Love Proof (Laws of Attraction)

Thirty-nine

Sarah quickly checked one of the law blogs she always read. There it was, the featured story:

AL MILTON, KENNETH FEINBERG, OTHERS INDICTED

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announced this morning the indictments of Albert Milton, Kenneth Feinberg, and other lawyers within the Milton Feinberg law firm for charges including racketeering, mail fraud, and bribery, stemming from alleged illegal payoffs to clients. Attorneys for Mr. Milton and Mr. Feinberg deny the charges, but indicate their clients will cooperate with authorities by surrendering to law enforcement within the next 24 hours.

The indictments follow several months of investigation . . .

Sarah quickly texted Joe her room number. Within minutes there was a knock on her door.

He strode into the room, a curse on his lips.

“How bad is it?” Sarah asked.

“Bad. A buddy of mine from the firm called, said it’s World War III over there, everybody pointing fingers, people cleaning out their desks, calling clients, trying to take as much business with them as they can before the whole place folds.”

“What are they saying about you?” Sarah asked.

“As far as anyone knows, I’m off here in the wild blue yonder and don’t know anything. Luke—that’s who called—asked me if I wanted him to box up my desk, too, and send me a list of all my clients’ phone numbers so I can start siphoning off the business.”

“Joe . . . maybe that isn’t so stupid. Have you thought about it?”

“Taking clients with me?” Joe sat down hard in the upholstered chair in her room and ran a hand over his short hair. “I told you, I already transferred my cases over to other lawyers. This is the only one I’ve kept.”

“Well?” Sarah pressed. “I’ve seen you with your plaintiffs. I’m sure a lot of them would rather go with you than have to find someone else and start all over.”

“Maybe,” Joe said. “But do you know how much it costs to run a class action suit?”

Sarah shook her head.

“It’s expensive as hell, and the firm has to front all the costs—expert witnesses, travel expense, all of it. I have money, but not like that. And it takes more than one lawyer to work it. Maybe if I joined another firm I could convince some of the plaintiffs to come with me there—”

“Well, wouldn’t that make you more attractive as a hire?” Sarah asked. “Tell some other firm you can bring, I don’t know, thirty or forty plaintiffs with you? How many could you get?”

“I don’t know, Sarah.” He gave her a tense, tired look. “I thought I was prepared for this, but from what Luke was saying, the firm is going to split apart much faster than I guessed.”

“Well, maybe that’s good,” Sarah said. “If everyone is scrambling to get out of there, you’ll look like you’re just one more of them. The other firms in town are going to be watching for people like you they can snatch up, don’t you think?”

“Is that how it worked with your firm?” Joe asked with just a hint of sarcasm.

“Not exactly,” Sarah admitted. She wasn’t the only attorney from her firm who had to wait several months before finding a job. “So what are you going to do?”

“Go back tonight,” Joe said, “get into the office if no one has changed the locks yet—”

“I hadn’t thought of that.” Once she left her office on April 6, she never tried to return.

“Yeah, well somebody probably will,” Joe said. “But assuming I can get in, I’ll clear out all my stuff, then hole up for a while and figure out the next step.”

“I’m going home tonight, too,” Sarah said. “They found my replacement.”

“You might want to tell whoever it is to hold off,” Joe said. “I talked to Felix, and I doubt he’s coming up here—he doesn’t even know if he has a job anymore.”

“But you’re not—”

“No, I’m not staying on the case,” Joe said, reading her mind. “No matter what. I can’t—not after yesterday. But I think I should ask Sollers to postpone any more depos until we sort out who the lawyers on this case are anymore.”

“My guy’s going to be getting on a plane soon,” Sarah told him.

“I think you’d better call him.”

***

Sarah dialed the law firm and asked for Bingham.

But someone else picked up his line.

“Sarah? What the hell are you doing up there?”

Mickey, Sarah mouthed to Joe.

“I need to get a message to Bingham,” she said. “Tell him we’re going to postpone any more depositions—”

“No one’s taking orders from you anymore,” Mickey interrupted. “Do you not get that you’re fired? Calvin tore my head off this morning—wanted to know how much I knew about you before I recommended you, what I thought was going on. I stuck my neck out for you, Sarah. And this is how you repay me?”

“I’m sorry,” Sarah said, and she meant it.

“Tell your boyfriend he’s finished, too,” Mickey said. “His law firm is officially in the toilet. That place looks like it’s been hit by looters. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, as far as I’m concerned.”

She didn’t know if he meant Al Milton, or Joe. Probably Joe, she guessed.

“Mickey, I have to go. We still have one more deposition.”

“For who, Sarah?” He laughed grimly. “Do you not get it? You’re gone. Finished. You don’t represent Mason anymore. Stop playing lawyer and go ball your boyfriend. The two of you will never work in this town again.”

Mickey hung up the phone.

Sarah stood where she was for a moment, trying to steady her nerves. She could deal with confrontation, but fury like Mickey’s required an advanced level of self-control.

Joe was still studying her face. “What did he say?”

Sarah attempted a smile. “They love us in L.A.”

***

“You’re not having a very good week, are you, Joe?” Sollers said.

Sarah would have gladly paid for the privilege of ripping the grin right off his perfect beach-boy face.

But Joe was calm, as usual. “On the record,” he told the court reporter. “Due to circumstances involving my law firm, there is currently a question about who will be working on this case in the future. I ask counsel for both defendants to stipulate to a postponement of any further discovery.”

“Not all discovery,” Sarah said. Mickey might be right about her not representing Mason anymore, but she still had to protect the company as well as she could. “Mason Manufacturing reserves the right to continue any discovery as it sees fit. We’re only agreeing to postpone depositions of the plaintiffs.”

Ryan raised his eyebrows as he looked from Sarah to Joe, as if he were watching some sort of lovers’ spat. But Sarah wasn’t angry, just firm. She wanted to make sure Calvin and the rest of the team could still request whatever documents they needed to prove her theory about the counterfeit parts.

“Ryan?” Joe asked, waiting for Sollers to agree to the postponement on the record.

“What about this afternoon’s depo?” Sollers asked.

“I’d like to postpone that, too,” Sarah said before Joe could answer. She knew his client was already waiting outside, but she also knew she shouldn’t be the one taking the deposition anymore.

Sollers shrugged. “So stipulated. All the currently-scheduled depositions are hereby postponed. Guess we can all pack up and go home. Off the record.” He waited for Wendy to stop typing before adding, “Actually, this might be a lucky break for you after all, huh, Joe? You get to leave tonight and no one knows why. No one except a few of us, of course.”

Sarah glanced at the court reporter. Wendy was clearly curious about Ryan’s comment. Which was just what Sollers wanted, Sarah thought: to remind both Sarah and Joe that he held all the power and could expose them at any minute.

Further proof that she’d made the right decision.

“Sarah, I’m sorry I won’t see you for a while,” Sollers said. “I was looking forward to working with you.”

“Oh, me, too, Ryan. It’s a shame.” She knew he would find out soon enough that she had been fired, but she felt no need to fill him in.

Besides, Sarah thought as she left the conference room, if the work she had already done in the case resulted in Mason Manufacturing being dismissed some time in the future, she would at least have the private satisfaction of knowing her fingerprints were all over that weapon. She would have beaten both Paul Chapman and Ryan Sollers in the most honorable way: by working harder and ultimately outsmarting them.

Now if only she could translate that private victory into some sort of career for herself in the future, Sarah thought. From what Mickey had said, it wasn’t looking good.

For either her or for Joe.