CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Mary sat up happily against her headboard, since her bedroom had been invaded by complete chaos, bearing carbohydrates. Bennie, Judy, Anne, Lou, and Roger had stacked pizza boxes on her dresser, with several bottles of champagne, soda, water, paper plates and napkins. The aroma of hot pizza and cold champagne filled the air, an unexpectedly fragrant combination. Corks had been popped, gooey pizza had been distributed on sagging plates, and everybody stood grinning in a circle around Mary’s bed, refusing to tell her the good news until everything was ready.
“So what happened?” Mary asked, delighted. “Tell me!”
Bennie raised a plastic glass of champagne. “DiNunzio, we toast to you, even though you can’t drink the good stuff.”
“To Mary!” Judy beamed, holding up her paper cup.
“To Mary and her baby!” Anne held up her cup, grinning ear to ear.
“Yes, to Mary and her baby!” Lou and Roger joined in, standing together, raising cups of champagne.
“To me, the baby, and Anthony!” Mary raised her bottle of water, hoping that the good news had to do with John’s murder. “Now tell me what happened!”
Bennie sipped her champagne, then took a deep breath. “We have reached a settlement with the other side in London Technologies, and it’s a whopper.”
Mary masked her disappointment with a smile. “That’s great news! What did you settle for? And how did it come about?”
Bennie practically wriggled with delight, warming to the story. “Well, after we got the call from you, Anne and I called Marcus Benedict. You know, from Barrett & Tottenham.”
“Yes, I met him when I defended Alex Chen’s deposition.”
“Oh, right.” Bennie nodded, still buoyant. “It took the whole night to hash it out, but we reached an agreement in principle. We can’t say they were difficult negotiations, as we’d like to take the credit. We know you get the credit, behind the scenes.”
Anne interjected, “Yes, we know that, Mary, and if you ask me, I thought Benedict was relieved to talk settlement. He knew it was a loser and we’re both guessing that was Machiavelli who told him that they could settle.”
Mary agreed completely. “It must have been, that’s why he did what he did. He didn’t want to pay to settle, but he also knew he’d lose.”
Bennie nodded. “Right, that’s true. We know that he had marching orders from Machiavelli to settle, thanks to you.”
“Thanks to Flavia.” Mary forced a smile. “I didn’t want to bargain with him. I wanted to put him behind bars, for John.”
“Understood, and I agree, we all do.” Bennie’s smile evaporated, and so did everybody else’s. Judy’s face fell, which was so heartbreaking that Mary was sorry she’d said anything, ruining the happy moment.
“Sorry, honey,” Mary said, trying to recover, and Judy set her plate on the night table and sank onto Mary’s bed, her shoulders slumping.
“It’s okay, I felt strange too. It’s hard to celebrate. It’s hard to be happy about anything, now.” Judy swallowed hard. “William is still at the hotel with the Hodges, so sad and disoriented. I don’t think he should go back to Glenn Meade until Shanahan is found, just to be on the safe side, but it’s so sad to see him.”
“I bet. The poor guy.”
Judy took a deep breath. “But we’re allowed to be happy about the settlement. I know how much John cared about the case and he would’ve been thrilled that all of his hard work paid off, so I think we should enjoy this for him. If we don’t, the terrorists really will have won.”
“You’re absolutely right,” Mary said, meaning it. She was so proud of her best friend, for showing such bravery and heart in the worst possible circumstances.
Bennie rallied, straightening. “Yes, I think John would’ve been astounded with the settlement, which is, are you ready—$11 million!”
“Wow, that’s incredible!” Mary perked up, and so did everybody else, their grins returning.
“It’s amazing!” Bennie beamed, proudly. “And we’d only just started discovery. It’s a terrific result. We couldn’t be happier. Sanjay and Jim are over the moon. Benedict agreed that Home Hacks and EXMS would return the software they stole, including all copies, and agree not to use it. Sanjay and Jim will agree not to sue them over it, but we’re fine with that. We’re totally vindicated.”
“I’m so happy!” Anne practically jumped up and down, her gold bangles jingling. “We have to go back to work and draft the settlement agreements tonight, if it takes all night. We want the agreements signed and executed, so Machiavelli can’t pull a fast one.”
Lou winked. “That’s the move. I still don’t trust him.”
“Me neither,” Judy said, flatly, then brightened. “And we have more good news, Mary, which is why Roger’s here. Roger, do you want to tell her?”
“What is it, Roger?” Mary asked, turning to him with a smile, since she liked him better than she used to. In fact, she liked him well enough not to feel embarrassed that he was in her bedroom, which luckily, she’d had a chance to straighten up before they’d arrived, picking up the dirty clothes overflowing the hamper, decorating the doorknobs, and making an attractive tent on the handlebars of her stationary bike.
Roger stood taller, smiling in his stiffly formal way as he held his champagne cup. “Thanks to your handiwork, the reverse-discrimination suit against you, Bennie, Judy, and the firm has been dropped.”
“That’s wonderful!” Mary felt her heart lift, even though she had assumed it was coming.
“In addition, Machiavelli has agreed to issue a press release that there was ‘absolutely no merit to the discrimination allegations’”—Roger made air quotes—“and that his filing of the Complaint with the Human Relations Commission was ‘a passionate advocate’s overzealous reaction to the plaintiffs’ failure to be hired.’ So he managed to absolve you of any wrongdoing—and promote himself at the same time.”
“That’s great!” Mary said, surprised. “I didn’t even think to ask him for that. You never see anything like that in a settlement. It does absolve us and it undoes his smear campaign.”
Bennie nodded. “It sure does, and I’m delighted.”
“Me too,” Judy chimed in, beaming.
Mary turned to Roger, marveling. “How did you get Machiavelli to agree to that?”
“I threatened to get him disbarred.”
Mary burst into startled laughter. “That’s exactly what I would’ve done! I threatened him with that, too.”
“That doesn’t surprise me, Mary.” Roger shrugged happily. “When we were together at the interview today, you said you learned something from me. Maybe I learned something from you, too.”
“Aw.” Mary felt a rush of happiness, bubbling out of nowhere. “You know, I have to tell you, when I went down to South Philly and saw my former clients, they all knew about it and what Machiavelli had said about us. They all had something to say about it. Some of them even called my mother.”
Roger’s smile broadened. “Is that a South Philly thing?”
“No, it’s a Mary DiNunzio thing,” Judy interjected, and they laughed, including Mary.
“Anyway, I didn’t realize how important my reputation was to me, truly. And it wasn’t just about my client base or whether they’re going to keep giving me business. It was just about what people think of me, in the world.” Mary heard herself talking, realizing that she hadn’t acknowledged how much Machiavelli’s smears had gotten under her skin. “And now I’m going to have this baby and I don’t want him, or her, to hear bad things about me. I don’t want her tainted with any of that. So thank you, Roger, for restoring our reputation.”
“You’re welcome.” Roger bowed mock-comically.
Bennie smiled. “I feel the same way, even though I don’t have a child. We’re known in this city. Our names stand for something. Integrity. Hard work. Quality. Justice.”
“Don’t forget attitude,” Lou added, chuckling.
Judy grinned. “You mean swagger.”
Roger smiled slyly. “However, do you know what the Sage has to say about reputation?”