Love Proof (Laws of Attraction) - By Elizabeth Ruston Page 0,104
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.