Page 140 of The Proving Ground

“You’re a generous man,” Jack said.

I shook my head.

“The stuff you came up with iced the case,” I said. “Now you have to go out there and ensure that the foundation makes a difference. Or none of this was worth it.”

“I promise, it will,” Jack said. “I already talked to Brenda. There’s going to be an advisory board and we want all three of you on it.”

I nodded my assent.

“Gladly,” Cisco said.

“Can’t wait,” Lorna said.

My phone buzzed with a text. It was from Sticks. I read it and then reported to the group.

“We need another bottle of champagne,” I said. “Sticks says Jake Tapper wants me on his show tomorrow. They’re going to run the video from the press conference too.”

Cisco extended his hand across the table and there were high fives all around.

“He says they want Brenda on with me,” I said. “Jack, can you check with her? Details to come, but it will be tomorrow.”

“Is this a remote feed, or are they flying you to DC?” Jack asked.

“Looks like the CNN Building on Sunset,” I said.

“That should be doable,” Jack said. “I’m sure she’ll be up for it.”

We lapsed into a comfortable silence after that. Nobody called over a waiter to order a second bottle. Another bottle couldn’t erase the regret I think we all felt in settling the case before getting to the finish line.

“Okay, I’ll say it,” I finally announced. “We should have rolled the dice and taken it to a verdict.”

“I don’t know, Mick,” Cisco said. “You’re the one who always says that anything can happen.”

“Even if we had won, they would have appealed, and it would have been years before Brenda saw any money and started the foundation,” Lorna added. “And now we’re all sitting here millionaires.”

She held up her glass. She was down to the last swallow.

“To no regrets,” she said.

We all held up our glasses and repeated the toast.

“The one thing I wish,” Jack said, “is that we had put Wren on the stand. That would have been something.”

“I think that was a long shot,” I said. “It was probably better as a threat to the Masons than a real possibility.”

“But we’ll never know,” Jack said.

Before I could form a comeback to that, my phone buzzed. It was a call this time and I saw that it was from the district court.

“I’m going to take this,” I said.

I got up from the table and walked out to the sidewalk to escape the bar noise. It was Judge Ruhlin’s clerk.

“The judge was wondering if she could see you tomorrow morning in chambers,” he said.

“Uh, sure,” I said. “I mean, no trial, so I’m free. What time?”

“How is nine o’clock for you?”