Trial by Ambush (A Robin Starling Courtroom Mystery) by Michael Monhollon

Author:Michael Monhollon [Monhollon, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Reflection Publishing
Published: 2011-07-05T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

The compact disc contained Excel files, spreadsheets. I opened one to take a look, but to me the file was just columns of numbers. I clicked print and opened another file. This one was clearly some kind of financial statement. I clicked print and opened another.

Take a look at these, and we’ll talk, Wendy had said, but she was giving me way too much credit. I could tell a balance sheet from an income statement, but that was about the limit of my accounting abilities. What I needed was Wendy standing over my shoulder to tell me what I was looking at.

“What’re you working on?” a voice said behind me, and I spun in my chair. Because the chair swiveled, the results were not as spectacular as they had been down in the food court. I stayed in my seat, though I found myself looking up at Pete Larsen through round eyes with my breath coming hard.

“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” He came in and sat across from me. “I left you a message this morning, but hadn’t heard back from you.”

My eyes shifted to the telephone and back to his spare, angular face. “I forgot.”

He smiled. “What are you working on so intently?” He nodded at the computer screen behind me.

“Financial statements,” I said inadequately.

His eyebrows rose.

“The Ledbetter case,” I said, feeling both uneasy and pleased with myself at how easily the lie came to me. “Punitive damages are an issue, you know, and…”

He waved it off. “What I wanted to talk to you about is McCormack Labs,” he said. “I have some good news.”

I don’t think he could have surprised me more if he’d sprouted horns.

“Good news?” I repeated.

“They’ve hired us to defend their class-action litigation for them, the mass-tort stuff.”

To surprise me any more he’d have had to sprout wings as well as horns and fly around the room. He raised his fists in the air and shook them. “We’ve hit the mother lode, Robin,” he said, his voice trembling. “In two years, the Northcutt law firm will be twice the size it is now. The partners’ incomes are going to double.”

I, of course, wasn’t a partner.

“It means you, too, Robin. In a year, you’ll be up for partner, and being a partner is going to mean a lot more at the Northcutt firm than it used to.”

My smile was as sincere as I could make it. “That’s great, Pete. It’s really great.”

“You’re one of the first to know. I’ll be meeting with Al Baldridge this afternoon to hash out the broad outlines of the deal. All goes well, and we’ll be making a general announcement Monday morning.”

“Who’s…”

“Al’s the head of their legal department.”

“Don’t they have about sixty lawyers working for them? Why aren’t they handling their litigation in-house?”

“They’re transactional lawyers. They hammer out deals and draw up contracts. They don’t have any experience in the courtroom.”

I nodded. I had one more question, but I wasn’t going to ask it. I’d had

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