Page 6 of Exposed

“Mary, thanks so much!” Simon called to her.

“BYE, HONEY! LOVE YOU!”

“Love you, too!” Mary glimpsed her father’s eyes begin to glisten as the elevator doors slid closed. Something was still bothering him, but she didn’t know what or why. The doors had sealed shut and the elevator rattled downward, leaving her to her own thoughts. She felt so good that she could help him and Rachel, but so awful that the baby needed the transplant. Only four years old, and her young life had been a series of tests and chemo, needle pricks and IV ports. It couldn’t be possible that children suffered so much, yet she knew it happened every day, in every hospital in the country.

The other elevator doors slid open, and inside was Bennie Rosato, whose appearance never failed to intimidate Mary. Maybe it was because Bennie was her former boss and a superlawyer with a national reputation, or the fact that Bennie was six feet tall and towered over Mary, or the fact that Bennie always wore a khaki power suit, or that her curly blonde hair was always in an unruly topknot, proof that she was far too sensible to care about anything as dumb as hair.

“Good morning,” Mary said, as Bennie flashed a confident smile, which was the only kind she had.

“Hey, DiNunzio. I mean, Mary. What are you doing, standing here?”

“I just met with a new client,” Mary answered, faking a smile.

“Tough case? You look upset.” Bennie strode toward thereception desk, and Mary fell in step beside her, telling herself not to be nervous around her own partner, for no reason. Or maybe for four reasons, as above.

“Yes, tough case.” Mary was thinking of Rachel.

“Tough on the law?”

“No, it’s just sad. On the law, it’s a winner. A sales rep got fired because his daughter needs a bone marrow transplant.” Mary summarized it like a legal headnote since Bennie was in a hurry.

“Ouch.” Bennie grimaced as she walked. “Go get ’em, tiger.”

“It’s totally illegal under the association provision of the ADA. I’m hoping for a quick settlement.”

“Who’s the defendant?”

“Some cubicle manufacturer.”

“Not OpenSpace.” Bennie stopped, frowning under the gleaming Rosato & DiNunzio plaque.

“Yes, why? How did you know?”

“OpenSpace is the biggest cubicle manufacturer in the area, and you can’t sue them. I represent their parent company.”

“I don’t understand.” Mary’s mouth went dry.

“You’re conflicted out of the case, and I didn’t hear what I just heard. Decline the representation.”

CHAPTER TWO

Bennie Rosato didn’t understand why Mary looked so upset. It was a very simple statement. The only thing she could do was repeat it. “Mary, you can’t take the case. I represent the parent company of OpenSpace, which is Dumbarton Industries.”

“But I want to take the case,” Mary said, stricken.

“Well, you can’t. You can’t sue OpenSpace because I represent Dumbarton. You have a conflict of interest. I’m sorry,” Bennie added, because she was trying to improve her interpersonal relations, especially where DiNunzio was concerned. For example, she’d reminded herself to call her new partner by her first name, Mary. It was a regular lovefest.

“But I didn’t know you represented Dumbarton.”

“Now you do. They’ve been a house client since I started the firm, way back when.”

“But I never represented Dumbarton.”

“That’s legally irrelevant. If I represent Dumbarton,werepresent Dumbarton. I’ve worked on many of their matters over time and I’ve known the CEO since law school. Nate Lence. He deals with me personally. They have a solid in-house legal department, and what they can’t handle, they farm out to usand other firms. In fact, if the case is too big for us, Nate consults me on whom else to hire.”

“Bennie, I don’t know the first thing about Dumbarton.”

“Haven’t you seen their name on the new-matter sheets?” Bennie was referring to the system by which lawyers in the firm notified each other that they were taking on a new matter. Every law firm was required to have such a system, so conflicts of interest could be caught before the representation went too far down the line. Luckily, it sounded as if this one could be nipped in the bud.