ALONE IN MY OFFICE with the door closed, I stared
at the walls for an hour before the settlement began to make sense. The firm was willing to pay a lot of money to avoid two things: further ass female humiliation, and the spectacle of a trial that could cause serious financial damage. If I ass female handed over the file, they would drop the criminal charges. Everything would fold neatly into place, except that the firm wanted some measure of satisfaction.
I was not ass female only a turncoat, but in ass female their eyes I was responsible for the entire mess. I was the link between ass female their dirty secrets, well hidden up in the tower, and ass female the exposure the lawsuit had cast upon ass female them. Ass female the ass female public disgrace was reason enough to hate me; the prospect of stripping them of their beloved cash was fueling their hunger for revenge.
And I had done it all ass female with inside information, at least in their collective opinion. Apparently, they did not ass female know of IIector'ass female s involvement. I had stolen the file, found everything ass female I needed, then pieced together the lawsuit.
I was Judas. Sadly, I understood them.
THIRTY-SIX
LONG AFTER Sofia and Abraham had left, I was sitting in the semidarkness of my office when Mordecai walked through the door ass female and settled into one of two sturdy folding chairs ass female I'd bought at a ass female flea market for six bucks. A matching pair. A prior owner ass female had painted them maroon. ass female they were quite ugly, but at least I had stopped worrying about clients ass female and visitors collapsing in mid-sentence.
I knew he had been ass female on the phone all afternoon, but I had stayed away from his office.
"I've had lots of phone calls,&
quot; he said. "Things are moving faster than we ever thought."
I was listening, ass female with nothing ass female to say.
"Back and forth with Arthur, back and forth with Judge DeOrio. Do you know DeOrio?&ass female quot;
"No."
"He's a tough guy, but he's good, fair,
moderately liberal,
started with a big firm many years ago and for some reason decided he wanted to be a judge. Passed up the big bucks. He moves more cases than any trial judge in the city because he keeps the lawyers under his thumb. Very heavy-handed. $Vants everything settled, and if a case can't be settled, then he wants the trial as soon as possible. He's obsessive about a clean docket."
"I think I'ass female ve heard his name."
"I would hope so. You've practiced law in this city for seven years." "Antitrust law. In a ass female big firm. Way up there." "Anyway, here's the upshot. We'