. >> reporter: and the firm is where melissa lewis, an earnest, by-the-book attorney, found great success for herself and her clients. she was by all accounts a workaholic who loved what she did. no shrinking violet either. melissa loved those boozy, splashy office parties just as much as the other lawyers. she'd found herself a nice slice of the american pie. and that's the thing about 38-year-old melissa lewis, even as she raised her voice and glass with the senior partners, her sad end wasn't far off. and her unexpected death would get caught up in a chain of events right out of a john grisham novel. murder, betrayal, and billions of dollars in fraud. melissa lewis at the start of everything awful that followed. >> it ended up being the beginning of the end. >> reporter: "missy," as her family called her, had come so far. penthouse lawyering wasn't likely for a restless, likely for a restless, high school dropout. her mother lisa lapointe. here was a kid who didn't really finish high school. she got the ged ticket -- >> correct. she didn't plan to be a high school dropout. she was in a