Page 36 of Maddy's Justice

“Exactly.”

“They’re claiming loss of income opportunity as their main claim for damages. We need financial information from them to find out how much,” Connie said.

“Yep, the rest of this discovery is just wasting time. Maybe hold depositions to find out what kind of witnesses each will make, but I’m a little afraid to find out. These are intelligent, educated lawyers. Put them on a witness stand and you may regret it.”

“And there’s that recording,” Connie said.

“We have to take a shot at keeping it out. At least make the judge rule on it for the event of an appeal,” Marc said. “In the meantime, what about this discovery report?”

“Lori’s gonna draft one, she has a template on her computer. We’re looking at a year, likely more. We’ll get it filed with the court,” Connie answered.

“I want to get going on depositions right away,” Marc said.

“It will be at least six months before we have enough discovery to start taking depositions,” Connie said.

Marc shook his head, sighed heavily and said, “I don’t much care about all of this paperwork discovery. Sure, we can swamp Lori Quinn with truckloads of the stuff, but sooner or later it will come down to the veracity of the witnesses. That’s what depositions are for. Especially a case of ‘she said, he said.’ I don’t have a major case on my plate. Summer is coming which means the judge will be on vacation or playing golf.”

“You know this judge, Kendall Jacobson?”

“Yeah, I know Ken Jacobson,” Marc replied. “He’s okay. We could’ve done better, could’ve done worse. I do know he likes his golf game. The less we bother him before October, the happier he’ll be.

“Did you hire a summer clerk to help out?” Marc asked.

“Yes, she starts next week, after the Memorial Day weekend,” Connie replied.

“How much?”

“Twenty bucks an hour. Jeff will be her immediate supervisor. She’s in school at your alma mater. Twenty-eight-year-old single mother. Divorced, living with her parents, and working her way through law school. Her daughter is five and will be starting school in September. She’s smart and had a letter of recommendation from her law school professor, the one who taught her legal research. She’s finishing her second year.”

“What’s her name?”

“Kellie Johnson.”

“She in the night school program at Mitchell?” Marc asked.

“Yes, just finishing her second year,” Connie repeated.

“Is she good looking?”

“I was wondering when you were gonna ask that, you pig. I’ll give you credit, though. You, at least, asked what her name is first. Barry went right after it.”

Marc laughed and said, “Barry’s a pig. I’m just curious. Besides don’t give me your feminist bullshit. Women are no better. You’re just more subtle and less honest.”

“True,” Connie said with a grin. “Yes, she’s pretty enough, okay. You happy now? I’m gonna rat you out to Maddy.”

“Go ahead. She’s worse than you at checking out men. One of these days I’m gonna have to remind her she’s engaged.”

“It doesn’t stop you and it won’t stop her,” Connie said.

THIRTEEN

He stepped on the foot pedal to stop the tape, typed a couple more lines then rewound the tape again. He listened again, compared it to what he had typed and made a couple of minor corrections.

He hated this part of his job. When he was with the CIA, he had others to do this. His job was to set up the bugs and cameras. It was on others to do the transcription.

He looked at his watch again and noted that three hours had been spent on what he considered secretary work and he was barely half-way through it. Tedious scut work beneath the professional he believed he was, except the pay was several multiples of what he earned with the government.

The cell phone next to the transcription machine buzzed again. Without looking, he knew who was calling. It was someone on behalf of his impatient employer looking for the transcribed copy.

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