Life Support (24 page)

Relieved that he mentioned it first, Alexia said, “That's why I wanted to talk to you as soon as possible. We have to do something.”

“It's a no-brainer,” he said. “You need to drop the client immediately. There is no way this firm can represent Eleanor Vox. You weren't aware that her husband, Hubert, was a silent partner in the Dune View golf development because his ownership interest doesn't show up on the firm list of clients. He called me upset after you filed an answer, but I reassured him that you would be out of the case as soon as you returned.”

Alexia's mouth dropped open. “Uh, I was referring to what has happened with Rena and Ezra Richardson. She called me last night from the Greenville County jail and told me Ezra is using the durable power of attorney to transfer Baxter's property out of his name.”

It was Leggitt's turn to register surprise. “What was Rena doing at the jail?”

Alexia repeated the gist of the conversation. Ralph Leggitt shook his head. When Alexia finished, he tapped his pen on the surface of his desk.

“So you told her to get another lawyer?” he asked.

“Yes. In fact, I told her the firm would have to withdraw from representing either one of them. She has shared confidential information with me, and Mr. Richardson has talked with you. We can't help him gut Baxter's estate at Rena's expense or help her fight her father-in-law over use of the power of attorney.”

Leggitt's eyes narrowed. “Why did you tell her we had to withdraw from representing Ezra? Didn't you get my message when you called from Greenville? I specifically told you that Ezra Richardson was our client. If you did something to misrepresent the situation to Rena, that was contrary to my instructions.”

Alexia felt her face flush. She spoke slowly in order to keep control.

“Initially, you told me our client was the Richardson family. I went to Greenville to try and be a peacemaker and that's what I did. My interaction with Rena gave her the impression that I was there to help her as well as Ezra, and she told me things with a reasonable expectation of an attorney-client privilege.”

“What sort of things?”

It was a moment of decision. Alexia immediately saw her two choices. She could tell all and please Ralph Leggitt or refuse and suffer the consequences.

She hesitated. “Are you sure you want to know?”

“That's why I asked you. Stop this foolishness and tell me what Rena said.”

Alexia stared at the front edge of Mr. Leggitt's desk. In a few seconds the whole plan played out in her mind. Ralph Leggitt had shielded himself from accusation by sending her to Greenville while he stayed in Santee and plotted with Ezra the best method for depleting Baxter's assets. The senior partner was a sorry lawyer but a master manipulator. It had been a ploy from the first meeting. She looked up from the edge of the desk into Leggitt's eyes before answering.

“No.”

Leggitt's voice rose in volume and pitch. “What did she tell you? Tell me now!”

Alexia shook her head. “No. She shared it in confidence. You've made it clear that Ezra is your client, and I won't reveal what she told me.”

Leggitt stood up. He was a short, unimpressive looking man, but he was also Alexia's boss. His face was red, and at that moment he appeared to tower over her. He started to speak, then checked himself and sat down.

His voice softer, he said, “Alexia, you have a good future here. This is not a field to die on.”

“Then don't make me. I'm not going to add one mistake to another.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

Alexia heard the hint of retreat in his voice. She had called his bluff. Her law practice generated a steady stream of income that yielded a consistent profit to the partners of the firm. Ralph Leggitt liked money too much to throw that away.

“Yes,” she nodded.

Leggitt tapped the top of his desk with his pen. Alexia waited.

“You're fired,” the senior partner said matter-of-factly. “Clear out your desk and leave the office within the next hour. Do not take any files with you until we have conducted an inventory.”

Alexia was shocked. “But—”

Leggitt cut her off. “There's no room for further discussion. I'm sorry for your decision, but you left me no other choice. The past few weeks have shown the basic incompatability of your practice with the main business of the firm. Simpson, Vox, now this. It would have ended sooner or later.”

He stood up, stepped to the door, and opened it. Still numb, Alexia rose to her feet. As she walked blindly down the hall to her office, she heard the receptionist page her on the building intercom. Eleanor Vox was on line six.

Alexia ignored the page.

When she reached Gwen's desk, the secretary pulled a letter from the printer and said, “Mrs. Vox just called. I put it into your voice mail.”

Alexia didn't respond for a few seconds, and Gwen looked up. At the sight of Alexia's face, she asked, “What happened?”

Alexia glanced at the door to Leonard Mitchell's office. It was closed.

“Mr. Leggitt fired me,” she said flatly. “He told me to clean out my desk and leave the office.”

Gwen gasped. “No!”

Alexia's voice began to regain its intensity. “I have to leave immediately, but I'm not going to abandon my clients. Run a printout of my active cases with phone numbers and addresses. I'll need to contact my clients over the next few days and sort out what I'm going to do.”

For the first time since she'd known Gwen, the secretary was speechless.

“He said it was inevitable,” Alexia continued. “My practice doesn't mesh with the firm's primary emphasis.”

“That's ridiculous!” Gwen sputtered. “It had to do with Rena Richardson, didn't it?”

Alexia nodded. “That's the immediate reason for the blowup. But I can't talk about it.”

Before Gwen could get up a head of steam, Alexia retreated into her office, closed the door, and leaned against it. She'd never been fired in her life. Since her first job as a sixteen-year-old clerk in a women's dress shop through part-time work during college and law school, she had always received nothing but praise and promotion from her supervisors. She was a lifelong overachiever who conquered every obstacle. Until now.

She glanced around her office. She'd taken a lot of pride in creating a workplace that reflected herself. Most first-time visitors remarked about the variety of items on display, and Alexia often took time to tell at least one story about a picture or artifact. In a few curt sentences, Ralph Leggitt had demolished everything she'd built over the past six years. Now, there was nothing left to do but pack up her trinkets and put them in the trunk of her car.

When she opened her office door to get some empty boxes from the copy room, Gwen turned around, and Alexia could see that she'd been crying.

“Gwen, don't do that.”

“If I don't cry, I might march down to Ralph Leggitt's office and stab him with your letter opener! I've worked with a lot of lawyers, and you're the most decent, honest attorney I've ever known. You care about your clients; you know what you're doing on your cases—”

“Please, stop!” Alexia interrupted. “I appreciate you, too, but this is making it worse. I need to get out of here so I can decide what to do.”

Gwen bit her lip. “Okay.”

“I'm going to get some empty boxes. Please print out the information I need about the clients.”

The copy room was on the other side of the reception area. As she passed through the room, Alexia looked at the pictures of the lawyers hanging on the wall. She'd done everything right to advance along the partnership track at Leggitt & Freeman except compromise her ethical convictions. The space she'd reserved for herself would go to someone else. If a woman ever became a partner at Leggitt & Freeman, it wouldn't be Alexia Lindale.

21

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

PROVERBS 13:12

B
y the time Alexia had packed her first box and carried it to her car, the news of her termination had rippled from one end of the law firm to the other. Several secretaries looked away when she walked by. Others met her gaze with a shake of the head or a quiet word of sympathy.

Leggitt's paralegal came by her office and told her not to take any files from her office. Alexia ignored her. She knew the rules. All her clients had signed an agreement for legal representation with Leggitt & Freeman; however, Ralph Leggitt couldn't prevent a client from following Alexia if she went to work for herself or with another firm. The state bar prohibited restrictions against a client's freedom to select a lawyer, and so long as Alexia paid the correct percentage of the fee earned to Leggitt & Freeman, her former employers couldn't complain.

On her second trip to the car, Alexia passed the open door of Ken Pinchot's office. The litigation partner was on the phone, and she heard him laughing. The sound was a harsh reminder that life went on at the firm for others even if hers was ending. Returning to her office, she noticed that Leonard Mitchell's door was closed, and she asked Gwen if he knew what had happened. The secretary nodded.

“Mr. Leggitt sent an e-mail to the partners as soon as you left his office.”

“How do you know?” Alexia asked.

Gwen shrugged. “I went in on Leonard's screen name and read it. I know his password.”

“What did it say?”

“Nothing much. Just that he had terminated you and would provide the details at the firm lunch on Wednesday.”

Every Wednesday, the partners ate a catered meal in Ralph Leggitt's office. Alexia suspected the meetings were a mixture of fraternity bull session and board of directors meeting.

“Do you have the list of clients ready?” she asked.

Gwen handed Alexia a large, flat envelope. “It's all in here. There is another copy for Mr. Leggitt. Is he going to contact the clients and try to get them to stay with the firm?”

Alexia shook her head. “I don't think anyone here wants my clientele, but I'll have to let them know something soon. Keep the correspondence organized until I make up my mind.”

“Where are you going now?”

“I'm going to pick up my pets and go home. After that, I don't know. What do you think I should do?”

Gwen was silent for a moment. “I don't trust my thoughts.”

“Me, either.”

Alexia put the last box in the trunk of her car and looked back at the building where she'd spent most of her waking hours since moving to Santee. She remembered her first day as a nervous young attorney who didn't know how to enter a client number in order to operate the copy machine until Gwen came to her rescue. It was the beginning of their friendship. Much had happened since that day: her first deposition, dictating letters without writing a rough draft, her first jury trial, the congratulations of other attorneys when she won a big case. Most of the significant events of the past six years had been intimately connected with the people in the office that had been at the center of her universe. Now, it suddenly looked small.

Alone in the privacy of her car and shielded from curious eyes, Alexia waited for tears but none came. She wasn't the type of woman who made herself cry. She drove out of the parking lot without glancing in the rearview mirror. Like the ship in the Mediterranean, it was time to sail in a different direction.

She called the kennel and listened to an answering machine message that Pat would be unavailable for at least two hours. With time on her hands, Alexia drove slowly through the center of Santee and thought about her future. She approached the courthouse. She saw two familiar faces: a young lawyer recently hired by another firm in town and an older woman employed at the clerk's office. Alexia wondered when and how they would find out that she was no longer working for Leggitt & Freeman. The legal gossip network in Santee was faster than a computer modem, and within twenty-four hours scores of people would discuss what had happened to her. She took little comfort in the fact that within a week her firing would be old news, and another item would take its place in the information pipeline.

As she passed the courthouse, she considered picking up her pets and driving to her parents' condominium in Cocoa Beach to lick her wounds. Because she represented so many women who needed emergency legal care, a long grieving period wasn't possible, but a temporary respite would be understandable. However, she quickly rejected the idea of a trip to Florida. Her parents had their own lives, and Alexia was too old to run home with a skinned knee.

She turned down a side street where two other law firms were located. A Charleston firm seeking to tap into the deepening stream of money flowing into the area had rented an older building and turned it into an elegant office. The Charleston group's presence made Ralph Leggitt nervous, and it would be a twist of the knife if she joined them. The other law firm was a group of three young male lawyers who had launched out on their own a couple of years before. They might want to add a woman with a healthy client base to the mix. Alexia knew she would have options, but what she needed was direction.

She drove away from town toward Highway 17. When she reached McBee Road, she turned toward Sandy Flats Church. It was earlier in the day than the times when she'd wandered into Ted Morgan's practice sessions, and the sanctuary would be a quiet place to think.

When she pulled into the church parking lot, she saw Ted Morgan on a ladder, painting the trim of an old, white house on the property. He saw her and waved. Seeing his face made Alexia smile. She needed contact with a decent human being.

“Another masterpiece?” she called out as she stepped from her car.

“In the works,” he answered.

Ted climbed down the ladder. He was wearing white painter's overalls with a collection of colors from different jobs.