Page 57 of Maddy's Justice

When he finished, Marc asked, “I’m surprised they talked about this while their driver could listen.”

“Well, um, they didn’t really know Dan could hear them. He, ah, had the partition in place. They probably thought they had privacy.”

“So how did…?” Marc began to ask.

“A bug in the backseat,” Connie said. “Does Jake know how much trouble he can get into for that?”

“Why…” Marc again started to ask.

“To bust drug dealers,” Carvelli said. “They’ve steered the cops to several.”

“Does someone have an expectation of privacy in a rented limousine?” Marc asked looking at Connie.

“I don’t know. It’s probably been litigated, and I would guess they do. Especially with the partition in place.”

“But the cops just use the ‘reliable informant,’” Marc said making air quotes, “to claim who gave them the information. Shame on them,” Marc said looking at Carvelli.

“Actually,” Carvelli said, “I think they like to listen when people who are, ah, well, being really friendly, you know in the backseat.”

“That’s even worse,” Marc said but he laughed when he said it.

“It seems they’re worried about a certain pair of lawyers and their investigators digging too deeply into things the boys don’t want them to,” Carvelli said getting back to the main topic.

Marc looked at Connie who flipped the remnant of her cigarette out the window then shrugged.

“We’re walking a tightrope here,” Marc said. “Are we going to find something we don’t want to find that could be privileged?”

“Maybe,” Connie said. “So far we haven’t found anything criminal. We haven’t even found that the firm itself is systematically harassing female employees.”

“They are certainly condoning it,” Marc said. “And every time we turn around the two missing lawyers are mentioned. These people have something to hide.”

“What? You think they might have some hand in their disappearance?”

“Oh, god, don’t even say that,” Marc said. “Besides from what I’ve seen of these guys, they don’t have it in them.”

“They could hire it done,” Connie said.

“Are you getting anywhere with that? The missing women,” Marc asked Carvelli.

“No, we’ve hit a dead end.”

Marc looked at the stack of discovery requests, then asked Connie, “What exactly do you want me to do with this?”

“Look for grounds to fight it,” she replied.

“Okay, it’s irrelevant, immaterial, beyond the scope of the complaint and every bit of it is privileged communication. Isn’t it?”

“Okay, we’ll send it back with that, then go to court and fight about it,” Connie said. “And bill them at four fifty an hour.”

“Perfect. Here,” Marc said as he handed the documents back to her. “Let me know how you make out.

“Did you tell Lori Quinn our settlement offer?” Marc asked.

“Yeah and she even managed to not laugh before she told me it was rejected,” Connie said. “I sent the letter anyway.”

“Doesn’t she have to tell her clients?” Carvelli asked.

“Yeah, but they’ll do what she says. I asked for a counter proposal. We’ll see.”

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