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Amber shook herhead. “It doesn’t say.”
Francesca thoughtfor a moment. “I guess there’s a chance it could be related to Westford-Myer?”
“It’s possible,” Simonagreed, “but we won’t know until we get more information.”
Amber could see afaint frown on Francesca’s face as she talked about the lawyer.
“What is it?” Amberasked.
“It’s just thatname feels familiar. Wait, let me think.” She stood there with her fingertipsto her temples as if that would help her recall something. “I think… I’m prettysure that when the previous investigation was looking at Thomas Jackson, theyfound he was also represented by a lawyer named Stanley Anderson. I think we’vefound our connection!”
Amber saw Simonbriefly reach out to touch Francesca’s arm, as if she’d been the one to do allthe work here.
“Well done,Francesca. That’s impressive recall.”
“Well, I do mybest to impress,” Francesca said, with a faint smile.
“And you’vesucceeded. We might finally have something. Amber, you said that one of the thingshe sent was an invoice, so is there a phone number for Stanley Anderson on anyof the paperwork?”
Amber looked atthe slip of paper again, running her finger down it as she searched for whatshe needed. There was indeed a phone number listed for the lawyer.
“Yes, I have it here.”
“Call him,” Simonsaid. “We need to know what he did for Emily and if it’s connected to ThomasJackson.”
“You know that asa lawyer, he’ll just tell us that client confidentiality means he can’t sayanything,” Amber pointed out.
“But even thatwill confirm for us that both of them were clients.”
Amber dialed thenumber and put it on speakerphone so they could all hear. It rang twice beforea tired-sounding woman answered.
“Nevis and Clarkeassociates, how may I help you?”
“My name is AgentYoung, with the FBI,” Amber said, trying to sound as official as possible. “Iwas hoping that I could speak to Stanley Anderson about a couple of hisclients.”
There was thebriefest of pauses on the other end of the line. Was she about to be told immediatelythat she needed to come back with a warrant?
What thereceptionist said instead caught Amber by surprise. “I’m sorry, Mr. Andersondoesn’t work here anymore. I can put you through to one of our otherassociates.”
Amber paused,trying to make sense of that.
“Do you know wherewe could reach him?” Amber asked.
“I’m sorry, I don’thave that information here. Mr. Anderson left the firm about a month ago.”
Amber frowned. Wasit a coincidence that a lawyer who might be connected to both victims had lefthis firm so soon before their deaths? “Do you know why he left?”
“I’m afraid I can’tdisclose that information. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
Amber tried topush a little harder. She knew that there would be plenty of information thereceptionist couldn’t give her; the trick was to frame this as something shecould provide.
“Look, I’m withthe FBI, looking into two murders, and Stanley Anderson seems to be the onlyconnecting factor between them right now. I’m not asking you for information onany of your clients. I just want to know what happened to him.”
There was anotherpause, presumably as the woman on the other end of the line considered heroptions.
“Look, he wasfired, okay? I don’t have all the details. There were some… irregularities.”The receptionist sounded reluctant to say more.
“What kind ofirregularities?”
