I dove out of the elevator on the seventieth floor and headed straight for the bathroom. I had been waiting until John finished his shower to put on my makeup, which meant I was barefaced against the world. I might be dressed in slacks, an Oxford shirt, and sandals, but I was at least going to have on my face when I faced Daniel Deegan.
A few people must have seen me blow past, because suddenly Caroline, Juliette, and Cecelia were in the bathroom with me. I took out the brushes and the little jars of makeup. Conversation rattled around me like machine-gun fire.
“Detective Washington came to the office.”
“Went into a private meeting with the senior partners—”
“Well, it was supposed to be private—”
My hands started shaking, and I set down the lid holding a tiny dollop of base and the brush on the edge of the sink.
“But that little turd Bruce was serving coffee—”
“And he heard some of what happened, and told the secretaries—”
Caroline picked up the makeup and pressed it back into my hands. Instinct took over, and I feathered the base over my face.
“After that it spread through the firm like viral video—”
I moved on to the blush while Cecilia said, “When the news reached David Sullivan, he became a walking, stalking, snarling monster—”
“He actually lifted Norma out of her chair, demanding to know where you were.”
“Have you got a comb?” Juliette asked. I pointed at my purse. She dug through until she found it, then handed it to me. I began to lightly tease and fluff my hair, trying to defeat my stubborn center part and cowlick.
“The senior partners called all the partners in for a huddle in the big conference room—”
“But not David. He wasn’t included.”
“And then the call came that Deegan wanted a meeting with you—”
“And Norma’s been burning up the phone lines trying to reach you.”
“So, the partners don’t know about Deegan coming in?” I asked.
“No, they told everyone they weren’t to be disturbed,” Caroline answered.
“We can guess what they’re discussing,” Juliette said grimly.
“Me,” I said bleakly.
“And I’m sure we all know how Ryan’s going to vote,” Cecelia added.
“Right now, whether I keep my job is the least of my worries.” I brought up my left wrist and looked at my watch. “Deegan will be here any minute.”
Cecelia stepped back. Juliette handed me my lip pencil and lipstick tube. I outlined and painted my lips. Opened my arms in a what do you think? gesture.
“You’re ready,” Caroline said.
“Knock ’em dead,” Cecelia added.
At the word dead I shuddered, but I squared my shoulders, picked up my purse, grabbed my roller bag, and left the sanctuary of the ladies’ room.
As I crossed the central lobby, all conversation ceased and the secretaries and assistants stared at me. Behind me, I heard the ding of an elevator arriving. I headed toward Norma’s desk. She handed me the usual clutch of message slips. She then gave an imperceptible head nod and muttered, “He’s here.”
I turned, bracing for what I would face. Whatever I’d pictured it wasn’t this. Deegan was of medium height and slight build. He had a slightly receding chin, and his jawline had started to soften. Soft brown hair flopped boyishly over his forehead, and while it might have been charming fifteen years ago, now it looked incongruous against the crow’s feet and the two deep gouges on either side of his mouth. He was very well dressed in a bespoke suit, Italian loafers, and a crisp maroon dress shirt.
Flanking him were an older man with a thick waist and quivering jowls, also dressed in a suit, and a woman in her late thirties carrying a slim briefcase and dressed in the woman lawyer’s uniform—skirt, sensible heels, blouse, linen jacket.
For the briefest instant Deegan’s eyes rested on me, and I saw the barest flash of recognition, then his gaze flicked away, and he addressed the room.
“I’m looking for Ms. Ellery.”
Nice save, asshole, I thought, but clearly he’d recognized me, which lent support to John’s and my belief that Securitech was behind the attacks. Then I remembered my picture plastered all over the papers and the Internet. Of course he would recognize you, dumbass. Yes, I would be a terrible cop.
“I’m Linnet Ellery.” I stepped forward and forced myself to extend my hand.
He smiled as we shook. “Pleased to meet you.” He indicated the man and woman with him. “Stan Buchanan and Peggy Waite.”
Buchanan shook my hand, but his expression was sour. The lawyer from Gunther, Piedmont, Spann and Engelberg towered over me. Peggy was six feet if she was an inch, and very thin. She had kind brown eyes and a warm smile.
“I’ve booked the small conference room on the seventy-third floor,” Norma said.
That was the room where I’d had my lovely confrontation with Doug May. I hoped this wasn’t going to be a repeat.
As we rode up in the elevator, Peggy initiated a bland conversation, I reciprocated, and we chatted about the difficulty, despite hourly flights, of air travel between DC and New York, the weather, and the latest Broadway shows. Deegan occasionally added a comment; Buchanan just continued to glower.
Upstairs, the awful Bruce showed us into the conference room and asked if anyone wanted anything. No one did, but he still lingered until I almost physically pushed him out and shut the door. Deegan, Waite, and Buchanan were already seated when I turned back. Peggy snapped open her case and pulled out a sheaf of papers.
“Mr. Deegan has authorized me to make an offer of twenty million dollars to your clients.” Buchanan emitted his first sound, something between a growl and a snort. “He has further authorized us to pay Ishmael, McGillary and Gold’s share of that settlement amount so that Mrs. Abercrombie and her children will net five million each.”
I dropped into my chair, going down like a poleaxed cow in a slaughterhouse. I opened my mouth several times, but I couldn’t force out a sound. From four million to twenty million. What the hell? Finally, I reached over and accepted the sheaf of papers. I read quickly through the terms. They were very clear, and there appeared to be no bombshells hidden in the language.
I looked up. Deegan smiled at me. Or at least his lips curved. The expression never reached his eyes. They were all calculation. Once again my mouth took on a life of its own, and I said pretty much what I’d been thinking. “What brought this on?” I asked, though I was pretty damn sure what had happened. Thomas Gillford had happened. My silence and acquiescence were being bought.
“This case has been a time sink for our firm and a monetary drain for Mr. Deegan,” Waite said. “He came to us and said he wanted to get it settled and off his plate, so…” She made an eloquent open-hands gesture.
Deegan spoke up. “I also know that Henry felt bad about Marlene and particularly about the children. I think this is what he would have wanted me to do.”
“You couldn’t have come to this conclusion seventeen years ago?” I responded dryly.
Deegan’s smile stiffened, but he remained smooth. “Probably a poor decision on my part.”
“So, do we have a goddamn deal?” Buchanan finally spoke, and he was as charming as I’d expected.
“I’ll need to talk with my clients.” I stood. “I’ll call them now, but they might want a few days to consider.”
“Well, that’s where I am going to play a little hardball,” Deegan said.
I looked inquiringly at his attorney. Peggy looked faintly uncomfortable, but her voice was firm as she said, “There’s a time limit on the offer. Mr. Deegan wants an answer in two hours or he’s withdrawing the offer.”
It took me aback. It wasn’t how negotiations were normally conducted. I gave Deegan a thin smile. “Well, then I’d better make that phone call.”
My footsteps were slow and leaden as I made my way to the elevator, but there was no way out
of it. I had to make that call. “Get Marlene Abercrombie and her brood on a conference call,” I ordered Norma when I reached my office. “Right now.”
I entered my office and closed the door. I sat at the desk where Chip had plotted to give the company to the woman Henry Abercrombie had loved, and I felt like shit. A few minutes later, my phone rang. “I’m connecting you with Ms. Ellery,” I heard Norma say. “You’re on with Mrs. Abercrombie, Andrew, Angela, and Natalie,” Norma said, and there was a click as she left the line.
I plunged in without any preamble. “There’s a new settlement offer from Securitech, and you’d be crazy not to take it.”
“What is it?” the son said, overriding his mother’s knee-jerk statement of “No settlement! I want it all!”
“Twenty million dollars. That’s five million to each of you.”
The daughters gasped. “No,” Marlene snapped.
“Hell, yes,” said Andrew.
“Yes, take it,” said Angela.
“No!” It was almost a howl from Marlene.
“Oh, Mother, shut up! You’re old and you’re going to die soon. This money will make a real difference in our lives.” A lovely comment from Natalie.
“Mommy, you’ve just been fighting for the sake of fighting, but Daddy’s been dead for seventeen years. He doesn’t care. Let it go. Take the money and enjoy the rest of your life,” Angela implored.
“She’s giving you really good advice, Mrs. Abercrombie. If you continue with this, the odds are that you and your children will end up with nothing. Your position is incredibly weak. This is a gift from Deegan. Take it.”
It took another twenty minutes of cajoling and yelling between the siblings and Mrs. Abercrombie while I sat silent, but it was finally done. I headed back upstairs to where Bruce had brought in beverages and a cheese platter for Deegan, Waite, and Buchanan despite my order not to. They looked at me as I paused in the doorway. “We have a deal.”
There were handshakes all around. Deegan signed five copies of the agreement, and Peggy left them with me to get the Abercrombies’ signatures. I said I’d have their copy back to Peggy by week’s end.
We parted at the elevator. Deegan held my hand for a fraction of a second too long and said, “I’m glad to have had the opportunity to actually meet you.”
Yeah, if you’d succeeded in having me killed you would have missed this magical moment. But for once in my life I didn’t say what I was thinking.
The elevator arrived and the trio got in. Deegan held the door. “Are you going down?”
“Thanks, but I think I’ll take the stairs.”
“That’s how you stay so slim,” he said, and allowed the door to close.
I wanted to take a shower. I opened the door into the stairwell and started slowly down toward the seventieth floor, trailing my hand along the cold metal bannister. I considered my reaction, and whether it was only due to my suspicions. It’s more than a damn suspicion when Chip was killed by a werewolf and Gillford was killed by the concerted efforts of three werewolves.
David was prowling in the small lobby by the elevators. He jumped when I pushed open the stairwell door, and rushed over. “What happened? What’s going on?” They were couched as questions, but they were really commands.
“They made a settlement offer, and the clients accepted.”
“A big settlement?”
“Yeah, really big.”
And that’s when it hit me. The case that had been dragging on for seventeen years was over, and our clients, despite deserving jack shit, were going to walk away with twenty million dollars. And Deegan assumed that, since he’d bought me off, there would never be justice for Chip.
I realized David had been saying something. “What?” I asked, trying to focus.
He gripped my shoulders. “I said, how much?”
“Twenty million.”
His release was almost a push. I struggled to keep my balance, opened my mouth to object, and watched him go sprinting toward the door to the stairwell. “Wait. Where are you…?”
The door swung shut. I went back to my office and groups of female associates trooping in to ask me what had happened. I was in the midst of the fifth explanation when Bruce walked, unannounced and unheralded, into my office.
“You’re wanted upstairs,” he said, his tone snotty. The other women and I exchanged glances. “They don’t like to be kept waiting,” Bruce added, his tone huffy.
I followed him to the elevator, and we rode up in silence as Bruce glared daggers at me. He led me to Gold’s office and actually gave me a push into the room before shutting the door behind me.
The three senior partners and David were all waiting. Gold’s office was about what I’d expected. Heavy wood desk and bookcases, large British men’s club armchairs, oil paintings of stormy landscapes and distant castles on the walls.
“David tells us you’ve settled the Abercrombie case,” Shade said.
“Yes, sir.”
“And you didn’t see fit to tell us,” Gold snapped.
“I knew you were in a private meeting and not to be disturbed. I figured it would wait until you were finished.”
“May we know the terms?” McGillary asked.
I handed over the settlement agreement. Shade, in the middle, held the papers while Gold and McGillary read over his shoulders.
“Good lord,” McGillary said faintly.
Shade handed back the paper and gave me a wide smile, his canines flashing under the florescent lights. “Bravo, Linnet. Well done.”
“But what did she do?” Gold asked in a complaining tone.
All three looked at me. I set aside the settlement and considered what to say. I couldn’t say I’d been following Chip’s lead in locating another will. I temporized. “I’m not sure.”
David, hanging back at the door, rolled his eyes. I shot him a glare, then arranged my features into a conciliatory expression and faced the senior partners.
“I’m not trying to be glib, really. I honestly don’t know what brought them to the table with … with…” I gestured helplessly at the pages.
David stepped forward. “She’s been digging into this case ever since Chip died. Following leads that perhaps Chip didn’t exploit.”
“Would one of those leads involve a dead man in New Jersey?” Gold asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“Did you find yourself in scrapes such as this at Yale?” he asked.
“No, sir.”
“So are we likely to continue to … enjoy these adventures?” Gold drawled.
“I’m glad somebody’s enjoying them,” I muttered resentfully. Once again, David cast his eyes up toward heaven as if imploring it for patience. “And God, I hope not.”
Shade laid a hand on Gold’s forearm. “She’s brought to a conclusion a case that has plagued us for years and made a great deal of money for this firm. I think that answers the question we were debating.”
For a long moment Shade and Gold locked eyes. Gold looked to McGillary, who gave an imperceptible nod. Gold made a conscious effort to breathe so he would have enough air to emit a gusting sigh. “Very well. She stays.”
David jerked his head toward the door. I followed him out. I stood in the hall outside Gold’s office and I tried to parse all the emotion I’d experienced in the past few hours. Fear when I’d learned Deegan was coming to the office. Shock at the offer. Anger while dealing with Marlene. Triumph when the deal had been inked. And now …
“Pick a feeling,” Sullivan said.
I looked up at him. “Exhausted. Defeated, and I shouldn’t feel that way.” My hands clenched and I started to pace. “And damn angry. I accomplish something and they”—I pointed a shaking hand at the blank face of the door—“make me feel like shit. Well, fuck that! I’m good at this.”
“Yes, you are, but you’re also…”
“What?” I demanded, and I could feel the pugnacious thrust of my jaw as I uttered the word.
“I don’t exact
ly know. Smart, yes, you wouldn’t be here if you weren’t smart, but indefatigable? Unexpected? Blunt to a fault?”
“Careful, it’s starting to sound like you like me.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” he said, dampening any pretension on my part.
“Then why did you bring the news to them? About the settlement.”
He made a sound somewhere between a growl and a mutter and turned on his heel. “Because I hate that asshole Winchester.” He walked away toward the front lobby.
Which brought me back to the old lawyer adage: Never ask a question to which you don’t know the answer. Here I thought I had made a new friend and ally, and instead I was just a pawn in a battle between David and Ryan. Vampires sucked. Or maybe lawyers sucked. Actually, people sucked.
I shook off my reverie and walked toward the lobby and the elevators, only to be intercepted by Bruce. He looked pissed, and he pushed in on me until our faces were only inches apart.
“Why are you doing this?” he hissed. “Why do you draw their attention when it won’t do you a damn bit of good? They have meetings about you. They argue about you, and you’re just a woman. There’s no reason to notice you.”
I was on the verge of just letting loose on him for the dismissive, sexist bullshit, but then I realized that underneath all the attitude was fear and grief and desperation. “You want to be Made so badly it’s killing you. Forgive the gallows humor.”
Bruce jerked away from me. “Oh, fuck off!”
I went after him, touched him lightly on the shoulder. “Bruce, listen to me. I was fostered in a vampire household. You’re doing this all wrong. Yes, you’re incredibly handsome, and you try to be useful, but that’s not what makes them pick a man. They are connoisseurs. Why spend thousands of years in the company of ugly people? But it takes more than looks and a willingness to please. They look for brains, training, accomplishment, and life experience. How old are you?” The response was too muffled for me to understand. “What?”
“Twenty.”
This Case Is Gonna Kill Me Page 20