Free Murder on the Down Low by Pamela Samuels Young Page A

battle with AIDS. Eugene’s story about her dying of pneumonia is a big, fat lie. Maya died because Eugene is a closet homosexual who failed to tell her that he was HIV positive. Maya would be alive today if Eugene had told her he was running around having sex with men. Do you really want a liar and a murderer working at your law firm?
     
    Liam charged into his office just as Eugene finished reading the message.
    “Are you okay?” Liam closed the door.
    Eugene’s cheeks burned with rage. He did not deserve this. How could he continue to show his face around the firm? Now the nasty looks from the support staff made sense.
    “Did everybody in the firm get this email?”
    Liam nodded and sat down. “I think so. Who could’ve done this?”
    Eugene knew exactly who was responsible. He had no idea how the crazy bitch had been able to hack into his law firm’s computer system, but there was no doubt in his mind that Special was the culprit. No one else held this kind of animosity toward him.
    Two weeks before Maya’s death, Eugene had tried to visit her in the hospital, but Special had stood in the doorway, blocking his path, loudly threatening to call security if he didn’t leave. Special was the only reason he didn’t show up at Maya’s funeral. He couldn’t handle another angry confrontation. Their altercation at the burial site confirmed that he had made the right decision not to attend the church service.
    Before he could figure out what he was going to do, his telephone rang. The mailroom had a package for him, but the messenger insisted that Eugene, not his secretary, had to sign for it. Eugene didn’t have time for this right now, but then he remembered that he was waiting for some confidential documents from a client.
    He told Liam to stay put and took off for the mailroom. This time, he ignored all the evil looks from the secretaries.
    Eugene scribbled his name on a clipboard and rushed back to his office. As he tore open the envelope, he noticed that it wasn’t from his client. His face clouded after he read the first few words.
    “Are you okay?” Liam put a hand on Eugene’s shoulder. “What is it?”
    It took a second for Eugene to respond. “Maya’s mother is suing me,” he said, fighting back tears. “For wrongful death.”
     

Chapter 17
     
    T he day after her big fumble at Vista Electronics, Vernetta was headed out for a late lunch when she ran into Haley and O’Reilly in the lobby of their office building.
    “Hey, Vernetta,” O’Reilly beamed, “great news. We got that Vista Electronics case. And we owe it all to Haley.” He gave her a fatherly hug. “The Assistant General Counsel said he’d never met such a sharp young lawyer.”
    Haley glowed up at O’Reilly, then treated Vernetta to a more modest smile.
    Vernetta tried to fight it off, but pure jealousy made her stomach churn.
    “We just had lunch at Spago to celebrate,” Haley announced. “I dropped by your office to invite you, but you weren’t there.”
    Vernetta could not hide her disappointment. She was part of the team. They should have postponed their little celebratory lunch and waited for her.
    “I had the lobster salad.” Haley splayed her fingers and pressed her palm against her belly. “And it was fantastic.”
    “We’re getting together at three for a planning meeting,” O’Reilly said. “Are you open?”
    O’Reilly should have checked with her before scheduling the meeting. He was treating
her
like the junior associate. “Yeah, I’m open,” she said and walked away.
    Vernetta ate a dry turkey sandwich at her desk and pouted. After about fifteen minutes of feeling sorry for herself, she decided to shake it off. If she were going to make partner, she couldn’t let things like this get to her. Haley was jockeying for lead on this case, and Vernetta would just have to jockey her out of the way.
    The meeting with O’Reilly and Haley was in less than forty-five minutes. Vernetta pulled a legal pad from