Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8
LAURA
“A
re you sitting down?” Irene asked later that very day, and Laura nodded. This wasn’t just a normal phone call, this was a video chat, and more importantly, Irene had started it instead of the other way around. “Good, because I’ve got some news that’ll knock your socks off. Knocked mine off for sure.”
“I’m listening.” Laura propped her phone up on the table and leaned forward. She’d been up most of the night, turning the situation over and over in her head.
Keep the farm, sell the farm?
And more importantly stay… or go home?
And now, this video call from Irene, who pointedly ignored Laura’s total bed head and no makeup to launch into her talk. “I just got confirmation from Steele… I’m lead council on this case.”
“Congratulations!” Laura said honestly. “You deserve it.”
“Thanks, but here’s where it gets interesting and I wanted to talk with you about it,” Irene said. “This isn’t just a civil case.”
“What’s going on?”
“Browning Chemicals,” Irene said, and Laura groaned. She was somewhat of an environmentalist at heart, and having one of the world’s biggest chemical manufacturers on the firm’s payroll wasn’t something she liked. She and Irene had talked about that plenty of times in the past. “I know, but this isn’t the corporation. It’s Nate Browning.”
“So a private matter,” Laura said, and Irene nodded. “Which is why the corporate legal team is shopping this out to us in total?”
“How’d you get that?”
“No offense Irene, you’re a great lawyer and I just said you deserve to take the lead chair in a big case,” Laura said, “but there’s no way that the Browning board or Steele is going to hand off lead chair on a major case as big as you mentioned if it was corporate.”
“Smart girl,” Irene said, and Laura chuckled. She knew when she was getting buttered up. “Okay, low down on what I can say. Nate Browning’s going to be getting served papers very, very soon in relation to a certain ten-year-old blonde girl who may or may not be his daughter.”
“And I’m guessing that the mother is not Felicity Browning?” Laura asked. “Ouch. And just how is Senator Browning liking this?”
“Oh she’s ready to go scorched earth, flaming the mother and framing her as everything short of a prostitute,” Irene said. “And that’s just the start of things. Thankfully, I’m not handling her, Michael’s dealing with her and her political machine. Hopefully he gets her to see that if she wants to flame anyone, she needs to look at her husband, not the woman.”
“So you believe the story?” Laura asked, and Irene shrugged. She knew that look. A lawyer lived by the rule of it wasn’t the truth that mattered, but what could be proved in a court of law. And rule numbertwo, right behind, was that a lawyer didn’t want to know anything that could hurt their client. After all, a lawyer shouldn’t technically lie in court. But if a lawyer didn’t technically know he or she wasn’t telling the truth…
“The parentage isn’t going to be as big a deal as the other part of the case,” Irene explained. “The mother is saying that the reason she didn’t come forward for as long as she did is that the pregnancy wasn’t… by choice.”
Laura inhaled sharply, her fist clenching. “That will not play well. Why isn’t this a criminal case though?”
“Lack of evidence, which plays in our favor,” Irene said. “Look Laura, Michael’s already told the Brownings to settle, to bury this under an NDA so thick that you could build a house on top of it. They don’t want to. Nate Browning is putting on the wounded man act, and saying it’s all a frame-up job by a disgruntled ex-employee.”
“And they’re going to play this to the bone,” Laura added, and Irene nodded in agreement. “Okay, why?”
“I think the Senator thinks this will get her in some of the right people to elevate her career, if that makes any sense,” Irene replied before coughing bitterly. “Sorry, I know it could. You know how the spin machines run nowadays. In any case, she’s not the client technically. It’s Nate Browning.”
“You need to protect him from all sides,” Laura said, and Irene nodded. “Good luck with that.”
“Before you give me that Morgan Freeman quip and shrug, here’s why I called you,” Irene said. “Steele knows that this is a total war, and it’s going to get ugly. Blood’s going to flow, and I’ve been told to put together a team that makes sure that none of that blood is the firm’s.”
“You know that part of that is putting you in charge,” Laura pointed out. “The muck’s going to fly, and if the firm gets hurt, it won’t be the named partners. It’ll be the young partner who’s going to find herself on the way out sooner than later.”
“Oh I know, but the benefits if we protect the firm… or better yet win ,” Irene said, “will be incredible. I got one concession from Steele. I get to pick my team. And I want you on it.”
“You what?” Laura asked, shocked. “Why?”
“Because of what you just did in this video chat, Laura,” Irene said. “You read the situation quickly. It took me three times as long to put it all together when Steele told me, and that was with him laying it all out. You’ve always had that ability to put puzzle pieces together, and I need that. I’m a researcher, a prepper, and I know it. I’ll go into the courtroom with enough three-ring binders to build a bulletproof fortress, sure. I can bulldog most opposing council into submission simply because I’ve out-prepped them. But when I’ve lost, it’s because there’s something, some puzzle piece, that I didn’t get right away. You do. I want that on my team. And there’s an incentive.”
“Which is?”
“You take it, and you’ll make partner as soon as this case is over,” Irene said. “Steele already promised me that. And don’t even worry about the buy-in, you’ll be getting a salary bonus from the billables on the case that’ll more than cover it. You’ll just have to pay the taxes on that income.”
“I see,” Laura said, and Irene tilted her head. “Sorry Irene, it’s just… wow. I mean, this is a great opportunity, but just… wow.”
“I know, which is why I’m calling you now,” Irene said. “Steele’s given me until the Monday after Christmas to put my team together, until then it’s all just grind. Can you give me an answer by tomorrow?”
Laura nodded, and took a deep breath. “Sure. Irene, about this case… is this the sort of stuff you got into law to do?”
“Everyone deserves a lawyer,” Irene said evenly. “Remember that, Laura. I’ll talk with you tomorrow morning. What have you got on your agenda for the rest of the day?”
“Neighborhood Christmas festival,” Laura said, and Irene grimaced. “What?”
“Just doesn’t seem like a lot of fun to me, that’s all,” Irene said. “What is it, singing Christmas carols in a field?”
“Parking lot actually,” Laura said. Irene laughed harshly. “Yeah, I know, but it’s not as bad as you think.”
“Okay then. Talk to you tomorrow.” Irene hung up. Laura sat back, and looked down at her hand, and saw her hand shaking. She hadn’t had shakes like that in years, not since one of her law professors made fun of the “hayseeds” who didn’t know the law.
Now Irene was doing the same thing, while at the same time offering her the keys to the kingdom. A partnership for what was essentially nothing.
All she had to do was say yes.
But every time she considered reaching for her phone to text Irene saying she was in, her hands shook. She didn’t have to decide now.
Anyway, she didn’t need to give her answer right away. Now was the time to get ready and go to the Christmas festival.
A couple of food carts, a trailer with speakers mounted on it… the only thing that made it look at all Christmassy was the big tree in the middle of the area, fully decorated with lights, ornaments, tinsel, popcorn strands and more.
Laura parked the truck and walked through the small crowd, waving to the people who recognized her, but mostly staying lost in her thoughts until she got to the tree, and saw the sign that had been hung on the tree like an oversized ornament.
This year’s tree is in memorial of our dear friend and neighbor David Bennett.
Without his generosity, kindness, and love, the Christmas Festival would never have happened.
We owe you a debt we can never repay, and will miss our friend forever.
You were the best thing someone can be… a decent human being.
The people of the Rockaways
Laura read, and re-read the plaque. How had she gotten things so wrong?