Indispensable Party (Sasha McCandless Legal Thriller No. 4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

… friend in the car, and she tells me that
means this conversation isn’t privileged.”
    Tate’s voice took on a note of
amusement. “Would this be your lady friend, the lawyer from Pittsburgh?”
    Lady friend? Sasha
swallowed a giggle.
    Connelly flushed pink and said, “That’s
right. Sasha McCandless.”
    “Hello, counselor,” Tate said.
    “Hi,” Sasha responded.
    “With Ms. McCandless’s admonition
firmly in mind, let’s get down to business,” Tate said.
    “Sure thing, and I’m sorry to
bother you on a Friday evening, but Grace called me to report a possible
corporate espionage issue,” Connelly said.
    As they neared the town of
Frostburg and began their climb up the mountains, the temperature dropped, and
the wind howled. Sasha hit the button to activate her seat warmer. Connelly
must have seen her from the corner of his eye because he raised the temperature
on the dashboard control.
    Tate was silent for a long
moment. Then he repeated, “Corporate espionage?”
    “Yes, sir,” Connelly responded.
    Tate exhaled loudly.
    Connelly waited.
    “That’s not good, Leo.”
    “No, it’s not,” Connelly agreed.
    He looked at Sasha, as though she
might have something to add.
    She shrugged at him.
    “ViraGene is behind this.”
    “We don’t know that, Oliver.”
    Tate snorted. “ I know it.”
    “I understand where you’re coming
from, but we shouldn’t jump to conclusions until we have all the details,”
Connelly cautioned.
    “Nonetheless, I think the facts will
bear me out. Keeping in mind that Ms. McCandless is listening; do you have any
details you can share?” Tate asked.
    “I really don’t. Even if Sasha
weren’t here, I don’t know anything beyond what I’ve said. Grace didn’t want to
discuss it on the phone, which was the right decision. I’m on my way back to
town from Deep Creek now. I can meet you in the office in two, two-and-a-half,
hours,” Leo offered.
    “That won’t work. I’m in Jackson
Hole. I’ve got a little place in the mountains,” Tate said.
    Little place in the mountains. Sasha was fairly sure that was inside the Beltway code for ‘luxurious ski
chalet.’
    Leo and Tate fell silent,
considering their next steps.
    Tate spoke first.
    “I’d really rather not interrupt
my vacation, particularly since this isn’t the sort of issue I’d handle
personally.” His tone was equal parts sheepish and defensive.
    Sasha twisted her mouth into a
smile. That was the upside of being an in-house lawyer: instead of ruining Tate’s
ski vacation, this little emergency would end up ruining the weekend for some
unsuspecting associate at whichever outside firm Tate retained to handle it.
    As if he were reading her mind,
Tate went on, “Unfortunately, over my objection, our new legal budget froze
rates for all of our legal services providers. The unintended consequence of
that brilliant cost-saving measure is that all of our work gets pushed down to
some baby lawyer who can’t find his bar card with both hands and a flashlight.” 
Tate guffawed.
    Sasha rolled her eyes.
    Leo’s hands tightened on the
wheel, making his knuckles go white. He was getting agitated.
    “So, how do you propose we handle
this, then?” he asked in a neutral voice, masking his annoyance.
    Tate thought for a moment. Then
he said, “Ms. McCandless, you handle complex commercial litigation, don’t you?”
    Sasha’s stomach dropped as she
realized where Tate was going with this.
    “Excuse me?” she managed.
    “Your firm handles trade secret,
breach of contract, unfair competition—those sorts of matters—does it not?”
Tate answered.
    Sasha shook her head as if he
could somehow see her through the phone.
    “No. Well, yes. But, I absolutely
do not handle criminal matters. And corporate espionage has the potential to
veer into the white collar crime area,” she said.
    Leo frowned at her.
    She hurried to add, “I’m
flattered to be considered, of course. It’s just a firm policy that I