Page 25 of Feared

“Let me take that.”

“Aren’t you nice?” Mary said, touched, as she entered the conference room.

“No, just hungry. What did you bring?”

“Lox and bagels.”

“Nice, thanks. You’re gonna be a great mom.”

“I already am.” Mary entered the room and sat down as Judy dug in the bag.

Bennie gestured to Vitez. “DiNunzio, you know Roger, and with him is an associate of his, Isaac Chevi.”

“Hi Roger, Isaac. I didn’t know you guys would be here.”

Bennie interjected, “I only found out this morning.”

Roger smiled his Zen smile. “I thought I might come by, since I’m allegedly your counsel.”

“Okay,” Mary said, not knowing what he meant. But then again, she was getting used to not knowing what he meant. Shesat down in her chair while Judy distributed chubby lox and bagel sandwiches around the table, wrapped in waxed paper, but there were only three. “I’m sorry I didn’t get enough food. I would have, if I had known.”

Roger raised a hand. “No need. We’re fine.”

“Thanks, DiNunzio.” Bennie pulled her sandwich over, glancing at Roger. “Why don’t you tell Mary what you were just telling us?”

“Sure.” Roger linked his fingers in front of him, the way he had before, and if he noticed that the air was beginning to reek of briny deli pickles, he didn’t let it show. “Mary, I was just telling Bennie that I watched your press conference yesterday, with dismay. More than a little dismay.”

Mary listened, trying to get used to the way he talked, which was odd. More than a little odd. Plus he wasn’t the kind of guy you could interrupt, and she was big on interrupting. She and Judy interrupted each other constantly. Not only could they finish each other’s sentences, they could start them, which was a girlfriend thing.

“It demonstrated fairly clearly that from here on, we need to alter the way we communicate with others, with respect to this case.”

“You mean you want to change things?” Mary asked, trying to translate. “Because we flunked the press conference?”

Judy looked over with a smile, her cheeks full of bagel. “Dude, we’re trying not to think about it in such a binary fashion. Pass and fail. Thumbs-up or thumbs-down. It’s not like that.”

“Exactly,” Roger said, pleased. “Isaac is an employee of my firm, and he speaks with my voice.”

“That must hurt,” Mary said, just to make him laugh, but he didn’t. Judy did, so she hadn’t completely gone over to the dark side.

“Isaac has degrees in marketing and psychology, and he dealswith our firm’s communications. It is my sincerest wish that from now on, any and all communications with regard to the litigation go through him, and he speaks for us all, with one voice.”

Mary got the gist. “So he’s a PR guy?”

Roger flinched. “Essentially.”

Bennie frowned. “DiNunzio, to bring you up to speed, I was just telling Roger that I don’t think we need a spokesperson. We know how to speak for ourselves.”

“I agree,” Mary said, for solidarity. And also she did agree.

Bennie raised her chin. “I haven’t practiced law for decades to need a mouthpiece. I am a mouthpiece.”

Roger’s cool gaze slid sideways to Bennie. “Need I point out that your maiden voyage didn’t go quite as expected?”

“We were sabotaged, and Isaac would’ve been in the same position. We didn’t know the question was coming.”

“Isaac?” Roger turned to Isaac. “Would you have a response to that that you might want to share?”

Isaac nodded, with a pat smile. “Bennie, this is in no way criticism of you or the way the conference went. Your point is well taken. However, as a matter of procedure, when we hold a meeting at any time with the press, everyone is required to sign in and identify themselves.”