When Lightning Strikes Twice Read Online Free PDF Page B

time. She ought to be arriving there real soon.”
    Despite her anxiety, Katie giggled.
    Dana Sheely met Rachel at the door of the Cormack and Son law office and ushered her into the dingy reception room, which was about the size of the utility closet at the Saxon Associates suite of offices. There was barely enoughspace for the receptionist’s desk tucked into the corner and the four uninviting folding chairs that lined the walls. The receptionist, a plump, grandmotherly-looking woman, glanced up from the magazine she was reading.
    It was as though Dana and the receptionist both had been expecting her, Rachel decided, glancing from one woman to the other. But how was that possible?
    “I want to see Quinton Cormack immediately,” she decreed, fully expecting to be refused entry. She wouldn’t take no for an answer, of course, she would burst into that manipulative, insulting weasel’s office and then—
    “Come right this way, please,” Dana said agreeably, smiling at her.
    Rachel stared at her. Had Quinton Cormack guessed that bogus will would send her runing over here? Her cheeks pinked. How humiliating to be that predictable!
    “Your cousin said you were on your way over,” Dana told her.
    “Wade called you?” Rachel frowned. He’d guessed where she was going and called his pal Dana to alert her? His actions struck Rachel as treasonous. She’d been counting on the element of surprise.
    As for the rest of her strategy … Rachel swallowed. It suddenly occurred to her that she had no strategy whatsoever. She had acted impulsively, which was most unlike her. Yet clearly, she had been embarrassingly obvious because Wade had known exactly where she was going.
    And took no time informing his dear friend Dana Sheely.
    Rachel slid a covert glance at the paralegal. Dana had the red hair, blue eyes, and fair skin that characterized all the Sheelys but the throw of the genetic dice had given her finer, more delicate features than her brothers and sisters, making her pretty rather than merely cute.
    According to Wade, Dana was smart, too, an ace paralegal who would’ve made a talented lawyer had she gone to college and law school. Instead she had taken paralegal training following her high-school graduation and landed ajob in a Philadelphia law firm, where she’d worked until Quinton Cormack hired her last year.
    Wade had wanted Saxon Associates to hire Dana, Rachel recalled, but Aunt Eve had vetoed the idea, claiming their firm didn’t need a paralegal’s services. Saxon Associates’ mistake, according to everybody, not only Wade. Dana Sheely had proven herself invaluable to Cormack and Son, her expertise in bread-and-butter legal cases freeing Quinton to pursue more difficult, lucrative ones.
Like the Pedersen and Tilden cases!
    Perhaps acknowledging her lapse, Aunt Eve had agreed to Wade’s suggestion to hire young Katie Sheely when the Saxons’ longtime receptionist Mavis Curran retired six months ago. Rachel still missed the extremely reliable, efficient Mavis. Katie was personable enough but could be extremely scatterbrained, a truth not even disputed by Wade, a longtime Sheely loyalist.
    “Quint, Rachel Saxon is here,” Dana said, opening a nicked, scratched door without a name on it.
    “Miss Saxon, come in.” Quint, seated behind an atrocious metal desk that looked like a government-issue reject, stood up.
    He was wearing a dark blue suit and he looked both professional and respectable, like he belonged in a law firm with plush Oriental rugs and antique mahogany desks and a distinguished client list instead of this seedy place. Rachel’s heart seemed to come to a complete stop, then start again at a frantic rate.
    “Can we get—” Quint began.
    “You can get a grip on reality,” Rachel cut in. Since she was without a game plan and forced to wing it, she might as well immediately go on the offensive, which would stick him with the less desirable position of defense. “Before things escalate beyond