

An out of court settlement was mentioned regarding damages to be paid to Trueblood, but in the ten minutes I devoted to it, I couldn’t find further mention anywhere of that settlement.

This had all taken place in 1991. Daniels would have been around twenty-seven or twenty-eight at the time, a few years out of law school. His student loan debt wouldn’t have even been paid off by then.

And now he and his wife were cozying up with drinks and dinner next to the pool with Wayne Trueblood and his new wife. Granted, Daniels hadn’t seemed all that comfortable in the presence of Trueblood and his friends, but still, he was there.

I put that on a back burner. If Vic were in some way tied to Colby’s murder, then it was periphery. At least that was the way it seemed, and that was the way I wanted it to be just then. He’d given me the only possible lead, which may or may not have been a distraction, but it was what I had to go on.

Then again, he could have been leading me away from himself. By providing Wayne Trueblood with motive — the life insurance — I was less apt to look at Daniels.

I Googled a quick number and picked up my cell. Glancing at the time — six-thirty — I hit ‘connect’.

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