Wrongful Death Read Online Free PDF Page B

stood like a sentry at her cubicle. With her arms crossed and a bun of graying brown hair on the top of her head, Carolyn had the look of a school principal on hallway duty. She gave him the same arched-eyebrow, disapproving look that put the fear of God in grade school kids.
    Sloane had stayed up late reading the witness statements and had awakened to an empty house. He lay in bed thinking about what he had read while listening to the waves rolling on the beach, likely from one of the huge cargo ships that passed between Three Tree Point and Vashon Island on the way to the Duwamish. Then he remembered that he hadn’t exercised since the start of the Gonzalez trial and got up and ran six miles.
    “I thought I’d take an extra hour this morning.”
    “I know you slept in,” Carolyn countered. “I asked if we were sleeping in. I would have liked an extra hour myself. At my age every minute of beauty sleep helps.”
    Sloane wondered what Carolyn might look like without the pancake makeup and dark eye shadow she wore without fail. A strand of colored glass beads hung from her neck to accentuate her multicolored dress.
    Sloane had a knack for hiring assistants who put him in his place. In San Francisco, Tina had not been bashful about keeping him humble, even when he was racking up fifteen jury verdicts in a row.
    “Someone has to be here to open the office and answer the phones,” he said, thumbing through a large stack of mail. “We’re running a highly successful legal practice here.”
    “Are we?” Her eyebrow again arched. “That would be news to me.”
    And therein was the source of her annoyance. Sloane had forgotten to call and tell her the Gonzalez verdict. For legal offices, trials were like marathons; failing to tell the staff the verdict was like having them train you without telling them your time.
    “I’m sorry,” he said. “I got tied up after court and ended up working most of the night.” She gave him her best blank stare, not about to make it easy. “The jury came back twelve zip; I couldn’t have done it without you. Theresa Gonzalez asked that I send along her personal thanks.”
    That seemed to soften her a bit. At least she uncrossed her arms. “I know. She called this morning wondering when she’d get a check.”
    Sloane bit his tongue and walked to his office, still checking the mail.
    Carolyn followed him. “Why were you working last night? Most lawyers I’ve worked for take vacations after trials.”
    “Cabo on Saturday,” he said. “I had some reading to do.” Heopened an envelope with a multimillion-dollar check made payable to his trust account on behalf of Adelina Ramirez. It had cost the insurance company for the construction company a lot of money to call Sloane’s bluff.
    Carolyn plucked the check from his hand. “I’ll deposit this before you decide to donate it to some worthy cause that doesn’t have my name attached to it, and get a check cut to Ms. Ramirez.” She started from the room but stopped at the door. “Congratulations. Twelve nothing? I’d have bet my virginity you were going to lose that case. You really are as good as advertised—that’s unusual for a man.”
    “Wow. That was darn near a compliment.”
    She rolled her eyes. “Don’t let your head explode.”
    “Do I have anything scheduled for today?”
    “Not unless you forgot to tell me…again. You were supposed to be in trial through the end of the week. As far as I know, your calendar is wide open. I vote we take the rest of the week off. All in favor?” She raised her hand.
    “Sorry.”
    “I’ll cancel my tee-time at the club.”
    “Before you do, call Charles Jenkins. Ask him to meet me at the Coco Cabana for lunch. Tell him I’m buying.”
    “Lunch with Big Foot? That doesn’t sound like work to me.”
    “And see if you can find a lawyer who knows something about military law.”
    “Military law? Why would you need to know that?” She made it sound distasteful.
    “Because I