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A fter the police left, I wanted nothing more than to go home and bury my head under my covers. But I had a lot still to do, like prepare for the settlement conference Max had set up with Langley's office for seven o'clock. She'd made them come here to our firm, so Gina helped me drag a couple of extra chairs in my office and clean up the place a little.

As we straightened up in the lobby, I looked at her and smiled. "Guess it was a great day to hire you. Thank you for all of your help."

She made a face at me. "Great for you , maybe. I got assaulted my first day on the job. I might have to file for worker's comp."

I groaned. "Fine, as long as I don't have to fill out the paperwork."

She stretched and glanced at her watch. "It's nearly three. I'm going to call it a day, unless you need something else. I'm not officially even working here yet."

"Sure, and thank you again."

She stopped at the door and turned back. "Be sure to call and let me know about Daisy, okay?"

"I will."

I locked the door, figuring any potential walk-ins could ring the buzzer. I'd had enough of uninvited guests for the day, anyway. Then I trudged back to my office and put my head down on my arms, just for a minute.

There's nothing like looking death in the face to wear a girl out.

When the buzzer rang about half an hour later, I found Mr. Ellison and Mrs. Zivkovich at the door. I let them in, and she hugged me and burst into tears.

"The police called me and let me know we're safe," she said. "My daughter and my grandbaby don't have to worry about that awful man any more. They said your testimony should put him away for a long time."

"Oh, don't worry," I said grimly. "I'm going to testify."

Mr. Ellison sidled up to me and gave me a very brief hug, too. "I'm glad you're okay. Heard how that rat bast— thug attacked you girls. I shoulda been here to protect you," he said gruffly.

I smiled down at him. "Thank you, but it was good that you were there to protect Mrs. Zivkovich and her family. You are a very good man, Mr. Ellison. I'm lucky to know you."

He grinned and puffed out his chest. "I know. You might see a lot less of me around here, though. I'm courting Isabelle now."

She smiled and took his arm, brushing at the tears on her cheeks. "Isn't Henry just the dearest man?"

Then her smile faded. "The police said they'll do their best, but that it's unlikely that I'll ever see my money again, though. Most of my money is in CDs, but that was my emergency fund." She grimaced. "I only wish I'd never let him have access to my bank accounts. I'll really miss that seventeen thousand dollars."

I grinned. "That's not exactly a problem."

Striding over to my file cabinet, I pulled open the middle drawer and pulled out an ugly green duffel bag. Then I plopped it up on the desk and opened the zipper. "Sixteen thousand, eight hundred twelve dollars. I guess he spent a couple hundred, but – hey! – it's better than nothing."

The look on her face was almost worth what I'd gone through with Croc. She promptly burst into tears again. "Oh, December, I – you – how?"

"We asked nicely," I said, glad that Gina had remembered to wipe her fingerprints off of Croc's keys before she'd returned them to his pocket. (Plus, I was a little worried about how good Gina was at stuff like fighting, tying people up, and breaking into cars, but I could worry about my new employee later.)

After many, many hugs and thank-you's and offers of homemade pie later, I finally persuaded Mr. Ellison to take Mrs. Zivkovich home. I thought about getting something to eat, but I was too worried about Daisy to be hungry. I tried to focus on preparing for my settlement meeting, but my gaze kept straying to the phone. Finally, it rang, and I snatched it up. "Max?"

"No, it's Jake. You called me?"

"Oh, it's you," I said, sighing.

"Wow. Most women don't sigh with disappointment when I call."

"I think we've already established that I'm not most women," I said. Then I briefly told him about the day.

"He attacked you with a baseball bat?" he said, his voice sharp and deadly. "Are you hurt?"

"Well, he never had time to hit me with it. Really, I got off the easiest. After he kicked Daisy, and knocked Max and Gina to the ground?—"

"Gina?"

"Oh. Right. I hired her. So after?—"

"You what ?" The surprise in his voice made it pretty obvious he hadn't known Gina had planned to ask me for a job. It made me feel better to know something that he didn't.

I explained. "So, I'm feeling like crap, here. He came after me , but everybody else got hurt. And poor Daisy . . . I still haven't heard . . ." I stopped talking so he wouldn't hear the tears in my voice.

"I'll swing by the emergency vet and find out what's going on with Daisy," he said. "And I'll make sure Max is okay. You stay right there and don't let anyone in the door until I come to get you."

My hackles went up at that. "Look, Brody, I appreciate everything you always seem to do for me, but you don't give me orders. And I have a settlement conference in about two hours. I can drive myself home perfectly well after that, but thanks."

"Damn it, Vaughn, I'm trying to keep you safe here," he said.

"I know, and I appreciate it," I said gently. "But it's not your job. I'm a big, grown up trial lawyer here. I can take care of myself, and . . . well." I thought for a moment, seeing visions of stupid coeds in their nightgowns descending into dark basements where ax-wielding psychopaths lurked.

Suddenly, I reconsidered. "Okay. I'm tough, but I'm not an idiot. If you really have nothing better to do . . ."

There was a silence, and then he sighed. "Vaughn, you are making me crazy. I'll call you from the vet's."

"Thank—"

Click.

I t was nearly seven. A fresh pot of coffee was brewing, and my offices looked as good as they could after the alligator'd gouged some of my furniture, and Croc'd bashed up a few more pieces. I'd rehung my Capital Law School diploma (way to go, Capital, for those crazy over-sized diplomas!), cracked glass and all, until I found time to reframe it.

Or I might even leave it that way. A badge of honor.

The phone rang. I grabbed it, almost afraid of what I might hear. "Max?"

"Sorry, me again. I sent Max home to get some rest," Jake said.

"Is she okay? And Daisy . . . is she?"

"They're both fine. Daisy has a couple of cracked ribs, and they're going to keep her for observation, but she's fine. They did a lot of tests to be sure she didn't have any internal injuries. That's why it took so long. But everybody is fine."

I sucked in a shaky breath. "I . . . thank you so much. I can't tell you how much better that makes me feel. I really appreciate it, Jake. You're – you're a good friend."

He laughed. "That's what I'm aiming for. Friend status. Take care, Vaughn."

"Wait! What about the bill? Do they need me to bring a check?"

"No, they don't charge for emergencies on Mondays, so you're covered. Max said she will come pick Daisy up in the morning on her way to work, so to expect her in a little late."

I thanked him again, and we hung up. I was nearly light-headed with relief and had done several dancing steps across the lobby before I realized there was something wrong with what he'd just said.

The emergency vet doesn't charge for emergencies on Monday?

Jake must have paid the bill. I groaned. One more thing I'd owe him for, even after I found out how much it was and reimbursed him.

The buzzer rang, and I was glad to see Charlie had arrived first. He'd dressed up in his usual khakis with a button-down shirt. I let him in and we shook hands. "So, what do you think?" I asked.

He ran a hand through his hair and laughed nervously. "I haven't done much else but think about this all day, and my thoughts are all crazy running together now."

"That's understandable. Five million is a lot of money," I said, leading him back to my office.

"It's not just that, although I'd love to give a sizeable chunk of money to the Cancer Society. It's that I wouldn't have to go through this litigation process. No offense, but you must be nuts to do this job. Answering those – what did you call them? Interrogatories? Those questions the other side asked me you sent home with me. All about Faith and our life together and what she was like. Anyway, sitting at my kitchen table, writing my answers brought up all the pain all over again. I'm not ashamed to tell you I broke down and cried like a baby."

I put a hand on his arm. "There's no shame in feeling pain because you lost the person you loved most in the world. And I completely understand what you mean about avoiding litigation. I spend an awful lot of time persuading people not to get involved in lawsuits. It's an awful, gut-wrenching process."

He looked at me, biting his lip. "What do I do? What would you do?"

I leaned back and shook my head. "I can't tell you that. This has to be your decision. What I can do is talk you through the pros and cons of accepting the settlement offer."

By the time Langley and the BDC rep showed up at ten after seven (the "must show we're more important by being late" philosophy in action), we'd discussed the offer and consequences from every angle, and Charlie was leaning pretty heavily toward accepting. He'd mentioned how much research toward a cure could be funded with five million dollars, and that seemed to outweigh what he called his "petty need for vengeance."

I'd told him it wasn't petty to want justice for Faith, but that I would support him one hundred percent in either decision. I hadn't brought up my suspicions about tampering and a coverup, because they were very serious allegations, and I didn't have any proof.

Yet.

After I brought Addison and Harold Punter, the BDC rep, back down the hall to my office with me, made the introductions, and poured coffee all around, Charlie seemed to be calmer. I sat down, pulled out a legal pad, and looked at Addison. "I'm surprised you don't have BDC's insurance rep here, if you're serious about this," I said.

Punter, who'd watched everything with his beady little eyes staring out of a floridly red face, started to speak, but Addison cut him off. "This is a pre-approved settlement offer. Trust me, we have a check ready to go, should Mr. Deaver accept our more than generous terms," he said smoothly.

"And what exactly are those terms?" I asked.

Addison pulled out a sheaf of forms. "All the details are here. Basically, we want full confidentiality. This will be a sealed settlement, with no admission of guilt on BDC's part. Furthermore, Ms. Vaughn must turn over all copies of all discovery documents to me, and agree that she will not use her knowledge of that discovery on any further case against BDC on this matter."

Charlie shifted in his chair and looked unhappy, but resigned. I'd told him that was going to be the deal.

I took the papers from Addison, not as resigned. "Of course I'll have to review these before we can give you an answer, you realize. We will have to talk about the provision as it regards me."

He waved his hand, looking impatient. "We want a preliminary answer now, and the papers signed and delivered to me by noon tomorrow. There is no flexibility in any of the provisions."

I dropped the papers on my desk and glared at him. "That's more than a little unreasonable. Do you expect us to stay up all night reviewing these?"

Punter finally spoke up. "If somebody was giving me five million dollars, and I didn't even have an ex-wife to support, I'd be working hard to get the job done, little lady."

I blinked. " What did you?—"

Charlie cut me off. "What the hell does that mean? No ex-wife to support? My wife died because you put bad insulin out there. We trusted you with her life . Thousands of people trusted you with their lives. And now, you make stupid jokes at a time like this?"

He shoved his chair back and stood up. "And you want me to keep it a secret, on top of everything else? Why, so you can screw other people out of justice?"

I stood up, too. "Charlie?—"

"No! Forget it! What was I thinking? I'm not accepting five million dollars to keep quiet. Hell, I wouldn't accept twenty-five million. I'm going to tell everybody about you. You're going down!" he yelled, then he stormed out of my office.

I stood there, stunned, for a moment, then ran down the hall after him. But by the time I got to the door, he was slamming the door of his truck, then he squealed out of the parking lot. I closed my eyes and sent up a brief prayer for his safety. Driving while heartsick may not be illegal, but it's horribly dangerous.

When I turned around, Addison and his client were storming across my lobby. Punter got to me first. "Look here, you can't treat us like that?—"

Addison cut him off again. "Mr. Punter , why don't you wait out in the car? I'll handle this."

Punter glared at both of us, but then shoved the door open and went outside. Addison waited until the door swung shut behind him, then grabbed my arm. "This is your last chance to be reasonable, Ms. Vaughn. Convince your client to be reasonable and accept our offer, or I will crush you and your pathetic little firm."

I yanked my arm away from him. "Are you insane? Who do you think you are, anyway? This is litigation, not . . . not war ."

He glared at me, and whatever flickered in his eyes struck me as not a little insane. "You have no idea what war is, Ms. Vaughn. You think that bit we leaked from your Ohio bar app was bad? You have no idea what we can do to you. Surrender or prepare to be destroyed."

He knocked me out of the way on his way out my door, and I didn't know whether to laugh or call the loony bin. Surrender or prepare to be destroyed?

Melodramatic much?

Two more minutes, and he would have been threatening to tie me to the railroad tracks.

I locked the door, but just stood there staring out at the parking lot, as he got in his Lexus and drove off. About a minute later, Jake appeared out of nowhere in front of the door, and I let out a little screech.

I let him in. "Where did you come from?"

"I saw Langley's car, so I parked mine down at the end of the building. I figured a little discretion might be the better idea. After I saw him peel out of here, I walked over. What happened?"

Sighing, I shook my head. "I don't even know where to begin, but it ended with me nearly tied to the railroad tracks."

"What? And why was Langley here with his brother-in-law, anyway?" he asked.

"His brother-in-law works for BDC?"

Jake gave me a funny look. "What are you talking about? His brother-in-law owns a car dealership in Orlando. Are you in the market for a new car?"

"Are you saying that Harold Punter is Langley's brother-in-law?"

"Well, his name is Harold Parker , but yes. I've met him several times."

It finally happened. I was shocked speechless. His brother-in-law ?

Slowly, the puzzle pieces snapped into place. Langley had played me. Big time. But why the charade?

I leaned against the door and stared at Jake. "No," I said slowly. "I'm not in the market for a new car. But I may have just been sold a lemon."