“What happened?”
Lydia looked uncomfortable.
“The firm wasn’t doing anything illegal, as far as I knew. But one senior assistant was being careless with client documents.”
“Allison?”
Lydia hesitated.
“Yes.”
Patricia’s shoulders lowered slightly.
Not surprise.
Sadness.
“What kind of careless?” I asked.
“She sometimes took files home.”
“Was that allowed?”
“Not usually.”
“Did anyone know?”
“I mentioned it to a supervising attorney.”
“And?”
“She was warned.”
“When?”
“About nine months ago.”
Martin leaned forward.
“That is approximately when the trust was created.”
Lydia nodded.
“I know.”
She opened the folder.
“There’s something else.”
She removed a printed email.
The sender was Allison.
The recipient was Lydia.
The date was ten months earlier.
Subject:
Humbert Family Planning File.
My skin prickled.
Lydia slid the email toward me.
Allison had written:
Lydia, can you confirm whether my in-laws’ intake documents are still in archive? Geoffrey thinks they may want to update everything soon, and I’d like to make sure we have the old signatures and ID scans available for comparison.
