Lawyers and Spies

A Match

Ralph stared at Amanda and Elijah as they scanned the photos Amanda had received into her computer. Where they really going to pretend he hadn't just walked into them sucking each other's faces.
He chuckled, and they turned to him. he shook his head and peered down at the computer screen. "With the level of snow...I don't think this photo was taken on us soil." Elijah said.
"We possibly can't look for CBD companies worldwide. We need a location," Amanda added. "And I think it starts with this man. All we need now is facial recognition." Amanda turned to Elijah.
Elijah straightened up, hands Akimbo, "I have to go back to the office."
"You don't need to." Ralph chipped in. his friends turned in his direction. "I could hack it...seems Amanda forgot all of my expertise since she started working with you."
Amanda shot Ralph a 'don't do this right now' look. He pursed his lips and eyed her down. How could she not tell him she was catching feelings for Elijah? He thought she and Philip had a thing going.
In fact, did Philip even come into the house as they planned... he wondered. Damn, he must have slept through the whole ordeal. Avoiding Amanda's and Elijah's stares, he squinted his eyes at the photo on the computer screen. There was some ink at the end of the sign that caught his eye.
"Wait, guys, zoom in there." He pointed to the screen, and Amanda did.
"What is it Ralph?" Amanda asked as Ralph leaned closer to the screen.
He paused and then chuckled with wide eyes like he had discovered something. "Guys, that is an L...which means the letter in between the D and the L is probably an O."
"Cbdol." Amanda and Elijah chorused together.
Ralph nodded. "now all we have to search is Cbdol..."

Amanda navigated her mouse to the Chrome icon on her screen and typed in Cbdol.
Cbdol closed due to bankruptcy.
The bankrupt energy drink company.
Cbdol brings its price down to half.
"This was a yeas ago." Amanda said, clicking on the article from the web that was titled 'Drinks from the Past.'
"What are you doing?" Elijah asked.
She shrugged. "It is the only recent article about it, which means they may not know about it." She explained. "If we are lucky...we could see something useful."
"She is right, Cbdol doesn't have a website because it was obviously taken down. So if we want to know about it, we have to read these." Ralph agreed.
Elijah nodded, folding his arms across his chest. "Why don't you and I start working on the facial recognition." He said.
"Good idea," Ralph said. He gave Amanda's shoulder a light squeeze and then walked into the corridor. Elijah followed behind him, leaving Amanda alone as she read through the article.

Ralph led Elijah to his room. He was conflicted about asking Elijah about his intentions for Amanda or just focusing on work.
He unlocked his door and gestured to the table. "I had to get a new one. Any luck on getting my old laptop back?" he asked as he plopped down on the chair.
"Nothing yet," Elijah answered.
Ralph nodded, giving Elijah a tight-lipped smile. "You seem to only work best when Amanda is involved."
Elijah cocked his head to the side, looking a bit embarrassed. "Come on, Ralph...look, I'm sorry you saw that, but I do care for her."
"Philip is your friend." Ralph said. "You worked for him, and he trusted you...and I thought you and Rylee..." he trailed off, shaking his head. "Let's just focus on this." He said, gesturing toward his laptop.
Elijah is silent as Ralph begin the search.
"Imagine just going to the prison and asking Charlie who this person is...I mean, he sent you these photos, didn't he?"
"It is a two-hour drive," Elijah said.
Ralph sucked his breath in, and then he threw his head back in hysterics. "damn, even I will fall in love with someone I am always having hours of driving with."
"It is not like that." Elijah disagreed.
Ralph turned to look at him sternly, "I like you, Elijah, and I appreciate everything you do for us, but I really think now is not the time, and I wish you would understand."

"Ralph. Elijah!" Amanda called from the doorway, and both men turned in their direction with smiles on their faces like they didn't just have a heated conversation.
Amanda hurried into the Ralph's room, skidding to a stop. Her chest was rising and falling heavily, having run from the mini study in the living room to Ralph's room.
"Look who needs to restart the gym."
Amanda hissed, rolling her eyes at him. "You remember our case with the governor? He owned a noodle factory. It turned out. He owned Cbdol before moving into the noodle business."
"So victor owns Cbdol.... isn't that wonderful?" Ralph said in a sarcastic manner.
"Every Cbdol building was converted into a noddle factory," Amanda explained.
Ralph stared at Amanda with wide eyes. he could see the hope drain out of their eye because their only hope now was to get charlie perry to talk. He leaned back on the chair while Elijah left his side. From the corner of his eyes, he could see the man lowering himself on his bed.
"How..." Elijah said.
"We never know because we know where all the noodle factory is, but we can never know the one in particular." He said, laying emphasis on 'the.'
Amanda took a step toward Elijah. "Hey, it Is okay. We can convince Charlie to tell us. Moreover, how are we even sure there would be anything worth finding if we know the exact factory."
Ralph buried his face in his palm. Once again, the governor was winning, and they were on the losing team. His computer beeped, and he looked at the screen.
A match!
"Guys, we have a match." He announced.
Amanda and Elijah rushed to the computer screen as they watched the profile of the match load. His face appears in a portrait picture on the screen. And the name leaves Ralph dumbfounded.
"Evans Bushwick." Amanda whispered, turning to see Ralph's fear-stricken face.