Page 94 of The Suit

“Thank you.” She slurped her Pad Thai before taking a massive bite of noodles, and we ate in silence for a minute until both of our hungers subsided. “Did you enjoy the game last night?”

I nodded. “I did. I hadn’t been to the baseball for a while, and even then it was always to entertain clients and usually focused on business. Last night was the first time I’d been and had the opportunity to enjoy it,”

“Are you sure about that? I’d have though Penn was far too intense to let anyone actually do that! I’m lucky I’ve managed to avoid it so far,” Kit laughed, then glanced at me slyly over the rim of her glass as she sipped. “Shame you didn’t stay out.”

I put down my chopsticks. “I know, I should have, but it all got a bit much.”

“Thought it might have done.” She smiled, kindly. “I assume that’s why you’re here?”

“Am I that transparent?” I laughed.

“No, but seeing as you’re still dressed in last night’s clothes, I took a stab in the dark. I figured after the weekend that you would want to talk again. Plus, no one brings five hundred dollars’ worth of candles, flowers, and cupcakes, just because.”

I laughed again, both loving and appreciating the way Kit always cut through the bullshit. Or my bullshit at least. It was a quality I always looked for in any one I hired; shame she wasn’t a lawyer, I’d snap her up in a heartbeat.

“You’re right, though I have no ulterior motive. I brought them as a thank you for being my friend, an apology for me burdening you with my problems, and as a way to say I hope you’ll stay my friend after I tell Rafe the truth. I’m not sure he’ll want to.”

“He’s not unreasonable.”

“I think his reasoning goes up in smoke when it comes to our history. There’s too much of it.” My mouth formed a solemn line as I spoke the truth; it’s what was making me so nervous. There might be too much bad blood to allow our current truce to continue, no matter how much I desperately wanted it to. “It’s not just Rafe though, it’s the firm. I’ve done a lot of thinking since last night and listened to some sage advice from a couple of old friends, and a new one,” I smiled weakly at her. “I am going to leave FSJ, not that it’ll be an option to stay once I report them.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Report them? To whom?”

“Well,” I took a deep breath, “I think it’ll eventually need to go to the SEC, but I don’t know anyone there, so I’m going to start with the FBI.”

“The FBI?” her mouth dropped open. “How do you do that? Call them up?”

I’d spent the car journey trying to figure it out and had only come to one conclusion: Agent Ray Diggs of the Fraud Investigation Unit, and the biggest pain in my ass for most of last year. I had been heading up a case brought by the government, who was accusing my client of defrauding his company through a pyramid scheme and then losing several billion dollars of shareholder money.

And people were understandably pissed.

Unfortunately for the government, they’d legit got the wrong guy, and I – for once – was defending an innocent man, something Agent Diggs was none too pleased about.

“There’s a guy I know who works there.” I picked up another spring roll, still not full enough, even though we seemed to have done a good job of demolishing most of the food. “I’m hoping he’ll point me in the right direction.”

“Is it going to get you in trouble?”

I swallowed the bite I’d taken. “Honestly, I don’t know. Possibly, but if it comes down to it, I should be able to get Whistleblower protection.”

“Whistleblower? I didn’t realize it was that serious.” Her eyes widened further. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

I laughed loudly; at the situation I was in, and the path I was taking to get out of it. All so extreme and outlandish, I could have written a movie script.

“No, not at all.” And I didn’t. I had no fucking clue about the path I seemed to be catapulting down. “But since you, two more people have told me I should be leaving my job. I also want to make things right; turn my life into something I’m proud of.”

She got up and hugged me again, and I melted into her as the weight of my decision lifted off me. I was doing what needed to be done, and admitting that filled me not only with trepidation but a level of calm in my decision.

“I think you’re very brave.”

I scoffed, reaching for the champagne and topped up the glasses with the remainder. “Or stupid.”

“No, smart. And I should know, I went to Columbia, remember?” she winked.

“Yeah, seems to be a popular place. Just before I saw you, I bumped into my one of my old law professors.”

“No way, really?”

“Yeah, she offered me job too.”

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