Chapter 17
I gave Jake a perplexed look. What was he saying? That he'dalreadysolved Joel's legal problems? "How?" I asked. "And when?"
"A few months ago."
I shook my head. "Did you saymonths? Seriously? Does Joel know?"
Jake made a scoffing sound. "Hell no."
"But why not?"
Before he could answer, Luna turned to ask, "And why didn't you tellme?"
"I did," he said. "It was part of the Vince thing."
Vince.I recognized that name from something Joel had told me, back when we'd been together. I said, "You mean that sports agent?"
Jake nodded. "That's the one."
I recalled what I'd heard from Joel. Vince was a hotshot agent who'd been planning to sign Joel as a client, right up until Jake stepped in and ruined everything. I recalled the exact terms of the deal. Jake had agreed to stop messing with Vince's clients, and in return, Vince had agreed to drop Joel like a hot brick.
Probably, it had cost Joel a fortune.
But I still didn't get the connection. I asked, "But what would a sports agent have to do with a court case?"
"Lemme put it this way," Jake said. "The guy's crooked as hell. The thing with Joel? That was nothing compared to some other stuff the guy's fixed."
"When you say fixed," I said, "what do you mean?"
"I mean it's gone," Jake said, "like it never happened."
"But how?" I asked. "I mean, how could Vince do it?"
"Trust me. The guy's willing to be creative – bribes, threats, blackmail – you name it, he'd do it."
Next to Jake, Luna chimed in, "Yeah, he's a total snake."
"But if he's such a snake," I said, "can you really trust him?"
"Vince?" Jake said. "Hell no."
I frowned. "But—"
"But I checked," Jake said. "And triple-checked. It's all legit."
I was still trying to process everything I'd just learned. "So what are you saying? That Joelwon'tbe arrested?"
Jake gave a humorless laugh. "He might get arrested, but it won't be for that."
That was far from comforting. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, it's no get-out-of-jail-free-card." Jake gave me a penetrating look. "Let's say he does something stupid, like steals a car, he'd still find himself in trouble."
When I first met Joel, he'd been driving a priceless movie prop that he'd borrowed – without any sort of permission – from Jake.
I said, "Do you mean the Camaro?"
Jake shook his head. "I'm not talking aboutmycar. I'm talking aboutyourcar."
