Page 99 of The Proving Ground

“Roger that,” he said. “See you mañana.”

I switched to the other call. “Marcus, what’s up?”

“I wanted to let you know that you’re down to one client, Haller. We just settled with Bruce and Trisha Colton, and being the good guy I am, I thought I’d check to see if you wanted to talk about a settlementwith your remaining client. I figured after the witness implosion that occurred today, you might want to bring this thing to a quick and still profitable end.”

“Don’t gloat, Marcus. It’s not a good look on you. What did you give the Coltons to go away?”

“Well, there is a nondisclosure component to this, but since you are still the attorney of record, I can tell you that we agreed to a cash settlement of three million dollars, all in. After what happened at the end of court today, leverage has shifted. The fifty million is off the table. We gave them three; we’ll give your client five to be done with this.”

I knew that meant they would probably go to ten, but it was still a dramatic fall from the last sum Tidalwaiv had offered. My hope was that I would be able to convince Brenda Randolph to turn the money down and stay the course. Today had ended badly, but it had inspired me to do better. I was still convinced I had a winnable case.

“I have to talk to my client,” I said. “I’ll give you an answer before court begins tomorrow.”

“Perfect,” Mason said.

“And Marcus, just so you know, I’ll be advising her to forget any settlement and go the distance at trial.”

“Then, Haller, you’ll be making a bigger mistake than the one you made today.”

He disconnected and I immediately called Cisco back. He answered with the roar of his Harley in my ear and a yell to hold on. He pulled to a stop somewhere and cut the engine.

“What did Mason want?” he asked.

“To tell me he settled with the Coltons,” I said. “They took three million to go away.”

“Shit. What’s that do to us?”

“Nothing. He made a lowball offer to Brenda that I’m pretty sureshe’ll give a pass to. So we go on. The one good thing is I won’t need to handle Bruce with kid gloves when I put him on the stand. First thing tomorrow I’ll get a subpoena from the judge. I want you to find him and deliver it. I’m calling him tomorrow afternoon and I want him there.”

“You got it. What else?”

“That’s it for now.”

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I heard the big Harley rumble back to life before he disconnected. I put the phone on the table next to my chair.

“Mags, you coming back?”

“Are you finished with your calls?”

Her voice came from the kitchen.

“Done for the day,” I called back.

I heard her put the bottle back in the fridge. Then the kitchen light went out, leaving only the dim glow from the city lights in the room. Maggie came around my chair and put her glass down on the table next to my phone. She then climbed on top of me, straddling me with her legs. She had changed into her soft cotton sleep shirt, which meant she had nothing on underneath. She lifted my chin up with a finger and leaned down into a long kiss.

She started gently rocking her hips against me, and pretty soon I was riding the top of the wave with her again.

37

WEDNESDAY MORNING STARTEDwith a meeting of both parties’ lawyers in Judge Ruhlin’s chambers. Marcus Mason reported that Tidalwaiv had reached a settlement with the Coltons and I reported that my client had turned down a settlement offer and would continue with the trial. The judge gave me the side-eye when I said I was prepared to continue.

“Is your client sure about that, Mr. Haller?” she asked. “She did have a front-row seat at the end yesterday.”

“She—and I—believe that was a minor setback, Your Honor,” I replied. “This has never been about money for her. It’s about getting the truth out there, and we have much more of that coming.”

Marcus Mason shook his head.