The Silver Lining

SIX

LISA walked through the long passage on the eighteenth floor of 'Spade & Wright'. While darkness consumed her every movement, the luminescence of street lights crept around the window glasses thereby making lame attempts of aiding Lisa's probe.

Lisa inhaled the silence while passing by her own office and took a swift right that led straight to Office of Mr. Johnathan Spade. The office was empty as expected, for Lisa had chosen a peculiar timing, like always.

She paused for a brief moment while playing Grandma's question in her mind. "Just answer my 'why', Lisa?"

She remembered her answer.. She remembered every explanation she gave for that 'why'.

She felt the guilt.. she felt the burden.. she felt responsible for the death of Mr. Zacco. She felt responsible for the accident that had happened to Mr. Spade.

Deep down, she disagreed to believe that, those accidents might be totally irrelevant to her previous actions.

She also remembered what she had told her grandma. "This is my first case ever, grandma.. The beginning of my career... It just cannot turn cold without justice.. I can't... I won't let that happen, grams. Never!"

She was in no mood to give up digging the culprit out and she was glad when her grams had decided to join in after a moment of deliberation, a cute head bob and beautiful smile.

Lisa deliberated over that conversation for a brief moment while she stood up-close to the doors of Mr. Spade's office and her sweaty left palm rested on the handle. She inhaled sharply and pushed those doors open after swiftly glancing at her surroundings.

She was determined to find some clues.. any clues that can help her build her case. With a brisk walk, she reached up to his desk and surfed around the documents laying on the table.

His table was now covered with the documents and all she could see was- oceans of submissions for a lot of suits, pending for his approval...

She also found a copy of the briefings she had submitted to him before their visit to Mr. Zacco. He had made plenty of markings here and there and had written his own observations to Lisa's remarks, some of them being a conclusion of visit to Mr. Zacco.

Lisa pulled out every drawer, skimmed through every book and turned every door possible to find anything that could relate to the recent incidents.

While her search around his office continued, the details of the primary investigation report of that burnt car and crime scene ran at the back of her mind. Thanks to Mr. Cooper, Lisa knew the highlights of that report. Everything detailed in there hinted that the bomber had to be someone very close to Mr. Spade, to know the fact that he had switched cars with Oliver's to get to the Court without any 'interruptions'.

Lisa was desperate to find something...anything that could help her get her start. She had found nothing so far and Johnathan's usually organized desk was now a mess. She knew she would have to tidy up everything but not before she finds what she needs.

Lisa left the desk after rummaging through every drawer. Her attention was now caught by the Laptop which was password-protected. After punching a couple of random combinations, her brain finally give up. In anger and frustration, she swung the flap down, a bit too harshly. This caused the CD Drive to pop open.

Upon sight of what was smartly placed in that drive, Lisa shreiked breifly, as if she had seen God. She pulled it out and closed the drive. It was a tiny USB flash drive.

"What a hideout!" Lisa skipped a beat when she heard that hoarse voice.. one that she was too familiar with, thanks to recent events. "I must say, I am impressed."

She promptly closed her palm into fist while walking towards the source of that voice.

"Well well," Lisa walked towards the sofa and plopped on it like a child while trying her best to plaster a fake smile. "Seems like the Fake Spade wanted to keep a check on me!"

Oliver bluntly scoffed at the words that came out of Lisa along with her rolling the eyes. He nodded while glancing back at her. "I have always had my suspicions about you, Ms. Hall." He walked around the table and pulled a chair near the sofa. He inhaled sharply before narrowing the distance between him and the corner of the sofa where Lisa had plopped. "Let's see, what agenda could you have had that brought you here at this hour?"

Lisa was now sweating. While her mind was busy in solving the dilemma of full disclosure or an absolute cover-up, her brain had already made a choice.

She scoffed and withdrew the gaze. "Maybe, the agenda was to draw you in here and butcher you at once. How about that, Sherlock!"

"And what explanation do you have for your grandma waiting downstairs?!" Oliver laughed his heart out at Lisa's comeback.

Before Lisa could answer that, Oliver got off his chair and walked towards the doors. "Now, do you mind?" He questioned while gently suggesting her to walk out of the room at once.

As if on cue, Lisa walked out of the room, with the flash drive still in her fist. She wasn't sure whether to call it a victory or not, but she wanted to solve this little puzzle all by herself. She stomped out of the building and rushed to where her grandma was waiting inside her car. Lisa settled in her seat and glanced at her grams. She lifted her hand and held that flash drive between her thumb and index finger.

"That's my gurl!" Grams exclaimed with joy. "All your stuff's in the back. Shall we?!"

Lisa nodded in affirmation. "Home Sweet home!"

She was happy for many reasons today. Both ladies smiled and laughed and sang while the car pierced through the veil of night to protect and take these princesses home.

_______________________________________

The room was dark and no sign of light could reach up to even an inch of that room. One could discern a silhouette of a man sitting idle and restlessly staring at his cell phone. Silence continued singing its perfect Opera until it was disturbed by the loud pop tune.

"Its me." The distant voice introduced the person on call.

"Sir, the drive is gone." The man uttered, a bit reluctantly.

"I Knew she disappeared from the hospital for a reason." The caller cussed under his breath.

With a sigh and after a brief moment of silence, the caller continued. "Find the girl. Do not spare a life this time, if you would. Retrieve what's lost." With the last direction, the connection was terminated and the man left the room with an agenda to act on.

Since my dedication tag decided to call it strike, here goes.
This chapter is dedicated to Dragon_s_Shade who literally made me review my decision of discontinuing this story. Thanks again for doing that, by the way! 😊