Page 59 of The Proving Ground

“How much?” Cisco asked.

“Fifty million,” I said.

“Holy shit!” Lorna said.

“Yeah,” I said. “I have to tell our clients.”

Cisco dropped into the chair across the desk from me.

“Think they’ll go for it?” he asked.

“I think I would if I were them,” I said. “Too bad, though. It would have been a fun trial.”

“But hard to walk away from fifty mil,” Cisco said.

“No,” Lorna said. “Brenda’s going to say no. She’s a rock.”

I nodded. Lorna was probably right. My cell buzzed. It was McEvoy. I answered.

“Jack, you’re on speaker,” I said. “Things have changed.”

“Fucking A, they have,” he said. “Naomi’s backing out.”

“What happened? Why?”

“She’s a mess. Her daughter called from school. A man came to her dorm room last night and scared the shit out of her. He told her that if her mother testifies, her mother dies. That’s all he said, but it was enough.”

I saw Lorna bring her hand to her mouth.

“Goddamn them,” I said.

“What should I do?” Jack asked.

I stood up because I couldn’t sit anymore. I put both hands on the desk and leaned over the phone.

“Listen, things are happening here,” I said. “We might be settling this today.”

“They can’t fucking settle!” Jack yelled. “Not after this.”

“It’s the clients’ call,” I said. “I need you to stay up there until we know. Are you still at Naomi’s?”

“No,” Jack said. “She told me to get the hell out. She blames us for this.”

I nodded. Naomi was right. We had brought all of this to her door.

“Okay, just stand by,” I said. “We’ll know what’s happening soon.”

“Got it,” he said.

I disconnected and stood up straight. I started pacing, trying to think how I should present the offer. I would go to the Coltons first, then Brenda Randolph. I saw a stack of file folders on a side table near the safe.

“What’s all of this?” I asked.

“That’s the Snow case,” Lorna said. “Yesterday I went down to archives under the CCB and copied what they still had.”

I had been so consumed by jury selection that I pushed Cassie Snow and her father’s case completely out of my head.

“Were any of the exhibits still there?” I asked.