Dead Ringer Read Online Free PDF Page A

please, don’t do that.” Don’t. Stop. Don’t stop . “Don’t.”
    “I trust you’ll forgive me,” St. Amien said, with a sly smile. He finished writing and tore the check from the checkbook, then replaced his checkbook and pen. “I leave the money, in hoping you will accept my representation. Consider it ‘earnest money,’ as you say.”
    “Robert, even if I took the case, which I’m not, it would be on a contingency basis. Please keep your check.”
    “Consider it for expenses and costs, alors .”
    “Class-action lawyers front those expenses. They’re an exception to the professional rules. But please, don’t do this.” Please. Don’t. Stop.
    “Represent my interests. Will you do it, please?” St. Amien placed the check on the table in front of him like a trump card.
    No. Yes. No. Yes. Then Bennie heard a sound. The siren song of solvency. Her heart leapt up. Maybe her firm wasn’t doomed! Maybe the class action would settle fast! If she didn’t get appointed as class counsel, it wouldn’t be for lack of trying! Why should she defeat herself, when there were so many qualified people ready to do it for her? “Okay, you convinced me!” she said, and St. Amien laughed.
    “ Merci beaucoup . I couldn’t be happier. I will take my leave.” He rose, bowing at Judy and Anne. “Thank you, ladies, for your assistance.”
    “Thank you,” Judy said, and Anne nodded.
    “Yes, it was our pleasure.”
    Bennie got up. “Let me walk you out,” she offered, taking St. Amien outside her office and into the empty hallway, where he turned.
    “You needn’t escort me all the way. Thank you again, for everything. ہ bientôt .” Suddenly St. Amien leaned over and gave her a deft kiss on the cheek, then turned and left.
    “See ya.” Bennie blinked, caught off balance. She’d never had a client kiss her, but she couldn’t say she disliked it. She watched him catch the elevator, feeling vaguely as if they’d begun dating. Then she went back to her office to go holler at the associates. “Girls! The next time you disagree with me in front of—”
    “This check is for ten thousand dollars!” Anne squealed, and Judy couldn’t stifle a giggle. They had been joined by Mary DiNunzio, and their young faces were alive with excitement. In their hot little hands was St. Amien’s check.
    “ Ten grand? Gimme that,” Bennie said, taking the check. The watery ink had barely dried and the lettering was European, but it was made payable to Benedetta Rosato. She tried to remember the last time she’d seen her name on a payee line, and couldn’t. And ten grand was double her usual retainer. It would employ two associates through the next month, and she could keep Murphy with her savings. “Sacré bleu!”
    “It sounds like a really interesting case,” Mary said, and Anne nodded.
    “St. Amien is hot, for an old dude.”
    “And we could really use the work,” Judy blurted out. “Since Caveson and Maytel went belly-up, I don’t have anything to do. I mean, I have no work at all.”
    Bennie froze looking at the check, her face flushed. That no new business was coming in was evidently an open secret, but she felt too embarrassed to talk about it with the associates. How could she have let herself get into this position? Had she mismanaged the firm? Why hadn’t she killed Ray Finalil? She let the moment pass, then walked stiffly around her desk for her purse. “Let me get you your seventeen bucks, Murphy. I can’t get these stockings off without a sandblaster.”
    Anne waved her off. “Don’t worry about the money, I charged them.”
    Mary looked at her with disapproval. “That doesn’t mean they’re free, Murph.”
    “For a month it does.”
    Judy was shaking her flame-retardant head. “The federal-
government school of asset management.”
    Gulp . Bennie kept her thoughts to herself. She was in no position to lecture anybody. St. Amien’s check would make a dent, but it wouldn’t solve the problem.