The Disillusion Mountains

Chapter 3

The ringing of her cell phone woke Nimma early on Sunday morning.

"Son of a–" she rolled over and squished her pillow to her head. A smile graced her face as the noise stopped and a frown quickly replaced it as the ringing began again. She snatched the device and uttered another curse. It took her eyes a second to focus but when they did she sat up.

"Selmmie," she answered. "What's going on? You never call on the weekends."  

"Nimma we need to talk. I've got some news. It's not good."

"Just tell me now."

"I would rather see you in the flesh. I'm not talking to you as your boss. I'm asking as a friend. Meet me at the Myras Club. 11 o'clock. I'll buy you lunch."

"Okay. I'll be there." Nimma's eyes fell on the journal she'd fallen asleep reading.

How much worse can this week possibly get?

🌺

Selmmie said her news wasn't good. That point struck home even more as the hostess led Nimma to a private dining room that cost as much as three premium meals at this establishment. This being the most expensive restaurant in town those meals didn't come cheap.  

However the most telling sign whatever Selmmie had to say was very bad was the large and elegant bouquet of flowers on the table. There were a few places in Star City one could purchase flowers for a special occasion. They were all grocery stores and none carried the variety of flowers in this arrangement. This bouquet had come from a shop in the town two hours away. Nimma was very familiar with their work; she'd purchased bouquets and seeds from them which she'd grown in her old apartment to brighten the place. Selmmie would have needed these delivered on a rush order, probably last night, which was adding to the already large price tag this lunch had. If Selmmie was ponying up the cash for this, things were worse than Nimma imagined.                 

Food for both of them was already steaming on the table and Selmmie, as always, had a case file in front of her. Her pink hair was tied in so serve a bun that Nimma could just feel the headache poor Selm was going to have. Her friend looked up at her approach and gave Nimma a halfhearted smile. 

"What-" Selmmie held up a hand to silence her. She watched as the hostess left the room and shut the door. Nimma took the chance to smell the flowers and admire the beautiful picture they made.

"I'm sorry about this but we can't be too careful."       

"You're starting to scare me, Selm. What is this?"

"Do you remember the meeting I went to on Friday?"

"Yes."

"Well it was really two back-to-back meetings. Trucker's considering selling the firm to the Towers." Wilhelm Tucker was the old attorney that had founded the firm. He mostly dealt with the court of small claims in his career, though he'd been known to represent other types of cases on occasion. The man was now in his late sixties and hired Selmmie seven years ago to be the face of his firm while he enjoyed retirement.

"You're joking."

"No. Apparently they've been after him for six months making offers."

"Selmmie, I don't know what to say. I'm sorry isn't really going to cover it."   

"This isn't your fault."

Nimma gave her friend a skeptical look. "They've been trying to run me out of town since I got back. The Towers buying one business that I work at and closing it might be a coincidence but not three and you know it. They've done this to my family since Regina disappeared. I admit it worked getting most of us out of town." Nimma ran her hands through her hair in frustration. "You should have just hired a real paralegal instead of giving me the job. At least then your job wouldn't be in jeopardy."           

"You know as well as I that we couldn't afford an actual paralegal. You did it better than most who have their degrees anyway."    

"How soon before we're both out of a job?" Nimma took a swig of the wine. Selmmie drummed her fingers on the table and shot a glance at the closed case file.

"Here's the thing. Tucker hasn't given them an answer one way or the other yet. He's getting closer to making a decision and that's why he told me. While he's making up his mind he's decided to close the firm. I spent all day yesterday transferring our active cases to other offices in the city. He's going to renovate the building and it looks like it'll take at least three months. Tucker agreed to pay a portion of our wages while this is going on. He said I could remain active in a few cases as long as they don't require court dates in the time period."

Selmmie took a deep breath and slid the file over.

"After I met with Tucker I had a meeting with a perspective client. I took the case and this is the only one I'll be investigating." 

Nimma raised her eyebrows and flipped the file open. She nearly spit out her wine. 

"A suit against the Towers' Mining Corporation for illegal waste dumps." Nimma shut the file and dropped it on the table as if it were radioactive.
"Where did you get this?"      

"A Kelsey Nova brought it to me. She's currently working in the clerical staff of the corporation." 

"A whistleblower." Nimma snorted. "How can you be sure this isn't some type of set up? Regardless if it's real this is dangerous. We're out of our depth."   

"It's real. Miss Nova showed me proof. She's stealing files and claims to be able to get video evidence."

"This stinks, Selmmie. There's no way this isn't some kinda game they're going to try and use to ruin your reputation. You'll likely never work in this town again if it's fake. We're not doing it. Think about your daughter. What would happen to her if they try something worse than just smearing your name?"

"This isn't a movie they're not going to send an assassin after me."       

"I'm not convinced that's true. We're not doing it."

"You're right. We're not. I am. That's the main reason I wanted to see you. It's to tell you that I don't want you to work this case with me."  

Nimma stared at her friend in shock.  

"Selmmie." The hurt in Nimma's voice couldn't be disguised. "Us working this case would be bad. The only thing worse is you doing it alone. It's unacceptable. You can't do this. I am begging you. Please drop this."

"I can't." Selmmie shook her head. "I won't. I am doing this for you, yes, but I am not just doing it for you. The Towers family has been pulling these stunts for too long. With all the bad press they've gotten with several members of the family embezzling charity money and that sex scandal! This could be what finally forces them to drop the strangle hold they have on this town." Selmmie crossed her arms and put on her game face.

"No one wants that more than me but not at the expense of your safety." Nimma grimaced as her friend remained unmoved. Nimma slapped the table making the silverware rattle. "Fine; if you're determined to do this I'm coming with you." 

"No, you're not. If I actually get this to go to court the first thing the defense will do is attack our friendship and if you're actively involved in the case it'll only be worse. They'll claim that we're prejudiced against the family, that I as the prosecutor am using our friendship to try and drag the Towers through the mud, and they'll use your family history to do it. With so much stacked against us we don't need that too." 

"You can't stop me."

Selmmie took a large gulp of wine. "Actually I can." Selmmie looked guilty as she reached into her purse. "I hoped I wouldn't have to use this but I knew it was a long shot."

"A restraining order! Good God, Selmmie Marie Aster! How could you do this to me?"

"It only applies when I'm working the case, Bright Eyes." Selmmie said soothingly as if that would make Nimma feel better.