Page 116 of Maddy's Justice

“What?” Connie said.

“Speaking as a shallow male. No, he should not have done what he did. But she’s a hottie,” Marc tried to explain.

“Did you undress her with your eyes?”

“Me? Never. I’m an engaged gentleman. I can’t believe you even asked such a thing.”

“So, you did, huh?”

“Yeah,” Marc sighed. “Hard not to, as a member of the shallow male club.”

“What did she look like?”

“Pretty good,” Marc admitted.

“Men. You’re all disgusting pigs.”

“And yet you still want us.”

Connie looked at her watch, tossed her cigarette and said, “Let’s go see Melanie.”

“Let’s get some lunch first. I’m starving.”

“Tell me something good,” Melanie said.

Marc and Connie sat silently for several seconds, each waiting for the other to respond.

“The Twins are still bashing home runs and winning,” Marc said.

“It’s a beautiful August day,” Connie added.

“I was kind of thinking in terms of the harassment suit,” Melanie said playing along a little.

“Um, I’m not sure which bad news you want first,” Marc said.

“Did you know Stephanie Chapple? I don’t remember if I asked you that,” Connie asked.

“I asked her,” Marc said.

“Not well, no. We never had a case together. Her performance reviews are all in the very good to excellent range,” Melanie said.

“I’ve seen them,” Connie said. “She’s sharp, tough, capable. She’s very attractive. She wore Marc down and we don’t see her falling apart on a witness stand,” Connie said.

“We got a settlement figure,” Marc said. “Thirty million.”

“The boys will love that,” Melanie said. “Can we do better?”

“We offered five hundred each…”

“That was MacAlister’s wet dream number,” Melanie said. “It was never realistic.”

“He knew that. We’re, um, a little far apart,” Marc said.

“But now that we have their tax returns, paystubs and income expectations from what they could’ve made working here,” Connie began, “we have sent them to a forensic accountant to determine lost future earnings and their present value.”

“When will we get that?” Melanie asked.

“She’s pretty busy, but she’s also very good. A week to ten days at the most,” Connie answered.

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