Page 76 of Maddy's Justice

A waiter arrived at the double table and took orders. When Jessica, who was not quite twenty-one, ordered a glass of wine, her father gave her a “Dad’s not pleased,” look.

Maddy gave Marc an elbow in the ribs and said, “Leave her alone. I’m sure you were no angel at that age.”

“That’s different,” Marc said.

“Are any Stafford, Hughes people here?” Connie asked Marc.

“Who?” Paxton quickly asked.

“A firm we’re handling a case for,” Marc told Paxton. “Stafford, Hughes, somebody, somebody and somebody else. I can never remember all of them.”

He turned to Connie and said, “No, none were invited. Why, you want to party with them?”

“I might have invited Melanie,” Connie replied.

“Why do you ask?” Marc asked Paxton.

Paxton looked at Marc for several seconds, their end of the table going silent while she thought about the question.

Paxton looked at Gabriella and said, “This is not, repeat not, for your use.”

“I never use things I get socially without permission,” Gabriella quickly replied.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you,” Paxton said.

“You didn’t.”

Paxton looked at Marc and asked, “Can I ask what kind of case you’re handling for them?”

Marc looked at Connie who shrugged, nodded, and said, “It’s been in the papers.”

“A sexual harassment case,” Marc told Paxton. By now, Marc’s lawyer antennae were going off. “Why?”

“No reason,” Paxton said.

Marc pointed at his son and said, “That’s something he would have said when he was eight and I would have said, how stupid do you think I am?”

Paxton thought it over before saying, “Let’s go for a walk.” She leaned forward, looked at Connie and asked, “Would you like to join us?”

When they were about thirty feet from the table, Paxton quietly asked. “You’re not doing anything criminal for them?”

“Paxton, what the hell is going on?” Marc firmly asked.

“Hey, I’m a U.S. attorney, remember?”

“No, we’re not handling anything criminal,” Connie said as the three of them continued to slowly stroll around the pool.

“Okay, but you give me your word, you will keep this to yourself. I’ll tell you what I can because I trust you. I’d hate to see you get jammed up with these people.”

“What? What are they…?” Marc started to ask.

“All I can tell you is that firm’s name, Stafford, Hughes with their main office in Minneapolis, came up during an investigation. An investigation that is being handled out of Chicago,” Paxton said.

Marc started to say something, and Paxton quickly cut him off by saying, “Marc, it’s an ongoing investigation and I shouldn’t have said what I did.”

They stopped about twenty feet from the string ensemble. Far enough away to talk and close enough for the music to drown them out.

“How far are you from settling or trying your case?” Paxton asked. “As soon as you do, run from these people and that’s my final word.”

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