A Legal Trap Ch. 03

Yah! Perfect family dynamic! STOP IT! Be happy for the kid not getting a

shit upbringing like mine. I tried to get back on course, "Anything else she mentioned wanting?" I wasn't trying to repeat myself to force an answer out of her, but I sensed there was more. I wished she would open up a little more. "As Paul mentioned, there was a lot of Gender Confirmation Surgery, GCS, stuff she was researching, anything like that? One of her profiles states her as having the 'she / her pronouns', did she show an interest in boys?"

The pronouns statement caught her off guard and we discussed briefly the

whole gender vs. sex vs. whatever the hell number of pansexual, poly,

dysphoria, classifications there were. She seemed to get it.

"Pretty sure she had interest in boys. We were shopping once and she totally went numb, dumb founded, seeing a boy from school in the mall." She looked

like she was thinking again, then she looked a little more relaxed, "We talked about GCS, a lot in fact. Gary and I told her we would support her decision on taking that final step, but she had to go through all the pre-process pieces first. So, I don't think that's what the money would be for." Her guard looked to be creeping back into place. "We were against her getting implants. There were more than a few heated arguments on that subject. Our stance was to wait, see how the HRT went and then after GCS if that was something she wanted she could save up for it on her own."

"She's had a trachea shave I noticed. Any other facial feminization surgery?"

"Yes to the trachea surgery, this past summer. No, to FFS, I don't think she thinks that's necessary. The HRT has been nothing short of an amazing transformation, especially this last year. Her doctors have all said that starting when she did, or younger, typically makes the biggest difference."

No shit, try starting that when you're twenty-one! We talked for another twenty minutes about various interests Amber had. I found out a few things I wanted answers too, like she did have a passport, she was bullied at school, and she had left all her medications behind. That last one was curious - we'd have to look into refills on those and whether they had been filled recently, like in the last couple of days.

Finally, she insisted on me calling her Stephanie and gave me her cell number. The number came with a couple of hooks - like she wanted to know everything when I knew it, no matter the time of day. She also wanted what we found to not make it back to Brandt, Wentz, and Larson - she specifically named Janet and her not needing to know her family's business.

That was going to put me in a very uncomfortable position. I tried to explain that Janet was fully backing the firm helping to investigate.

Her reply, "Don't trust everything she tells you."

I wanted to get her to expand on that, but Paul appeared at the door with

Jacob, "You about done here?"

I looked toward them as Stephanie spoke, "Yes, I think Elizabeth has what

she needs." She stood and we shook hands, which felt like a reversal of the last twenty minutes - she was closed off, reserved, maybe a little cool.

"Yes, thank you Stephanie. We will be in touch when we learn of anything of significance, I promise."

March 9th, 10:19 PM

We had pulled into the hotel parking lot after the short drive from the Carsons'. Our conversation had been about the strange pow-wow Jacob had

with us as he walked us to the car. In short he echoed what Stephanie had told me - nothing got back to the firm. He would handle that exchange of information.

Janet was expecting me to report in today at some point, how the hell was I going to do that? Did I lie to her?

I again reminded Paul that I wasn't the one being investigated and that the Carson's and Jacob knew I had a tarnished past was unsettling. He tried to smooth that over and assured me he'd not gone into any details. There was another apology that sounded sincere and I let the subject slide - for now.

Once parked Paul opened his door and got out, looking at me over the roof of the Toyota Camry and asked, "You drink.."

I have in the past, but it usually turns into something I regret later. I tried to figure out if he had some kind of motive from the look on his face, which was stupid because we weren't like that, like a couple or anything remotely like... Augh! We were just co-workers on a project, nothing more!

Why was I being so stupid about this? "On occasion," I said shyly.

"Bar is open until midnight or we could go back to my room, look at some

of her accounts data."

What could go wrong back at his room, with some liquor in us both, some

Trans porn from a teenager playing in the background? "I'd be up for one at the bar," I countered.

"Good, wanted to hear what Stephanie had to say about Amber. I'm guessing

you got an earful."

"I don't know that I've got some inside track to anything worthwhile, but

we can discuss that."

"Good, I was hoping you could crack into her side of this. I'll share what I got from Gary."

March 9th, 10:26 PM

We had ordered our drinks from the bartender; he was the only one working

- which meant either this wasn't a hopping place to hang out or the hotel

wasn't booked up or both. There were two couples in the place, one in a

booth, another at a small table. At one of two longer tables were three business men talking way too loud about nothing, but filling the upper levels of the noise being made by bad music playing from some lost elevator tracks.

We grabbed the booth furthest from everyone. "Cheers! To good teamwork," Paul raised his beer mug to my rum and Coke.

I sipped it and it was ninety percent cheap crap rum with a splash of Coke

for color. Augh, I cringed.

"Too strong?"

I smiled, "Not my brand of rum."

"Really, you're a rum aficionado?"

"Let's just say I know my way around a decent bottle of rum," I grinned an evil smirk. Lisa wasn't going to believe this, me out in a bar with a man. My grin turned to a satisfied smile.

"I miss something?"

"No, I'm just happy this day is over. It is over, right?" I'm sure I had a worried look on my face.

Paul laughed, "Yeah, think we can pack it in for the night. I am going to look at a few things, but I promise I'll be in bed by," he looked at his phone, "Midnight."

I could see the clock over the bar, it was 10:31, guess this was just going to be one drink and done. Grrr! What the hell! Get over yourself. This is nice; at least I'm not in my room alone. This is nice and exactly what it should be.

I smiled, "Okay, I'm going to hold you to midnight. I'd like to be out long before that." And I felt self-conscious about saying that, hoping he didn't take it the wrong way. I mean I would sit here longer if he wanted, but I was really tired.

"I hear ya. Jacob and I met for breakfast at 6:00 AM, so I'm tired for sure." He sipped his beer and looked toward the long table of business men laughing loudly about something. "Easy boys," he said smiling about their exuberance.

Paul had a relaxed way about him, he was cute - well his looks were growing on me, and he did have a nice ass - yes I noticed. We finished our drinks while discussing Jacob and the firm. Paul didn't really have anything to offer about this new 'secret' mode we were supposed to operating under - the no Janet updating thing.

He asked if I wanted another drink, mine was half gone - due to the rot-gut rum, I declined. He pulled the last couple sips of his beer and as quickly as we entered we were exiting the bar.

March 9th, 10:55 PM

Paul walked me back to my room. The exchange at my door wasn't too

awkward, well until he caught my closing door and said he was in room 110

- which must be on the other side of this complex, as I was in 298.

I thanked him again for the drink. He apologized for us being late to the Carsons and then wished me a good night. The door finally clicked shut behind me after that polite exchange. It would be a lie to say those moments in the bar didn't make me feel more alive than I had been in years. It might have been nicer had it lasted longer. Maybe next time, if there was a next time.

Oh! And what is with him in my brain again?! He knew I wasn't happy about being late! Was I that easy to read? Grrr!

No time to ponder our minds intersecting - on occasion. I needed to figure out what to say to Janet Larson without it sounding like I was withholding information...

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