Wrangling with the Laywer (9 page)

“How come you never told me you made kick-ass computer games?”

She smiled reluctantly at his teasing, picking up her tablet again. “I would expect you to know these things considering the money I’m paying you.”

“I’m serious. Is there anything you haven’t done?”

“I haven’t stuck it to Joe Davidson,” she returned smoothly, repeating Jamie’s phrasing for effect. It was, as usual, disproportionately satisfying to hear Gabe laugh.

“Well, we don’t want to ruin your track record.” He checked his watch, falling serious. “I hope that kid gets back with the coffee soon. I have a feeling Abernathy’s probably going to wake up from his post-lunch nap and call us in any minute.”

“You seem to like this associate, Jamie Mulligan.” She watched him knowingly. He didn’t look at her, checking his phone screen briefly. It tickled her to know he was a good guy underneath all of that less attractive behaviour.

With her eyes still on him, he eventually deigned to glance at her. “He’s a good kid.”

“He doesn’t look much like a Harvard grad.”

“I’m sure he’d be delighted to hear you say that. He loathes most of his contemporaries.”

This made her smile. “Good for him. I’ll bet he’ll end up managing most of them. Or beating them in court one day. Especially if you’re showing him the ropes.” She added the last comment as a casual afterthought, and regretted it the second his eyes lifted, shining darkly.

“You haven’t even seen me in action yet,
Harper.”

She felt the use of her name exactly as she imagined he wanted her to feel it: like a velvet glove down her spine. After a minor flinch, she forced her gaze steady. “I was referring to your reputation.”

“God... not that again.” He took a second to roll his eyes comically. He then lost interest in the conversation, taking himself back off to the balcony. Her eyes lingered on his wide, straight back, for a moment, admiring the way his tawny hair sat in a perfect curve above his shirt before she remembered herself and turned back to her work.

The hearing was close to over within two hours. Harper spent most of it with her eyes glued to her lawyer. She’d lived in courtrooms on and off during the last five years. Don Koening was one of the best lawyers in the city, but she still managed to spend most of the day working and allowing the proceedings to happen obliviously around her. She’d never seen anyone captivate and charm, and outmanoeuvre as well as Gabriel Stahl. He managed to convince the judge that there was reasonable doubt to suggest the patent application made by Nemei Corp had been done after their knowledge of the existence of her program in its current form. This was all loosely based around a time stamped concept design document her team had created; hardly a legal procedure, but in Gabe’s hand it became irrefutable.

Jamie
Mulligan approached her during the brief recess while Gabe was out taking a call. “He’s something else, huh?”

She shook her head. “I nearly stood up and confessed at one point.”
Jamie laughed heartily, catching a few curious glances from the opposing team. She frowned at him maternally.  “I thought Gabe told you to go back to the office.”

“I’m working on a brief at the back.” He had the grace to look sheepish. “No loss to my billables. I could most of this stuff blindfolded anyway. What I really need to learn is this.” He nodded up towards the
judge’s bench where until recently Gabe had been wiping the floor with his opponents. “Litigation.”

“It’s an art,” she conceded, “when it’s done well.” She took a moment to properly study his features. “Where are you from? Gabe tells me you’re not one of the Harvard clones.” She corrected herself. “Actually, I noticed you’re not one of the Harvard clones; Gabe just confirmed it.”

“I went through community college in New Jersey. I got my degree at NYU.” He still had a defensive waver in his tone that she attributed to a healthy chip on his shoulder. She guessed he’d need to prove himself some more before he lost that, but she hoped he would one day. “What about you?”

“Brown.” She knew the prestigious Ivy League school wouldn’t impress him. She waited for a moment. “I lived on scholarships my entire education, though. I’ve never really
been part of the inner circle.” His gaze was interested on her again, if reluctantly so. She recognised a hunger in him she’d felt her whole life. “I know where you’re coming from.”

Surprising herself she decided to give him some advice. “It feels like a massive disadvantage, when you’re younger; it’s only as you get o
lder you realise that it’s not.” Her smile was crooked. “You can’t make yourself hungry for success, and you can’t buy it. A lot of kids who grew up spending summers at the Hamptons wouldn’t jeopardise their livelihoods for something they believe in. A lot of these kids probably wouldn’t have expected Nemei Corp to behave any better than they have in the first place; most of their parents are probably friends with Joe Davidson and his family.”

It struck her as she was speaking that Gabe was one of those kids who’d clearly spent every summer in the Hamptons. Did he really have her sense of right and wrong, or did he just like to win? He was known to have taken big risks to have achieved his status. Had it been the status he’d been after, or the power to do good with it? She had to admit that his taking her case was definitely a risk, going up against a corporation the size of Nemei. It benefited her even if he was doing it just for the satisfaction of winning... but a part of her hoped he had other reasons.

She didn’t have time to consider this properly as the doors to the courtroom swung open and Gabe came striding in.

Jamie
stole the final seconds of privacy to cast a wide smile at her.  “I think the fact that you’ve stood up to Davidson has been significant. Even if they beat you in court, it doesn’t mean you haven’t changed things.”

“Not sure that
Davidson would agree with you.”

She nodded at his faintly mischievous smile as he slipped into a seat behind her. Gabe, however, was following his associate’s movements with faint irritation in his eyes. “What are you doing here?”
The question was obviously hypothetical as he didn’t wait for a response. Turning back to the judge’s podium, he threw his phone down and exhaled sharply. “Is that old curmudgeon going to make a reappearance so that we can get out of here?”

Sitting back,
Harper took in the changes to Gabe’s demeanour stoically. “What’s ruffled your feathers?”

Gabe eyed her pointedly. “Just waiting for the weekend, like everyone else.”

“Are you picking up Alice?”

“I certainly am.” A thread of tight emotion in his tone betrayed him.

Harper leaned forward, unsure of whether she should say something in the current surroundings. She checked his expression again over her shoulder; his eyes were black with some repressed anger. She decided against it.

Gabe didn’t even wait for Harper or Jamie to exit the courtroom with him. He raced down to his car, nodding at Veda before he climbed quickly into the backseat. Anger bled through him like black ink staining his very being. He could still hear the sound of Alice’s crying in the background as the teacher had explained the situation. He lifted his phone and tried Christine’s number again, simmering with fury as it continued to ring out.

It was quiet journey to the exclusive kindergarten on the Upper East Side where Christine had dropped Alice off as usual that morning. Racing into the building, he found a young teacher, politely extracting directions to the principal’s office. When Alice saw him, she came bundling into his arms like a cannon ball, nearly knocking him over. He was overwhelmed by the strength of her despair. Trepidation seeped through his veins, replacing the anger. He held his daughter’s small, trembling frame until the worst of the tears subsided. Whispering reassurance into her hair, he lifted her
and took her outside.

“Your wife... I’m afraid she left a note with the child,” the principal, a disapproving woman in her early sixties, told him, when he returned alone.

“She’s not my wife.” His tone was cutting. He took the note. Reading it over, he had to swallow back the bile that rose in his throat. “She gave this to Alice?” He held it out accusingly.

“I suspect she didn’t think Alice would be able to understand it.”

He tried to imagine what his daughter had understood from the poorly written note. Certainly it was clear that she hadn’t arrived to pick her up as planned; knowing the frame of mind she must have been in to write the note, Gabe didn’t doubt for a second that Alice had probably suspected something was up this morning before she was even dropped off.

“I have to take my daughter home.” He folder the letter carefully, placing it in his inside pocket. “I apologise for... Alice’s mother. She’s obviously not thinking clearly. And I appreciate your calling me as soon as you knew.”

“Of course, Mr Stahl. If there’s anything else we can do to help-”

“We’ll be fine.” Nausea accompanied the words, negating them violently.

He picked Alice up quickly and took her outside to the chill winter air. It was dark as night already. Breathing carefully, he turned his face to his daughter’s red and puffy eyes. “Let’s go home, shall we?”

“I want to go to Finn’s house.”

Gabe’s spirits flagged. “Maybe we can visit with Finn at the weekend, sweetheart. Right now we need to get home-”

“I want to go to Finn’s house!” Alice’s voice rose dangerously.

Her tantrums were becoming common-place now, but Gabe felt a sliver of anxiety as he watched his daughter work her expression into distress. Today was no ordinary day; he wasn’t sure she would recover if she let herself get too upset.

“Let me call Finn’s mommy and see what they’re up to,” he cut in, relieved when she calmed slightly. Her breathing was still coming in pants. “Wait with Veda in the car while I make the call.”

Alone, he took a walk to the end of the street to get some air. He felt like he’d been punched in the stomach. Bending at the waist, he supported his upper body with his hands on his knees for a second, allowing the blood to rush to his head. His mind ran at speeds he couldn’t keep up with for the first time in his life. He wondered if this was what panic felt like. Or was it overwhelming rage?

Straightening carefully, he stared at his phone for a moment before he remembered the task at hand. A sigh escaped him. What the hell was
Harper going to think? He couldn’t exactly ask for a play date... Alice was obviously distressed. He’d have to explain to her what had happened. He’d seen her perceptive eyes watching him during the final proceedings in court that afternoon. The urge to confide in her, to release some of the steam from his pent-up anger, had been stronger than he’d anticipated. In the end he hadn’t weakened, but he’d felt her begging him to with her eyes. Did that mean she’d be able to deal with this? His messed up life and all the baggage that came with it... not exactly what she’d signed on for when she’d agreed on hiring him for her case.

She picked up her phone after the first ring. “Gabe?” There was a lilt to her tone that suggested she knew all was not well.

“Harper...” He swallowed back the relief. He wasn’t sure what he’d have done if she hadn’t answered.

“Is everything okay?”

He debated on the best answer for a moment. “No.” No point in dressing it up. “Christine’s... disappeared. Alice is distraught.”

“My God, Gabe!” Her words rushed at him, soothing over the line. “I’m so sorry.” She paused, as if taking it all in. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Actually, yes.”

“Tell me.”

He blew air from his mouth, looking back at the car some twenty metres away. “Alice... I don’t know why exactly she’s asking me this. I wanted to take her home, but she’s very upset obviously.”

“Of course.”

“She wants to come to yours. She said wants to go to Finn’s house.”

There was a momentary pause. “Bring her. You’re more than welcome.”

“I realise this is... uncomfortable. I’m not sure what kind of state she’s going to be in.”

Harper
’s breath sounded on the line. He wasn’t sure if it was a sigh of impatience or sympathy, or just general emotion. “It doesn’t matter, Gabe. Life’s messy sometimes... just come on over. I’ll make some dinner. We’ll take it as it comes.”

It was the perfect thing to say; not too stiff and polite, but not sickeningly sympathetic either. He took a moment to appreciate the sudden existence of this woman in his life. It was fleeting, quickly replaced by anger at Christine, and then a tearing sense of dispossession for Alice. Confused, he turned and started walking quickly back to the car.

What was he doing outside here in the cold? His place was with his daughter.

“We’ll be there in half an hour.”

Harper
was surprised when Alice took her hand shortly after arriving with a pale and stricken-looking Gabe. The little girl was still shaking; it took every ounce of willpower Harper had to stop tears from clouding her vision. She wasn’t sure what the full story was but the sensation of anguish pulsing through the little hand in hers was overwhelming.

She knelt down, coming level with the girl’s shocked face. “How about we all have some dinner in the den and watch the television?”